Marquis de montcalm biography of barack
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General James Wolfe’s historic letters acquired by U of T Libraries
"My Antagonist has wisely shut himself up, in inaccessible entrenchments, so that I can't get at him, without spilling a torrent of blood & that perhaps to little purpose. The Marquis de Montcalm is at the head of a great number of bad soldiers & I am at the head of a small number of good ones, that wish for nothing so much as to fight him – but the Wary old fellow avoids an Action; doubtfull of the behavior of the Army."
- General James Wolfe (Letter 233) on the banks of the River St. Lawrence, 31 August 1759
The University of Toronto has acquired an archive of national importance to Canada’s heritage: the personal correspondence of General James Wolfe (1727-1759).
The acquisition, through Christie’s, was made possible by the generous philanthropic support of Helmhorst Investments Limited and the assistance of a Movable Cultural Property grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
“Our
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Description
British troops was Major General James Wolfe, while the Marquis dem Montcalm was at the head of the French forces. The British were victorious and five days later Quebec, the Capital of New France, surrendered.
That storied battle still resonates. The surprise landing of British troops combined with the short duration of the battle and the death of the French and British commanders have remained etched in our memories. Though the the Battle of the Plains of Abraham has been considered a turning point, it overshadows other significant events in the North American campaign that spanned the years from 1754 to 1760.
This book puts the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in the broader context of a war with worldwide consequences, the Seven Years’ War. It examines the actions that sparked the fighting between France and Britain in North amerika, before the Seven Years’ War began. These include conflict in 1753 in Ohio between English/America
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Why Did the French and Indian War Start?
The Seven Years’ War (called the French and Indian War in the colonies) lasted from 1756 to 1763, forming a chapter in the imperial struggle between Britain and France called the Second Hundred Years’ War.
In the early 1750s, France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies, especially Virginia. In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers joined to form the Ohio River (in today’s Pittsburgh), making it a strategically important stronghold that the British repeatedly attacked.
During 1754 and 1755, the French won a string of victories, defeating in quick succession the young George Washington, Gen. Edward Braddock and Braddock’s successor, Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts.
In 1755, Governor Shirley, fearing that the French settlers in Nova Scotia (Acadia) would side with France in any military confrontation, expe