France Declares War on Great Britain
- When
- 1778
- Where
- France
- Episodes
- 1
In early 1778 Louis XVI's France signed a formal Treaty of Alliance with the American colonists and later that year went to war with Great Britain, entering the American Revolutionary War as an active belligerent under Vergennes' anti-British policy.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. From 1776 Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists seeking independence from Great Britain. In spring 1776 Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes saw a chance to humiliate Britain and recover territory lost in the Seven Years' War by backing the American Revolution.
Declaration of War. Early in 1778 Louis XVI signed a formal Treaty of Alliance with the Americans, and later that year France went to war with Britain. The supplied passages confirm the alliance and the outbreak of war in 1778 but do not state a specific July 10 declaration date or a Paris location.
Aftermath and Consequences. After 1778 Britain shifted focus to defending its West Indian sugar islands. Under the Treaty of Alliance, the United States agreed to protect the French West Indies in return for French support. France later sent Rochambeau and de Grasse with large forces in 1780.
People involved
- Louis XVI · King of France who signed the Treaty of Alliance and took France to war with Britain
- Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes · French Minister for Foreign Affairs who championed supporting the American Revolution against Britain
Sources
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.