Using Kenneth Waltz's three causes for international conflict, I discuss France's reasons for getting involved in the American Revolution

The Causes for France?s Involvement in the American Revolution Many historians argue that America may not have gained her independence from Great Britain without the monetary and military aid she received from France (Higginbotham 431). France?s aid was very substantial but her motives were questionable. A close analysis of Kenneth Waltz?s three images, and especially the second image of the internal structure of the state, reveal that France?s foreign policy, to seek …

…was the time when their naval rearmament program was ready, and this was an opportunity to eliminate Britain?s powerful trade monopoly. Bibliography Bemis, Samuel Flagg. The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1965. Dull, