The War of the Grand Alliance was fought between 1689-97, after Louis XIV of France invaded the lands east of France, a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, and stimulated emigration of German-speaking residents of the Palatinate to America in the process. The American portion of the conflicts between France and England (allied with Spain and the Netherlands, home of King William III before he was chosen to replace James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688) was known as King William's War. The English failed in an attempt to capture Quebec, and most of King William's War consisted of skirmishes on the western frontiers of the colonies. The Treaty of Ryswick that technically ended the war created only a pause in the fighting.
After Charles II of Spain died without having any children, and a complicated set of diplomatic schemes failed to satisfy the desires of the English, Dutch, French, Austrian, and Spanish rulers for control of Spain and its territories, the War of Spanish Succession erupted in Europe in 1701. The fighting in North America between the French and the English was referred to as Queens Anne War, starting "officially" in 1702. The French and their Indian allies attacked Deerfield (Massachusetts) in 1704, the same year the Duke of Marlborough won the battle of Blenheim. Before the Peace of Utrecht was signed until 1713, the English captured the fur forts on Hudson Bay as well as Newfoundland in North America, but were unable to capture Quebec and expel the French from North America.
The War of Jenkins Ear started in 1739, purportedly over an incident in 1731. The Spanish had seized Captain Robert Jenkins' ship, the Rebecca, in 1731 for smuggling with their colonies in the Caribbean. The Spanish cut off the captain's ear - and in 1738, he displayed the dried ear to Parliament.
Though the members of Parliament may have been upset at the sight of the dried ear, the basic cause of the war was competition for wealth and power between the two nation states. The fighting was not in North America, though the Spanish still controlled Florida - there was little wealth concentrated there, and the English were just starting to settle the lands south of Charleston. (The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732.) Instead, the English attacked the Spanish stronghold of Cartagena, on the coast of Columbia.
This was the first war in which the colonies were requested to provide troops. Former Governor Spotswood of Virginia was supposed to lead the English expedition, but died in 1740 while assembling colonial troops in Annapolis.
Lawrence Washington served in the Caribbean under Admiral Vernon, and later named Mount Vernon in his honor. The conflict in America merged with the War of Austrian Succession, or King George's War. In Europe, King George II defeated the French at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, but there was little open fighting between the French and the English on the North American continent. The War of Austrian Succession ended technically with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.