Europe’s crucial contribution to the achievement of American independence.
American independence would not have been achieved without diplomatic, financial, and military support from Europe. And without recognition from powerful European nations, the young country would never have assumed an independent status ‘amongst the powers of the earth.’ This collection of essays not only offers new glimpses into the ways in which various European powers and actors enabled American patriots to fight and win the war, it also highlights the American Revolution’s short- and long-term impact on the Atlantic world.
Because of the strength of European support, Great Britain found itself diplomatically isolated, without an ally in a war that had become a global conflict, and with a navy outnumbered by the combined fleets of America’s friends. This volume is a timely reminder of the importance of international support for the winning of American independence and the global context of the American Revolution as we approach its 250th anniversary.
Contributors: Olivier Chaline, Sorbonne Université * Robert Rhodes Crout, College of Charleston * Kathleen Du Val, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * Victor Enthoven, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam * Paul A. Gilje, University of Oklahoma * Jean-Marie Kowalski, Sorbonne Université * Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, University of Virginia * Julia Osman, Mississippi State University * Munro Price, University of Bradford * Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, Senior Spanish diplomat * John A. Ragosta, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello * Marie-Jeanne Rossignol, Université Paris Cité * Timothy D. Walker, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Cuprins
Introduction
Acknowledgments
1. American Nationality: A French Invention?
2. Ideology AND Interest: Free Trade, the League of Armed Neutrality, and the American Revolution
3. ‘Sir, I have not yet begun to fight!’: John Paul Jones’ Friends in the Dutch Republic, 1779-1780
4. Season, Winds and Sea: The Improbable Route of de Grasse to the Chesapeake
5. The Battle of the Chesapeake from the Quarterdeck
6. Bernardo de Gálvez: Friend of the American Revolution, Friend of Empire
7. Old Partners & Intersecting Interests: Trade and Diplomacy between Portugal and the United States during the Era of George Washington (c. 1781-1805)
8. Lafayette’s Encouragement of American Constitutional Reform, 1783-1789
9. The French Liberal Nobles in the Age of Revolution
Afterword: Studying Atlantic History with Jacques Godechot and Robert R. Palmer
Despre autor
Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy is the author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire. John A. Ragosta is a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and the author of Patrick Henry: Proclaiming a Revolution. Marie-Jeanne Rossignol is Professor of North American Studies at Université Paris Cité and the author of The Nationalist Ferment: The Origins of U.S. Foreign Policy, 1789-1812.