Secondary III • 2yr.
Hello,
I have a quick question. Why did the conflict of the Conquest of New France extend outside North America, to the scale of colonial empires? What started the Seven Years' War?
Thank you!
Explanation from Alloprof
This Explanation was submitted by a member of the Alloprof team.
Hi
I understand that you are wondering why the Conquest took on such a big scale and led to the Seven Years' War.
First, you should know that there had been conflicts between Great Britain and France for several years. These conflicts often led to clashes in their respective colonies (the Thirteen colonies and New France). So there were inter-colonial wars. One can think of the war of succession of Austria.
The Conquest of New-France (1754-1760) is a war that begins in the colonies rather than on European soil. The thirteen colonies and New France compete for the territory of the Ohio Valley. This war strongly contributed to the tensions already present between France and Great Britain.
The Seven Years' War began in 1756, two years after the War of the Conquest, and ended in 1763. Despite having started on colonial soil, the war is considered of broader dimensions. It is even said that it is the first world war. We can thus understand that the Conquest of New France(centralized in North America) became a component of the Seven Years' War.
You wondered about the causes of the Seven Years' War. The main cause is undoubtedly the competition between France and Britain: both want to be the strongest and the richest, so they both want to dominate trade and have the most colonies.
Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you have any other questions.