The Age of Enlightenment and Revolutionary Sympathies

The American Revolution occurred during a period when Enlightenment ideals about liberty, self-governance, and natural rights had thoroughly permeated European intellectual circles. Philosophers like Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau had laid the philosophical groundwork that made colonial rebellion against Britain appear not just justified, but noble to many European observers.

This intellectual climate helps explain why numerous European military officers – despite their aristocratic backgrounds – volunteered to fight for the American cause. The Marquis de Lafayette became Washington’s trusted lieutenant at just 19 years old, while Polish engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko designed the fortifications at West Point and Saratoga. Perhaps most crucially, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a former Prussian staff officer, drilled Washington’s amateur army into a professional fighting force during the brutal winter at Valley Forge.

Yet paradoxically, while European intellectuals celebrated American independence, their governments remained far more concerned with maintaining the fragile balance of power on the continent. The same revolutionary principles that inspired admiration for the colonial rebels also threatened to destabilize Europe’s old regimes. This tension between ideological sympathy and political pragmatism would shape European responses to the Atlantic revolutions.

Russia’s Armed Neutrality and the Diplomatic Revolution

In a surprising geopolitical development, Catherine the Great’s Russia emerged as an unlikely champion of neutral rights during the war. Her 1780 Declaration of Armed Neutrality established principles that would later become cornerstones of maritime law:

– Neutral ships could trade freely along belligerents’ coasts
– Only actual military contraband (not all enemy goods) could be seized
– Blockades had to be physically enforced to be recognized
– Prize courts must follow these rules consistently

This coalition eventually included Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Austria, and even Portugal – leaving Britain dangerously isolated. When the Dutch Republic joined in late 1780, Britain declared war, beginning the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-1784). The conflict proved disastrous for the Dutch, leading to internal upheaval that saw the pro-French Patriot Party temporarily overthrow Stadtholder William V in 1787 before Prussian intervention restored him.

Meanwhile, Russia continued expanding southward, culminating in the 1792 Treaty of Jassy which secured Crimea. These eastern developments unfolded as Western Europe stood transfixed by events in revolutionary Paris after 1789.

The French Paradox: Victory Leading to Ruin

France’s support for the American Revolution proved a pyrrhic victory. While the war humiliated Britain, it:

1. Bankrupted the French treasury, exacerbating the fiscal crisis that led to 1789
2. Introduced revolutionary ideas that undermined the ancien régime’s legitimacy
3. Demonstrated that popular sovereignty could triumph over monarchy

American diplomats like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson became celebrities in Parisian salons, where they skillfully promoted revolutionary ideals. Franklin’s homespun wisdom and Jefferson’s Enlightenment erudition made the American experiment appear both admirable and replicable to European reformers.

Britain’s Remarkable Recovery and Imperial Pivot

Britain demonstrated astonishing resilience after 1783, quickly adapting to the loss of its American colonies by:

– Establishing new penal colonies in Australia (1788)
– Granting Canada significant autonomy through the 1791 Constitutional Act
– Consolidating control over India via the 1784 East India Act

The Industrial Revolution provided an economic foundation for this imperial reinvention. By 1800, British factories produced more than the rest of Europe combined, financing both the military might and global reach of the Second British Empire.

The Ideological Contagion of Revolution

The American Revolution’s most profound impact may have been demonstrating that Enlightenment theories could work in practice. Key principles like:

– Popular sovereignty
– Written constitutions
– Separation of powers
– Natural rights

These concepts crossed the Atlantic back to Europe, where they inspired both reformers and terrified monarchs. The resulting tension between revolutionary ideals and conservative reaction would define international relations until 1815 and beyond.

The Birth of Modern International Relations

The period 1776-1815 witnessed the emergence of several enduring features of modern geopolitics:

1. Ideological Foreign Policy: Nations began aligning based on political systems rather than just dynastic interests
2. Economic Warfare: Britain’s naval blockade and France’s Continental System prefigured total war
3. Nationalism: Both revolutionary France and Britain cultivated patriotic mobilization
4. Great Power Management: The Congress of Vienna system attempted to balance these new forces

These developments marked the transition from 18th century cabinet diplomacy to the more complex international relations of the modern era.

Legacy: The Atlantic World Redrawn

By 1815, the Atlantic world had been fundamentally transformed:

– The United States emerged as a new model of republican government
– Britain shifted from American colonies to Asian empire
– France’s revolutionary experiment gave way to Napoleon’s imperial ambitions
– Russia established itself as both European power and Asian empire
– Spain and Portugal saw their American empires begin to unravel

The era’s conflicts also established patterns that would recur throughout the 19th century – the Anglo-American rivalry, Franco-German antagonism, and Russia’s westward expansion. Perhaps most significantly, the Atlantic revolutions demonstrated that the Enlightenment was not merely a philosophical movement, but a transformative political force whose effects would continue reverberating across the globe.