1.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
2.
Colony of Virginia
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The Colony of Virginia was the first permanently settled English colony in North America. Newfoundland, with settlements, had been established as a colony by Royal Charter in 1583. American archaeologist William Kelso says Virginia is where the British Empire began and this was the first colony in the British Empire. The colony existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution, the name Virginia was first applied by Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I in 1584. In 1607, members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded Jamestown, tobacco became Virginias first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns. In 1624, the Virginia Companys charter was revoked by King James I, from 1619 to 1776, the legislature of the Virginia was the House of Burgesses, which governed in conjunction with a colonial governor. Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699, from 1699 until its dissolution the capital was in Williamsburg and it experienced its first major political turmoil with Bacons Rebellion of 1676. The name Virginia is the oldest designation for English claims in North America, the latter word may have inspired the Queen to name the colony Virginia, noting her status as the Virgin Queen. in Carolina Algonquian, and was not the name of the country as previously misunderstood. Virginia was originally a term used to refer to North Americas entire eastern coast from the 34th parallel north to 48th parallel and this area included a large section of Canada and the shores of Acadia. In gratitude for Virginians loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War, Charles II gave it the title of Old Dominion, Virginia maintains Old Dominion as its state nickname. Accordingly, the University of Virginias athletic teams use Cavaliers as one of their nicknames, earlier attempts had been made by the Spanish in what is now Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and by the French in South Carolina. Farther south, the Spanish colony of Spanish Florida, centered on St. Augustine, was established in 1565, while to the north, in 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent his first colonization mission to the island of Roanoke. This was the first English settlement, although it did not survive and it was a military research expedition with a very narrow focus. In 1587, Raleigh sent another group to attempt to establish a permanent settlement. The first English child born in the New World was named Virginia Dare, the expedition leader, John White returned to England for supplies that same year, but was unable to return to the colony due to war between England and Spain. When he finally did return in 1590, he found the colony abandoned, the houses were intact, but the colonists had completely disappeared. Although there are a number of theories about the fate of the colony, Dare County was named in honor of the baby Virginia Dare, who was among those whose fate is unknown. The word Croatoan was found carved into a tree, the name of a tribe on a nearby island, following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James I ascended to the throne
3.
George II of Great Britain
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George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain, he was born, after the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne. In the first years of his fathers reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians, as king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain. As elector, he spent twelve summers in Hanover, where he had direct control over government policy. He had a relationship with his eldest son, Frederick. During the War of the Austrian Succession, George participated at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, nine years before his father, and so George II was ultimately succeeded by his grandson, George III. For two centuries after George IIs death, history tended to him with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short temper. Since then, most scholars have reassessed his legacy and conclude that he held and exercised influence in foreign policy and military appointments. George was born in the city of Hanover in Germany, and was the son of George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, both of Georges parents committed adultery, and in 1694 their marriage was dissolved on the pretext that Sophia had abandoned her husband. She was confined to Ahlden House and denied access to her two children, George and his sister Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, who never saw their mother again. George spoke only French, the language of diplomacy and the court, until the age of four, after which he was taught German by one of his tutors, Johann Hilmar Holstein. In addition to French and German, he was schooled in English and Italian. Georges second cousin once removed, Queen Anne, ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1702, consequently, after his grandmother and father, George was third in line to succeed Anne in two of her three realms. England and Scotland united in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, Georges father did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage as he had, and wanted him to have the opportunity of meeting his bride before any formal arrangements were made. Negotiations from 1702 for the hand of Princess Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, Dowager Duchess and regent of Holstein-Gottorp, the English envoy to Hanover, Edmund Poley, reported that George was so taken by the good character he had of her that he would not think of anybody else. A marriage contract was concluded by the end of July, on 22 August /2 September 1705O. S. /N. S. Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding, which was held the evening in the chapel at Herrenhausen. George was keen to participate in the war against France in Flanders, in early 1707, Georges hopes were fulfilled when Caroline gave birth to a son, Frederick
4.
