250 years of US independence: Why France supported American Revolutionaries

Tomorrow marks two hundred fifty years since the Declaration of Independence—a milestone shaped in surprising ways by France. According to France 24, King Louis the Sixteenth backed the American Revolution not out of conviction about freedom, but as a calculated geopolitical move: to weaken Britain and settle old scores. Yet the alliance between France and the nascent United States was genuine, rooted in Enlightenment ideals that resonated on both sides of the Atlantic. A reminder that even the oldest friendships often start with much less noble motives.

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