Anglo-French War (1778–83)
| Anglo-French War (1778–83) | |||||||||
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| Part of the Second Hundred Years' War | |||||||||
 Battle of Cuddalore (June 20th 1783) between the French navy commanded by the Bailli de Suffren and the British one under the orders of Rear-Admiral Edward Hughes |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 France
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 Great Britain
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Comte d'Orvilliers Comte d'Estaing Comte de Grasse Bailli de Suffren |
Viscount Keppel John Byron Baron Rodney Edward Hughes |
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The Anglo-French War was a military conflict fought between France and Great Britain with their respective allies between 1778 and 1783. In 1778, France signed a treaty of friendship with the United States. Great Britain was then at war with France, and in 1779 it was also at war with Spain. As a consequence, Great Britain was forced to divert resources used to fight the war in North America to theatres in Europe, India and the West Indies, and to rely on what turned out to be the chimera of Loyalist support in its North American operations. From 1778 to 1783, with or without their allies, France and Britain fought over dominance in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the West Indies.
Within days of the news of Burgoyne's surrender reaching France, King Louis XVI decided to enter into negotiations with the Americans that resulted in a formal Franco-American alliance and the French entry into the war, moving the conflict onto a global stage. Spain did not enter into the war until 1779, when it entered the war as an ally of France pursuant to the secret Treaty of Aranjuez. Vergennes' diplomatic moves following the French war with Britain also had material impact on the later entry of the Dutch Republic into the war, and declarations of neutrality on the part of other important geopolitical players like Russia. Opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the Gordon riots.
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