George Washington was many things a Founding Father the first United States President the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and a British assassin responsible for starting a multi-continental war over control of Ohio that might sound like the tagline of a Cheesy alternate history novels that you shove aside in search of something more believable but depending on who you ask it may actually have the tiniest bit of truth to it Washington wasn't an assassin in the traditional sense but in his youth he was the commanding officer during a battle where a surrendering French official was killed through what many at the time considered to be dishonorable means if you think that this is simply too unbelievable to be true you should know that Washington actually signed a document himself admitting to it this confession was not written directly by his hands nor was it in a language that he could read but he still signed it and that had major consequences until his dying day Washington maintains that his translation at the time had lied to him and as a result he was not aware of what he was signing but whether or not that part is true doesn't change the fact that that little piece of paper would go on to play a significant role in world politics in fact some historians credit for being one of the main justifications of a war that would not only change lines on a map but also bring the largest European powers to one another's throats once again alliances would be forged and broken generals would rise and resign in disgrace countries would see thousands of miles of territory exchange hands and if all of that wasn't enough it would also set the stage for the founding of the United States and introduce some of its most well known names as a whole this global conflict would come to be known as the Seven Years War but it is the battles that were fought in North America that we're going to be focusing on in today's video a conflict that is known as the French and Indian War and yes I did say that this all started overate disagreement involving Ohio today the United Kingdom and France are as Allied as any two separate countries can be and war between them seems almost unimaginable however there was a time not so long ago when the two were the bitterest of enemies for centuries War had been waged over everything from territorial disputes to religious Doctrine and even in times of relative peace small skirmishes were more than common at this point in history when colonialism was quickly becoming as popular as powdered wigs and tea the two were once again beginning to buttheads this time it was over their new prized possession the Americas by then both countries had settled in the new worlds and had spent over a century attend in to secure as much land for themselves as possible the French controlled parts of modern day Canada primarily New Brunswick and Ne Scotia as well as parts of Louisiana Mississippi and Alabama the British on the other hand had their prized 13 colonies along the United States's Eastern Seaboard all the areas in between these two Colonial powerhouses were controlled by numerous Native American tribes scouted throughout although for the Colonials these lands might as well have been uninhabited as the American presence was often seen as just a minor side note for their future plans one of those hotly contested in between lands was what is now modern day Ohio centuries before it would be known for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and boring Suburban afternoons Ohio was known as Ohio County and it consisted of the entirety of modern day Ohio as well as parts of Indiana Pennsylvania and West Virginia for the French this area was a valuable trade route that connected their colonies in modernday Canada to the ones in and around Louisiana and for the British it was seen as the best route to access any and all lands west of the original 13 colonies to complicate things both sides felt that they had a legitimate claim to the area and in the mid 1750s they were beginning to press those claims French colonies based theirs on the explorations of Rene Rober cavaler sir de Lal who had traveled up the Mississippi claiming all of the lands that surrounded as well as any of its tributaries for those of you unfamiliar with the size and location of the Mississippi River it is the 13th largest river in the world and stretches 2,340 mi from the Gulf of Mexico All the Way North to the Great Lakes the river touches 13 of the 50 modern American States and its tributaries cross 32 of them while this may seem to be quite a silly Claim by the French the British were certainly no less ambitious in the early 17th century an English Royal Charter based off the explorations of J cabit it granted all lands in between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans as well as north of Spanish controlled Florida to their own colonies this claim would have given control of roughly 85% of the modern United States to Britain after these obviously conflicting claims were formalized became only a matter of time before the two would once again have to settle the disput the only way they knew how with [Music] war the first real sign of the problems to come was when the governor general of New France Marque Deen dispatched Captain Pierre Joseph Celeron Blain to an area south of the Great Lakes Tan's orders were to rid the area of British settlers and Traders when the captain arrived he demanded that they lower their flags and leave the area but when they did not immediately comply he began taking much harsher actions against them in 1752 the captain marched his forces into the British Trading Post located in Pani and destroyed it the French soldiers then proceeded to capture or kill any English-speaking traders that they could find anywhere along the Ohio river in response to this obvious escalation Virginia's lieutenant governor Robert dwy began