En route to Revolution

Join us Tuesday, October 3rd, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a hybrid Fellow’s Forum with Iris De Rode, U.S. Committee member of “America 2026”.

Attend in person: Berkeley Conference Room, the Jefferson Library

Preregistration is not required to attend. Zoom link will become active October 3rd.

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About the Presentation

Generations of historians have mostly focused on the importance of French money, weapons, ships, and men as well as on the French individuals Lafayette, Rochambeau, and de Grasse in order to explain the success of the French-American alliance (1778–1783) during the American Revolutionary War. These interpretations, however, leave out a crucial element for success: the impact of applying the Military Enlightenment's common ideas to the American theater of conflict. During their extensive "reconnaissance mission" between 1780 and 1783, a group of French and American commanders, under the leadership of Washington and Rochambeau, worked together to accomplish this. This two and a half year process resulted in a deeper bond between the allies than frequently assumed, including mutual trust and friendship. It also made the French-American collaboration more extensive than just military collaboration, involving exchanges in the fields of diplomacy, commerce, science, and culture. Together, these elements would prove to be additional crucial elements for the French-American alliance's success. Thomas Jefferson was one of the most notable participants in these French-American interactions. He was close friends with François-Jean de Chastellux, major general in the French army. After their initial meeting at Monticello in 1782, the two collaborated on several projects to strengthen French-American ties and promote "pro-Americanism" in France.

About Iris De Rode

Iris de Rode received her doctorate from the Université de Paris VIII in November 2019, for her dissertation entitled François-Jean de Chastellux (1734-1788), un soldat-philosophe dans le monde atlantique à l'époque des Lumières. Her dissertation was published by Éditions Honoré Champion, 2022 and she recently won the Prix Guizot of the Académie Française for "best history book of the year" for it. Together with her PhD supervisor, Prof. Bertrand van Ruymbeke, she co-authored Le Journal de Dumas (16 juin-6 octobre 1781) and Sur les traces de l'indépendance des États-Unis (Monfaucon: Éditions Jean-Jacques Wuillaume, 2018).

Iris is currently working on a new English book titled "En route to Revolution" that will be published by the University of Virginia Press in 2024. She has received 18 fellowships for her work, including from George Washington's Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, the Society of the Cincinnati and the American Philosophical Society. Iris has been teaching American and Transatlantic history at the French University SciencesPo Paris as an adjunct faculty member since 2013. She is also working on public history initiatives with the National Park Service, the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, the Philadelphia Museum of the American Revolution, and George Washington's Mount Vernon and the French embassy in Washington DC. She is the US committee member of “America 2026”.