The Anglo-French War is a military conflict fought between France and Great Britain with their respective allies between 1778 and 1783.

In 1778, France signs a treaty of friendship with the United States.

Great Britain is now at war with France, and in 1779 it is also at war with Spain.

As a consequence, Great Britain is forced to divert resources used to fight the war in North America to theaters in Europe, India and the West Indies, and to rely on what turns out to be the chimera of Loyalist support in its North American operations.[

From 1778 to 1783, with or without their allies, France and Britain fight over dominance in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the West Indies.

Within days of the news of Burgoyne's surrender reaching France, King Louis XVI decides to enter into negotiations with the Americans that result in a formal Franco-American alliance and the French entry into the war, moving the conflict onto a global stage.

Spain does not enter into the war until 1779, when it enters the war as an ally of France pursuant to the secret Treaty of Aranjuez.

Vergennes' diplomatic moves following the French war with Britain also have material impact on the later entry of the Dutch Republic into the war, and declarations of neutrality on the part of other important geopolitical players like Russia.

Opposition to the costly war is increasing, and in June 1780 contributes to disturbances in London known as the Gordon riots.

The two protagonists in the naval showdown in the Indian Ocean have as their objective the political dominance of the Indian subcontinent, and a series of battles fought by Admirals Edward Hughes and Pierre André de Suffren in 1782 and 1783 offer France a position to displace the British from its territories.

The opportunity only enda when Suffren and Hughes have to stop fighting upon learning of the provisional Anglo-French-Spanish peace treaties of 1783.