As we Americans celebrate the 250th anniversary of our independence, I find myself thinking not only about the courage of those who declared and fought for American liberty, but also about those across the Atlantic who chose to stand with them.
Among all the things we remember in 1776, I hope we will also remember what France did for us in 1781.
By that summer, the American Revolution had endured for years. The outcome was still uncertain. George Washington and the Continental Army were preparing to make what would become their decisive move against Cornwallis at Yorktown, but the success of that effort depended upon something the Americans could not provide for themselves: control of the Chesapeake.
That is where France entered the story in a way that changed the course of American history.
Admiral de Grasse sailed the French fleet into the Chesapeake and, on September 5, 1781, fought the British fleet at the Battle of the Capes. The French victory prevented the British from relieving Cornwallis. French ships controlled the bay, and French soldiers under Rochambeau stood beside Washington on land. Lafayette, a Frenchman who had made the American cause his own, was already there.
The result was Yorktown.
And after Yorktown came American independence.
It is easy, 250 years later, to tell the story as though American independence were simply the inevitable triumph of Americans fighting for their own freedom. But history was not inevitable. At several critical moments, France made a choice. I remember.