After the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War as it was known in Europe, Spain and France began to plan for their revenge against Britain. They had been humiliated by Britain by the terms of that ended that war. They began to rebuild their navies and to train them together with joint […]
At the beginning of March 1777, Arthur Lee, a delegate to the United States Congress, urgently requested to meet with the Marquis de Grimaldi, who until just a few weeks before had been the Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs of King Carlos III of Spain, and who was now on his way to take […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor John E. Happ on the enigmatic Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais. Best known today for his plays, The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, he became a key player in French support of the American cause, primarily with organizing clandestine arms shipments to the fledgling Continental army. […]
Aside from being outmanned by the best army in the world when the American Revolution started, it was clear that the American forces were lacking specific skill sets, gaps which had to be addressed in order to assure victory. Early on, Congress identified several functions, the major ones being engineering and artillery, in which a […]
When the Second Continental Congress met in June 1775, they were not prepared for what they found. Several months earlier on April 19 the war of words with Great Britain had become a shooting war. The individual colonies found themselves at war with one of the greatest military powers of the age. It would fall […]
Pierre-Augustin de Caron, better known by his stage name, Beaumarchais, was a French playwright, financier, and confidant of King Louis XVI. In the spring of 1775, he travelled to London to take care of some business for Comte de Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and spend some time with his friend John Wilkes. […]
In the spring of 1775, Arthur Lee, the American agent in London, attended a dinner party at the home of John Wilkes, an outspoken supporter of the rebellious American colonies. There Lee met Monsieur de Beaumarchais, the famous French playwright, satirist, and financier who had the ear of King Louis XV and now had the […]
