Which 1781 American victory forced British General Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown?

The Siege of Yorktown forced British General Charles Cornwallis to surrender in 1781.

American and French forces surrounded the British army at Yorktown, Virginia, during the final major campaign of the American Revolutionary War. George Washington commanded the Continental Army, while French troops and naval forces provided crucial support.

The allied siege tightened through October 1781. American and French troops captured key defensive positions, and a French naval victory in the Battle of the Chesapeake prevented British reinforcements and evacuation by sea. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.

Yorktown did not immediately end the war. Fighting and diplomatic negotiations continued for nearly two more years, until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. The siege is sometimes called the Battle of Yorktown, but “Siege of Yorktown” is the standard name for the combined land operation that produced Cornwallis’s surrender.