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For those who are visiting Ottawa
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Author:  Denis du Villaret [ Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:09 am ]
Post subject:  For those who are visiting Ottawa
Hi Guys,

The newly established Canadian War Museum in Ottawa has something for you.

Here is a copy of an article providing us with a picture of a very interesting FIW exhibition:

<i>The Seven Years World War
Exhibition focuses on the global nature of a battle that still inflames language tensions

Paul Gessell, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Wednesday, May 31, 2006

There can be no greater minefield for a Canadian museum to negotiate than an exhibition about the Seven Years' War, the 18th century global conflict that still seems to simmer, and sometimes rage, between English and French in this country.

How does a supposedly neutral museum, in the national capital no less, tell the story of the war and not offend the many anglophones and francophones who seem only too eager to restage the Battle of the Plains of Abraham any time a Quebec flag is snubbed or an English sign is banned?

Well, the Canadian War Museum has found the solution: Let the Americans tell the story. That is what has been done with Clash of Empires: The War that Made Canada, 1754-1763, opening today. The exhibition is a rich collection of artifacts, war art, history lessons and military anecdotes largely assembled by, and already shown at, the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Centre.

There is everything from 18th century muskets, swords, tomahawks, peacepipes, medals and battlefield medical instruments to General Montcalm's silver wine cup and famous paintings by Benjamin West, including The Death of General Wolfe and General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian.

The Pittsburgh History Centre received considerable help from the Canadian War Museum in producing this highly educational show, and gathered considerable loot from institutions in Canada and in Europe.

But this is still largely an American show. The star is a young British soldier from Virginia, one George Washington, the man who became the first president of an independent United States and who is now, only half-jokingly, being described at the Canadian War Museum as a "Father of Confederation."

This is because Washington is blamed -- or credited, in some circles -- for starting the Seven Years' Year during a bloody battle against French and Canadian troops in Ohio in 1754. Both the British and French coveted what was then a largely Indian territory.

"At the break of dawn, May 28, 1754, in a rocky glen some 30 miles south of the strategic Forks of the Ohio, 22-year-old George Washington led his first command in a surprise attack on a party of French marines and Canadian militia," the exhibition catalogue says. "Things did not go as planned."

Indeed, Washington lost the fight. The exhibition includes a document, in French, signed by Washington and confessing to the "assassination" of French soldier Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville. The document is owned by the Royal Ontario Museum. Actually, Washington's Seneca ally, Tanaghrisson, grievously whacked Jumonville with a tomahawk but Washington took the blame and, if he is responsible for the Seven Years' War, then he is indirectly responsible for founding the British-ruled Canada that emerged from that war.

Despite the outbreak of fighting in 1754, France and Britain did not declare war on one another for another two years. That means the Seven Years' War should really be called the Nine Years' War. The Americans solve that problem by calling the conflict the French and Indian War.

The American perspective is refreshing. It does not get bogged down on the overly familiar linguistic and cultural battles that punctuate our usual history lessons. Instead, the exhibition puts events like the Plains of Abraham or the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians onto a much broader context. Those important milestones in Canadian history are shown to be part of a much larger English-French conflict across North America, Europe, the West Indies and parts of Asia.

Winston Churchill has called the Seven Years' War the first world war. Many historians believe the consequences of that war were as important for the 18th century as the Second World War was for the 20th century.

The end of the Seven Years' War resulted in Canada shifting from control of the French to the English. But it also started a chain of events that led to the American Revolution and the independence of the U.S. from Britain. The world has not been the same since.

Clash of Empires is a show for everyone. One could go just to appreciate the antique pistols, powder horns and bayonets. Others could be quite happy just to drool over the historical art -- four paintings by Dominic Serres of Quebec City in 1760 have been reunited for possibly the first time since they were painted. And one could also go simply to get an education about the war that made this country, a war that was far larger and more complex than most Canadians have been led to believe.

Clash of Empires: The War That Made Canada, 1754-1763 continues at the Canadian War Museum until Nov. 12. For information, phone 776-8623 or visit www.warmuseum.ca.
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