DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, SPAIN, FRANCE AND BRITAIN CONTROLLED LAND IN NORTH AMERICA. SPAIN CONTROLLED FLORIDA. FRANCE WAS POWERFUL IN THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL AREAS. BRITAIN CONTROLLED THE EAST. ALL THREE NATIONS KNEW THEY COULD NOT EXIST TOGETHER PEACEFULLY IN NORTH AMERICA. THE SITUATION COULD ONLY BE SETTLED BY WAR.
THE POWERFUL EUROPEAN NATIONS ALREADY WERE FIGHTING EACH OTHER FOR CONTROL OF TERRITORY AND RICHES ALL OVER THE WORLD. THESE SMALL WARS CONTINUED FOR MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS. THEY WERE CALLED KING WILLIAM'S WAR, QUEEN ANNE'S WAR, KING GEORGE'S WAR AND THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
IN 18TH CENTURY EUROPE NATIONS, FOCUSED NEARLY ALL THEIR ATTENTION ON THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER, DOMINANCE, AND TERRITORY. THEY MADE ALLIANCES THAT SHIFTED OR FRACTURED AS RULERS' GOALS CHANGED. WARS BROKE OUT FREQUENTLY AS MONARCHS TRIED TO FIGURE OUT WHO WAS GOING TO RULE IN THE VARIOUS AREAS OF EUROPE. THE CONTINENT'S DELICATE BALANCE OF POWER WAS ALWAYS THREATENED BY AGGRESSION.
As various European imperial powers settled on the new continent of North America, their conflicts became transatlantic.