Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume i
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Enlightenment and Culture
- Part II The British Colonies
- 5 The Revolution in British America: General Overview
- 6 The Myth of “Salutary Neglect”: Empire and Revolution in the Long Eighteenth Century
- 7 The British Atlantic on the Eve of American Independence
- 8 Cities and Citizenship in Revolution
- 9 The Other British Colonies
- 10 The Participation of France and Spain
- 11 Britain, Ireland, and the American Revolution, c. 1763–1785
- 12 A Contest of Wills: The Spectrum and Experience of Political Violence in the American Revolution
- 13 Recovering Loyalism: Opposition to the American Revolution as a Good Idea
- 14 White Women and the American Revolution
- 15 Blacks in the British Colonies
- 16 Life, Land, and Liberty: The Native Americans’ Revolution
- 17 Shaping the Constitution
- 18 Reform and Rebellion in Spanish America at the Time of the American Revolution
- 19 International Warfare and the Non-British Caribbean
- 20 Interpreting a Symbol of Progress and Regression: European Views of America’s Revolution and Early Republic, 1780–1790
- Index
19 - International Warfare and the Non-British Caribbean
from Part II - The British Colonies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2023
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume i
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Enlightenment and Culture
- Part II The British Colonies
- 5 The Revolution in British America: General Overview
- 6 The Myth of “Salutary Neglect”: Empire and Revolution in the Long Eighteenth Century
- 7 The British Atlantic on the Eve of American Independence
- 8 Cities and Citizenship in Revolution
- 9 The Other British Colonies
- 10 The Participation of France and Spain
- 11 Britain, Ireland, and the American Revolution, c. 1763–1785
- 12 A Contest of Wills: The Spectrum and Experience of Political Violence in the American Revolution
- 13 Recovering Loyalism: Opposition to the American Revolution as a Good Idea
- 14 White Women and the American Revolution
- 15 Blacks in the British Colonies
- 16 Life, Land, and Liberty: The Native Americans’ Revolution
- 17 Shaping the Constitution
- 18 Reform and Rebellion in Spanish America at the Time of the American Revolution
- 19 International Warfare and the Non-British Caribbean
- 20 Interpreting a Symbol of Progress and Regression: European Views of America’s Revolution and Early Republic, 1780–1790
- Index
Summary
The American Revolution had a significant impact on the non-British islands in the Caribbean. Especially during the first three years of the revolutionary war, the French colonies of Martinique and Saint-Domingue and the Dutch island of St. Eustatius played an active role in furnishing arms and ammunition to the Patriots. The subsequent formal declarations of war by France and Spain against Great Britain moved the war’s center of gravity to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Combined French and Spanish naval power there more than matched that of Britain, leading to the conquest of several British islands. In those islands that revolved around plantation agriculture based on slavery, the war created military possibilities for the growing group of free men of color and, by reducing food supplies, induced marronage. Free and enslaved nonwhites thus engaged in their own quest for freedom and equality in the shadow of the North American independence war.
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- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions , pp. 500 - 518Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023