(07-12-2018 12:36 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(07-12-2018 09:35 AM)TU4ever Wrote:  

(07-12-2018 09:19 AM)aTxTIGER Wrote:  The French shortened the Rev War thru direct naval intervention and prevented the British from putting more resources into the fight having to fight the French in the Caribbean and protecting the Home Nations from a possible French attack.

The British we're already fighting with the French and worried about an attack on the British Isles and we're skirmishing with them through out the Caribbean.

The French however we're dealing with their own issues including, huge debt, social conflict, economic difficulties from the management of such a large empire, as well as the off again on again conflicts with Spain and England. This would lead to the French Revolution shortly after the American.

The French Navy was a big help at Yorktown, but had largely been a non factor before and were only capable of stretching that far for a short time and only in force because of a deal made with the Spanish.

The colonies mostly did the work on their own and benefitted from empires that were in multiple global conflicts of their own.

Really, the Spanish, French, and Dutch all had a fairly significant, although heavily varied in directness, contribution to our independence.

Spanish with their continuous attacks on British colonies in the Caribbean, Gulf Coast (namely Florida) and the lesser Mediterainean (specifically the Balearic Islands and Gibraltor), the French with their indirect supply of munitions, the actions listed above, and the voluntary transfer of military officers, and the Dutch for their financing of the war effort and merchant corp transfers of necessary supplies since they wished to remain neutral with their ruling family's connection to the British Crown.

Essentially, every established European nation were at war with someone at this time, the Spainish, French, and Dutch just had a common enemy...Prussia (battling off minor Germanic houses and Poland) the Holy Roman Empire (crumbling to pieces), the Italian Houses (which were not yet under any general rule), the Dane-Norweigian Kingdom (see the Holy Roman Empire), and The Russian Empire (dealing with their own wars with Poland, the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Remnant, and the Swedish) all had other pressing issues to attend to. Oddly enough, every single one of the Empires or Kingdoms mentioned outside of the Dutch (the money) fell...so I guess the old adage that he who controls money controls all, still holds true.

Yes, America was a minor back water rich in natural resources and rebellious free spirits. We look back at the American revolution as a big deal. Rightfully so in the long scope of history it was, but that's because it lead to the presidential form of democracy and modern liberal order. But we hadn't had those fights yet the colonies were mostly ruled through a confederation structure that was fairly common. Individual colonies were ruled by various forms of parlimentry democracy.

At the time of the revolution we just weren't that important, other than as prestige and a strong English presence in the western hemisphere. We were pawns badly governed and confused, which makes what are founding fathers pulled off even more amazing. They played chess at a global level and cashed in that pawn.