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Y212: The American Revolution 1740–1796

The American Revolution 1774–1783: Saratoga, the French alliance, Yorktown and the Peace of Paris

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on Saratoga, the French alliance and widening war, Valley Forge, threats to American unity, the southern strategy, Yorktown, British leadership, the reasons for defeat and the Peace of Paris.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

How did the war widen after 1778?

Key term

What threatened American unity during the war?

Who and when

What did the French alliance of 1778 bring the Americans?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why was Saratoga a turning point?

    Model answer

    Burgoyne's army, advancing south from Canada without the support it expected and worn down by militia and by the difficulty of the country, was surrounded and surrendered in October 1777, which convinced France that the Americans could win.

  2. 2

    What did the French alliance of 1778 bring the Americans?

    Model answer

    Formal recognition, treaties of alliance and commerce, money and munitions, an expeditionary force, and above all a fleet that could challenge British control of American waters.

  3. 3

    How did the war widen after 1778?

    Model answer

    Spain joined France in 1779 and the Dutch were at war with Britain from 1780, while the League of Armed Neutrality united the northern neutrals against British searches of their shipping; Britain had to defend the West Indies, Gibraltar and India and lost the naval superiority on which her American strategy rested.

  4. 4

    What was the significance of Valley Forge?

    Model answer

    The winter encampment of 1777 to 1778 nearly destroyed the army through hunger, cold and desertion, but it survived and was drilled into a disciplined force by Baron von Steuben, so that the Continentals could afterwards manoeuvre and fight in line like regulars.

  5. 5

    What threatened American unity during the war?

    Model answer

    Perhaps a fifth of the population remained loyal to the crown, Congress could not tax and paid in paper money that became worthless, states quarrelled and enlistments were short, so that Washington's chief task was often simply to keep an army in existence.

  6. 6

    What was the British southern strategy and why did it fail?

    Model answer

    From 1778 Britain shifted the war to the south expecting large loyalist support, and took Savannah and Charleston and beat Gates at Camden; but loyalists were fewer and less reliable than hoped, the countryside turned hostile after harsh reprisals, and defeats at King's Mountain and Cowpens with Greene's war of attrition wore the British army down.

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