The European phase of the war broke out first when WIlliam III joined the League of Augsburg and the Netherlands (Grand Alliance, 12 May 1689) to resist Louis XIV's invasion of the Rhenish Palatinate (25 Sept. 1688). In America hostilities broke out between the English and French on Hudson Bay and between the Iroquois and the French in the area from the Mohawk to the St. Lawrence. The French under Frontenac (returned as governor, Oct. 1689) struck with their Native American allies along the northern frontier, with raids on Schenectady (9 Feb. 1690), Salmon Falls, N.H. (27 Mar.), and Falmouth (Portland, Me., 31 July), followed by Abenaki raids on Wells, Me. (21 June 1692), Durham N.H. (23 June 1694), and Haverhill, Mass. (15 Mar. 1697). On the western frontier Frontenac attacked the Iroquois (1693-1696). On the part of the English the only successful colonial operation was the seizure of Port Royal (11 May 1690) by an expedition of Massachusetts troops under Sir William Phips (1651-1695), recaptured a year later by the French. The 3-pronged attack on the St. Lawrence projected at the Albany Conference ousted the English from their Hudson Bay posts at the mouths of the Severn (1690) and the Hayes (1694), but the English recaptured the James Bay area (1693). The inconclusive Treaty of Ryswick (30 Sept. 1697) restored the status quo ante in the colonies and turned the Hudson Bay dispute over to commissioners, who reached no agreement (1699).

King William's War (1689-1697) was the first of what came to be known in America as the French and Indian wars. In fact, the French and Indian Wars were a series of colonial wars between Great Britain and France that lasted three-quarters of a century. Hostilities in King William's War begain in 1690, when in the course of a few months Schenectady, N.Y., was burned by the French and Indians, and colonial English forces launched attacks on Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal), Nova Scotia, and on Quebec. Despite further raids by the French and Indians, the war ended in a stalemate. The Treaty of Ryswick, by which were ended the war and its European counterpart, the War of the Grand Alliance restored all colonial possessions to their prewar status.

• French and Indian forces from Montreal attacked and burned Schenectady, N.Y.
  
• The city of Quebec was attacked by English forces in the first major military operation of King William's War. They were repulsed by the French under Louis de Baude, comte de Palluau et de Frontenac
  
• King William's War was ended by the Treaty of Ryswick. From the standpoint of the American colonies, the war was completely pointless. Both French and English forces won a number of engagements and managed to occupy part of each other's territory. However, the treaty restored all possessions to their prewar status.