Conflicts between France and England were common throughout the early eighteenth century.

While previous wars were about succession, or who would take control of what country in Europe, the French and Indian War stands out, because it didn't start in Europe, nor was it about succession - it was over territories and trade.

American historians consider the French and Indian War to be its own internal conflict, completely separate from the goings-on in Europe.

European historians, however, consider the French and Indian War to be the North American off-shoot of the Seven Years War; a much larger conflict happening in Europe around the same time.

In the 1750s, the three largest populations living in North America were French colonists, English colonists, and Native American tribes.

All three groups traded, and built a rapport with each other.

For example, the Native Americans wanted guns and ammunition, to make their warriors more effective fighters; on par with their European neighbors.

However, as North America was in the process of settlement, it was only inevitable that the three forces would eventually clash.

Both the French and the English eyed the Ohio Valley area, between the forks of the Ohio.

The French and Indian War was, in a nutshell, a territorial tug-of-war for control of the Ohio Valley.

And unfortunately, for the Native Americans living there, they were caught in the middle of the conflict.

At this time, the British outnumbered the French population around twenty to one.

This is why the French relied heavily on alliances made with their Native American neighbors, such as the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Abenaki, and Algonquin.

French fur traders and trappers often married Indian women, and some even married the daughters of Indian chiefs, to create even stronger unions.

Despite the name "French and Indian War," not all Native Americans fought for the French.

Some Indian tribes, such as the Iroquois Confederacy, and the Catawba, fought for the British.

Other tribes, like the Cherokee, shifted allegiances, and some tribes remained neutral, wanting no part in the conflict.

So why did the British and the French want control of the Ohio Valley?

They both felt the Ohio Valley belonged to them.

For France, the Ohio Valley was an essential link between its colony in Canada, and the lands claimed along the Mississippi River.

For the British, however, the French were interfering with land grants to the Ohio Company in the region, founded by Virginian colonists, despite French opposition.

The goal of Native Americans on both sides was the same: to prevent the other side from gaining more territory.

The Algonquin tribes had a feud with the Iroquois, who had previously pushed them further west.

The French took advantage of this bitterness to get the Algonquins to side with them.

In turn, the British supplied the Iroquois with arms and ammunition, and encouraged them to attack French settlements in the area.

Tensions between the French and the English escalated, when French soldiers led a group of Algonquin warriors to attack Pickawillany: Britain's largest and richest settlement in the area.

The raid sent many British settlers back across the mountains.

In 1752, Marquis Duquesne was appointed governor of New France.

Duquesne, with instructions to assert control of the Ohio territory, established a string of forts south of the Great Lakes, which won further support from the Algonquin allies.

The British were determined to resist this French advance.

Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie wrote to the Board of Trade in London, seeking feedback on how to deal with the French threat.

The Board responded: "You have the king's orders - build forts of your own to protect his majesty's territories.

Any resistance by the French will be considered acts of war.

Gov.

Dinwiddie commissioned then 21-year-old Major George Washington to deliver a letter to Captain Jacques Saint-Pierre, commander of Fort Le Boeuf.

The letter contained Gov.

Dinwiddie's demands for the French to leave the area, but Capt.

Saint-Pierre refused, stating that the French held a stronger claim to the area than the British.

Major Washington marched back to Williamsburg to bear the bad news.

Gov.

Dinwiddie responded by sending fur trader William Trent, along with a group of carpenters to begin construction on a new British fort, which was to be named Fort Prince George.

The French were not going to allow this new fort to be built in a territory they believed was theirs, so on April 18, 1754, French Captain Pierre de Contrecoeur took a company of 600 soldiers, and captured the partially completed stockade.

Just to spite the British, the French tore down what Trent's men built, and constructed an even larger, better- defended fortress in its place, named Fort Duquesne.

Back in Virginia, Washington, now a Lieutenant Colonel, had been ordered to march a larger force to aid Trent with the construction of the fort.

Only when Washington was 60 miles away did he find out about Trent's surrender.

Soon after on May 28, 1754, Washington, with the help of Indian leader Mingo sachem Tanaghrisson, retaliated while en route to Fort Duquesne, by crushing a nearby French scouting party.

This engagement, known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen, is considered the first battle of the French and Indian War.

Soon afterwards, Washington pulled his exhausted troops a few miles back, and established Fort Necessity.

French Canadian troops attacked Fort Necessity a few months later in July, and Washington was forced to retreat.

British colonials realized then that they would need help from their Native American neighbors.

Between June and July 1754, the Albany Congress, led by New York Lt. Gov.

James DeLancey, was formed with the goals of easing tensions between the Indians and the colonists, and to better prepare for the coming war ahead.

This plan would be known as the Albany Plan.

One of the delegates at this meeting was Benjamin Franklin, who advocated hard for the colonies to work together.

Franklin designed this now-famous woodcut of a snake, with the words "Join or Die" inscribed underneath.

Franklin's illustration sent a clear message: the British colonies will not survive if they don't work together.

The Albany Plan, while adopted by the Congress, was ultimately rejected by their home legislatures.

