<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling . You can assist by editing it . (October 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling . You can assist by editing it . (October 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> During the American Revolutionary War (American War of Independence; 1775--1783), France recognized and allied itself with the United States in 1778, declared war on Great Britain, and sent its armies and navy to fight Britain while providing money and matériel to arm the new republic . French intervention made a decisive contribution to the U.S. victory in the war . Motivated by a long - term rivalry with Britain and by revenge for its territorial losses during the French and Indian War, France began secretly sending supplies in 1775 . Spain and the Netherlands joined France, making it a global war in which the British had no major allies . France obtained its revenge, but materially it gained little and was left with over 1 billion livres in debts . </P> <P> Benjamin Franklin served as the American ambassador to France from 1776 to 1785 . He met with many leading diplomats, aristocrats, intellectuals, scientists and financiers . Franklin's image and writings caught the French imagination--there were many images of him sold on the market--and he became the cultural icon of the archetypal new American, and even a hero for aspirations for a new order inside France . </P>

What event made france decide to help the american in the revolutionary war