The War That Made America: The Story of the French and Indian War

• When the Forest Ran Red (Ultimate Edition)
• The History Channel Presents The Revolution
• The History Channel Presents The War of 1812
• Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower
• Liberty! The American Revolution
• John Adams (HBO Miniseries)
• Conquest of America (History Channel)
• George Washington's First War: The Battles for Fort Duquesne
• The Crossing
• National Geographic - The New World: Nightmare in Jamestown

Anderson's book is a mature and sober study of complicated politics, complicated men and complicated times.

Alas, this PBS documentary chooses to gloss over the complicated politics that led to the war in North America (nary a mention of the war's European theater) at the expense of explaining away the Indians' notorious cruelty as merely cultural differences and elevating the Indians to the status of equal players. While Anderson's book presented the Indians as a party of interest in the war, and at times as both prime movers to events as well as pawns, he never makes the politically correct excuses the makers of this documentary do.

That sort of sugar coating is, I suppose, de riguer nowadays but let's face it, it is bull and it really has no place in any serious and scholarly historical works. Ken Burns' documentary work remains the standard and this PBS docudrama doesn't come close to reaching it.

Also, unlike the makers of the documentary, he never loses focus that his book is about "The War That Made America", where much of the emphasis is on events that shaped colonial political response to both the French and the Indians and, ultimately towards Britain, the mother country, not to the shafting of the Indians (which isn't to say that that didn't happen or that it wasn't important, but it had almost no bearing on the coming Revolutionary War). Anderson's book of the same name attempted to introduce the reader to the often ignored Indian role in many of the French and Indian War literature and at that it succeeded beautifully.

To make matters worse, the omnipresent Indians are almost ALWAYS mentioned as major players (even when their numbers are ridiculously low such as when 250 Canadian Mohawks fought alongside thousands of French soldiers).

1. 2 big issues.

The 7 Years war in Europe was due to the Prussian desire for Silesia and not caused by some blunder in North America. This is like saying the Mongol massacres were just cultural.

I have read some serious accounts of the war and this program is really designed for those are completely ignorant of the war. The way the Indians conducted their raids, no matter how "cultural" they are explained, could not but bring about the consequences that befell them.

The politically correct attempt to describe the terror attacks on the settlers as cultural and should be just accepted. Terror attacks on civilians by any group should be condemned as such.

I wanted to like this program. 2.

But it still is a fascinating point in time. about 6 times so far. It's a really well done production, highly informative, and gives you a good feel for the eastern US as a wilderness in contention. Footnote: It didn't matter who won what war, as the settlers were coming one way or another. I knew basically nothing about the F&I War before watching this. Hard to imagine that where the Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh now stands was once a coveted spot in an ocean of trees.

They do an excellent job of summarizing the conflict through dramatizations. Very interesting and easy to follow as well. This documentary truely does a fantastic job covering its respective subject. They do leave out a few details and skirmishes, however they do a wonderful job covering the war in a reasonable amount of time. I highly recommend it. They hit all of the high points in the struggle between France and Britain for the new world. I am especially impressed with this documentary as I have now finished a semester of study on the French and Indian war.

In addition, the perspectives of Indians are well described. Although the French are outnumbered by the British in that period, they allied with the Indians and defeated the British many times. It would be good to have more discussions or deeper analysis for the linkage. Finally, the British won the war and the French were dispelled out of the North America. Their policy favored the Indians but didn't fit the interest of the colonists, which ultimately brought on the Revolution War. I enjoy the whole watching very much.

They are not that bad as barbarians, but have their own ways of living and believing. The British, however, didn't manage this territory well after winning the war. Then, they realized they need to respect these Indians as well and thus turned the tide of this war. The British first got the support from the colonists by treating them with respect. This film is definitely a must-have for anyone having interest in the American history.

The actors/actresses in this film perform well and get the job done. The impact to the Revolution War, however, seems not thorough enough for me. It's kind of rush, in my opinion. On the whole, it's pretty smooth, well-organized and detailed. For a non-native American like me, this is my first touch about this history.

I think the chapters of the French and Indian War are well set in this film.