searching for a representative he could travel the distance into Pennsylvania and order the French out of the area the man he chose was none other than the 21-year-old 6'2 major George Washington Washington was the obvious choice as Not only was he a military man from a well-connected and influential family but he had also spent a considerable amount of time working as a land surveyor in the Ohio River Valley years earlier in order to encourage settlement of the Oho country the high company was founded and granted over 200,000 acres of land between the kanir and the monila rivers Washington's family as well as the families of Governor D witty and several of the prominent Virginians were shareholders in the Ohio company and had a significant financial interest in securing the lands on which the French were now encroaching Washington was ordered to deliver a simple message to the French leave the area and stop harassing the English settlers so in 1753 Washington along with his friends Jacob van Bram and a French translator employed by the Ohio company Christopher gist set out to speak with Captain legado desier two months later in December they arrived and delivered the message but it was Ill received thankfully for the future United States President the captain did not feel the need to shoot the messenger and Washington was permitted to leave with a reply for his Governor it stated that France's claim was incontestable and far superior Washington delivered the message to Governor Den witty who was disappointed although probably not exactly surprised by the Frenchman's response unwilling to back down dwy ordered the construction of a fort where the alagen and the Mona Halo Rivers converged this would be modern day Pittsburgh on March the 15th of the following year he dispatched Washington and won 160 men under the control of Colonel Joshua fry to re Force the troops who had already begun building the fort however before fry and his men could arrive or the fort could be completed French troops overwhelmed and occupied the land on which it stood they took the fort completed it and renamed it Fort duen as Colonel fry landed on his neck after being thrown from the back of his horse he died shortly after from injury and the young inexperienced George Washington suddenly found himself thrust into a position of leadership when he learns of the French's newly completed Fort Washington moved his men for 40 m South to an area known as the Great Meadows and ordered the construction of his own fort which he cheekily called Fort Necessity it was a small hastily erected structure that was barely more than a one room Shack surrounded by a log Palisade but Washington felt it would be sufficient for simple defensive purposes until reinforcements could arrive from Virginia it was at this time while Washington and his men were anxiously awaiting those reinforcements that a Native American leader known to the British as half King whose real name was tanak Harrison approached Washington and warned him that 35 French troops were moving South toward Fort Necessity Tanner Harrison urged Washington desperately to strike first and offered the support of his small group of men if you were to agree after much deliberation Washington did and he along with 40 of his men and a dozen of Tanner Harrison's men began traveling north to intercept the French troops on the morning of May the 28th 1754 the two groups made contact now what exactly happened next was and still is heavily disputed both sides met on a small and claimed that the other fired the first shot Washington insisted that the French spotted them as they were approaching an open fire while the French maintains that Washington's men ambushed them in the early hours of the morning regardless of which side is to be believed the British were easily able to overpower the smaller French force and in the end 10 French soldiers were killed with the rest being captured Joseph Kul deil was the leader of the French party and among the captured Washington honorably extended to him the customary courtesies that were afforded to Military Officers at the time and began trying to speak with jonville with the aid of a translator suddenly without warning Tanner Harrison approached jimil from behind and buried his Tomahawk deep into the unsuspecting man's head his exact reasons for doing this like so many other things involved in this short altercation were never made clear it's believed that the French had captured him as a child and sold him into slavery but Tanner Harrison also claims that the French had boiled his father alive and eaten him that last part in particular does sound a bit hard to believe but knowing how terrible conditions can be for those living under the occupation of another Nation it certainly also just not outside the realm of possibility Washington parted ways with Tanner Harrison and returned back to Fort Necessity where he continued to wait for reinforcements as well as retaliation from the French and both would arrive very shortly back at foren Captain L Kon half brother of the Slaine jumonville learns of the group's defeat and vow to exact revenge for his Fallen brother the fort's new Commander Claude Pierre picardi de Contra ordered kulon Viller to attack Fort Necessity with a force of 600 men they left and along the way gathered another 100 Native Americans to aing the assault while all of this was being put into motion Washington received his reinforcements from Virginia and North Carolina but still only had around 400 men in total on the 3rd of July Kier arrived outside for necessity and Washington ordered his men to find cover fighting in and he quickly found himself unable to land many blows against the French who fired upon his men from the nearby Tree Line finally after heavy fighting and watching his men fall in number all around him Washington ordered his remaining men to take shelter within the fort