<P> British and other European historians use the term the Seven Years' War, as do English - speaking Canadians . French Canadians call it La guerre de la Conquête (the War of the Conquest) or (rarely) the Fourth Intercolonial War . </P> <P> Fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the south to Newfoundland in the north . It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne within present - day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, during which Virginia militiamen under the command of 22 - year - old George Washington ambushed a French patrol . </P> <P> In 1755, six colonial governors in North America met with General Edward Braddock, the newly arrived British Army commander, and planned a four - way attack on the French . None succeeded, and the main effort by Braddock proved a disaster; he lost the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755 and died a few days later . British operations failed in the frontier areas of Pennsylvania and New York during 1755 - 57 due to a combination of poor management, internal divisions, effective Canadian scouts, French regular forces, and Indian warrior allies . In 1755, the British captured Fort Beauséjour on the border separating Nova Scotia from Acadia, and they ordered the expulsion of the Acadians (1755--64) soon afterwards . Orders for the deportation were given by William Shirley, Commander - in - Chief, North America, without direction from Great Britain . The Acadians were expelled, both those captured in arms and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to His Britannic Majesty . Indians likewise were driven off the land to make way for settlers from New England . </P> <P> The British colonial government fell in the region of modern Nova Scotia after several disastrous campaigns in 1757, including a failed expedition against Louisbourg and the Siege of Fort William Henry; this last was followed by Indians torturing and massacring their British victims . William Pitt came to power and significantly increased British military resources in the colonies at a time when France was unwilling to risk large convoys to aid the limited forces that they had in New France, preferring to concentrate their forces against Prussia and its allies in the European theater of the war . Between 1758 and 1760, the British military launched a campaign to capture the Colony of Canada (part of New France). They succeeded in capturing territory in surrounding colonies and ultimately the city of Quebec (1759). The British later lost the Battle of Sainte - Foy west of Quebec (1760), but the French ceded Canada in accordance with the Treaty of Paris (1763). </P>

Who was the military leader in the first battle of what became the french and indian war