Editing Valley Forge (section)

== French Alliance ==

While the army suffered at Valley Forge, Benjamin Franklin in Paris secured the alliance that would ultimately prove decisive. News of the American victory at Saratoga in October 1777—where a British army had surrendered to American forces—convinced the French government that the Americans could win and that supporting them offered an opportunity to weaken Britain. In February 1778, France and the United States signed treaties of alliance and commerce, bringing French money, supplies, and eventually military forces to the American cause. News of the alliance reached Valley Forge in May 1778, prompting celebrations throughout the camp and lifting spirits that had been tested by months of hardship.<ref name="dull">{{cite book |last=Dull |first=Jonathan R. |title=A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution |year=1985 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven}}</ref>

The French alliance transformed the strategic situation. Britain now faced the prospect of war with a major European power, forcing it to divert resources from America to defend its possessions in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The British government decided to evacuate Philadelphia and consolidate forces in New York, a decision that freed the Pennsylvania countryside and vindicated Washington's strategy of maintaining an army in being near the occupied capital. When the British marched out of Philadelphia in June 1778, Washington's army—drilled by von Steuben and reinforced by spring recruits—pursued and fought the British to a draw at the Battle of Monmouth. Valley Forge had done its work: the army had survived, transformed, and emerged ready for the campaigns that would eventually win independence.<ref name="lengel"/>