French and Indian War
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The French and Indian War comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years War of 1754–1763. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, the outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Following months of localised conflict, the nations declared war on each other in 1756. The name French and Indian War, used mainly in the United States, British and European historians use the term the Seven Years War, as do English speaking Canadians. French Canadians call it La guerre de la Conquête or the Fourth Intercolonial War, fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the south to Newfoundland in the north. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne. The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, in 1755, six colonial governors in North America met with General Edward Braddock, the newly arrived British Army commander, and planned a four-way attack on the French. None succeeded, and the effort by Braddock proved a disaster, he lost the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9,1755. In 1755, the British captured Fort Beauséjour on the border separating Nova Scotia from Acadia, orders for the deportation were given by William Shirley, Commander-in-Chief, North America, without direction from Great Britain. The Acadians, both captured in arms and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to His Britannic Majesty, were expelled. Native Americans were likewise driven off their land to make way for settlers from New England, after the disastrous 1757 British campaigns, the British government fell. France concentrated its forces against Prussia and its allies in the European theatre of the war, between 1758 and 1760, the British military launched a campaign to capture the Colony of Canada. They succeeded in capturing territory in surrounding colonies and ultimately the city of Quebec, though the British later lost the Battle of Sainte-Foy west of Quebec, the French ceded Canada in accordance with the Treaty of Paris. The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict, France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. It ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to its ally Spain, in compensation for Spains loss to Britain of Florida. Frances colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the conflict is known by multiple names. In British America, wars were often named after the sitting British monarch, such as King Williams War or Queen Annes War. As there had already been a King Georges War in the 1740s, British colonists named the war in King Georges reign after their opponents
5.
Fort Duquesne
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Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the convergence point of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the U. S. state of Pennsylvania. It was destroyed by the British, and replaced by Fort Pitt in 1758, the site of both forts is now occupied by Point State Park, where the outlines of the two forts have been laid in brick. Englishman William Trent had established a successful trading post at the forks as early as the 1740s. Both the French and the British were keen to gain advantage in the area, as the area was within the drainage basin of the Mississippi River, the French claimed it as theirs. Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony, Robert Dinwiddie, saw this as threatening to the claims to land in the area by Virginians. Washington reached Fort Le Boeuf in December and was rebuffed by the French. Following Washingtons return to Virginia in January 1754, Dinwiddie sent Virginians to build Fort Prince George at the Forks of the Ohio, work began on the fort on February 17. By April 18, a much larger French force of five hundred under the command of Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur arrived at the forks, the French knocked down the tiny British fort and built Fort Duquesne, named in honor of Marquis Duquesne, the governor-general of New France. The fort was built on the model as Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario. Meanwhile, Washington, newly promoted to Colonel of the newly created Virginia Regiment, set out on 2 April 1754 with a force to build a road to. Washington was at Wills Creek in south central Pennsylvania when he received news of the forts surrender, on May 25, Washington assumed command of the expedition upon the death of Colonel Joshua Fry. Two days later, Washington encountered a Canadian scouting party near a place now known as Jumonville Glen, Washington attacked the Canadians killing 10 in the early morning hours, and took 21 prisoners, of whom many were killed by the natives. More importantly for world history, the Battle of Jumonville Glen is widely considered the start of the French and Indian War. Washington then ordered construction of Fort Necessity at a large clearing known as the Great Meadows, on 3 July 1754, the counterattacking French and Canadians forced Washington to surrender Fort Necessity, but allowed Washington and his men to return home without their armaments. Even though Fort Duquesnes location at the forks looked strong on a map—controlling the confluence of three rivers—the reality was rather different, the site was low, swampy, and prone to flooding. In addition, the position was dominated by highlands located directly across the Monongahela River, Pécaudy de Contrecœur was preparing to abandon the fort in the face of Braddocks advance in 1755, and was only saved when the advancing British force was annihilated. The French held Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War, the French held the fort successfully early in the war, turning back the expedition led by General Edward Braddock during the 1755 Battle of the Monongahela. George Washington served as one of General Braddocks aides, a smaller attack by James Grant in September 1758 was repulsed with heavy losses
6.
