The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 116

Foreign Intervention: The Influence of the French
the rebellion. As the strategy unfolded,
and the British realized they could not
accomplish all of the goals, they had to
continue prioritizing where to utilize
their naval power as the war progressed.
Great Britain eventually scaled
back the Mediterranean portion of their
plan, as they simply did not have the
ships to reinforce the Mediterranean
squadron. British intelligence reported
that a combined force of French and
Spanish ships, should the Spanish enter
the war, totaled sixty warships to the
British forty-two. 32 Thus outnumbered,
the British could not afford to weaken
the Channel fleet to send more ships to
the Mediterranean.
This was a significant shift for the
British; they were clearly on the defensive
and had to prioritize areas of most
importance. The home islands were obviously
the most important, followed
by the West Indies due to its profitable
trade, which greatly helped to sustain
the British economy. If they had possessed
enough naval power, the Mediterranean
would have been third. The
British also had possessions in Africa,
India, and Canada, aside from the Caribbean
and Mediterranean, which they
needed to protect. They thus stretched
themselves dangerously thin around
the globe. 33 The danger would become
increasingly worse in 1779, once Spain
entered the war against Britain.
Prior to Spanish entry into the
war, France gained notable successes,
particularly in the Caribbean where
they captured Dominica in June 1778
and St. Vincent and Grenada in 1779. 34
The British had already abandoned
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