Which 1781 battle’s surrender helped lead to peace negotiations ending the American Revolutionary War?

The Battle of Yorktown’s British surrender helped lead to peace negotiations ending the American Revolutionary War.

The Yorktown campaign culminated on October 19, 1781, when British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to American and French forces led by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau. French naval control of the Chesapeake Bay helped prevent British relief forces from rescuing Cornwallis.

Yorktown was not the final military action of the war, but it was a decisive victory. The defeat weakened political support in Britain for continuing the conflict and contributed to the fall of Prime Minister Lord North’s government in 1782.

Peace negotiations followed in Paris. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, and Britain recognized the independence of the United States. Yorktown therefore became the conflict’s best-known decisive campaign rather than a literal end to every military operation.