Event

French intervention in the American war

France's war against Britain on the side of the United States, from the alliance of 1778 to the peace of 1783.

6 links, 3 backed by primary records

How each side tells it

Connections 6

French royal government spent over a billion livres, by France 24's account Scholarship & press 1
Estimates of the cost differ; this story found no scholarly count it could open.

Timeline 1 date

Proof 5 sources

250 years of US independence: how France helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War, France 24, 2026. Scholarship & press
Between 1778 and 1783, the monarchy spent over a billion French livres to fund the war, military expeditions and aid to the American revolutionaries.
French Alliance, French Assistance, and European Diplomacy during the American Revolution, 1778-1782 (Milestones), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Primary record
French assistance was crucial in securing the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.
Between 1778 and 1782 the French provided supplies, arms and ammunition, uniforms, and, most importantly, troops and naval support to the beleaguered Continental Army.
Partisan Review 57(3), 1990, p. 351: an essay on Simon Schama's account of the Revolution (page header: Susan Dunn), Partisan Review, Boston University, 1990. Scholarship & press
the American affair was also the source of more debt for a regime already plagued by grave financial problems.
Cambridge International AS Level History: Modern Europe, 1750-1921 Coursebook, Chapter 1, France, 1774-1814 (excerpt), Cambridge University Press. Scholarship & press
The United States became independent, but France gained nothing from the war except deeper national debt.
U.S. Debt and Foreign Loans, 1775-1795 (Milestones), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Primary record
During the American Revolution, a cash-strapped Continental Congress accepted loans from France.

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