The attack at Fort Necessity would be the first of many setbacks the English would experience in the early years of the French and Indian War.

News of Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity spread throughout the colonies, and had reached London.

In 1755, British officials sent two Irish brigades, under the command of Major General Edward Braddock, to North America with one goal in mind: to take back control of the Ohio Valley as soon as possible.

One of Braddock's objectives was to take back Fort Duquesne.

Britain's Native American allies offered to help Braddock in this campaign, however Braddock, overconfident that European military tactics would work in the Ohio wilderness, refused help from the Indians.

This refusal led to disastrous consequences for Braddock.

While en route to Fort Duquesne, Braddock's forces were ambushed and annihilated by French and Native American forces in the Battle of Monongahela.

General Braddock did not survive the attack.

On May 18, 1756, Britain officially declared war on France, and a few weeks later, France returned the notion.

This is the official start of both the French and Indian War, and the Seven Years War.

Now the conflict was on two fronts, since hostilities between the two nations escalated in both North America and Europe.

France appointed Lieutenant General Louis-Joseph Montcalm to be the commander of all French forces in North America.

The British were now under the command of John Campbell, the Lord of Loudon.

Montcalm was a bold military strategist, while Campbell was more of a cautious military commander.

From 1756-1757, the French had a string of victories, one right after another.

The siege at Fort William Henry would prove to be a turning point for Montcalm, however.

In August 1757, the French had successfully defeated the British at Fort William Henry.

Adhering to European surrender customs, Montcalm allowed Lieutenant Colonel George Munro's army to march under escort back to Fort Edward, allowing the British to keep both their military honors and possessions.

Montcalm's Indian allies, however, didn't see eye-to-eye with these European traditions.

Despite Montcalm warning the Indians not to attack the British, these warnings fell on deaf ears.

Some of Montcalm's Indian allies were angry about being denied loot, and while en route to Fort Edward, Indians massacred the retreating British; many were killed or captured, including women and children.

By the time Montcalm heard of the attack and tried to restore order, it was too late.

Montcalm had alienated both his Indian allies, and the British.

Montcalm knew that the French would never be able to receive as much help from the Native Americans ever again.

As for the British, should they ever gain the upper hand, they would never offer Montcalm the same honors of war.

Britain grew tired of the French victories, and enacted some new changes.

In late 1757, William Pitt was appointed the new secretary of state, and relieved Lord Loudon of his command.

Pitt also realized that British Army regular soldiers could not defeat the French and their Indian allies alone.

Pitt authorized the raising of local militias in the British colonies, and offered the colonials incentives, making them partners with London.

The British cause was now reinvigorated.

Between 1758 and 1759, the tide turned in favor of the British.

With the Treaty of Easton, Native Americans agreed to no longer fight for the French.

Pitt then sent General John Forbes to take back the Ohio Valley.

Fort Duquesne, and the fortress at Louisberg fell to the British.

Although progress was temporarily halted by the French's stunning and improbable victory at the Battle of Carillon, British spirits didn't go down.

The year of 1759 would be forever known as "Annus Mirabilis," or, the Year of the Miracle.

Fort Carillon was retaken by the British, and given a new name: Fort Ticonderoga.

1759 would see the largest battle of the war, with the Battle of Quebec.

Even though the battle claimed the lives of the commanders on both sides, seizing Quebec would be a crucial victory for the British, who could now take control of most of North America.

The Battle of Quebec would be the last major engagement of the French and Indian War.

Engagements between 1760 and 1763 were more sporadic in nature.

The French tried to retake Quebec in 1760, but ultimately failed, since the British naval victory at the Battle of Restigouche prevented the French Army from being resupplied.

To finish the French threat in North America once and for all, the British needed to take France's last major stronghold, Montreal.

The French in Montreal, being outgunned and outmanned, saw no point in defending, and surrendered.

The French signed the Articles of Capitulation in September 1760.

France was out of the fight, but the Native American threat still lingered in the British colonies.

Various tribes continued to raid British settlements.

In South Carolina, for example, Cherokee Indians still raided villages.

The Cherokee were angered by British colonials settling beyond boundaries established by a peace treaty signed in 1759.

These raids continued until 1761, when British commander James Grant's expeditionary force defeated the Cherokee at the Battle of Etchohih.

The British drove the Cherokee further into the mountains, and in September, the Cherokee sued for peace.

The French and Indian War officially ended in February 1763, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

The treaty determined that all lands west of the Mississippi River belonged to Spain, and all lands east of the Mississippi belonged to England.

The remaining French in North America were allowed to settle in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in exchange, Spain ceded Florida to England.

England had won the war in both Europe and North America.

After paying its Prussian allies, and reimbursing the American colonies for military expenses, England was left in massive debt.

King George III was determined to make the North American colonies pay for the war, and for maintaining the British Empire.

Throughout the 1760's and 1770's, the crown imposed new taxes on the colonies, such as the 1764 Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Tea Tax.

These taxes were highly unpopular in the English colonies, and the abuses of taxation without representation would set the stage for America's independence from Great Britain.