French Alliance

(in Russian, American-French Treaty of 1778), a treaty signed on Feb. 6, 1778, in Paris during the revolutionary war of the 13 North American colonies against England.

The treaty was concluded after lengthy negotiations between B. Franklin and the French foreign minister, C.Ver-gennes. In signing the treaty, France pledged to defend the “freedom, sovereignty, and independence” of the USA and not to lay down arms until England recognized the independence of the USA (arts. 2 and 8). The American-French treaty brought France into war with England, which was its chief rival in trade and in the fight for colonies. The treaty was a victory of the young American diplomacy, which skillfully utilized the contradictions between the European colonial powers to defeat England. It lapsed, in effect, in 1794 when the USA declared its neutrality in the war between France and a coalition of European powers headed by England.