France in the American Revolutionary War in the context of "Military history of the United States"

Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; French: [lwi sɛːz]; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV), and Maria Josepha of Saxony, Louis became the new Dauphin when his father died in 1765. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette. He became King of France and Navarre on his grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, and reigned until the abolition of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. From 1791 onwards, he used the style of king of the French.

The first part of Louis XVI's reign was marked by attempts to reform the French government in accordance with Enlightenment ideas. These included efforts to increase tolerance toward non-Catholics as well as abolishing the death penalty for deserters. The French nobility reacted to the proposed reforms with hostility, and successfully opposed their implementation. Louis implemented deregulation of the grain market, advocated by his economic liberal minister Turgot, but it resulted in an increase in bread prices. In periods of bad harvests, it led to food scarcity which, during a particularly bad harvest in 1775, prompted the masses to revolt. From 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realised in the Treaty of Paris (1783). The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the ancien régime.

The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War. It was won decisively by the Continental Army, led by George Washington, with support from the Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops, led by the Comte de Rochambeau, and a French Navy force commanded by the Comte de Grasse, defeating the British Army commanded by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.

The French and American armies united north of New York City during the summer of 1781. Following the arrival of dispatches from France that included the possibility of support from the French West Indies fleet of the Comte de Grasse, disagreements arose between Washington and Rochambeau on whether to ask de Grasse for assistance in besieging New York or in military operations against a British army in Virginia. On the advice of Rochambeau, de Grasse informed them of his intent to sail to the Chesapeake Bay, where Cornwallis had taken command of the British army. Cornwallis, at first given confusing orders by his superior officer, Henry Clinton, was eventually ordered to build a defensible deep-water port, which he began to do at Yorktown. Cornwallis's movements in Virginia were shadowed by a Continental Army force led by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

The Russian Empire officially recognized the United States of America in 1803. However, Russia had established trade relations with the Thirteen Colonies well before they issued the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. This commerce, which violated the Navigation Acts of the British Empire, continued to take place during the American Revolution. Although Russian empress Catherine the Great decided against openly endorsing either side during the American Revolutionary War, she did hold the view that it was the "personal fault" of British policy and also believed that secession among British colonies in the Americas could be "advantageous" to her realm. Russia's position on the United States, therefore, largely facilitated France's pro-American position and contributed to the British defeat in 1783.

Diplomats were first exchanged between Saint Petersburg and Washington, D.C., in 1809. During the American Civil War, Russia openly supported the Union and while it refrained from entering the conflict as a belligerent, the Imperial Russian Navy maintained a presence in American ports as a show of force against the Confederacy. In 1867, the Alaska Purchase resulted in the American acquisition of Alaska, which had previously been a Russian colony in North America. Following the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 (the year of American entry into World War I), the United States supported the White movement until 1920. However, the Allied effort to support the White movement was ultimately unsuccessful, as the Russian Civil War ended with the establishment of the Soviet Union.