itself as they quickly crammed into this small rickety structure the French continued to fire upon the fort without entering heavy Reigns set in and soiled the fort's gunpowder reserves and soaked the men to the Bone despite Washington's orders not to they broke into the alcohol reserves and began drinking as they awaited their deaths all seemed to be lost for the young leader until all at once the firing stopped and a voice called out to them asking for a baray Washington who saw a few other options agreed and sent men to speak with the French Commander they quickly returned with a letter detailing the terms of surrender Washington and his men would be allowed to leave with their military honor intact and flying the British flag so long as he agreed to peacefully surrender and vacate Port necessity now remember when I said at the beginning of this video that Washington would sign a document admitting to the assassination of a French official well this is that document buried deep within the terms of surrender was a single line that took responsibility for the slaying of Ambassador jumal Ville who the French insisted was not on his way to attack the fort but instead negotiate peace after this Revelation Washington later believed that he may have been deceived by his once's ally the half King who was attempting to escalate tensions between the British and the French for his own trib's benefit no knows for sure the truth is just lost to history Washington and his troops are return home expecting the worst but to their surprise Washington was not blamed for the defeat Governor din witty instead blamed it on the lack of troops and poor support from other forces he believed that the young major had done everything in his power but was simply overwhelmed by the French's numbers in his journal Washington wrote a detailed account of the events that had transpired which was soon published in both Virginia and London eventually it was reprinted in newspaper papers all across Britain and America earning him a positive reputation and garnering him praise for bravery while in the face of certain defeat however Washington was not satisfied with his performance he resigned from his position shortly after in France Washington was becoming famous for a different reason they believed him to be a dishonorable failure and used his signed confession to drum up support for a war that may have already begun without anyone even realizing it around this time French regulars and their Native American Allies had begun pushing into British territory and many colonists could already see the writing on the wall war with France was inevitable seeing as it would take quite some time for reinforcements to arrive from overseas many believed that something needed to be done locally within the colonies to prevent This Disaster it was because of this need that representatives from seven of the 13 original colonies met at Albany to discuss what would later be known as the Albany Plan of Union the man who forms this plan was yet another familiar name in American history Benjamin Franklin Franklin knew that if the colonies did not stand together they would most likely be crushed by the more united French forces to stress this he created the famous Join or Die illustration in it Franklin depicted a snake having been cut into eight pieces with each piece labeled with the initials of one of the British colonies or regions Franklin's solution was to EST establish a unified government for the 13 colonies that would have the power to organize and coordinate a United continental army that would be paid for buy taxes collected from Colonial citizens it was sensible but as history tells us time and time again people are often not the proposal was met with mixed reactions was ultimately rejected the colonies were simply not ready to unify they had no real military alliances no sense of shared identity and very few of their goals aligned but the largest issue was that most Representatives did not like the idea of taxes being collected from a centralized colonial government if anyone in Britain had been paying attention they might have realized that Americans really don't like paying taxes and it might have saved them a few headaches a bit down the line finally after almost a full year of waiting British forces arrived on the coast of North America under the commands of General Edward bradock bradock had been sent with two regiments to lead a Virginia Force to secure the Ohio country his plan was to March roughly 100 miles across the alagan mountains to launch an attack against the same French Fort that Washington had failed to capture a year earlier Fort D Ken in conjunction with this Massachusetts governor William Shelly was ordered to oversee the fortification of British Fort Oso before attacking the French fort for Niagara similar attacks were plans on Fort Frederick by Sir William Johnson and Fort BOS Shaw by Lieutenant Colonel Robert monton General bradock himself was well respected and a very traditional fighter he believed strongly in the idea of honorable Warfare and AD heed strictly to the rules of combat in his opinion wars were better fought out in the open and in straight line a tactic that worked well in the open ples on which European battles were often fought many of his advisers including our good old buddy George Washington who had volunteered to be Brad's assistant during the journey tried to warn the general that the Native Americans had been teaching their style of gorilla Warfare to the French and that he should expect them to use it bradoock refused to listen as he didn't believe that the French would be willing to stoop to such a level on May the 29th 1755 breant his force of approximately 2,200 troops set out from Fort Cumberland and on July the 9th after over a month of rough travel they arrived within 10 miles of their target as they approached Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage