Curious how you guys teach it, from what I’ve learned the French governments backing of the American colonists made the war significantly easier. French support allowed the colonies to keep up the military independence movement and finance the revolution with arms. They didn’t make or break the revolution but without them the war would’ve been much more difficult to fight and possibly even lost completely.
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**Obligatory there is no national standard so everyone was taught differently.**
We learned about it but not in a ton of detail. It was explained that the French provided money, munitions, personnel, and a navy that were absolutely essential to the colonies winning the war. Lafayette remains pretty famous.
I learned a little about it in school, but not how significant French support was. I learned a lot more when I was in France. It connected a lot of dots.
Most Americans are generally pretty aware. How much it is covered depends heavily on where you went to school.
I was taught this in school.
It’s fairly common knowledge. It’s definitely taught when going over the Revolutionary War in high school.
It was mentioned but not really expanded on in my classes
I live right off a street named after Lafayette.
Fort Niagara is a French-built castle that’s only a 40 minute drive from here.
Americans know the French played a major role. It’s generally taught in schools when covering the American Revolution.
The Marquis de Lafayette is one of the more famous figures of the American Revolution and there are a lot of places in America named after him.
We learned in school about Lafayette and the volunteers, as well as Louis XVI’s support later in the war with Rochambeau and the expeditionary forces.
I don’t think teachers dwell enough on how instrumental foreign recognition and support was at determining the result of the war. Not to take anything away from the patriots’ dedication and Washington’s tenacity at keeping an army in the field. The fact the other European powers interacted with us somewhat positively basically from the get go was a key difference between our revolution and the French and Haitian revolutions which occurred in the same period. Those other revolutions were far bloodier and less successful, largely because the revolutionary regimes were broadly spurned rather than welcomed into the family of nations.
It was covered in my American history class.
Pretty aware. I mean, the French are a fairly important part of the Revolutionary War.
We are told a lot about how the French helped at least in Florida we cover it a lot during American history. What Florida actually enjoys teaching history about wars we fight them every day against the alligators
It is a significant part of the Broadway show “Hamilton” so more Americans who didn’t learn it in school are hearing about it there.
Take a look at how many things we have named after Marquis de Lafayette. There’s your answer.
Aside from France, the school I went to also briefly touched on the fact that we had a few military observers from places like Prussia that didn’t so much “observe” as outright advise. And since my history teacher was both Polish-American and an ex-tanker, he drilled Casimir Pulaski’s name into our heads repeatedly.
The French backing was absolutely essential to our victory. It is possible that we could have won the war without their direct military assistance (either earlier in the war if we had been able to score a truly decisive victory, or later than it normally ended by bleeding British citizens’ morale), but the supplies, money, and military distractions in other parts of the world were absolutely pivotal to keeping the fight going.
Fairly well aware, although it probably varies by region. The earliest known European settlers of Michigan were French.
The Mel Gibson movie “The Patriot” is the fictionalized version a lot of Americans know.
Not to mention that Ben Franklin spent a lot of time in Paris chasing tail and military support.
We’re pretty aware of French assistance during the war. Lafayette is one of the most famous figures of the period. I wouldn’t say with much faith that the majority of Americans know *how* the French assisted us, but I’m very comfortable saying the majority know it was an important contribution to our independence.
I was taught specifically, from what I remember, that France aided majorly in a naval capacity and French troops and officers helped in logistics and planning battle tactics and overall strategy on top of the actual fighting.
I remember being taught that there would be no American independence without French assistance.
Most of us are probably aware of role France played in our winning the war.
Pretty well aware. Hamilton helped with a lot of general understanding for folks that might’ve missed it in school
I would venture to say the average person knows abt the fact that they helped. But knowledge of details will vary heavily. Most people I’ve met don’t care about history, American or not.
Pretty aware. I’ve heard it said that while George Washington was the father of our country, France was the midwife.
A good local reminder is the Statue of Liberty.
Obviously
What’s too bad is we usually don’t have time in the curriculum to cover the French/British rivalry in the context of the Revolution. We touch upon it earlier with the French and Indian War, but the financial needs of the colonial powers in the 1760s and 70s are really interesting. They get cut short since the protagonists aren’t Americans.