U.S. Revolution & Libya

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Monday March 28, 2011 · 8:14 PM PDT

2011/03/28 · 20:14

Many critics of the USA involvement in Libya have argued that the Libyan people should win their own freedom. Dr. Dalacoura's letter in the Weekend Financial Times is characteristic and quotes John Stuart Mill on intervention and a people's deserving of freedom. It might lead one to
conclude that either Mill's knowledge of history did not include an
understanding of the French involvement in the American colonies' fight
for freedom, or that he imagined that America's hold on her liberty was
to be short lived. Either way one must conclude from the hindsight of
the present that he would be wrong on both possibilities. It is very
likely that without French aid the American revolutionaries would not
have been able to hold out. Not only did the French harass British
shipping, but made the British blockade ineffective. Joel Richard Paul
tells this story in a new and lively book, Unlikely Allies. Of course,
it may be that Dr. Dalacoura believes that American liberty is not yet
established.

Some few details:

French military aid was also a decisive factor in the American victory.
French land and sea forces fought on the side of the American colonists
against the British. At the same time, British and French (and to a
lesser extent, Dutch and Spanish) forces fought for colonial wealth and
empire around the world. From 1778 through 1783 -- two years after the
defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown -- French forces fought the British in
the West Indies, Africa and India.

From the perspective of the American Revolution, however, the high
point of French support is the landing of five battalions of French
infantry and artillery in Rhode Island in 1780. In 1781, these French
troops under the command of Count Rochambeau marched south to Virginia
where they joined Continental forces under Washington and Lafayette.
Cornwallis, encamped on the Yorktown peninsula, hoped to be rescued by
the British navy. A French fleet under the command of Admiral DeGrasse
intercepted and, after a fierce battle lasting several days, defeated
the British fleet and forced it to withdraw. This left the French navy
to land heavy siege cannon and other supplies and trapped Cornwallis on
the Yorktown peninsula.

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