USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -During the war, France shouldered a financial burden similar to that of Great Britain, as debt from the American Revolutionary War was piled upon already existing debts from the Seven Years’ War. The French spent 1.3 billion livres on war costs equivalent to 100 million pounds sterling (at 13 livres to the pound).

Detailed explanation-2: -The Revolution precipitated a series of European wars, forcing the United States to articulate a clear policy of neutrality in order to avoid being embroiled in these European conflicts.

Detailed explanation-3: -Determined not to increase taxes, Necker financed France’s intervention in the war through loans. Between 1777 and his resignation in 1781, Necker raised 520 million livres in loans, piling even more debt on a state that already had debt in abundance.

Detailed explanation-4: -French involvement in the Seven Years’ War and the American War of Independence added substantially to the state’s debts. Jacques Necker, finance minister from 1777 and 1781, had largely funded France’s war effort through loans. As a result the state debt ballooned to between 8 and 12 billion livres by 1789.