Q&A · 51:21-51:44

The American rebellion preceded the French Revolutionary Wars

A proposed French Revolutionary setting for Britain's American colonial rebellion reverses the chronology and the French regime involved.

Question

Could the French Revolutionary Wars provide the setting in which Britain also faced rebellion in its American colonies?

Short answer

No; the American rebellion came earlier, and it was the French monarchy that supported the colonists.

Notes

The American colonies rebelled before the French Revolutionary Wars. France supported the colonists while the French Crown still ruled, rather than under the later revolutionary governments. The correct sequence changes both the diplomatic actors and the political context of French intervention.