King William's War: The First Contest for North America, 1689-1697

Being something of a military history buff, I took a chance on an obscure and small war that is virtually forgotten like most of the inter-colonial conflicts.I was not disappointed.Of the four inter-colonial wars between the English and the French North American colonies, it was only the first one in the 1680s to 1690s that the French can be considered to have won ( King William’s War named after William of Orange).A few things stood out to me. First, the French proved to be bolder and more audacious despite limited resources. They could be quite nasty but did not have the luxury of staying pat. Quebec is attacked for the first of 5 attempts, for instance.Second, the English were stymied by the split nature and governance of the diverse colonies. They would realize this and this gave birth in the near future to a more coordinated strategy, which will have massive repercussions down the road for the French and British.Third, the timing for the English was bad because it corresponded with the turmoil of the Glorious Revolution. This did cause leadership issues and even near civil war amongst the English. This affected their ability to coordinate.Fourth, due to the lack of manpower and large open spaces, both sides relied heavily on their Native Allies. The French especially used the Natives as more than half of their units.Fifth, the myth of the Noble Savage can be dispensed with. The Natives - especially the Iroquois Five Nations and the Wabnaki - were often very brutal in their massacres (of course with encouragement from their European Allies) but also against each other.There were several massacres during this time period of over 100 settlers with Schenectady being the one that is most memorable.Finally, there were three low-level wars that dovetailed into this one. There was the economic-related Beaver Wars, the Conflict over Arcadia between England and France and the conflict over Hudson Bay.Reading about the visceral hatred between the English and the French that would continue for another 120 years ( A Second Hundred Years War), it is a miracle that these two would fight side by side in the 20th century.

Like: covered a relatively obscure time in colonial history when France and England were contesting the control of North America. Very complex relations between the f French and their Indian allies and the English and their Indian allies. Constantly shifting alliances mostly driven by the hugely profitable trade in beaver pelts. Very bloody primitive warfareNot like: indifferently edited. Names pop up with no introduction. Lapses in basic grammar that should have been edited out at the galley proof level. More characters than a Russian novel. Not always easy to keep track of intertwining relationships. The Wabanaki’s were a bad bunch of dudes.

King William's War is a theater of the Nine Years War too rarely discussed in history publication. I searched high and low for a good book on the War and here it is. Laramie does an expert job in covering the war from the broadest strokes to the finest details. If you're looking for a great read about America before the Revolution I can't recommend this one highly enough.

The author was ill-served by his publisher. It reads as though someone just ran it through a spellchecker and accepted all the recommendations without looking at them. That and the author's fondness for long, long sentences, liberally sprinkled with "to", make it hard to focus on the narrative.

Great read on a great subject that needs more attention. This book is an account/history of the first French & IndianWar. These wars were very important in that they determined who would control North America, France or Britain.This book is the only book (that I am aware of) that focuses exclusively on the first of these conflicts. Very good read!

Great book about a little known conflict.

Great read to understand all of the efforts by all of the parties vying for control of their destiny. I was surprised about how relentless were the skirmishes to exert control.

This was a really good book about a war that I knew nothing about before.