Diplomatic Breakdown Precedes Attack
Following two decades of uneasy peace, Britain and France declared war against one another in 1689. Despite the 1669 Treaty of Whitehall, in which European forces agreed that Continental conflicts would not disrupt colonial peace and neutrality, the war was fought primarily by proxy in New France and New England, and the British of New York prompted local Iroquois warriors to attack New France's undefended settlements. While the British were preparing to engage in acts of warfare, the inhabitants of New France were ill prepared to defend against the Indian attacks because news of the formal declaration of conflict had not yet spread to New France.
Since the establishment of New France 80 years prior, the Iroquois had seen the colonists as a threat to their sovereignty and were eager to forge an alliance with the English to subdue the French threat. In an effort to disrupt colonial forces, the Iroquois made aggressive manoeuvres against French-allied tribes such as the Huron and Illinois, who were aiding France's fur trade, a significant economic commodity for the Europeans. In response, the French, first under Alexandre de Prouville in the 1660s, then under Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville in the 1680s, conducted punitive actions against the Iroquois to re-establish their dominance over the fur trade. Denonville, the Governor of New France, led 2,000 men deep into Seneca territory and destroyed their largest village. The Iroquois, angered by Denonville's incursion on their land and enraged by France's effort to use their people as galley slaves, needed little incentive to strike back at the French.
Read more about this topic: Lachine Massacre
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