Transcript

When fighting began between the American revolutionaries and the British government, few people around the world believed that the upstart Americans had a chance of defeating the greatest military power in the world and thereby gaining their independence. How in the world did it happen?

Well, it happened, of course, in part because of the tenacity and the resolve of the revolutionaries. George Washington was a remarkable leader, but in the early years of the Revolutionary War, he experienced only defeats. The American army was put on the defensive from the start by the British armies and the British navy. The first two years of the American Revolution were a consistent series of setbacks for the United States. It was only in 1778 that the tide of the war began to turn because of the introduction of the French into the American Revolution.

The French, of course, had been defeated by the British in the Seven Years’ War of the 1750’s and 60’s, and were still thirsting for revenge against the British. Likewise, the Spanish were allied with the French against the British in the 18th century. So, the Battle of Saratoga in the American Revolution was a turning point not only because it was the first major victory for the American forces against the British but also because it was so unexpected that it convinced the French government to formally ally itself with the United States in its war against Great Britain.

What did that mean in practice? Remember that the American revolutionaries didn’t have an army when the revolution began. They didn’t have equipment, they didn’t have uniforms, they didn’t have weapons, and they didn’t have cannons. All of that needed to be provided. And they didn’t have the capacity for creating muskets and cannons and uniforms. The French were essential in providing those kinds of military supplies.

Even more importantly, the French after 1778 when they signed a formal alliance with the United States, began to provide French soldiers and naval vessels to the war effort. That proved to be the tipping point in the balance of the fighting between the United States and Great Britain. The French alliance was absolutely essential to the American victory over General Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown.

What did this all mean after the war? Of course, the Americans were incredibly appreciative of the French assistance provided during the revolution. Many Americans thereafter sympathized with the French Revolution when it erupted in 1789. In fact, the dispute between supporters of the French Revolution, such as Thomas Jefferson, and supporters of the British government and way of life after American independence, became a primary source of political struggle and dispute in the United States.

Thus, the importance of the French to the Revolution actually lasted well beyond the Revolution and became a very important political issue in-and-of-itself. Was the new United States going to allow itself more with Revolutionary France, or with its own mother country, Great Britain?

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