War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. host, James Early. Hello and welcome back to Key Battles of American History.

I'm your host, James Early.

As always.

Today, I'm super excited because we're starting another brand new series.

Key Battles of the First World War.

Oh, no, no, no, not that First World War.

I'm not talking about the one with trench warfare, soup old helmets, poison gas,

rudimentary planes and weird-looking tanks.

No, no, no, no.

I'm talking about the real First World War, a war that

involved all the major European powers and several Native American nations, a war that was

fought on five continents as well as on the sea, a war that for the first time ever began in

North America and then spread to Europe and to the rest of the world, a war that made

an enormous impact on the global balance of power and on world history. I'm talking about the

Seven Years' War. As I mentioned, the Seven Years War began in North America and later spread

to other parts of the world. But the most decisive battles occurred in North America. Because of that,

...