by Dave Franklin

Created on: April 30, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

To understand the background of the American War of Independence or the Revolutionary War, as it is sometimes called, an understanding of the previous few decades is required. Between the 1756 and 1763, the Seven Years war was taking place, wars fought by European powers from Canada and the Caribbean and from the Atlantic to the East Indies, in scope if not scale a world war in many ways. In North America the conflicts are known as the French and Indian Wars, a conflict between British and French forces with Indian allies and colonist on both sides, this is the era of Fennimore Coopers Pathfinder, made famous in the film The Last of the Mohicans. The Seven Years War was a disaster for the French and resulted in the loss of most of its territory in North America and India.

In many ways the war was also a Pyrrhic victory for the British and the financial cost of securing the American colonies was immense. As a direct result of this Acts of Parliament throughout the next two decades required an increase contribution from the colonists themselves towards the cost of their protection. These increased taxes led to tensions as the colonists saw themselves as being chained to the British government which they now saw as a foreign power and these tensions and passions exploded on Lexington Green on April 19th 1775.

With the outbreak of armed conflict, many in France were sympathetic towards the American colonists, a country that was itself moving toward a similar situation that would result in the storming of the Bastille and the eventually overthrow of its Bourbon rulers. Whilst initially maintaining formal neutrality many young officers used their wealth and influence to send arms and supplies to the Continental Army. This economic support was in many ways revenge for the previous humiliations of the Seven Years War at the hands of the British.

In the wake of the defeat of General Burgoyne at Saratoga in 1777, an event that should that the British forces were capable of defeat, Frances clandestine support became more open and Benjamin Franklin acting as ambassador in Paris negotiated the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance with France and from this point, French support became increasingly significant.

French military aid was a decisive factor in the American victory but you have to look at their ulterior motives. Their aid in America was still only one small episode in a larger European conflict as French, British, Dutch and Spanish forces fought for

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