Colonial Wars (1607–1774)

Anglo-American colonial warfare in North America, from the founding of England’s first permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the eve of the American War of Independence in 1774, pitted England against Native Americans, imperial rivals, and its own colonists. The interaction of European and indigenous martial cultures, coupled with the introduction of Old World diseases and a global capitalist economy, made total wars the principal form of conflict on the continent. Anglo-American colonial warfare in North America consisted of four distinct phases. Phase 1 (1607–1688) was a period of proprietary warfare that established many of the enduring features of cross-cultural conflict in the New World. Phase 2 (1689–1753) was a period of proxy war that relied primarily on militia units. The French and Indian ...