Franco-American Alliance
February 6, 1778
Benjamin Franklin, in a plain brown coat in Versailles, signed the alliance that would sink Britain's war. France committed troops, ships, and money. Spain joined a year later. The American rebellion was now a world war and Britain's Atlantic trade routes were under threat from Gibraltar to the Indian Ocean.
In context
Also in 1778 (3 other events on record)
- Cook Reaches Hawaii · Oceania · Exploration
- Voltaire Dies in Paris · Europe · Culture
- Rousseau Dies at Ermenonville · Europe · Culture
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.