Pontiac's War
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Warriors from numerous tribes joined the uprising in an effort to drive British soldiers and settlers out of the region. The war is named after the Odawa leader Pontiac, the most prominent of many leaders in the conflict. The war began in May 1763 when Native Americans, offended by the policies of British General Jeffrey Amherst, eight forts were destroyed, and hundreds of colonists were killed or captured, with many more fleeing the region. Hostilities came to an end after British Army expeditions in 1764 led to negotiations over the next two years. Native Americans were unable to drive away the British, but the uprising prompted the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict. Warfare on the North American frontier was brutal, and the killing of prisoners, the targeting of civilians, the ruthlessness and treachery of the conflict was a reflection of a growing divide between the separate populations of the British colonists and Native Americans. This proved unpopular with British colonists, and may have one of the early contributing factors to the American Revolution. The conflict is named after its most famous participant, the Ottawa leader Pontiac, variations include Pontiacs War, Pontiacs Rebellion, an early name for the war was the Kiyasuta and Pontiac War, Kiyasuta being an alternate spelling for Guyasuta, an influential Seneca/Mingo leader. The war became known as Pontiacs Conspiracy after the publication in 1851 of Francis Parkmans The Conspiracy of Pontiac. Parkmans influential book, the account of the war for nearly a century, is still in print. In the 20th century, some argued that Parkman exaggerated the extent of Pontiacs influence in the conflict. Alternate titles for the war have been proposed, but historians continue to refer to the war by the familiar names. Pontiacs Conspiracy is now used by scholars. In the decades before Pontiacs Rebellion, France and Great Britain participated in a series of wars in Europe that also involved the French, the largest of these wars was the worldwide Seven Years War, in which France lost New France in North America to Great Britain. British troops proceeded to occupy the forts in the Ohio Country. Even before the war ended with the Treaty of Paris. While the French had long cultivated alliances among certain of the Native Americans, before long, Native Americans who had been allies of the defeated French found themselves increasingly dissatisfied with the British occupation and the new policies imposed by the victors. Native Americans involved in Pontiacs Rebellion lived in a defined region of New France known as the pays den haut
7.
Province of Maryland
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Its first settlement and capital was St. Marys City, in the southern end of St. Marys County, which is a peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay and is also bordered by four tidal rivers. The province began as a colony of the English Lord Baltimore. In 1689, the following the Glorious Revolution, John Coode led a rebellion that removed Lord Baltimore from power in Maryland. Power in the colony was restored to the Baltimore family in 1715 when Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, insisted in public that he was a Protestant. Despite early competition with the colony of Virginia to its south, and the Dutch colony of New Netherland to its north, Maryland received a larger felon quota than any other province. By 1776 the old order had been overthrown, as Maryland citizens signed the Declaration of Independence, the Catholic George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, former Secretary of State to His Majesty, King Charles I, wished to create a haven for English Catholics in the New World. Upon Baltimores death in 1632 the grant was transferred to his eldest son Cecil, on June 20,1632 Charles I of England granted the original charter for Maryland, a proprietary colony of about twelve million acres, to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Some historians view this grant as a form of compensation for Calverts fathers having been stripped of his title of Secretary of State upon announcing his Roman Catholicism in 1625. The charter offered no guidelines on religion, although it was assumed that Catholics would not be molested in the new colony. The charter had originally granted to Calverts father, George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. Whatever the reason for granting the colony specifically to Baltimore, however, the colony of New Netherland begun by Englands great imperial rival in this era, the United Provinces specifically claimed the Delaware River valley and was vague about its border with Virginia. Charles rejected all the Dutch claims on the Atlantic seaboard, but was anxious to bolster English claims by formally occupying the territory, the new colony was named after the devoutly Catholic Henrietta Maria of France, the Queen Consort. Colonial Maryland was considerably larger than the state of Maryland. The original charter granted the Calverts an imprecisely defined territory north of Virginia and south of the 40th parallel, like other aristocratic proprietors, he also hoped to turn a profit on the new colony. The Calvert family recruited Catholic aristocrats and Protestant settlers for Maryland, luring them with land grants. To try to gain settlers, Maryland used what is known as the headright system, settlers were given 50 acres of land for each person they brought into the colony, whether as settler, indentured servant or slave. Of the 200 or so initial settlers who traveled to Maryland on the ships Ark and Dove, Clements Island, off the northern shore of the Potomac River, upstream from its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay and Point Lookout. The new settlers were led by Lord Baltimores younger brother Leonard Calvert and he knew of white men from communication with native tribes to the South and West in Virginia and he was eager to gain technology, such as guns and gunpowder, from the Maryland settlers
8.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
9.
