1.
1945 in Canada
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Events from the year 1945 in Canada. Head of state – King George VI Governor general – Alexander Cambridge Prime minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. S, MacMillan then Angus Macdonald Premier of Ontario – George A. 1944-1945, World War II, Japans Special Balloon Regiment drops 9,000 balloon bombs over the Pacific Northwest, intended to cause panic, six casualties, a woman and her five children in the American state of Oregon, were reported. The ten metre-wide balloons contained 540 cubic metres of hydrogen and reached as far inland as Manitoba, the event was declared a failure and abandoned, after six months. May 8 - VE Day sees celebrations across the nation, over a million Canadians had fought in the conflict and 42,000 were killed. September 5 - The defection of Soviet embassy clerk Igor Gouzenko reveals a Soviet spy ring in Canada, September 8 - Angus Macdonald becomes premier of Nova Scotia for the second time, replacing Alexander MacMillan September 12 - The Ford Motor employees in Windsor, Ontario go on strike. Canada has its first trade surplus with the United States, the Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy. February 25 - Maurice Richard sets a new record for the most goals in an ice hockey season
2.
19th century
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The 19th century was the century marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Napoleonic, Holy Roman and Mughal empires. After the defeat of the French Empire and its allies in the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian Empire expanded in central and far eastern Asia. By the end of the century, the British Empire controlled a fifth of the worlds land, the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and spread to continental Europe, North America and Japan. The Victorian era was notorious for the employment of children in factories and mines, as well as strict social norms regarding modesty. Japan embarked on a program of rapid modernization following the Meiji Restoration, before defeating China, under the Qing Dynasty, europes population doubled during the 19th century, from approximately 200 million to more than 400 million. Numerous cities worldwide surpassed populations of a million or more during this century, London became the worlds largest city and capital of the British Empire. Its population increased from 1 million in 1800 to 6.7 million a century later, liberalism became the pre-eminent reform movement in Europe. Slavery was greatly reduced around the world, following a successful slave revolt in Haiti, Britain and France stepped up the battle against the Barbary pirates and succeeded in stopping their enslavement of Europeans. The UKs Slavery Abolition Act charged the British Royal Navy with ending the slave trade. The first colonial empire in the century to abolish slavery was the British, americas 13th Amendment following their Civil War abolished slavery there in 1865, and in Brazil slavery was abolished in 1888. Similarly, serfdom was abolished in Russia, in the 19th century approximately 70 million people left Europe, with most migrating to the United States of America. The 19th century also saw the creation, development and codification of many sports, particularly in Britain. Also, ladywear was a sensitive topic during this time. 1801, Ranjit Singh crowned as King of Punjab,1801, Napoleon signs the Concordat of 1801 with the Pope. 1801, Cairo falls to the British,1801, Assassination of Tsar Paul I of Russia. 1802, Ludwig van Beethoven performs his Moonlight Sonata for the first time,1803, William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the first practical steamboat. 1803, The United States more than doubles in size when it buys out Frances territorial claims in North America via the Louisiana Purchase. This begins the U. S. s westward expansion to the Pacific referred to as its Manifest Destiny which involves annexing and conquering land from Mexico, Britain,1803, The Wahhabis of the First Saudi State capture Mecca and Medina
3.
