If you invite an American to drink, he will probably lie down in your ear after getting drunk and tell you a secret: Our Founding Father is Louis XVI. Americans have no aversion to this meme, because people familiar with history know that if louis XVI had not sold his head to help the United States and resist the British, where would the United States be today? It doesn't seem too much to say that he is the Father of the Nation.
【Louis XVI, Founding Father of the United States】
In 1774, at the age of 21, Louis XVI ascended to the throne of France, his predecessor left him a mess, and the defeat of the Seven Years' War caused France to lose all of its colonies on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Canada and the Mississippi River, and France not only suffered huge debts, but also disgraced. The lack of domestic grain harvests for four consecutive years seems to have given this young man a chance to get off the hook. Louis XVI, who was financially strapped, had to keep his sights on the nobles and clergy, who were not required to pay taxes.
But at this moment, good news came from North America: the thirteen states of North America reversed! The continental army of tax-evading merchants, bankrupt slave owners, desperate mercenaries, and peasant soldiers declared war on the British army, and they elected an officer who had served as a colonel in the British army to lead them, and this person named Washington, although the military level was relatively average, but the news still made Louis XVI excited. In line with the principle that the enemy of the enemy is the friend, Louis XVI began to pay close attention to the movements of the North American continent.
【Lexington's gunshots】
Despite France's high debts and empty treasury, Louis XVI began to provide assistance to the Continental Army. The initial aid was carried out in secret, and through private companies, the Continental Army received 300,000 muskets, 200,000 uniforms and hundreds of heavy artillery. In addition to this, the Continental Army received large quantities of gunpowder and food. According to the American Historical Review, in the year from 1776 to 1777, the U.S. military used a total of 2,267,400 pounds of gunpowder, of which 115,000 pounds were produced by the thirteen states themselves, and the remaining 2,152,400 pounds were shipped by France through the West Indies.
In September 1777, the Continental Army raided the British at Freeman's Farm, annihilating 600 enemy troops at a cost of 300 killed. The Battle was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War and a turning point in French aid to the United States, from which Louis XVI's aid to american troops went from underground to public. France immediately signed the "Franco-American Treaty of Friendship and Commerce" and the "Franco-American Alliance Treaty" with the United States, and some people say that France is a speculator, and if it were not for Saratoga's victory, it would not have come to the united states in all aspects. But think about it in turn, without France's previous covert assistance, the Continental Army would probably not be able to survive the Saratoga Victory.
In April 1778, a French fleet of 12 warships set sail from the port of Toulon with 800 cannons and 4,000 soldiers to North America; in June, the French army of 30 warships and 6,000 soldiers, led by the military nobleman Count Rochambeau, sailed to North America. At this time, the first American warship, the USS America, was still waiting for materials on the platform of Portsmouth, and was not launched until 5 years later, when the Revolutionary War was almost over. It can be seen that the naval battles during the entire war were fought by the French. Later, Louis XVI even dispatched tens of thousands of French navies to launch a battle against the British Third Fleet in the West Indies to ensure the safety of sea lines of transport.
On land, the French forces led by Rochambeau and Lafayette played a crucial role in the war. In order to make up for the losses on the front line, Louis XVI issued mobilization orders five times to mobilize young people to join the French expeditionary force. Half of the French generals killed in the North American continent held the title of viscount.
【British surrender to U.S.-French forces】
The last battle of the War of Independence, the Victory of Yorktown, the U.S. army sent more than 7,900 troops, the French army sent more than 8,800 troops, and 15,000 French navies fought for the United States at sea, and the French Expeditionary Force became the main force of the American Revolutionary War. When the British surrendered to the American and French forces, the money was written: King Louis XVI of France sent the Army General Count Rochambeau, and in the eyes of the British army, it was indeed the French army that defeated them, which made Washington extremely embarrassed.
In addition to military support, economic support also did not stop, Louis XVI took all 75 million francs at the bottom of the French pressure box in North America. By the end of the war, France had 3.3 billion livres in debt, nearly half of which had been spent on the American Revolutionary War. What should I do if I run out of money? Louis XVI's reconvening of the Three Estates, which had hiatus for 175 years, to collect taxes on the nobility, clergy and commoners became the last straw that crushed the Bourbon dynasty, which led directly to the guillotine of Louis XVI. It is reasonable to say that Louis XVI is selling the head of the United States.
Some people say that the Bourbon dynasty sowed the seeds of its demise at the hands of Louis XV, and Louis XVI just caught up, even if he did not help the United States to resist The British, the Revolution would still break out. Louis XVI was not a dimwitted monarch, and he and Queen Mary tried unsuccessfully to save the French treasury. But now, because of the aid to the United States, the arrival of the Revolution was greatly advanced, and Louis XVI, who could have died, finally lost his head.
Helping others to help him lose his life, Louis XVI himself may not have thought of it. For a long time, the friendship between the United States and France was incomprehensible to Britain, because it was sold by the King of France.