American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat British forces under general John Burgoyne in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, compelling Burgoyne's eventual surrender.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war. But Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war in the Treaty of Paris two years later, in 1783, in which the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

General John "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne was a British Army officer, playwright and politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several battles, most notably during the Spanish invasion of Portugal in 1762.

The Battles of Saratoga were two battles between the American Continental Army and the British Army fought near Saratoga, New York, concluding the Saratoga campaign in the American Revolutionary War. The second battle ended with a decisive American victory, greatly affecting the course of the conflict and persuading France to enter the war as an American ally. In both battles, General John Burgoyne commanded the British forces, while General Horatio Gates led the American force. Historian Edmund Morgan described Saratoga as "a great turning point of the war because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory."