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Old 10-15-2021, 10:05 PM
 
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This is technically sort of a book review, by the Frenchified Adam Gopnik. But I found it really interesting for the quickie history.

What an interesting life, following his interests and convictions.


Why Don’t the French Celebrate Lafayette?
He fought for freedom both here and in France, but his own countrymen are blasé about his legacy.

The truth, neatly concealed in most elementary American textbooks, is that, though the Americans did the fighting, the French war engine won the battles. At Saratoga, it was the French artillery that made the difference; at Yorktown, the French fleet, which Lafayette’s circle had helped cajole into joining the struggle, proved decisive in the end.
There is a long-term historical irony here. The American Revolution was essentially a French triumph, which the American imagination turned into an American victory, albeit with some gallant support from the French. Two centuries later, the liberation of France was turned, by the French imagination, into a French victory, albeit with some gallant support from the Americans. Each myth has become essential to the national ideal.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...rate-lafayette
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Old 10-16-2021, 09:49 AM
 
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Interesting claim in the article about French artillery at Saratoga, as it was the American victory at Saratoga that kick-started the negotiations between the French monarchy and the Continental Congress that led to an alliance and to France entering the war.
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Old 10-16-2021, 12:12 PM
 
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I believe the artillery at Saratoga was mainly from that captured at Ticonderoga. With the English in full control of the seas off the colonies, where would the French have offloaded these shipments of artillery? That would have been an act of war, and France was not prepared to openly enter on the side of the rebels until it looked like they would be on the winning side. It is true that the French fleet driving away the English relief vessels at Yorktown insured its surrender, but they had been driven into a defensive posture at this port entirely due to the efforts of the Americans, most of all Nathaniel Greene.
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Old 10-16-2021, 12:43 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djmilf View Post
Interesting claim in the article about French artillery at Saratoga, as it was the American victory at Saratoga that kick-started the negotiations between the French monarchy and the Continental Congress that led to an alliance and to France entering the war.
According to this U. S. Army historical document, British artillery at Sarasota was greater in number and of much greater power. The Americans are known to have had 33 pieces, the largest being two 9-pounders. Ten of these were of French manufacture. The British had 36 pieces, not including what they had recaptured at Ticonderoga and which were not deployed, and these included 2 24-pounders and 4 12-pounders.

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Port...a-Campaign.pdf
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Old 10-17-2021, 06:49 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Cida View Post
Why Don’t the French Celebrate Lafayette?
He fought for freedom both here and in France, but his own countrymen are blasé about his legacy.
Well, France tried to kill him afterall. Hi fought for freedom in Revolutionary France only to find it all go wrong in every way possible. He was an admirable man, focused on moderation and government similar to the US. What France got instead was chaos, violence, war, and eventually a police state and dictator. He endured assassination attempts in France, his house being burned down, only to finally flee out of the country and live in exile when it seemed for certain that he would have met the guillotine.

The Royalist didn't like him because he had a hand in the collapse of the monarchy in France, the radicals didn't like him because he refused to accept the ideals of an all controlling government and the excesses of violence. And today, well has France ever really comes to terms with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror? His legacy is mixed as to accept him as a hero is to condemn their own history.
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