On December 4, 1777, word reaches Benjamin Franklin at Versailles that Philadelphia had fallen and that Burgoyne had surrendered.

Two days later, King Louis XVI assents to negotiations for an alliance.

The treaty will be signed on February 6, 1778, and France will declare war on Britain one month later, with hostilities beginning with naval skirmishes off Ushant in June.

Spain will 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 entry into the war will 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.