why did France under Louis XVI helped 13 colonies of American to gain Independence from common enemy britain
Answers
HEY MATE HERE IS YOUR ANSWER
Answer:For a number of reasons, all of which served France’s national interests. A big part of why the French—and later the Spanish, too—helped the American rebels was pure spite. France and Spain had fought against Britain during the Seven Years’ War (what we Americans refer to as the French and Indian War), and the Brits had absolutely thrashed them. As a result, France lost most of its colonial possessions in North America and was thoroughly humiliated. That animosity was still festering by the time the American Revolution broke out, and the Founders were smart enough to pick up on it. That’s why they sent Benjamin Franklin over to Paris as their ambassador; they knew that if anyone could be persuaded to stick a thumb in Great Britain’s eye, it was the French—despite the fact that Franklin was trying to persuade an absolute monarchy to aid a revolt against a monarch. There were other reasons too, of course. Losing the American colonies would weaken Britain, and anything that weakened Britain was good for France. It was an opportunity for King Louis and his ministers to not only get some of their own back, but dilute British influence on the world stage and perhaps even seize some of their lost territory while they were at it. Realpolitik, not romantic ideals of republican government, was what motivated France to help the Americans. French involvement in the war can be divided into two sections: pre-Saratoga and post-Saratoga. Prior to the Battle of Saratoga, French assistance to the rebellious colonies was primarily limited to financial support—in fact, France almost bankrupted itself helping the Americans—and covertly shipping weapons and other wartime necessities across the Atlantic for George Washington’s perpetually ill-supplied army. While these were welcome, the Americans often grumbled that the support of the French was, at best, pecuniary.
However, one must look at the situation from the perspective of King Louis to understand why the French wanted to keep a low profile, at least at first. Britain may have been unable to stamp out the rebellion quickly, but it was still a force to be reckoned with. And the French were still smarting from the Seven Years’ War. Supporting the rebels openly would mean another war with Britain, and the French wanted to make sure they were backing a winner before taking that kind of risk. Unfortunately, the first years of the American Revolution did little to inspire such confidence. Washington captured Boston at the war’s outset, only to be utterly routed and pushed out of New York state less than a year later. The close of 1776 found the rebellion in wretched circumstances: thousands of men captured or killed, New York City fallen to the British, and morale at an all-time low. Washington was able to escape Long Island with what was left of his forces only due to a thick bank of fog that allowed the Americans to retreat across the Delaware River and into New Jersey.
Now, if you were France, which side would you place your bets on?
To be sure, many French people wholeheartedly supported the Revolution. Popular opinion was on the side of the rebels. In fact, one visitor to Paris wrote that there was more enthusiasm for the Revolution in the cafes of the French capital than in all the American colonies combined. But ideology and public opinion do not by themselves, drive the formulation and execution of government policy, and that is as true today as it was back then. So the French continued to render aid under the table. Anything more was just too much of a risk.
But then the Battle of Saratoga happened. And everything changed.
No one expected the Americans to pull off a victory like that after such a string of defeats. True, Washington had notched some victories at Trenton and Princeton, but those were pocket change—pinpricks against the enemy that inflicted damage but didn’t do much to alter the status quo. But Saratoga was an undeniable, massive win for the rebels. Great Britain lost General Burgoyne and his entire army in the greatest single surrender of British forces in the entire war, and the Americans won the confidence of the King of France. The French officially recognized the United States as an independent nation on February 6, 1778, and open war was declared between France and Britain only a month later. America now had its first real ally in its fight for independence, and the French Navy in particular would play a crucial role in the Siege of Yorktown by capturing the Chesapeake Bay and cutting off British General Charles Cornwallis from any escape or resupply by sea. But in a larger sense, the most valuable form of assistance provided by the French wasn’t troops or ships or guns or gunpowder. France—and later Spain too—helped enormously just by tying down British forces elsewhere around the world. European involvement in the Revolution changed the nature of the war. It transformed a colonial uprising into a global conflict.
Because Britain ruled every country by occupying it so they helped