Trying to come to terms with the senseless tragedy in Paris Friday, I retreat to what I know—a bit of history.
There is no United States of America without France. Simply put, our revolution fizzles before it gets rolling and even if we had managed to avoid catastrophic defeat early on, it would have dragged on way past 1781. Here’s a gross oversimplification of the key role France played in the American Revolution and for reason’s I will explain shortly, Ben Franklin’s probable take on yesterday’s events.
Our revolution ends as early as 1777. Why? France started secretly aiding the US in 1775 with critical supplies like guns, gunpowder and cash. They also opened their ports to American sailors. Keep in mind, that America at this time had almost no manufacturing capability so without French supplies we don’t win the battle of Saratoga. In that confidence-building battle, it is estimated that 90% of American supplies came from France. If we lose that battle, half of Washington’s army might have been destroyed and the likelihood of further international support melts away.
The revolutionary war does not end at Yorktown in 1781. Why? This point is far less speculative than my previous one. At Yorktown, France’s role cannot be overstated. The generals, managing the siege, were French. As hard as this is to believe, Washington had no experience managing sieges and smartly relinquished that responsibility to the seasoned French generals including the Marquis de Lafayette and Rochembeau who led the attack. Nearly all of the weapons held by Americans at Yorktown were French made. And as many as 5,000 highly trained French soldiers were part of Washington’s 20,000-man force at Yorktown. But the coup de grace was the blockade of Yorktown by the French navy, trapping Cornwallis and his army, leaving no real alternative but surrender. Voilà. We win.
Off with Louis’ head. It wouldn’t be hard to argue that Louis the XVI’s financial and military support of the American Revolution cost him his crown and the head that wore it. All in all, the French loaned the Americans over 1 billion livres (roughly $13 billion in today’s dollars) during the revolution. This cash money along with the costs of fighting the British on the high seas all over the world left France on the brink of bankruptcy.
And how did American show its appreciation to France? We didn’t. First, we begged off our debts. Second, we double-crossed France in 1783 by signing a peace treaty with England. Third and perhaps most telling, American politicians and historians of the time started downplaying France’s role in the creation of our faire nation. These folks wanted the American Revolution to be about American bravery, fortitude and righteousness NOT about some god-forsaken Catholic monarch across the sea.
Ben Franklin and the French. My knowledge of all of this is a byproduct of my obsession with Ben Franklin. Franklin was dispatched to France in 1776 and didn’t return to the US until 1785. During his time there, while cajoling the King and his ministers to dramatically increase their support of his cause, he fell in love with the French and they with him. He loved their “joie de vivre,” their food, their wine, their literature and many of their women, although keep in mind he was already 70 years old when he arrived. One could argue that only Franklin could have persuaded a king to put his own country at risk to support a seemingly lost cause like the American Revolution. But that’s a story for another day, one I definitely plan on telling in great detail.
My overall point here is that France is America’s oldest ally, an ally we didn’t start to repay until World War 1 and perhaps completed with the Marshall Plan after World War II. My man Franklin saw in the French an openness and appreciation of invention. (The French were the first to confirm the validity of Franklin’s electrical experiments.) He even flirted with the idea of living his last remaining years with his dear friends in France but elected to come back to his country, a decision that couldn’t counter the forces of forgetfulness to the debts owed to France but did impact the Constitutional Convention.
Franklin would have been disconsolate over yesterday’s attack, seeing it for what it was — an attack not just on his beloved friends and the bankrollers of our revolution, but on all who believe in liberté.