Vive La France: The French join the War Flashcards
When did France join the war?
June 1778
Why did the French have an interest in the war?
The French Foreign Minister Vergennes was keen to restore French power and get revenge for the defeat in the Seven Years War.
3 points
Why was France initially reluctant to join the war?
- The French Navy was not strong enough to take on the British Navy.
- They were worried that joining the patriots would undermine their authority in thier own colonies.
- They didn’t want to join an underdog clearly destined to lose.
How did France (and Spain) help the colonists before officially joining the war?
They shipped supplies to the Patriots in secret (although eveyone knew it was happening).
2 points
Why did the Patriot victory at Saratoga convinve the French to join the war?
- The victory showed them that the Patriots were not on the verge of defeat and that they were worthy of support, with a realistic change of defeating the British.
- They were scared that following Lord’s North change of attitude after Saratoga the war would end - this is a fear that Benjamin Franklin played on in Paris.
What two treaties came about signifying France’s entry to the war?
- A commercial agreement which recognised the independence of the states and established trading relations.
- A military agreement in which both countries agreed to fight until American Indepenedence was achieved. They both agreed not to make a seperate peace.
4 points
What did the other countries do?
- Spain joined the war in April 1779 since it was an ally of France and also wanted to reclaim some of its territory lost to Britain (e.g. Florida, Gibraltar, Minorca).
- In 1780 Britain declared war on the Netherlands for its support of France and Spain.
- In 1780 Sweden, Denmark and Prussia formed the league of armed neutrality, making clear their intention to stay out of the war.
- Britain found itselft without allies, isolated and under increasing pressure.
3 points
What were the results of French and Spanish Intervention for the Patriots?
- France’s population was double the size of Britain’s. They had an army 15,000 strong and had tried to build a fleet to rival Britains.
- The French were more interested in promoting thier own goals than actually helping the Patriots. For example, a French squadron went to aid the Patriots in 1778, but soon left to capture British sugar islands in the caribbean.
- The colonists did benefit from Franch arms, materials and funding, however in total the French only sent fewer than 10,000 troops to America.
3 points
What were the results of French and Spanish intervention for the British?
- The involvement of other powers meant that the British had to worry about their other colonies (e.g. africa, India, the West Indies etc) as well as America. They considered the West Indies to be more important to thier prosperity than America.
- This meant that they could no longer focus all their forces in America. By mid 1780 only 29% of the British Amry was in America, compared to the 65% that was there in 1778. The percentage of their ships in the North Atlantic also droppd from 41% to 13% in the same years.
- French involvement inspired a war effort in Britain that was not present before. By 1782 Britain had an army of 150,000 and the navy had 100,000 sailors on over 600 ships.