spotted the French in the trees and ordered his men to open fire their opening blees succeeded in killing French Captain Bou but that would be one of the few British accomplishments that day just as Washington had predicted the Native Americans had been lying in weight and had surrounded them around 900 French troops and Indian fighters leapt from the bushes and pivoted out from behind trees to launch arrows and fire bullets at Brock's neatly organized line of troops even after seeing this bradic refused to allow his men to break formation but the Virginians who were not trained to stand their ground under far the way the British regulars were fled into the woods and attempted to take cover many of them were mistaken for enemy Fighters and killed by their own men within a single hour of fighting General bradock had been shot and Washington once again found himself leading a group of men to assault Fort to Ken but as the battle raged on he realized that his men were completely beaten and he began organizing a tactical Retreat this was a crushing defeat over 500 British men had been killed and hundreds more had been C captured the French casualties were a fraction of that as they retreated back through the mountains the Red Coats were constantly harassed by Native Americans who followed closely behind raiding and looting the soldiers the entire way for his bravery Washington was dubbed the hero of the monaha however this was of little consolation as Brad's Army whom the Colonials had been waiting for for so long was now just a wounded fraction of its former self on the 18th of May 1756 Britain forly declared war on France and as the various European powers began to take sides they passed several acts in preparation for Wars all across the globe these acts called for the recruitment of new infantries and navies as well as allowed for the Looting of captured French ships back in America Governor William shley had temporarily taken command following the death of General bradock but his plans to take Fort Niagara had failed in fact everything that had been planned earlier that year had failed save for the taking of fort bour by Colonel Robert monton in July General John Campbell ear of Lon replaced William Shirley and assumed control of all British forces in North America he proved to be an unpopular leader among the Colonials as he temporarily closed all British ports to prevent them from Trading with enemy Merchants by September Lord luden began preparing a plan of attack against the French he intended to draw their focus away from the Ohio country by threatening Quebec the capital city of New France from the north he knew that if he simply held his defensive positions along the frontier he would eventually be able to force the French to pull their forces from around the Great Lakes at that time luden would Advance his own troops and capture the weakened forts effectively securing the entire Ohio country and severing new France's supply lines from the south Blan was not a bad one it could have worked the entire War itself could have ended very soon after however because of the political turmoil that surrounded the larger seven years war in Europe he did not receive approval for his plan until the following year that meant for over 6 months Lord lud was forced to sit on his hands and wait while the French continued to push Eastward during this time he worked with the provincial governors of the 13 colonies to bolster their defenses along the frontier but they continued to suffer heavy losses when a reply finally arrived Lon found that his plan had been heavily altered now instead of attacking new France's Capital he was to launch a coastal attack against Lewis Bor using a squadron of ships under the command of rear Admiral Francis hbor during the confusion and reorganization the French Court wind of this plan and by April had sent reinforcements of their own from nearby ports to Aid in lure Borg's defense now seeing as both sides had amassed great naval fleets the stage was set for a truly epic battle but unfortunately for the British a number of setbacks would cause severe issues for them an outbreak of tyus caused much of orban's Fleet to be ported and as a result Sal he was forced to sail with a much smaller Armada than it originally planned later while on Route the weather began to sour and on the 24th of September he was caught in a hurricane level storm that severely damaged the remainder of his Fleet thus making the attack Impossible he and Lord luden returned to Britain the following [Music] year throughout the next two years French forces along with their North American Allies continued to win significant victories all across the Ohio and Great Lakes area most of this was due to General Louis Joseph dearam who upon his arrival in May of 1756 began setting his sights on several key British forts in the area after quickly assessing the defenses of Fort Killian located on Lake Champlain monom led a force of roughly 3,000 troops to mount an assault against Fort Oso which was under the command of British Colonel James Mercer on August the 11th Mam's men arrived within a mile of the smaller nearby Fort Ontario and began entrenching themselves after 2 days of exchanging gun and cannon fire MC's men abandoned their positions and fled to the much larger Fort ego Mon's primary target from his newly captured position monom ordered the bombardment of Fort oo's exposed Eastern side and by the next morning he had succeeded in collapsing its stone wall and killing Colonel Mercer 1,700 prisoners including 80 officers were taken as well as thousands of pounds of gunpowder and food Provisions before returning to m monam ordered the fort to be destroyed the following year he managed to score yet another major victory at the siege of Fort William Henry the fort which had been left poorly defended after Lord Lon had pulled a significant