20th century
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The 20th century was a century that began on January 1,1901 and ended on December 31,2000. It was the tenth and final century of the 2nd millennium and it is distinct from the century known as the 1900s, which began on January 1,1900 and ended on December 31,1999. It saw great advances in communication and medical technology that by the late 1980s allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide computer communication, the term short twentieth century was coined to represent the events from 1914 to 1991. It took all of history up to 1804 for the worlds population to reach 1 billion, world population reached 2 billion estimates in 1927, by late 1999. Globally approximately 45% of those who were married and able to have children used contraception, 40% of pregnancies were unplanned, the century had the first global-scale total wars between world powers across continents and oceans in World War I and World War II. The century saw a shift in the way that many people lived, with changes in politics, ideology, economics, society, culture, science, technology. The 20th century may have seen more technological and scientific progress than all the other centuries combined since the dawn of civilization, terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage. It was a century that started with horses, simple automobiles, and freighters but ended with high-speed rail, cruise ships, global commercial air travel and the space shuttle. Horses, Western societys basic form of transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles and buses within a few decades. Humans explored space for the first time, taking their first footsteps on the Moon, mass media, telecommunications, and information technology made the worlds knowledge more widely available. Advancements in medical technology also improved the health of many people, rapid technological advancements, however, also allowed warfare to reach unprecedented levels of destruction. World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weapons gave humankind the means to annihilate itself in a short time, however, these same wars resulted in the destruction of the Imperial system. For the first time in history, empires and their wars of expansion and colonization ceased to be a factor in international affairs, resulting in a far more globalized. The last time major powers clashed openly was in 1945, and since then, technological advancements during World War I changed the way war was fought, as new inventions such as tanks, chemical weapons, and aircraft modified tactics and strategy. After more than four years of warfare in western Europe, and 20 million dead. The regime of Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown during the conflict, Russia became the first communist state, at the beginning of the period, Britain was the worlds most powerful nation, having acted as the worlds policeman for the past century. Meanwhile, Japan had rapidly transformed itself into an advanced industrial power. Its military expansion into eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean culminated in an attack on the United States
4.
21st century
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The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1,2001 and will end on December 31,2100 and it is the first century of the 3rd millennium. It is distinct from the time known as the 2000s. The long term effects of increased globalization are not known, the Arab Spring of the early 2010s led to mixed outcomes in the Arab world. The Digital Revolution which began around the 1980s also continues into the present, millennials and Generation Z come of age and rise to prominence in this century. The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 marks the rise of life sciences, making mankinds long-held dreams, such as curing cancer. By the 2010s, gene therapy, first performed somatically in late 1990 and heritably in 1996, showed promise but remains an experimental, by 2013, about 80% of the worlds population used mobile phones. An estimated 33% owned personal computers in 2010, and 46% used the Internet by 2016, the International Energy Agency estimates that 83% of the global population has access to electricity as of 2013 with the percentage projected to increase to 88% by 2030. The world population was about 6.1 billion at the start of the 21st century and it had reached 7.3 billion in 2015, and is estimated to reach about 9.37 billion by the year 2050. There is a debate among experts and the public on how to pronounce specific years of the 21st century in English. A less common variation would have been twenty nought-five, the Vancouver Olympics, which took place in 2010, was being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as the twenty-ten Olympics. The latest timeframes for change are usually placed at 2020, kubrick said he did this in the hope that if the film became popular, it would influence the pronunciation of that year. See the timeline of the 21st century, genocide still remains a problem in this century with the concern of the war in Darfur and the growing concern in Sri Lanka. Also controversies from past genocides remain commonplace in the minds of victims, 1998–2002 – The Second Congo War continued into the early 21st century. A1999 ceasefire quickly broke down and a UN peacekeeping mission, Laurent Kabila, president of the DRC, was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took power. Throughout 2002 steps were made towards peace and Rwanda and Uganda both removed their troops from the country, on December 17,2002, a massive treaty officially ended the war. However, the DRC only holds power in less than half of the country, with most of the eastern and northern portions still controlled by rebel groups, in addition, Rwanda still supports anti-DRC rebels and anti-Rwandan rebels continue to operate from the DRC. The war killed an estimated 3.9 million people, displaced nearly 5.5 million, Severe human rights violations continue to be reported
5.
