French plan to invade Britain in the 18th century
An 18th-century French plot to invade with an American army during the War of Independence has been discovered by historians.
The plan, which was drawn up by a French general, was to bring over 10,000 American soldiers and capitalise on a Britain that was distracted by the war on the other side of the Atlantic.
The general also proposed that the force include a corps of American Indians, or “sauvages”, as he termed them, that would strike terror into the British
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The plan, which was drawn up by a French general, was to bring over 10,000 American soldiers and capitalise on a Britain that was distracted by the war on the other side of the Atlantic.
The general also proposed that the force include a corps of American Indians, or “sauvages”, as he termed them, that would strike terror into the British
The document was drawn up by Charles-François Dumouriez when commander at Cherbourg and bears a pencil note saying it came from the papers of General Barthélemy Scherer, briefly Minister of War.
The papers state that it would be easy to transport the Americans across the Atlantic, and proposes they land in Ireland, where “they would be guaranteed success”.