The Battle of Saratoga is widely regarded as the turning point that helped bring France into the American Revolution.
The Saratoga campaign culminated in the surrender of British General John Burgoyne’s army to American forces under General Horatio Gates on October 17, 1777. The campaign took place in northern New York and blocked a British plan to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.
The American victory demonstrated that the revolutionary forces could defeat a major British army. It encouraged France to enter a formal alliance with the United States in 1778, providing troops, naval support, loans, and supplies. French assistance later became crucial to the campaign that ended at Yorktown.
“Saratoga” refers to a campaign involving multiple engagements, especially the Battles of Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights. The surrender at Saratoga is often called one of the war’s decisive moments, but it did not itself end the conflict; fighting continued until the peace settlement of 1783.