Was the American Revolution preventable? There are plenty of reasons and different lists of why the American Revolution was started. There are some people who question its inevitability. The three main reasons that the war started were, as follows: the French and Indian War, the Intolerable Acts, and the Boston Massacre. The French and Indian War, otherwise known as The Seven Years’ War, was fought between the French and British colonies, along with their Native American allies. The British believed that the French were settling to close to their colonies. They wanted to shove them out of their territory. The British colonies gained Canadian territory from the French at the peace conference. The Intolerable Acts were a main cause of this