Braddock Expedition
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It was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, and the survivors retreated. The expedition takes its name from General Edward Braddock, who led the British forces and died in the effort. Braddocks defeat was a setback for the British in the early stages of the war with France and has been described as one of the most disastrous defeats for the British in the 18th century. Braddocks expedition was part of a massive British offensive against the French in North America that summer, as commander-in-chief of the British Army in America, General Braddock led the main thrust against the Ohio Country with a column some 2,100 strong. With these men, Braddock expected to seize Fort Duquesne easily, George Washington, then just 23, knew the territory and served as a volunteer aide-de-camp to General Braddock. Braddocks Chief of Scouts was Lieutenant John Fraser of the Virginia Regiment, Fraser owned land at Turtle Creek, had been at Fort Necessity, and had served as Second-in-Command at Fort Prince George, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. Braddock mostly failed in his attempts to recruit Native American allies from those not yet allied with the French, he had but eight Mingo Indians with him. A number of Indians in the area, notably Delaware leader Shingas, caught between two powerful European empires at war, the local Indians could not afford to be on the side of the loser. They would decide based on Braddocks success or failure, Braddock had received important assistance from Benjamin Franklin, who helped procure wagons and supplies for the expedition. Among the wagoners were two men who would later become legends of American history, Daniel Boone and Daniel Morgan. Other members of the expedition included Ensign William Crawford and Charles Scott, among the British were Thomas Gage, Charles Lee, future American president George Washington, and Horatio Gates. In some cases, the column was able to progress at a rate of two miles a day, creating Braddocks Road—an important legacy of the march—as they went. They passed the ruins of Fort Necessity along the way, where the French, small French and Indian war bands skirmished with Braddocks men during the march. Meanwhile, at Fort Duquesne, the French garrison consisted of only about 250 regulars and Canadian militia, the Indians were from a variety of tribes long associated with the French, including Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Potawatomis. Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur, the Canadian commander, received reports from Indian scouting parties that the British were on their way to besiege the fort. He realised he could not withstand Braddocks cannon, and decided to launch a preemptive strike, by July 8,1755, the Braddock force was on the land owned by the Chief Scout, Lieutenant John Fraser. That evening, the Indians sent a delegation to the British to request a conference, the Indians asked the British to halt their advance so that they could attempt to negotiate a peaceful withdrawal by the French from Fort Duquesne. Both Washington and Fraser recommended this to Braddock but he demurred, on July 9,1755, Braddocks men crossed the Monongahela without opposition, about 10 miles south of Fort Duquesne
10.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
11.
Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
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Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years War which lasted between 1756 and 1763. The war started poorly for Britain, which suffered many deaths from the plague and scurvy, and at the hands of France in North America during 1754–55, and in the loss of Minorca in 1756. The same year Britains major ally Austria switched sides and aligned itself with France, for the next seven years these two nations were ranged against a growing number of enemy powers led by France. In 1759 Britain enjoyed an Annus Mirabilis with success over the French on the continent, in North America, in 1761 Britain also came into conflict with Spain. The following year British forces captured Havana and Manila, the western and eastern capitals of the Spanish Empire, by this time the Pitt-Newcastle ministry had collapsed, Britain was short of credit and the generous peace terms offered by France and its allies were accepted. Through the crown, Britain was allied to the Electorate of Hanover and Kingdom of Ireland and it also directed the military strategy of its various colonies around the world including British America. In India British possessions were administered by the East India Company, by the early 1750s many saw another major war as imminent, and Austria was preparing its forces for an attempt to retake Silesia from Prussia. The British Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, had acceded to the premiership in 1754 following the death of his brother Henry Pelham. Newcastle had thirty years experience as a Secretary of State and was a figure on the diplomatic scene. Despite enjoying a majority in the House of Commons he was extremely cautious and vulnerable to attacks led by men such as William Pitt. Newcastle fervently believed that peace in Europe was possible so long as the Old System, one of the major concerns for the British government of the era was colonial expansion. During the eighteenth century the British colonies in North America had become more populous, the territory most prized by the new settlers was the Ohio Country, which was also claimed by France. As well as having potential, it was considered strategically key. French control of territory would block British expansion westwards and eventually French territory would surround the British colonies. A number of delegations to London urged the government to take more decisive action in the Ohio dispute. The Ohio country located between Britains Thirteen Colonies and Frances New France saw France and Britain clash, in 1753 the French sent an expedition south from Montreal that began constructing forts in the upper reaches of the Ohio River. Washington and some native allies ambushed a company of French scouts at the Battle of Jumonville Glen in late May 1754, in the skirmish the French envoy Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville was left dead, leading to a diplomatic incident. The French responded in force from Fort Duquesne, and in July Washington was forced to surrender at the Battle of Fort Necessity, despite the conflict between them, the two nations were not yet formally at war
12.
