The Fruits of Victory

This chapter discusses two issues: the threat to Washington’s position after Saratoga and the American diplomatic triumph in Paris. After Saratoga, Gates’s reputation soared, and this coincided with Washington’s failures against Howe during the Philadelphia campaign. Washington skilfully thwarted the so-called Conway Cabal—a faction that advocated replacing Washington with Gates as commander-in-chief. In France, Louis XVI’s foreign minister Vergennes, reopened discussions about a formal alliance with Franklin and the other American diplomats. The Saratoga victory provided evidence of American resolve and competence. The Franco-American alliance, due in large part to Franklin’s brilliant diplomatic efforts, on the heels of the Saratoga military victory, changed the very character of the war. Washington would now have access to French sea power and its army, which ultimately resulted in the war-winning 1781 Yorktown campaign. The American success at Saratoga was not sufficient for ultimate victory, but it was necessary.