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Introduction

The purpose of this study is to highlight French and Indian war. The effects or impact of the war will be an area of interest in this study. The study will outline the history of the war that is how the war came into existence, the contributors of the war, the period covered in the war and the changes brought by the war. The study will also examine the political status of French and Indian before and after the war. Social order of these two countries will be an important area of study in the context of this research. Through the study, the economic status of these two countries will be discussed that is before, during and after the war.

Discussion

War is a conflict between two or more parties, these parties might be countries or individuals. In our case the term war refers to the struggle or conflict between nations which was said to have had been witnessed during the colonial era. There were so many wars during the independency period or during the colonial period whereby countries or different nations were fighting for independency. French and Indian war was among the last four wars that were held during colonial era. The war was held between the French, British and their allies who belong to Native American. The three past wars were said to have had different origin as opposed to the French and Indian war which was said to have started on North American ground and then ventures into the Europe whereby Britain and France were said to carry on the fighting. It was argued that it was the Britain that officially declared war on France on May 15, 1756 resulting to the onset of the Seven years’ War in Europe. During the war, Native Americans were said to have been fighting for both sides, but were primarily fighting French with an exception of Iroquois confederacy. French then sided with both the American colonies and the Britain but the first war was held in 1754. It was said that Major George Washington who was aged twenty one years was subjected to a negotiation of boundaries with French who failed to give up their forts. During that time, Washington was said to have led a group known as Virginia troops or colonial troops purposely to attack French at a place known as Fort Duquesne which is today called Pittsburgh. At the battle of jumonville Glen, Washington claimed to have stumbled the French. During the battle of jumonville Glen, Joseph coulon de jumonville a French officer was killed something that made the French to have a strong kind of response to the Virginia troops led by Washington. As a result Washington went back few miles and began the establishment of fort Necessity whereby the French resulted in forcing Virginia troops and their leader to retreat. During the event, there was a congress called Albany congress whose purpose was to discuss actions that were to be enacted to calm down the war. In year 1755, there was a campaign held against French at Fort Duquesne which was led by Edward Braddock in which Washington was again involved or took part among both the British and colonial troops.

 

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During this campaign, Edward Braddock was said to have incorporated European tactics which included bold, linear marches and what was referred to as firing formations. Due to this, a disaster at Monongahela was witnessed whereby French and Native developed superior tactics to fight the British. French and Natives used trees and bushes to cover themselves so as to gun down their enemies. British had heavy cannon thus why French and Natives found it difficult to fight them. As the struggle persisted, Edward Braddock who was a leader of the campaign against French was killed while Washington escaped from the war. Washington was not harmed during the war and was said to have led other survivors in retreat. British was defeated an event that made the French happy for next few years. French defeated British veteran at Fort Oswego, fort William Henry fort Duquesne and later at Carillon. British successes in war were in 1755 during the battle of Lake George which led to the securing of the Hudson valley. In 1756 French was said to continually neglect North American theater but British won over the French. The time when William Pitt was a secretary of the Great Britain. During this time French were said t have been driven from several frontier posts for instance Fort Niagara and the Louisbourg which belong to British in the year 1758.

There was another battle of the Plains of Abraham which resulted into handing over the Quebec City to the British. In 1760 there was a negotiation for a surrender which was made by Pierre François de Rigaud, and the king governor of New France with the British General Jeffrey Amherst. Through the negotiations, the king’s governor of the New France was promised by the British General Jeffrey that French residents in British were granted freedom to worship in Roman Catholic tradition and also they were to live undisturbed. The negotiation enabled the French residents to enjoy a lot of benefits from the British such as provision of the medical care by the British. This was dedicated to the French soldiers who were wounded during the war; other French regular troops were offered a ride back to French by the British ships. The French regular troops promised not to take part in present wars according to the agreement they made with the British that they won’t serve a gain in war (Nester 117).

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The origin of the French and Indian war was the land competition between the French and English. Trading rights also gave rise to the struggle or completion between French and English in North America. The competition resulted to a land dispute for instance the rich Ohio valley territory. The war led to the onset of colonial revolution in North America following the English victory in the war. After the war British raised taxes as away to pay for the expenses the nation incurred during the event of the war.  It was noticed that French and Indian war presented some effects to the Native American tribes that belong to North America. Native American nations were forced by the British to obey or adhere to the rule of the new mother nation. Before the French and Indian war the only burning issue facing the two colonial nations was the division of continent whereby the English were said to have settled in Georgia which was along the eastern seaboard.  To the French, it controlled the southern part of Louisiana while the Acadia controlled the Northern part. The French territory was observed to have been sparsely populated as compared to other parts of English.

The French and Indian war was kind of a guerrilla war which entails small skirmishes and also surprise attacks. The involvement of Indian nations was seen to present impact on the war since they had some changes in their war policies and had turned against the French. There were several changes that were made or resulted from the war such as economy, social and political changes. English colonists were involved or got engaged in agriculture .and other industrial occupations. There were many cities that developed in English nations such as Massachusetts, Georgia and the seaports. There was an improved development in infrastructures that is better roads that facilitated the movement of both goods and people in the colonies nations. English became Protestants as opposed to other European nations leading political levels being higher. There was both social and economic freedom whereby residents could take part in whichever kind of economic activities. British colonial rule over the Indian had a lot of effects or influence to the economy and also the society of the Indian. The social life of Indians was influenced by the colonial policies of the British (Jennings 84).

