The Great War For Empire

Learning Objectives

Describe the significant conflicts between the British, French, and Spanish during the 17th- and 18th-century Wars for Empire

The 17th-18th century Wars for Empire (1689-1763) solidified the links betwixt the European and Due north American components of the British Empire. Great Britain fought four separate wars confronting French Regal and colonial forces for command of portions of modern-solar day Canada and the Ohio Valley. The State of war of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748), pitted Britain against Spain in Northward America. These conflicts for command of N America also forced colonists to forge alliances or establish enmity with Native Americans, as different tribes aligned themselves with embattled European powers.

Timeline showing European and North American Wars associated with the Wars for Empire. King William's War/War of the Grand Alliance in the late 1600s, then Queen Anne's War/War of Spanish Succession, then King George's War/War of Austrian Succession, and the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War.

Effigy 1. A timeline showing the major conflicts during the Wars for Empire.

Wars for Empire (1689-1763): Generations of Warfare

Generations of British colonists grew upward when Due north America, peculiarly the Northeast, was embroiled in one state of war or another. In the eighteenth century, fighting was seasonal. Armies mobilized in the leap, fought in the summer, and retired to winter quarters in the autumn. The British regular army imposed harsh bailiwick on its soldiers, who were typically drawn from the poorer classes, to ensure they did non footstep out of line during engagements. If they did, they were severely punished, humiliated, or killed (for more serious offenses such every bit multiple desertions). On the battlefield, armies dressed in bright uniforms to annunciate their bravery and lack of fear. They stood in tight formation and exchanged volleys with the enemy.^[ane]

Rex William's War

Nearly majestic conflicts had both Due north American and European fronts, often resulting in ii names for each state of war. For example, the Northward American conflict known as Rex William's War (1688–1697) was an extension of the European War of the League of Augsburg, or the State of war of the Grand Alliance, or Nine Twelvemonth'due south War. In America, the bulk of the fighting in this conflict took place between New England and New France (modernistic-mean solar day Quebec, Canada, parts of New England, and the Groovy Lakes surface area). That particular war proved inconclusive, with no articulate victor.

A map shows the campaigns of King William's War, as well as the French- and British-held areas, missions, forts, and settlements.

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This video explains some of the tensions between the British, French, and Native Americans during King William'due south State of war and Queen Anne's War.

You lot tin view the transcript for "The Wars of Male monarch William and Queen Anne, 1689-1737" here (opens in new window).

Queen Anne's War

Queen Anne's State of war (1702–1713), known as the State of war of Spanish Succession in Europe, saw England battling both Spain and France over who would ascend the Castilian throne after the last of the Hapsburg rulers of Kingdom of spain, Charles II, died without an heir. In North America, the fighting took place in Florida, New England, and New France. The Treaty of Utrecht ended the war in 1713, post-obit a preliminary peace in 1712. France ceded the territories of Hudson Bay, Acadia, and Newfoundland to Britain while retaining Cape Breton Isle and other islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The victory for the English was again not decisive because they failed to take Quebec, which would have given them command of New France since it was the uppercase. Some terms were ambiguous in the treaty, and the concerns of various Native tribes were not included, thereby setting the stage for future conflicts, including Dummer'southward War (1722-1725), in which the British in New England fought against the Wabanaki Confederacy, who were allied with the French.

Queen Anne's State of war is best remembered in the U.s.a. for the raid against Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1704. A pocket-sized French strength, allied with a Native American sectionalisation made up of Catholic Mohawks and Pocumtucs (mod-day Pocumtuc descendants accept been subsumed into the Abenaki tribe), attacked the British outpost of Deerfield, killing scores of English colonists and taking 112 prisoners. Amid the captives was the seven-year-erstwhile Eunice Williams, the daughter of Deerfield'due south minister John Williams. She lived with the Mohawks for years and became assimilated into the tribe while her family tried to find her. To the horror of the Puritan leaders, when she grew upwards Eunice married a Mohawk man and refused to render to New England.

Link to learning

Clifton Johnson, an American author and photographer, published An Unredeemed Convict, the story of Eunice Williams in 1897.^[2]

War of Jenkin'south Ear

The Due north American State of war of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1742) centered on the possession of Georgia and trade with the interior colonies. The conflict arose between over contested claims by both Britain and Spain to the land occupied past the new colony. The war got its name from an incident in 1731 in which a Castilian Declension Guard helm severed the ear of British captain Robert Jenkins equally retribution for raiding Spanish ships in Panama. Jenkins fueled the growing animosity betwixt England and Kingdom of spain by presenting his ear to Parliament and stirring upwardly British public outrage. The War of Jenkins' Ear disrupted Atlantic trade routes, which injure both Spain and Britain and was a major reason the war ended in 1742. Georgia, founded six years earlier, remained British and worked as an effective buffer against Spanish-controlled Florida.

