As the British troops stacked their arms on October 19, 1781, their band played “The World Turned Upside Down.” It was indeed; a handful of colonials had toppled the greatest power on the globe - so at least the event could be interpreted. That was, in a sense, the way the British interpreted it. “O God,” cried Lord North when he heard the news, “it is all over, it is all over.” And George III prepared to abdicate. The king was more perceptive than his first minister: he did not abdicate, but the resolution urging the king to end the war, which was carried in Commons in February 1782 may be regarded, symbolically at least, as the end of the long era of Royal rule in the realm of foreign affairs. Soon peace negotiations were underway, and almost miraculously the Americans outmaneuvered both the British and the French and emerged with better terms than they had thought possible.