During the pre-colonial Indian economy was said to have been stable which comprised of agriculture which was self-sufficient, handcraft industries that were said be rich and flourishing trade. There were subsistence farmers who conducted agricultural operations based on small groups of individuals. In India, the role of the landlords was to collect taxes from the peasants but were not the landowners. It was noted that in India, villages were considered as economic units whose transaction were governed by the payment of revenues of the land. In 1600, the British East Indian company received legal charter to enable it trade which later began to conquer the India in 1757 leading to the defeat of the Nawab who belong to Bengal. Nawab was defeated by Robert Clive and this was said to be the onset of the conquest. India was ruled by the East India Company for more than a century that is as from the decisive battle of plassey in 1757 to about 1857 during the time when Indians fought for their independence. Indians were defeated by British in the war and Queen Victoria was said to practice direct rule over the Indian in 1858. After the rule of East India Company ended, the British parliament was responsible for Indian’s governance which lasted till 1947.

There were so many stages that the modern British society passed through. For instance British society passed through a stage of mercantile capitalism to what was referred to as industrial capitalism. Other stages include competitive industrial capitalism to industrial capitalism which was said to be monopoly based. The role of the Indian colony was to offer provision of raw materials to the Britain companies and also to but goods manufactured by Britain. As a result of this changes in social and economy in Britain had a lot of impact on the British colonial policies that were used in India. British policies had alt of influence on the economy of India in that farmers were supposed to only raise crops for domestic se only meaning that exportation was not allowed. In this connection, trade based on agricultural products was limited hence affecting the health of Indian economy.

Farmers were entitled the production of what they ‘can consume domestically since the British policies offer no market for any surplus produced. If famers produce more than what they can consume, due to conducive climatic conditions, the excess food is stored for use in future. Through the British rule, Indian was de-industrialized a factor that geared toward the poor growth in the economy of the India. Before the British rule, Indian was a greater exporter of cotton since it was said to have been the known manufacturer of cotton. With the de-industrialization of Indian by the British, India became the importer of cotton manufacturer. The British rule made the Indian t become or to remain the major importer of cotton with the Britain turning into major exporter of cotton goods. Through the de-industrialization of India, England industrialization was achieved and this was viewed to be the impacts of British rule over the India. There was a large decline in Indian’s population dependency on indigenous or domestic industries hence leading to over burden in agriculture sector.

There are several theories that try to explain the impact of the British rule over India such theories include the drain theory and theory of de-industrialization. The drain theory represents the process by which part of Indian wealth was exported to England a process through which Indians enjoyed none of the economic benefits. This is to mean that India was mandated to pay direct tribute to British. Through the tensions that were brought about by colonial lands and increment in taxations some American leaders were influenced by the liberal and republication ideals. Residents were entitled to over throw American leaders who might have a bused the rights of people. There were set of law that was said to regulate the British trade during the mid- 1600s. These set of laws were referred to as navigation acts that demanded that trade between those territories that belong to British should be transacted based on British ships. The trade should have its rout through Britain for the purpose of ensuring that duties were done as required.  

These laws were later altered or modified at the onset of the next century and were said to have been flouted by most of colonial trader with an aim of cutting down the cost and also the speed of shipping. British government embarked on cracking down of American smuggler with an effort of increasing incomes or revenues during the French and Indian war era. British government believed or considered the only best way for generating income was through levying of taxes on colonies with the aim of cutting down their costs they incurred during the time of war. For instance British enacted sugar act which was to levy tax on the gallon of molasses with a goal of eradicate economic downturn in colonies nations. The British decision to enact sugar Act was fought by many colonial leaders who claimed that the taxation was made with no representation since there were no parliament members to represent the interest of people. There was also another Act implement which hinder colonies from printing paper money an act that led the American economy worse than ever. During 1760s and 1770s Britain and American business got involved in credit sales but were said to have had crippled following the financial crises which affected London a situation  which made most of British merchants to welcome their debts.

The American businesses were ruined and the economy of colonial was destroyed because American businesses were not in a position to generate more funds. French and Indian war brought a bout an overall change whereby colonies witnessed changes in political, economic and ideological relations between the colonies. As per concern the political changes that occurred, British faced destruction of its invincibility. Another way in which the American colonies were politically affected is that they experience political and cultural cues which they got from Great Britain. The colonies were affected economically by the French and Indian war whereby American colonists were said to assist in paying for the war. The American colonists incurred a lot of expenses during the war because they had to produce best soldiers to overwhelm their rivals. The colonies economy was disrupted by frontier raids and the presents of thousand refugees. English was declared bankrupt by the fact that they had to incur high cost when supplying their soldiers in far distances.  The new colonies taxes led to emergence of American Revolution. There was a stamp Act which was enacted during 1765 that demanded that each and every paper should carry a tax stamp through which the Britain could use currency to pay for the suppliers for the war.

In conclusion French and India war was said to be the last of four wars French and Indian war was among the last four wars that were held during colonial era. The war was held between the French, British and their allies who belong to Native American. The three past wars were said to have had different origin as opposed to the French and Indian war which was said to have started on North American ground and then ventures into the Europe whereby Britain and France were said to carry on the fighting. It was argued that it was the Britain that officially declared war on France on May 15, 1756 resulting to the onset of the Seven years’ War in Europe. The war presented effects on political, economically and ideological relations among the American coloninies.