Description

The Franco-American alliance was the 1778 military pact between the Kingdom of France and the United States during the American War of Independence. Formalized in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, it was a military pact in which the French provided many supplies for the Americans in their conflict with France's rival Great Britain. The Netherlands and Spain later joined as allies of France; Britain had no European allies. The French alliance after the American forces defeated a British army at Saratoga in October 1777, demonstrating the viability of the American cause. Although France had played a significant role in the Americans' achievement of independence, the U.S. backed away from the alliance after 1793, when Great Britain and Revolutionary France again went to war. The U.S. declared itself neutral. Relations between France and the United States worsened when the U.S. became closer to Britain, signing the Jay Treaty of 1795, leading to an undeclared Quasi War. The alliance was entirely defunct by 1794 and formally ended in 1800.