The American War of Independence

 -In 1778 France joined the war between America and Britain in the side of America. In this
war, the Americans were fighting for their independence from the British
 -the assistance given to America by France had some detrimental effects to the French
people in the sense the Louis xvi little thought of the consequences when he used money to
support the Americans in a country which already had financial crisis- D. Richards argued
that the war cost France 2 million lives.
 -The participation of the French soldiers in the American War of independence however
had a great effect of exposing the soldiers to democratic and revolutionary ideas that in
turn made them revolutionary upon returning to France.
 The war exposed the soldiers to democratic ideas for example the soldiers got exposed to
the American Declaration of Independence that pointed out that all men were created with
inalienable rights namely life and liberty.
 After the war the soldiers returned to a France whose people had no control over the
French taxation since there was no parliament.
 That the French soldiers got exposed to democratic ideas has been demonstrated by the fact
that General Lafayette, a veteran of the American War of Independence, became one of the
revolutionary leaders.
 -When the French people came back home, they began to compare their situation with that
of the Americans who according to D. Richards revolted not because the British taxed
them but they only feared that they might tax them ( Richards page 14). As a result of this,
the French people came back home where there were a lot of taxes and this made them to
revolt
 -in line with this, D. Richards also added that it was no accident that one of the earliest
leaders of the French revolution was Lafayette who also saved as a soldier in the American
War of Independence
The American War of Independence contributed to the outbreak of the French revolution mainly in
two ways: 1. By causing financial crisis in France thereby increasing the criticism of the
government by the French people 2. By exposing the soldiers to democratic ideas of equality and
liberty and this in turn made them revolutionary when they returned home in France (Lafayette)