1910s
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The 1910s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1910, and ended on December 31,1919. The 1910s represented the culmination of European militarism which had its beginnings during the half of the 19th century. The murder triggered a chain of events in which, within 33 days, the conflict dragged on until a truce was declared on November 11,1918, leading to the controversial, one-sided Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on June 28,1919. However, each of these states had large German and Hungarian minorities, the decade was also a period of revolution in a number of countries. Russia also had a similar fate, since World War I led to a collapse in morale as well as to economic chaos and this atmosphere encouraged the establishment of Bolshevism, which was later renamed as communism. Like the Mexican Revolution, the Russian Revolution of 1917, known as the October Revolution, much of the music in these years was ballroom-themed. Many of the restaurants were equipped with dance floors. Prohibition in the United States began January 16,1919, with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, armenian Genocide during and just after World War I. Wadai War Italo-Turkish War First Balkan Wars – two wars took place in South-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. Saudi-Ottoman War Latvian War of Independence - a military conflict in Latvia between the Republic of Latvia and the Russian SFSR. The Russian Revolution is the term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917. April 13,1919 - The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, at Amritsar in the Punjab Province of British India, sows the seeds of discontent, xinhai Revolution causes the overthrow of Chinas ruling Qing Dynasty, and the establishment of the Republic of China. Madero proclaims the elections of 1910 null and void, and calls for a revolution at 6 p. m. against the illegitimate presidency/dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. The revolution lead to the ouster of Porfirio Díaz six months later, the Revolution progressively becomes a civil war with multiple factions and phases, culminating with the Mexican Constitution of 1917, but combat would persist for three more years. Germany abolishes its monarchy and becomes under the rule of a new elected government called the Weimar Republic, federal Reserve Act is passed by United States Congress, establishing a Central Bank in the US. George V becomes king in Britain, fourteen Points as designed by United States President Woodrow Wilson advocates the right of all nations to self-determination. Rise to power of the Bolsheviks in Russia under Vladimir Lenin, creating the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, easter Rising against the British in Ireland, eventually leads to Irish independence. Several nations in Eastern Europe get their own state, thereby replacing major multiethnic empires
6.
1920s
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The 1920s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1920, and ended on December 31,1929. French speakers refer to the period as the Années folles, emphasizing the social, artistic. The economic prosperity experienced by many countries during the 1920s was similar in nature to that experienced in the 1950s and 1990s, each period of prosperity was the result of a paradigm shift in global affairs. These shifts in the 1920s, 1950s, and 1990s, occurred in part as the result of the conclusion of World War I and Spanish flu, World War II, the 1920s saw foreign oil companies begin operations throughout South America. Venezuela became the second largest oil producing nation. In some countries the 1920s saw the rise of political movements. Communism spread as a consequence of the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks’ victory in the Russian Civil War, fear of the spread of Communism led to the emergence of far right political movements and fascism in Europe. The devastating Wall Street Crash in October 1929 is generally viewed as a harbinger of the end of 1920s prosperity in North America, the Roaring Twenties brought about several novel and highly visible social and cultural trends. These trends, made possible by sustained economic prosperity, were most visible in major cities like New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin, “Normalcy” returned to politics in the wake of hyper-emotional patriotism during World War I, jazz blossomed, and Art Deco peaked. For women, knee-length skirts and dresses became socially acceptable, as did bobbed hair with a marcel wave, the women who pioneered these trends were frequently referred to as flappers. The media began to focus on celebrities, especially sports heroes, large baseball stadiums were built in major U. S. cities, in addition to palatial cinemas. Most independent countries passed womens suffrage after 1918, especially as a reward for support of the war effort and endurance of its deaths. Egypt officially becomes an independent country through the Declaration of 1922, though it remains under the military. Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, organized crime turns to smuggling and bootlegging of liquor, led by figures such as Al Capone, boss of the Chicago Outfit. The Immigration Act of 1924 places restrictions on immigration, the major sport was baseball and the most famous player was Babe Ruth. The Lost Generation, was the name Gertrude Stein gave to American writers, poets, and artists living in Europe during the 1920s. A peak in the early 1920s in the membership of the Ku Klux Klan of four to five million members, followed by a rapid decline down to an estimated 30,000 members by 1930. The Scopes Trial, which declared that John T. Scopes had violated the law by teaching evolution in schools, major armed conflict in Ireland including Irish War of Independence resulting in Ireland becoming an independent country in 1922 followed by the Irish Civil War
7.
