Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It

by Larrie D. Ferreiro,
Tulsa World, December 4, 2016

Soon after the Seven Years War ended in 1763, France and Spain began planning a comprehensive strategy of revenge against Great Britain. While pretending they were interested only in keeping the peace, ministers in both countries designed a unified Bourbon armada, capable of leading an invasion of the island nation. One of them, César Gabriel de Choiseul-Praslin, speculated that there might be another way to weaken England. One day, Choiseul-Praslin wrote, England’s colonies “will be powerful enough to separate from London and found a state independent from the English crown.”