Episode Details

2018 marks the 241st anniversary of the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga and the 240th anniversary of the Franco-American Alliance. But was the victory that prompted the French to join the American war effort, truly the "turning point" of the War for Independence?

National Book Award-winner Nathaniel Philbrick joins us to explore the two events he sees as better turning points in the American War for Independence: Benedict Arnold’s treason and the French Navy’s participation in the war.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/208

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Complementary Episodes

• Episode 026: Robert Middlekauff, George Washington’s Revolution
• Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost
• Episode 071: Bruce Venter, Saratoga and Hubbardton, 1777
• Episode 081: Don Glickstein, After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American Independence
• Episode 122: Andrew O’Shaughnessy, The Men Who Lost America
• Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution

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