Suppose you love baseball, and you collect baseball paraphernalia. Recently, you’ve become aware of an old baseball signed by Babe Ruth, one of the greatest players of all time.
This baseball is the only one of its kind. And you want it. But so does someone else. The baseball can’t be divided into pieces. So there’s no way to share it. Either you have the baseball or you don’t. Negotiations cannot solve the problem. What do you do? This was similar to the situation the French and British found themselves in during the 1750s. The issue for them, however, wasn’t a baseball but control of the whole Ohio River Valley. Both sides wanted it and began building forts to get it. According to many historians, war was inevitable.