Watch It

This video explains the War of Jenkin'due south Ear and its connection to the larger conflicts between the British, Spanish, and then the French.

Yous tin can view the transcript for "The War of Jenkin's Ear and King George'south State of war, 1739-1748" here (opens in new window).

Rex George's War

Rex George's War (1744–1748), known in Europe as the State of war of Austrian Succession (1740–1748), was fought more often than not in the northern colonies and in New French republic.

A painting shows British forces landing on the island of Cape Breton.

Figure 3. In this 1747 painting by J. Stevens, View of the landing of the New England forces in ye expedition against Greatcoat Breton, British forces country on the island of Cape Breton to capture Fort Louisbourg.

The War of the Austrian Succession, nominally a struggle over the legitimacy of the accession of Maria Theresa to the Austrian throne, began in 1740, but at first did not involve either Britain or Spain militarily. Britain was fatigued diplomatically into that conflict in 1742 as an ally of Austria and an opponent of France and Prussia, but open hostilities between them did not accept place until 1743. State of war was not formally declared betwixt U.k. and France until March 1744 and Massachusetts did not declare war against Quebec and French republic until June 2.

The state of war took identify primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay (which included Maine besides as Massachusetts at the fourth dimension), New Hampshire (which included Vermont at the time), and Nova Scotia. Its most significant activity was an expedition organized past Massachusetts Governor William Shirley that besieged and ultimately captured the French fortress of Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, in 1745. However, 3 years later the state of war concluded under the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and Britain relinquished control of the fortress to the French. King George's War again, the war resulted in an incomplete victory for both Uk and France. The war took a heavy toll, especially in the northern British colonies. The losses of Massachusetts men lonely in 1745–46 have been estimated every bit 8% of that colony's adult male population. The peace treaty, which restored all colonial borders to their pre-state of war condition, did little to cease the lingering enmity between French republic, Britain, and their respective colonies, nor did it resolve any territorial disputes.

The final conflict of the Wars for Empire, the French and Indian War (1754–1763), known equally the 7 Years' State of war in Europe, would bear witness to be the decisive competition between Britain and France in North America. All of these North American conflicts between the English and French are sometimes together referred to equally the First, Second, Tertiary, and 4th French and Indian Wars. To review, the North American wars, and their associated European wars, in sequence, are:

Table 1. Wars for Empire
Years of War	Northward American War	European War
1688–1697	King William's War 1st Intercolonial War (in French)	War of the Grand Brotherhood/War of the League of Augsburg/Nine Years' War
1702–1713	Queen Anne'due south War 2nd Intercolonial War Dummer'southward War	War of the Castilian Succession
1744–1748	King George's War tertiary Intercolonial War War of Jenkins' Ear	State of war of the Austrian Succession
1754–1763	The French and Indian State of war 4th Intercolonial War orWar of Conquest (in Quebec) 6th Indian War Begetter Le Loutre'south State of war	7 Years' State of war

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Glossary

Hapsburgs:A royal house founded in 11th century Swabia, in present-solar day Frg. The Hapsburg family held the throne of the Holy Roman Empire from 1440 until 1740 and then again from 1765 to its final dissolution in 1806. The Hapsburgs married into almost every other imperial family in Europe and their line withal exists today in Karl von Habsburg, an Austrian politician, who is the son of the terminal Crown Prince of Austria.

King George'southward War: (1744–1748), known in Europe as the State of war of Austrian Succession, and the tertiary of four French and Indian Wars fought between the French and the British. Information technology took place mostly in the New England colonies.

Male monarch William'south War: (1688–1697) an extension of the European War of the League of Augsburg, or the 9 Year's War, establish primarily between France and a European coalition including the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg Monarchy), the Dutch Republic, England, Spain, Savoy, and Portugal. In Northward America, King William's War was largely acquired by the fact that the treaties and agreements that were reached at the end of King Philip'southward War (1675–1678) were non adhered to.

Mohawks:An Iroquois-speaking tribe of the Northeastern U.S. and Southeastern Canada. They lived generally in upstate New York forth the Hudson River. The first Native American Catholic saint, Kateri Tekakwitha, came from the Mohawk tribe, many of whom converted to Catholicism. The Mohawks were divide during the French and Indian War, with some supporting the British and some supporting the French.

New France:French colonial territory in North America. In 1645, New France consisted of most of Eastern Canada, the area around the Great Lakes, and the Ohio Valley. Past 1745 it had expanded south along the Mississippi River to Louisiana.

Queen Anne's War (1702–1713): the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession in which France and Spain fought against the English language, Dutch, and the Holy Roman Empire. In America, fighting happened effectually Florida, New England, and New French republic and resulted in France ceding some territories in Hudson Bay, Acadia, and Newfoundland.

War of Jenkins' Ear(1739–1742): a state of war fought betwixt Uk and Spain over admission to trade and command of the markets in the Caribbean and Georgia.