250 years of US independence: Why France chose to support the American Revolutionaries

Two hundred fifty years ago, France made a decisive wager on America's rebels. According to France 24, French support for the thirteen colonies predated the July fourth, seventeen seventy-six Declaration of Independence by years. King Louis the sixteenth saw opportunity: a chance to weaken British power and avenge past military defeats. But this wasn't pure calculation. Enlightenment ideals — the revolutionary notion that ordinary people deserved political voice — shaped the alliance too. That partnership would ultimately reshape the Atlantic world.

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