It is January 14th. Welcome to Episode 14 of History in a Year. Today, we leave the frozen woods of America and travel to the glittering palaces of Paris. Benjamin Franklin arrives in France not just as a diplomat, but as a rock star. We explore his fur hat, his secret meetings with playwrights, and the critical moment when King Louis XVI agrees to sign the Treaty of Alliance, turning a colonial rebellion into a World War.
STEPHEN: Welcome to History in a Year: America’s First 250 Years.
LEAH: Join us every single day as we journey from the Revolution of 1776 to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
STEPHEN: You can find every episode and join the discussion at PointedWords.com. I’m Stephen.
LEAH: And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN: It is January 14th. Welcome to Episode 14. Yesterday, we covered the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, where the Americans captured an entire British army. That was the military turning point of the war.
LEAH: But today, we are going to look at the political turning point. Because winning one battle doesn’t win a war against the British Empire. The Americans were broke. They had no navy. They had no gunpowder factories. They needed a sugar daddy.
STEPHEN: And there was only one country rich enough and angry enough to fit the bill: France.
LEAH: France and Britain were historic enemies. They had fought four wars in the last 80 years. In the most recent one—the Seven Years’ War—Britain had humiliated France and stolen Canada. The French were desperate for revenge.
STEPHEN: So, in late 1776, Congress sent their best weapon to Paris. Not a soldier, but a 70-year-old grandfather with gout and a fur hat. Benjamin Franklin.
LEAH: We have to talk about Franklin’s arrival in France. It was like Beatlemania. He was already the most famous American in the world because of his electricity experiments. The French called him “The Doctor.”
STEPHEN: He knew exactly how to play the part. He didn’t wear a wig or a sword like a European aristocrat. He wore a plain brown coat and a fur cap. He dressed like a “rustic philosopher” from the American wilderness.
LEAH: The French aristocracy ate it up. They put his face on snuff boxes, rings, and watches. Ladies wore their hair in the “Franklin style.” He was the coolest person in Paris.
STEPHEN: But behind the celebrity, Franklin was working hard. He was meeting with the French Foreign Minister, the Comte de Vergennes.
LEAH: Vergennes was a smart, cold calculator. He wanted to help America, but only if it hurt Britain. He didn’t care about “liberty”—remember, France was an absolute monarchy. He just wanted to weaken his rival.
STEPHEN: At first, the aid was secret. We have to mention a guy named Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. He was famous for writing the play The Marriage of Figaro. But he was also a spy and a gunrunner.
LEAH: He set up a fake company called “Roderigue Hortalez and Company.” The French government secretly funneled money into this company, and Beaumarchais used it to buy gunpowder and muskets for Washington.
STEPHEN: In fact, 90% of the gunpowder used by the Americans at Saratoga came from France. Without that secret French powder, the Revolution would have ended in 1777.
LEAH: But Franklin wanted more than secret gunpowder. He wanted an open Alliance. He wanted the French Navy. He wanted French troops on the ground.
STEPHEN: Vergennes kept saying, “Not yet.” He was terrified that the Americans would lose, or worse, make a deal with Britain and leave France hanging. He needed proof that the Americans could actually win.
LEAH: Then came December 4, 1777. A messenger arrived at Franklin’s house in Passy. His name was Jonathan Loring Austin.
STEPHEN: Franklin rushed out to meet him. He asked, “Sir, is Philadelphia taken?”
LEAH: Austin said, “Yes, sir. Philadelphia has fallen.”
STEPHEN: Franklin’s heart sank. But then Austin added, “But, sir, I have greater news than that. General Burgoyne and his whole army are prisoners of war.”
LEAH: This was the thunderbolt. Saratoga! Franklin realized instantly that this changed everything. He immediately drafted a memo to Vergennes.
STEPHEN: The logic was simple: The British just lost an army. They are terrified. They are going to offer the Americans a peace deal—probably “Home Rule”—to stop the war. If France doesn’t sign an alliance now, the Americans might just take the British offer and go back to the Empire.
LEAH: It was a bluff, partly, but it worked. Vergennes ran to King Louis XVI and said, “We have to act now.”
STEPHEN: On February 6, 1778, the “Treaty of Alliance” was signed.
LEAH: This is one of the most important documents in American history. France recognized the United States as a sovereign nation. They agreed that neither side would sign a separate peace with Britain without the other’s consent. And they agreed to fight until American independence was won.
STEPHEN: When the news reached London, the British government panicked. They immediately declared war on France.
LEAH: And suddenly, the American Revolution wasn’t a local rebellion anymore. It was a World War.
STEPHEN: Britain now had to defend its own coastline against a French invasion. They had to defend their sugar islands in the Caribbean. They had to defend India. They couldn’t just focus on George Washington anymore.
LEAH: It forced the British to pull troops out of Philadelphia and send them to the Caribbean. It stretched the Royal Navy thin.
STEPHEN: Back in America, when the treaty arrived in May 1778, Washington ordered a celebration. He had his troops fire a “Feu de Joie”—a fire of joy. They lined up and fired their muskets in a rippling wave down the line.
LEAH: They finally had a powerful friend. But having a friend doesn’t mean you stop suffering.
STEPHEN: Because while Franklin was drinking champagne in Paris to celebrate the treaty, Washington’s army was still enduring the tail end of the brutal winter at Valley Forge.
LEAH: Join us tomorrow for Episode 15. We return to the snow. We witness the starvation, the disease, and the arrival of a mysterious Prussian baron who transforms a mob of farmers into a machine of war.
STEPHEN: I’m Leah.
STEPHEN: And I’m Stephen.
STEPHEN: You can find every episode at PointedWords.com. And this… is our story.