1930s
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The 1930s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1930, and ended on December 31,1939. In response, authoritarian regimes emerged in countries in Europe and South America. The 1930s also saw a proliferation of new technologies, especially in the fields of aviation, radio. Colombia–Peru War – fought between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Peru, Chaco War – the war was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over the disputed territory of Gran Chaco resulting in an overall Paraguayan victory in 1935. An agreement dividing the territory was made in 1938, officially ending outstanding differences, saudi–Yemeni War – was a war between Saudi Arabia and Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. Second Sino-Japanese War – fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. It also made up more than 50% of the casualties in the Pacific War, World War II breaks out on September 1,1939 Chinese Civil War - The ruling Kuomintang and the rebel Communist Party of China fight a civil war for control of China. The Communists consolidated territory in the early 1930s and proclaimed a short-lived Chinese Soviet Republic that collapsed upon Kuomintang attacks, the Kuomintang and Communists attempted to put away their differences after 1937 to fight the Japanese occupation of China, but intermittent clashes continued through the remainder of the 1930s. Spanish Civil War – Germany and Italy back anti-communist Falange forces of Francisco Franco, the Soviet Union and international communist parties back the left-wing republican faction in the war. The war ends in April 1939 with Francos nationalist forces defeating the republican forces, Franco becomes Head of State of Spain, President of Government and de facto dictator. The Republic gives way to the Spanish State, an authoritarian dictatorship, Hitler pulls Germany out of the League of Nations, but hosts the 1936 Summer Olympics to show his new reich to the world as well as the supposed superior athleticism of his Aryan troops/athletes. Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, attempts the appeasement of Hitler in hope of avoiding war by allowing the dictator to annex the Sudetenland, later signing the Munich Agreement and promising constituents Peace for our time. He was ousted in favor of Winston Churchill in May 1940, some 267 synagogues were destroyed, and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked. Kristallnacht also served as the pretext for the confiscation of firearms from German Jews. Germany and Italy pursue territorial expansionist agendas, Germany demands the annexation of the Federal State of Austria and of other German-speaking territories in Europe. Between 1935 and 1936, Germany recovers the Saar and remilitarizes the Rhineland, Germany and Italy improve relations by forming an alliance against communism in 1936 with the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact. Germany annexes Austria in the event known as the Anschluss, the annexation of the Sudetenland followed negotiations which resulted in the Munich Agreement of 1938. The Italian invasion of Albania in 1939 succeeds in turning the Kingdom of Albania into an Italian protectorate, the vacant Albanian throne was claimed by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
8.
1940s
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The 1940s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1940, and ended on December 31,1949. Most of World War II took place in the first half of the decade, which had an effect on most countries and people in Europe, Asia. The decade also witnessed the beginnings of new technologies, often first developed in tandem with the war effort. World War II Nazi Germany invades Poland, Denmark, Norway, Benelux, Soviet Union invades Poland, Finland, occupies Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romanian region of Bessarabia from 1939 to 1941. Germany faces the United Kingdom in the Battle of Britain and it was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign up until that date. The United States enter World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941 and it would face the Empire of Japan in the Pacific War. Germany and Japan suffer defeats at Stalingrad, El Alamein, the forces of the Western Allies land on the beaches of Normandy in Northern France. Yalta Conference, wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, by this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims is between 11 million and 17 million people. The German Instrument of Surrender signed, atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Surrender of Japan on August 15. World War II officially ends on September 2,1945, Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 Arab–Israeli conflict 1948 Arab–Israeli War – The war was fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours. The war commenced upon the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine in mid-May 1948, in its conclusion, Israel managed to defeat the Arab armies. Establishment of the United Nations Charter effective, establishment of the defence alliance NATO April 4,1949. 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, Victory of Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong in the Chinese Civil War. Beginning of Greek Civil War, which extends from 1946 to 1949,1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark. 1945 – Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands,1946 – The French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon dissolves to the independent states of Syria and Lebanon. The French settlers are forced to evacuate the French colony in Syria,1947 – The Partition of the Presidencies and provinces of British India into a secular Union of India and a predominantly Muslim Dominion of Pakistan. 1948 – British rule in Burma ends, the State of Israel is established. 1949 – The Peoples Republic of China is officially proclaimed, the Atanasoff-Berry computer is now considered one of the first electronic digital computing device built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937–1942
9.
