General Overview

Surrender at Yorktown, 18th-century French engraving, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

American colonists, unhappy with the way Britain was trying to tax and control them following the French and Indian War, at first attempted reconciliation with the mother country but eventually turned to armed conflict and a declaration of their independence. The British, on the other hand, thought it only fair that the colonists pay for the protection of their homeland and were surprised by such a negative reaction from the Americans.

As conflict brewed between Britain and America, the world watched and waited. France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had not forgotten British conquest of their armies and the loss of lands to Great Britain. Quietly at first, they began to support the American cause.