The Seven Years' War (Part Two): Imperial Tensions and Conflict on the Pennsylvania Borderland
Lifelong Learning | Registration opens 8/7/2025 9:00 AM EDT
These sessions build on the themes and issues presented during the first sessions. We examine how the conflict that started in the back country of western Pennsylvania escalated into a global conflict which spilled into Europe, Africa, India, and the Philippines. Key figures and events include the role of Secretary of State William Pitt and his renovation of the British war effort, the infamous Fort William Henry massacre, the march of General John Forbes in the taking of Fort Duquesne, and the final years of the conflict during the French defense of Quebec and Montreal in 1760. We will examine how the 1763 Treaty of Paris and Pontiac’s war reshaped the British empire and changed the political landscape of the American colonies. The course will include visual support such as PowerPoint presentations and the PBS video series: The War that Made America, which will enhance both course content and historical narratives.
Richard Grimes
Dr. Richard S. Grimes has taught Native American history and early American history for 25 years at West Virginia University and Lifelong Learning Program for West Virginia University, Carnegie-Mellon University, Duquesne University, and LaRoche University. He currently teaches at Penn State University-Beaver. An active researcher and writer, his book The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730–1795: Warriors and Diplomats was published by Lehigh University Press, Studies in the Eighteenth Century and the Atlantic World (October 2017).