h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

While the battle of Yorktown on the coast at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay brought an end to the war, the battle of Saratoga near Albany was the beginning of an end to the war. It was uncanny really that the redcoats under General Burgoyne lost Saratoga to the Colonists almost four years to the day before General Cornwallis lost Yorktown. Saratoga fell on 17 October, 1777, and Yorktown fell on 17 October, 1781. The news of the fall of Yorktown nevertheless brought a cry of "it was all over" and while General Cornwallis' army laid down their arms, the band played "The World Turned Upside Down". On the other hand, the result of Saratoga was stunning news to the people of England. For it had never occurred to them that a British Army could lay down their arms and surrendered. To the Americans it was a great boost to their morale. Within two to three weeks after the fall of Saratoga, which was a momentous event, the French entered the war on the side of the newborn United States.