Famous Battles: Battle of Yorktown, September 19 – October 19, 1781
If the American forces had not won the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Yorktown, the United States would almost certainly not exist today.
Although the British, with advantages in both numbers and experience, should have crushed the American troops, an unlikely alliance between France and America saved the day for the fragile, newly-founded country.
Given the French/American alliance, the British were overpowered on both land and sea. After a few months of a siege on Yorktown by both French and American troops, General Lord Cornwallis surrendered his 8,000 men to American forces.
Within weeks, America fully claimed their independence from the British Empire.