Les derniers articles de la commission d'histoire - Par Olivier
Chaline Le 11 mai 2012, dans le cadre de la session de printemps
de la Société générale à Anderson House, le professeur Olivier
Chaline a présenté une conférence sur le thème de la marine
Royale dans la guerre d'indépendance. Vous trouverez ici le
texte de son exposé. The American War is a really exceptional
event in French history. Only during that five years war did the
Navy matter more than the Army : naval expenses, naval
involvement, naval fighting were far more reaching than all was
spent for and done by the Army, except, of course, the 5000
troops of Rochambeau. To ally himself with the American
colonists was an exceptional decision too taken by the king
Louis XVI and his powerful foreign minister, the comte de
Vergennes. The former enemies turned into brothers in arms and,
after a difficult but unavoidable mutual discovery, won together
against Britain. It was not the first time that France had to
wage war elsewhere in the world. It had a