17 94 treaty between the united states and britain was to get those forts out of the area, essentially in the northwest territories. Gatin frank am: Is there a sense that france forced america back into britain's arms, not as a colony, but asas ship, but as a partner to some extent? i melvin: I think the united states pursued its self interest and and abandoned france, but it's hard to see that it could have done anything differently. And so i'm not so sure that the french alienating the united states caused it, as much as it was an effect of circumstances.
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