One of the things he unleashed in france was a fashion for lightning conductors, cause he had one on his house in passy. One thing i'd like to talk about, actually, as the issue of slavery. The french involvemento american revolution unfounded the french abolitionist movement. But it's perhaps no coincidence that when the french debated and discussed the american constitution, one of the things that was was noted is that the American revolution hadn't abolished slavery. A key reason why france was unable to re establish it its er empire in mainland north America.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the treaties France entered into with the United States of America in 1778, to give open support to the USA in its revolutionary war against Britain and to promote French trade across the Atlantic. This alliance had profound consequences for all three. The French navy, in particular, played a decisive role in the Americans’ victory in their revolution, but the great cost of supporting this overseas war fell on French taxpayers, highlighting the need for reforms which in turn led to the French Revolution. Then, when France looked to its American ally for support in the new French revolutionary wars with Britain, Americans had to choose where their longer term interests lay, and they turned back from the France that had supported them to the Britain they had just been fighting, and France and the USA fell into undeclared war at sea.
The image above is a detail of Bataille de Yorktown by Auguste Couder, with Rochambeau commanding the French expeditionary force in 1781
With
Frank Cogliano
Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh
Kathleen Burk
Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London
And
Michael Rapport
Reader in Modern European History at the University of Glasgow
Producer: Simon Tillotson