Furthermore, being used to conventional European methods of warfare where armies lined up in rows and met each other on an open battlefield, the British did not adapt well when the Americans used guerrilla tactics against them. But most importantly, the French gave a large amount of financial and military aid to the United States. The French government certainly had no affection for the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence, but they hoped to get some revenge for the defeat in the French Indian War and maybe win back some land in North america. In august 1781 the America forced the British army to surrender at Yorktown, Virginia.