The war came about as a direct result of Britain's victory in the decade earlier conflict, which ended with Britain in control of France's Atlantean possessions in 1761. The British government opted to impose taxes upon their Atlantean subjects to recoup the costs of the war to expand its territory and then defend its gains. This plan did not reckon with English Atlantis's historical tendency to resist such acts. By 1775, Atlanteans were thoroughly angry with the taxation. People such as Richard Mitchell began printing pamphlets expressing that anger.