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Step away from the powdered wigs and marble statues of Europe—the Seven Years' War began in the mud and mosquitoes of the American wilderness. Join us as we trek into the Ohio Country, a forgotten crossroads that sparked global conflict.

The Ohio Country wasn't empty forest—it was prime real estate. Rivers connected in every direction like an 18th-century transportation hub, making it the most strategic territory in North America. The French needed it to connect their empire; the British colonists craved it for expansion; and the Native nations who actually lived there—Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo, and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy—fought to maintain their independence amidst these imperial games.

Enter 21-year-old George Washington—ambitious, inexperienced, and deeply connected to Virginia land speculation companies. When Governor Dinwiddie sends him to deliver a message to French forts, Washington returns with intelligence and newfound fame. But his second mission turns disastrous. After ambushing a French party and allowing their leader to be executed by an Iroquois ally, Washington finds himself surrendering at a rain-soaked Fort Necessity, unwittingly signing a document admitting to assassination.

This seemingly small frontier clash convinced Britain to send regular troops, launched colonial attempts at unity with the Albany Congress, and ultimately ignited a global war fought across five continents. Before Washington became the marble man on the dollar bill, he was a muddy, defeated young officer who accidentally started a world war.

Subscribe to hear what happens next, as we head to Albany in 1754 where colonial delegates tried to forge a united front against the looming French threats. We'll see how their plans for alliance promised much, but revealed even more about the colonies' deep divisions. The Albany Congress may not have solved the crisis, but it left a legacy that would echo far beyond this war.

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The world of 1748 balanced precariously on the edge of chaos. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had technically ended the War of Austrian Succession, but as we explore in this first episode, it was less a peace treaty and more "like cramming eight angry cats into a sack, tying it shut and walking away." From this uneasy truce would emerge the Seven Years' War—a conflict Winston Churchill would later dub "the First World War."

We journey across the chess board of 18th-century power politics to understand the key players and their motivations. In Britain, King George II dozes through royal functions while his ministers fret over colonial taxation and French encroachment. Across the Channel, Louis XV's France maintains its glittering facade despite crumbling finances and colonial vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Maria Theresa of Austria rebuilds her empire with one eye fixed on reclaiming Silesia from Frederick the Great—Prussia's flute-playing philosopher king with an army that punches far above its weight.

The drama extends eastward to Russia, where Empress Elizabeth hosts lavish masquerades while assembling Europe's largest army, and southward to Spain and Portugal, where faded glory meets strategic importance. Each power nurtures grievances and ambitions that make conflict inevitable. And at the center of this brewing storm stands a tall, ambitious 21-year-old Virginian named George Washington, about to "blunder into the history books" and inadvertently spark a global conflagration.

This episode sets the stage for our journey through one of history's most consequential conflicts—a war fought across five continents that would redraw the map of empires and plant the seeds for revolutions to come. Subscribe now to follow the entire dramatic story of the Seven Years' War and discover how this 18th-century struggle shaped our modern world.