1970s
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The 1970s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1970, and ended on December 31,1979. In the 21st century, historians have portrayed the 1970s as a pivot of change in world history focusing especially on the economic upheavals. In the Western world, social values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and economic liberty of women. In the United Kingdom, the 1979 elections resulted in the victory of its Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, industrialized countries, except Japan, experienced an economic recession due to an oil crisis caused by oil embargoes by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. Novelist Tom Wolfe coined the term Me decade in his essay The Me Decade, the term describes a general new attitude of Americans towards atomized individualism and away from communitarianism, in clear contrast with the 1960s. Despite facing an oil crisis due to the OPEC embargo, the economy of Japan witnessed a boom in this period. The United States withdrew its forces from their previous involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which led to a war for ten years. Anwar El Sadat, President of Egypt, was instrumental in the event and consequently became extremely unpopular in the Arab world, Africa saw further decolonization in the decade, with Angola and Mozambique gaining their independence in 1975 from the Portuguese Empire after the restoration of democracy in Portugal. The continent was, however, plagued by military coups, with the long-reigning Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie being removed, civil wars. The economies of much of the world continued to make steady progress in the early 1970s because of the Green Revolution. The following year, Vietnam was officially declared reunited, Soviet war in Afghanistan - Although taking place almost entirely throughout the 1980s, the war officially started on December 27,1979. The Israelis were taken by surprise and suffered losses before they rallied. In the end, they managed to repel the Egyptians and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt proper, in 1978, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel at Camp David in the United States, ending outstanding disputes between the two countries. Sadats actions would lead to his assassination in 1981, Indian emergency Lebanese Civil War - A civil war in the Middle East which at times also involved the PLO and Israel during the early 1980s. Western Sahara War - A regional war pinning the rebel Polisario Front against Morocco, Ugandan–Tanzanian War - the war which was fought between Uganda and Tanzania was based on an expansionist agenda to annex territory from Tanzania. The war resulted in the overthrow of Idi Amins regime, the Ogaden War was another African conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia over control of the Ogaden region. In 1976 peaceful student protests in the Soweto township of South Africa lead to the Soweto Uprising when more than 700 black school children were killed by South Africas Security Police, Rise of separatism in the province of Quebec in Canada
10.
History of Canada
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The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European arrivals and have discovered through archaeological investigations. Starting in the late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, the colony of New France was established in 1534 and was ceded to the United Kingdom in 1763 after the French defeat in the Seven Years War. The now British Province of Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791, in 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation, forming a self-governing entity named Canada. The new dominion expanded by incorporating parts of British North America, finishing with Newfoundland. Although responsible government had existed in Canada since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign, with the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Canada became co-equal with the United Kingdom. After the Constitution was repatriated in 1982, the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament were removed. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Since the conclusion of the Second World War, Canadians have supported multilateralism abroad, archeological and Aboriginal genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were the last continents into which humans migrated. During the Wisconsin glaciation,50, 000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge, from Siberia into northwest North America. At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide ice sheet covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska. The exact dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing debate, by 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and into Canada. The Queen Charlotte Islands, Old Crow Flats, and Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in Canada, ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools and the remains of large butchered mammals. The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE, climatic conditions were similar to modern patterns, however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of meltwater. Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, however, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally, thus with the passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization. The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and includes the Ontario, Quebec, the introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada, the Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario, Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes
11.
