The French and Indian War has gone very poorly for the British, whose military has met few of its objectives.

William Pitt has gained full control of the direction of British military efforts in the Seven Years' War in the wake of a string of French victories in 1757 in North America, coupled with military setbacks in Europe.

Embarking on a strategy that emphasizes defense in Europe, where France is strong, and offense in North America, where France is weak, he resolves to attack New France (the colonial holdings of France in North America) in three strategic campaigns.

Large-scale campaigns are planned to capture Fort Duquesne on the Pennsylvania frontier and the fortress at Louisbourg (on Île-Royale, now known as Cape Breton Island).

The third campaign, assigned to General James Abercrombie, is to launch an attack against Canada through the Champlain Valley.

The British government realizes that with the Fortress of Louisbourg under French control, there is no way that the Royal Navy can sail up the St. Lawrence River for an attack on Quebec unmolested.

After the expedition against Louisbourg in 1757 led by Lord Loudon was turned back due to a strong French naval deployment, the British under the leadership of William Pitt has resolved to try again with new commanders.

Pitt assigns the duty of capturing the fortress to Major General Jeffrey Amherst.

Amherst's brigadiers are Charles Lawrence, James Wolfe and Edward Whitmore, and command of naval operations is assigned to Admiral Edward Boscawen.

The chief engineer is John Henry Bastide, who had been present at the first siege of Louisbourg in 1745 and had been chief engineer at Fort St Philip, Minorca, in 1756 when the British had surrendered the fort and island to the French after a long siege.

The French plan to defend Louisbourg by a large naval build-up, as they had in 1757.

However, the French fleet sailing from Toulon is blockaded in Cartagena by a British force, and a relief force had been defeated at the Battle of Cartagena.

After this the French abandon their attempt to reinforce Louisbourg from the Mediterranean, meaning there will be few ships available to actively oppose the British off Louisbourg.

British forces have assembled at Halifax, where army and navy units have spent most of May training together as the massive invasion fleet comes together.

After a large gathering at the Great Pontack, the Royal Navy fleet departs from Halifax for Louisbourg on May 29.

The fleet consists of one hundred and fifty transport ships and forty men-of-war.

Housed in these ships are almost fourteen thousand soldiers, almost all of whom are regulars (with the exception of four companies of American rangers).

The force is divided into three divisions: Red, commanded by James Wolfe, Blue, commanded by Charles Lawrence, and White commanded by Edward Whitmore.

The British force anchors in Gabarus Bay, three miles (four point eight kilometers) from Louisbourg on June 2.

The French commander (and governor of Île-Royale (New France), the Chevalier de Drucour, has at his disposal some thirty-five hundred regulars as well as approximately thirty-five hundred marines and sailors from the French warships in the harbor.

However, unlike the previous year, the French navy is unable to assemble in significant numbers, leaving the French squadron at Louisbourg outnumbered five to one by the British fleet.

Drucour orders trenches to be prepared and manned by some two thousand French troops, along with other defenses, such as an artillery battery, at Kennington Cove.

Weather conditions in the first week of June make any landing impossible and the British are only able to mount a bombardment of the improvised shore defenses of Gabarus Bay from a frigate.

However, conditions improve, and at daybreak on June 8, Amherst launches his assault using a flotilla of large boats, organized in seven divisions, each commanded by one of his brigadiers.

French defenses are initially successful and after heavy losses, Wolfe orders a retreat.

However, at the last minute, a boatload of light infantry in Wolfe's division (i.e., members of Rogers' Rangers) find a rocky inlet protected from French fire and secure a beachhead.

Wolfe redirects the rest of his division to follow.

Outflanked, the French retreat rapidly back to their fortress.

Continuing heavy seas and the difficulty inherent to moving siege equipment over boggy terrain delays the commencement of the formal siege.

In the meantime, Wolfe is sent with twelve hundred and twenty picked men around the harbor to seize Lighthouse Point, which dominates the harbor entrance.

This he does on June 12.

The British artillery batteries are in position after eleven days, on June 19, and the orders are given to open fire on the French.

The British battery consists of seventy cannons and mortars of all sizes.

Within hours, the guns have destroyed walls and damaged several buildings.

A mortar round from a British gun on Lighthouse Point strikes a seventy-four-gun French ship of the line, L'Entreprenant, on July 21 and sets it ablaze.

A stiff breeze fans the fire, and shortly after the L'Entreprenant catches fire, two other French ships catch fire.

L'Entreprenant explodes later in the day, depriving the French of the largest ship in the Louisbourg fleet.

The next major blow to French morale comes on the evening of July 23, at 10:00 PM, when a British "hot shot" sets the King's Bastion on fire.

The destruction of the King's Bastion, the fortress headquarters and the largest building in North America in 1758, erodes confidence and reduces morale in the French troops and their hopes to lift the British siege.