WARS IN EUROPE AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE COLONIES

Beginning in 1689 and continuing through much of the eighteenth century, England and France fought a series of wars to see which of them would be the dominant power of Western Europe. Various other countries also became involved in these wars in Europe; predictably, English and French colonists would also become involved. Both England and France also used Native American tribes as allies during various campaigns in the American continent.

The War of the League of Augsburg (known in American textbooks as King William's War) lasted from 1689 to 1697. During this war, troops from New England fought with allies from the Iroquois tribe against French soldiers, who were allied with the Algonquians. The French destroyed the British settlement in Schenectady, New York, while troops made up largely of residents of Massachusetts captured Port Royal (in present-day Nova Scotia). The Treaty of Ryswick ended this war, reaffirming prewar colonial boundaries and allowing the French to maintain control over half of Santo Domingo (now Haiti).

The War of the Spanish Succession (in American books called Queen Anne's War) took place between 1702 and 1713; in this war Spain was also allied with France.

Anticipating an attack by the Spanish from Florida, the British attacked first from South Carolina, burning the settlement at St. Augustine and then arming many Native Americans who had fled the near-slavelike working conditions in the Spanish missions. These Indians attacked the missions, as well as the Spanish settlement at Pensacola. Native Americans allied with the French attacked English settlements in Maine. In 1704 the Iroquois, also allied with the French, attacked Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 48 settlers there and taking 112 into captivity.

Neither side could conclusively claim victory in several other battles that were to follow, but victories in Europe allowed the British to make sizable gains in the Treaty of Utrecht. In this treaty, France had to give the British Newfoundland, Acadia (Nova Scotia), territory along the Hudson Bay, as well as more access to the Great Lakes region.