Battle of Yorktown (1781)
The battles of Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781 were two major turning points in the Revolutionary war. Both were American victories over the British, but with very different results. The British defeat at Saratoga prolonged the war, while the battle at Yorktown foretold its end. Saratoga convinced the French to join the Americans against the British. Yorktown was a joint victory by the French and the Americans over the British. France and her allies continued to fight hard for two more years, but there was little fighting anymore on the American continent. The Treaty of Paris (1783) ended the war.