King George's War is the name given to fighting that spread to the North American colonies during the War of the Austrian Succession, beginning in 1744 and extending to 1748 when the conflict was resolved, however temporarily, by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was the third in a series of similar French-English conflicts in North America, following King William's War (1689-97) and Queen Anne's War (1702-13).
The war in Europe found Great Britain pitted against France, as per the norm. Though the conflict was touched off by the death of Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the subsequent succession crisis, it carried with it a trade subtext: the Treaty of Seville, which effectively barred Britain from any trade with the Spanish colonies, had proven extraordinarily beneficial for France. Britain, envious of the success, sought retribution; the simplest means to extract it was to launch an offensive in the colonies.
The Treaty of Utrecht that ended Queen Anne's War was inconclusive; it was a military necessity, as both sides had exhausted their men and supplies, rather than a plan for a lasting peace. The cession of French-speaking Acadia to Great Britain made for bad blood; France was granted Cape Breton Island, coveted by Britain for its strategic location. With the two powers in such close proximity it was inevitable that conflict would flare up again and again until a permanent resolution was found.
By the mid-eighteenth century, Britain held two harbours in Nova Scotia: Canso and Annapolis Royal, both of which were protected by heavy fortifications and regular garrisons of soldiers. France had a single fortified city, Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island; more northerly than the British forts, Louisbourg had great strategic importance as it guarded the entrance to the St. Lawrence River, an important trade route inland.
War in the colonies was declared formally in 1744. The first move came when French troops moved out from Louisbourg toward Canso; their attempt to take the fortress failed, but a battlement was destroyed by cannon fire and a number of prisoners were taken back to Louisbourg. The French attempted a similar attack on Annapolis Royal, expecting that reinforcements sent to Canso would have weakened the garrison there; they met with even less success, taking no prisoners and leaving the fortifications at Annapolis entirely intact.
A counterattack from the British came the spring following, after a winter of building up arms and support from colonists in New England, most of whom as Protestants were already suspicious of the Roman Catholic French. William Pepperrell, a wealthy merchant from Maine, was able to amass a force of more than four thousand men for an assault on Louisbourg from land; British warships from the Royal Navy, led by Sir Peter Warren, would back them from the sea.
A full-scale siege on Louisbourg was launched in April; much to the frustration of the defenders, the British and the New Englanders were relentless in their attack. By June, provisions in the fort had run short and the fortifications were damaged enough that they were forced to surrender. For his leadership, Pepperrell was awarded a baronetcy by King George II -- the first American colonist given this honour. The capture of Louisbourg effectively eliminated the French presence in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war.
France had marginally less dismal luck in the war's western theatre, inland and along the St. Lawrence. A headquarters of sorts was set up on the shores of Lake Champlain at Crown Point, central to a number of small British-held settlements. From there, swift attacks could be launched by both the French and their allies in the Huron Confederacy before withdrawing to the easily-defensible Point.
The Iroquois, historically enemies of the Huron, had allied themselves with Britain; Sir William Johnson, responsible for British operations in the west, organised rapid-fire counterattacks along similar lines. Though the French attempted to take several New England cities in 1745, their attacks were repelled and they were driven back to Crown Point; and despite the best efforts of the British and Iroquois, French troops were too deeply dug in along the shore to be pushed back. Fighting on the western front ended with heavy losses on both sides, and no clear victor.
In the meantime, the French government, angered by the loss of Louisbourg, was formulating a plan to retake the fortress: an armada was amassed, seventy ships and thousands of soldiers, to be sent from France to Nova Scotia. The fleet was large enough that once Louisbourg was retaken, enough soldiers and ships would be left to take the rest of Nova Scotia, and destroy any resistance from New England, all within a single season; any wasted time would mean failure, because it would allow for the other side to regroup and resist.
The fleet, captained by Duc d'Anville, was sent out in 1746, with great expectations for success. After being scattered and thrown off-course by a series of storms, enthusiasm and morale dwindled; months after they were scheduled to land, less than a third of the original fleet arrived in Nova Scotia only to find that reinforcements sent to meet them had already left. An effort to lay siege to Louisbourg anyway was a miserable failure. Rather than stay through the winter and try again in the spring, the armada returned in shame to France, and Louisbourg remained in British hands.
Border skirmishes flared up occasionally through 1747, but no ground was gained by either side. By this time the war in Europe was starting to grind to a halt; a treaty was being drawn up at Aachen, and an uneasy peace was declared in 1748.
The terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that ended the war raised the ire of nearly everyone in the colonies. Louisbourg was given back to France; the New England colonists who had funded the land assault in 1745 were so incensed that Britain was forced to reimburse their expenses. Restoring a French presence in Nova Scotia without negotiating terms to keep it free from attack was foolhardy at best; Louisbourg would later be retaken by Great Britain, as would all of New France. In the final estimation, King George's War did nothing to resolve tensions between France and Britain in the colonies -- just as the War of the Austrian Succession settled nothing in Europe.
Sources:
Dow, Joseph. King George's War, 1744-1749. http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/dow/chap13/dow13_7.htm
Pike, John. King George's War. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/king_george.htm
King George's War. http://www.usahistory.info/colonial-wars/King-Georges-War.html
King George's War. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h847.html
(All pages accessed 30 July 2004.) | 
