Benjamin Franklin's fruitless efforts at an official alliance overseas with France were rewarded with the extraordinary defeat of General John Burgoyne's British forces by General Horatio Gates' troops at the Battle of Saratoga (1). For years, the French had been supplying the Americans with supplies under the table, as they were not convinced that an alliance with the young nation across the Atlantic would prove to be worth the financial aid and providing of soldiers (2). France was in fiscal turmoil in the first place, so they needed to validate their potential alliance somehow. At Saratoga, the Americans proved their worth. France was convinced. The investment in the American cause proved to be a pivotal moment in the war for the Americans. On the flip side, France's monetary endeavor pushed them over the cliff into bankruptcy, compelled Louis XI to call the Estates General (which had not been called in 125 years, and ultimately resulted in the French Revolution (3). This alliance was multidimensional. Not only were the French providing supplies and financial aid, but they offered thousands of experienced soldiers to reinforce George Washington's amateur Continental Army. France also had a seasoned and skilled navy. In addition, France had the opportunity to avenge their defeat against their bitter rivals at the Seven Years' War (4). At the Battle of Yorktown, George Washington commanded his French and American troops to block off any potential land exit of Cornwallis' forces at Yorktown. He then ordered a French fleet to block off any potential exit at the mouth of the Chesapeake. This battle caused the surrender of the British officially, and ended the war. What also made this alliance so dynamic was that it turned the Revolutionary War into a global war. Britain now had to withdraw troops from the States, and re-position them in their colonies in the Caribbean Sea , Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, South Africa, as well as India (5). These locations were all susceptible to potential attacks from neighboring French colonies. But most importantly, Britain had to defend themselves from an attack on their homeland. Subsequently, Britain's perspective on the war shifted. The American alliance with France was a major outcome of the Battle of Saratoga, as it financially aided the American cause and provided weapons and supplies for the troops, strengthened and augmented the greenhorn Continental Army, and revamped the war from a conflict merely on American soil, to one that spanned the globe on nations and oceans far and wide. For these reasons, the French alliance as a result of the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga indeed made the Battle of Saratoga the turning point of the Revolutionary War.
1. David C. King, Saratoga (Brookfield, Conn.: Twenty-First Century Books, 1998), [Page 47-48]
2. King, Saratoga, [47-48 ].
3. Jim Lacey and Williamson Murray, Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World (New York: Bantam Books, 2013), [224].
4. Lacey and Murray, Moment of Battle: The Twenty, [Page 224].
5. U.S. Department of the Interior, "Saratoga," National Park Service, accessed March 30, 2014, http://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm, [Page 1].
2. King, Saratoga, [47-48 ].
3. Jim Lacey and Williamson Murray, Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World (New York: Bantam Books, 2013), [224].
4. Lacey and Murray, Moment of Battle: The Twenty, [Page 224].
5. U.S. Department of the Interior, "Saratoga," National Park Service, accessed March 30, 2014, http://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm, [Page 1].