How the French saved America
Subtitle: soldiers, sailors, diplomats, Louis XVI, and the success of a revolution
By: Tom Shachtman
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 359
ISBN-13: 9781250080875
Subjects: History; Foreign relations; French Participation
Description: Americans today have a love/hate relationship with France, but in How the French Saved America Tom Shachtman shows that without France, there might not be a United States of America. To the rebelling colonies, French assistance made the difference between looming defeat and eventual triumph. Even before the Declaration of Independence was issued, King Louis XVI and French foreign minister Vergennes were aiding the rebels. After the Declaration, that assistance broadened to include wages for our troops; guns, cannon, and ammunition; engineering expertise that enabled victories and prevented defeats; diplomatic recognition; safe havens for privateers; battlefield leadership by veteran officers; and the army and fleet that made possible the Franco-American victory at Yorktown. Nearly ten percent of those who fought and died for the American cause were French. Those who fought and survived, in addition to the well-known Lafayette and Rochambeau, include Franȯis de Fleury, who won a Congressional Medal for valor, Louis Duportail, who founded the Army Corps of Engineers, and Admiral de Grasse, whose sea victory sealed the fate of Yorktown. This illuminating narrative history vividly captures the outsize characters of our European brothers, their battlefield and diplomatic bonds and clashes with Americans, and the monumental role they played in America?s fight for independence and democracy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue: December 18-28, 1775; title: Part I. A mutual courtship; title: Part II. Approaches and retreats; title: Part III. Making the connection; title: Part IV. Together: first steps; title: Part V. Together: struggling through; title: Part VI. A triumph and a fare thee well; title: Epilogue: 1783-1844.