The Saratoga campaign is widely called a turning point because it helped bring France into the American cause.
The campaign unfolded in 1777 as British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne attempted to control the Hudson River valley and separate New England from the other colonies. Its decisive fighting included the Battles of Saratoga in September and October near Saratoga, New York.
Burgoyne’s army surrendered to American forces commanded by General Horatio Gates on October 17, 1777. The American victory demonstrated that the Continental Army could defeat a major British force in the field.
News of the surrender encouraged France to enter a formal alliance with the United States. The Franco-American Alliance was signed in 1778, bringing military, naval, and financial support that changed the conflict into a broader international war. Saratoga is sometimes treated as one battle, but historians generally describe the campaign as a sequence of operations and engagements.