The Struggle for North America, 1754–1758: Britannia's Tarnished Laurels

Abstract

George Yagi's perspective on Britain's Seven Years’ War (1755–1763) demonstrates that the outcome owed to William Pitt's reforms in 1758 for troops, the Royal Navy, and logistics to improve the quality and quantity of the regulars. Though Britain was “tarnished,” the changes ultimately brought victory. Britain became dominant in North America, and the Amerindians sued for peace. The war caused the British to request colonial assemblies for more money, troops, and logistical support (horses, wagons, bateaux, military roads, and foods to prevent scurvy, yellow fever, and malaria). Colonial recruits were inadequate, and the Royal Navy was often entrapped by fog, ice, winds, and French control of the St. Lawrence River until Britain took France's fortress at Louisbourg in 1758. After Admiral John Byng's execution in 1757 for cowardice, the Royal Navy began to rally. Britain was “tarnished” by losing the Battles of Monongahela (1755) and Fort William Henry (1757). Most studies discuss the last years instead of the “tarnished” early years—1754–1758. Useful also is Yagi's argument that British commanders Edward Braddock, Lord Loudoun, and William Shirley performed amazing feats of wilderness road construction and “established a colonial union” (p. 191).