The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War

The War That Made America by Fred Anderson is an excellent account of the French and Indian War. It is a volume which fills many important gaps in the understanding of American history.

It is very easy to read quite a bit about the colonial period in America and end up learning very little about the native Indians. Reading Anderson's book makes up for this omission to a very great extent. One learns here that the empires playing a role in the conflict were not only European, but that the Iroquois were also an empire interested in expansion and domination of their neighbors. The Iroquois were expert at playing the French off against the English, and in many ways were expert at diplomacy and negotiation. The success of French and English commanders was largely dependent on their ability to recognize the key role which the different Indian tribes played in the conflict. When relations with the Indians went sour, settlers were forced to flee east thereby creating huge refugee problems the colonies were ill prepared to deal with. Anderson explains how disease and warfare which depleted the different tribes' populations and led to the habit of taking hostages. On the one hand this practice more than any other caused animosity towards the Indians on the part of the settlers, but on the other hand a surprising number of the hostages went native and preferred life thereafter with the Indians.

Another striking aspect of the war was the role of William Pitt. When he rose to power in Great Britain, his policy was pivotal in turning the tide in favor of the British and her colonies. His strategy of attacking the French in various places all over the globe proved successful. But also his decision to pay the colonies for their participation in the war also galvanized the militias who were then instrumental in assisting the British regulars in conducting attacks on French forts from Fort Duquesne (later Pittsburgh) on up to Montreal. This policy brought many colonists into the war effort, and in effect militarized the colonial economy for a time. When the war ended, and along with it military subsidies, the colonial economy went into a tailspin.

Understanding the French and Indian War is important for understanding the American Revolution which followed less than a generation later. The economic depression which followed the French and Indian War gave the colonists plenty of reason for dissatisfaction, and the British were easy targets for their dissatisfaction. But one learns from The War That Made America that measures like the Stamp Act were, from the British perspective, really quite reasonable. The tax was really quite small and the British government, which spent quite a large sum conducting the war against the French and continued to outfit forts on the frontier with men and supplies, was very much in debt. It seemed only fair that the colonies, which benefited from this protection, should contribute to their own defense.

On an even grander scale, the French and Indian War removed a major obstacle from what was probably an inevitable expansion of white settlement westward. The French had occupied a great crescent of territory, stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi to Nova Scotia. On the other hand, the war probably made relations with the Indians more difficult. The war involved treaties, the breaking of treaties, alliances that shifted with the course of the war, and terrorist tactics on the part of Indians and settlers. It is probably naive to think that relations with Indians could have ever been much different, but the war with the French, in which Indians thought it in their interest to oppose the British and their colonial expansionists, only fanned the flames of conflict.

Fred Anderson tells the story of the French and Indian War in a thorough and engrossing manner. The various events are often astounding. A complete view of American history cannot be had without an understanding of this pivotal period.

As much of a history buff as I thought I was, this review of a strange war that really shaped our nation was an eye-opener. One almost lived through the to and fro of the English forces with American mercenaries against the French and the Indian nation, ending with the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. Whoever heard of Plains of Abraham, after all? And what heroic people they all were! The reader will admire his heritage, and realize how much we owe these ancestors.