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
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The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years War. The culmination of a siege by the British, the battle lasted about 15 minutes. In the wake of the battle, the French evacuated the city, their military force in Canada. France ceded most of its possessions in eastern North America to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris, the decisive success of the British forces and the subsequent capture of Quebec City formed part of what became known as the Annus Mirabilis in Great Britain. As the Seven Years War entered its later stages through 1758 and 1759, in 1758 after defeat in July at the Battle of Carillon, the British took Louisbourg in August, causing Atlantic Canada to fall into British hands, and opening the sea route to attack Quebec. Fort Frontenac fell to the British in the month, costing the French supplies for the Ohio Valley campaign. When some of the Indian supporters of the French made peace with the British, French leadership, specifically Governor de Vaudreuil and General Montcalm, were unsettled by the British successes. However, Quebec was still able to protect itself as the British prepared an attack for 1759. James Wolfe expected to lead 12,000 men, but was greeted by only approximately 7,000 regular troops,400 officers, Wolfes troops were supported by a fleet of 49 ships and 140 smaller craft led by Admiral Charles Saunders. In preparation for the approach to Quebec, James Cook surveyed a large portion of the river. Cooks ship was one of the first ships up the river, sounding the channel and guiding the fleet as it moved up, eventually landing Wolfe and his men on the Île dOrléans on 28 June. Despite an air of defeatism among the leadership, the professional French troops, prior to the arrival of the British, a small fleet of supply ships had arrived in Quebec with much needed supplies. Those supplies, along with 500 reinforcements, were likely behind the lengthened siege, in addition, a screen of trees along the Montmorency River made an approach on that route dangerous. On 31 July, the first serious attempt by Wolfes troops to land on the northern shore led to the Battle of Beauport, approximately 3,500 troops, supported by a heavy bombardment, attempted to land, but were caught under fire in the river shallows. Some French officers felt the Montmorency defeat would be the last British attack, Wolfe, I assure you, will make no progress… He contented himself with losing about five hundred of his best soldiers. He predicted another attack would come within days, others in the French camp felt the campaign was over. For the remainder of the summer, Wolfes focus changed, possibly due to frustration with Montcalms tactics and his troops, along with American Rangers, attacked and destroyed small French settlements along the St. Lawrence. An estimated 1,400 stone houses and manors were destroyed, the effort was likely an attempt to force Montcalms army out of its fortifications, but was unsuccessful
12.
Benjamin West
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Benjamin West PRA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence and the Seven Years War. He was the president of the Royal Academy in London. He was offered a knighthood by the British Crown, but declined it and he said that Art is the representation of human beauty, ideally perfect in design, graceful and noble in attitude. West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in a house that is now in the borough of Swarthmore on the campus of Swarthmore College, as the child of an innkeeper. The family later moved to Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, where his father was the proprietor of the Square Tavern, Benjamin West was an autodidact, while excelling at the arts, he had little education and, even when president of the Royal Academy, could scarcely spell. From 1746 to 1759, West worked in Pennsylvania, mostly painting portraits, while West was in Lancaster in 1756, his patron, a gunsmith named William Henry, encouraged him to paint a Death of Socrates based on an engraving in Charles Rollins Ancient History. His resulting composition, which differs from the source, has been called the most ambitious. During this time West met John Wollaston, a painter who had immigrated from London. West was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait he painted. Franklin was the godfather of Wests second son, Benjamin, in common with many artists architects and lovers of the fine arts at that time he conducted a Grand Tour. West expanded his repertoire by copying works of Italian painters such as Titian, in Rome he met a number of international neo-classical artists including German-born Anton Rafael Mengs, Scottish Gavin Hamilton, and Austrian Angelica Kauffman. In August 1763, West arrived in England, on what he intended as a visit on his way back to America. In fact, he never returned to America and he stayed for a month at Bath with William Allen, who was also in the country, and visited his half-brother Thomas West at Reading at the urging of his father. In London he was introduced to Richard Wilson and his student Joshua Reynolds and he moved into a house in Bedford Street, Covent Garden. In 1765 he married Elizabeth Shewell, an American to whom he engaged in Philadelphia. All three prelates commissioned work from him, in 1766 West proposed a scheme to decorate St Pauls Cathedral with paintings. It was rejected by the Bishop of London, but his idea of painting an altarpiece for St Stephen Walbrook was accepted, at around this time he also received acclaim for his classical subjects, such as Orestes and Pylades and The Continence of Scipio. Benjamin West was known in England as the American Raphael and his Raphaelesque painting of Archangel Michael Binding the Devil is in the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge
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