<P> France played a key role in the American Revolutionary War (American War of Independence; 1775--1783). Motivated by the ideals of the new nation which were inspired by the French Enlightenment, as well as its long - term rivalry with Britain and so as to avenge their territorial losses during the French and Indian War, France secretly began sending supplies to the Americans in 1775 . </P> <P> By 1763, the French debt acquired to fight in the French and Indian War came to a staggering 1.3 billion livres . It "set off France's own fiscal crisis, in which a political brawl over taxation soon became one of the reasons for the French Revolution ." France obtained its revenge against Britain by assisting the Americans; however, it gained little real value and her massive debt severely weakened the government and escalated it towards the French Revolution . </P> <P> The French objective in assisting the Americans was to weaken Britain and to seek revenge for the defeat in the Seven Years' War . In 1777, America captured the British invasion army at Saratoga . In 1778, France recognized the United States of America as a sovereign nation, signed a military alliance, and went to war with Britain . France built coalitions with the Netherlands and Spain, provided Americans with grants, weapons and loans, sent a combat army to serve under George Washington, and provided a navy that prevented the second British army from escaping Yorktown in 1781 . </P> <P> Benjamin Franklin served as the American ambassador to France from 1776 to 1785 and 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 Franklin being sold on the market, and he became the cultural icon of the archetypal new American . Franklin even became a hero for a call for new order inside France . </P>

Why did france help the colonists fight in the american revolution