number of troops to man his failed assault on lorg was occupied by Lieutenant Colonel George Monroe despite being outnumbered nearly 3 to1 Monroe's men put up a hearty defense however after several days of heavy bombardments they had no choice but to surrender these victories and others like them allowed the French to continue their march across the Ohio country raiding and capturing English settlers as they went up until this point British leaders in Europe were still failing to take the war in North America seriously for years their focus had been locked on the larger Seven Years War and most Representatives had adopted uh let America deal with America's problems sort of mentality this like a support allowed the French to secure Victory after Victory against British Colonials and by 1758 they had arrived within 60 miles of Philadelphia things were Beginning to Look hopeless however all of that changed with the arrival of William pit pit was a British politician who understood that the war in Europe was deeply connected to the struggles in North America he believed that no real Victory could be achieved at home without first addressing the issues abroad to do this pit secured funding from the British Parliament promising to provide a total reimbursement to the colonies for the expenses they had aced while fighting on Britain's behalf he also funded an expansion of the British royal Navy which allowed them to dominate The Seas these ships captured and sank any french military supply or transport ship that they believed to be sailing toward New France after this he appointed new military talents that he believed could change the course of the war at the same time that Britain was rest strategizing France began facing major issues that would lose them the support of many crucial allies a massive financial crisis had left them on the verge of bankruptcy which was inhibiting their ability to wage war furthermore troops were suffering from famine resulting from poor food yields the PRI year as well as pits new blockades which were now blocking all incoming food and Supply shipments the result was a major turn in favor of the British and in July of 1758 Major General Jeffrey Amherst finally succeeded in The Taking of Lewisburg something that Lord Lon and Admiral hobor had failed to do three years prior one notable French victory during this time period was the defense of Ford Killian by General monam here he and his men managed to defend their positions against a much larger British Force Under the command of Major General Adam zomi however this was less the result of Mom's planning as it was a series of unfortunate failures and tactical miscalculations on the part of the British while it was seen as a major victory at the time it would mean very little overall as the fort would be captured the following year after being abandoned by his Garrison months later British Lieutenant Colonel John Brad street forced the surrender of Fort front andac a crucial Communications and Supply Hub that connected Montreal and Quebec City to other French territories in November of that same year Ford duen the pesky for which had kickstarted this entire conflict was abanded by the French after learning that Brigadier General John Forbes was leading a force of 6,000 to lay Siege to better handle the logistics of moving such a large number of troops through the extremely difficult terrain Forbes and his men constructed a road all the way from carile to Fort Deen road that is still known as the Forbes Road after this fort Deen was renamed Pittsburgh and used as a launching point for the siege of Quebec which occurred the following year in 1759 during this battle the British and French forces met on a plateau just outside the walls of Quebec City in an encounter known as the battle of the Plains of Abraham during the fighting both commanders British general James wolf and French General Louie Joseph maram were mortally wounded while the battle was occurring outside the city the French abandoned it and on September the 13th British victory was declared in July 1760 Jeffrey Amherst launched a three-pronged attack against the last major French hold out Montreal troops from Lake Ontario Quebec and Fort Crown Point all converged on the city and on the 8th of September the French agreed to an unconditional surrender a week later British flags were raised over Detroit small skirmishes would continue across the oh country and in parts of British controled New France but the war in North America was effectively over [Music] in Europe the fighting raged for two more full years until finally on the 10th of February 1763 the Treaty of Paris was signed in it France seeded all of their territories in North America to Britain with the exception of New Orleans which was given to Spain for now a fragile peace had once again been achieved but the effects that the French and Indian War had on the Americas cannot be understated not only had the French lost a majority of their Holdings in the New World and around the globe but Britain had lost something arguably even more important the support of their colonies the casual attitude that had been displayed by leaders in Britain during the early stages of the war had left a deep resentment in the hearts of many British Colonials Benjamin Franklin's proposal for Unity during the Albany meeting may have failed at the time but it would bear a striking resemblance to the one that would be passed at the First Continental Congress just a few short decades later Britain would pour gasoline on the fire by attempting to recoup a portion of its wartime losses through taxation of their colonies but as we all know those taxes weren't exactly very well received outrage led to calls for representation acts of rebellion and eventually after much work from George Washington Benjamin Franklin and many other Veterans of the French and Indian War Revolution [Music]