Edward Braddock
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He is generally best remembered for his command of a disastrous expedition against the French-occupied Ohio River Valley then in western Virginia or Pennsylvania in 1755, in which he lost his life. The son of Major-General Edward Braddock of the Coldstream Guards, Braddock was appointed ensign in his fathers regiment on 11 October 1710, on 26 May 1718 he fought a duel in Hyde Park, Hisenburg with a Colonel Waller. He was promoted to captain in 1736, major in 1743 and he participated in the Siege of Bergen op Zoom in 1747. On 17 February 1753 he was appointed colonel of the 14th Regiment of Foot, appointed shortly afterwards to command against the French in America, he landed in Hampton, in the colony of Virginia on 20 February 1755 with two regiments of British regulars. He met with several of the governors at the Congress of Alexandria on 14 April and was persuaded to undertake vigorous actions against the French. A general from Massachusetts would attack at Fort Niagara, General Johnson at Fort Saint-Frédéric at Crown Point and he would lead an Expedition against Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio. Braddock took some of his men and marched forward, leaving most of his men behind, the column crossed the Monongahela River on 9 July 1755, and shortly afterwards collided head-on with an Indian and French force who were rushing from Fort Duquesne to oppose the river crossing. Braddocks troops reacted poorly and became disordered, the British attempted retreat, but ran into the rest of the British soldiers left behind from earlier. Braddock, rallying his men time after time, fell at last, an article published in the Roanoke Times on April 15,1951 suggests that the general’s death was the result of fratricide perpetuated by a Colonial soldier by the name of Benjamin Bolling. Braddock was borne off the field by Washington and Col. Nicholas Meriwether, before he died Braddock left Washington his ceremonial sash that he wore with his battle uniform and muttered some of his last words, which were Who would have thought. Reportedly, Washington never went anywhere without this sash for the rest of his life and it is still on display today at Washingtons home on the Potomac River, Mount Vernon. He was buried just west of Great Meadows, where the remnants of the column halted on its retreat to reorganize, George Washington presided at the burial service, as the chaplain had been severely wounded. Benjamin Franklins Autobiography includes an account of helping General Braddock garner supplies and carriages for the generals troops, Braddock had in fact taken great precautions against ambuscade, and had crossed the Monongahela an additional time to avoid the narrow Turtle Creek defile. In 1804, human remains believed to be Braddocks were found buried in the roadway about 1.5 miles west of Great Meadows by a crew of road workers, a marble monument was erected over the new grave site in 1913 by the Coldstream Guards. Plus sections of the cut by the British Army is known as Braddocks Road and forms most of eastern U. S. Route 40 in Maryland. General Braddock appears as an antagonist in Assassins Creed III, in which the player, Haytham Kenway and he is however dressed in the uniform of a private soldier and appears much younger than he really was. Great Britain in the Seven Years War explorepahistory. com Fred Anderson, Crucible of War, The Seven Years War, paul Kopperman, Braddock at the Monongahela. Lee McCardell, Ill-Starred General, Braddock of the Coldstream Guards, louis M. Waddell and Bruce D. Bomberger, The French and Indian War in Pennsylvania, Fortification and Struggle During the War for Empire
Colony of Virginia