why was the french government willing to support the patriots' cause during the revolutionary war
France in the American Revolutionary War But France was a colonial rival of Britain, and while arguably being Europe's most prestigious nation, France had suffered humiliating defeats against the British during the Seven Years' War - especially its American theatre, the French and Indian War - only years earlier. France was looking for any way to strengthen its own reputation whilst undermining Britain; helping the colonists gain independence looked like the ideal way to do so. The fact that some of the revolutionaries had fought France in the French- Indian war scant years earlier was expediently overlooked. In fact, the French Duc de Choiseul had outlined how France would restore their prestige from the Seven Years' War as early as 1765, saying the colonists would soon throw the British out, and then France and Spain would unite and fight Britain over naval dominance.[9]