The Diplomacy of the American Revolution

Written by Samuel Flagg Bemis and Ben Judge

Narrated by Tom Beyer

"To the superficial observer there would seem never to have been an age less propitious for the birth of a new nation. The tendency of the times was altogether for the aggrandizement of big states and the consolidation of their territory at the expense of the little ones, for the extinction of the weaker nations and governments rather than for the creation of new ones. Nevertheless it was this bitter cut-throat international rivalry which was to make American independence possible."



On April 15th, 1783, the Articles of Peace between the United States and Great Britain went into effect proclaiming that "His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the United States . . . to be free Sovereign and independent States." That recognition represented a monumental achievement for the new American nation. It also, as Samuel Flagg Bemis shows us, marked the end of a world war.



France's search for revenge against Britain after the French and Indian War, Spain's attempt to retake Gibraltar, the complicated trade interests of the Netherlands and Russia, Austria's fears of a two-front war—each of these saw America's struggle for independence as an event that affected their own strategies. And, as Bemis shows us, it is through that prism that we should consider the actions of those who supported America and Great Britain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9798855557725

Samuel Flagg Bemis

SAMUEL FLAGG BEMIS (1891-1973) was the Sterling Professor of Diplomatic History and Inter-American Relations at Yale University. He authored, among others, Jay’s Treaty: A Study in Commerce and Diplomacy, Pinckney’s Treaty: America’s Advantage from Europe’s Distress (winner of the 1927 Pulitzer Prize), The America Secretaries of State and their Diplomacy, The Diplomacy of the American Revolution, A Diplomatic History of the United States, The Latin America Policy of the United States, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (winner of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize), and John Quincy Adams and the Union. Bemis received his PhD from Harvard University and his BA from Clark University.