The Saratoga campaign is often called a turning point of the American Revolution. Fought in 1777, it ended with the surrender of British General John Burgoyne’s army to American forces in upstate New York.
Britain hoped to control the Hudson River valley and separate New England from the other colonies. The campaign included the Battle of Bennington and the two battles commonly grouped as Saratoga, culminating in Burgoyne’s surrender on October 17, 1777.
The American victory had consequences beyond the battlefield. It helped convince France that the revolutionary cause had a realistic chance of success, contributing to the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and open French military support.
Saratoga is sometimes confused with Yorktown, the 1781 victory that effectively ended major fighting. Saratoga did not end the war, but it changed its international dimensions and strengthened the American position.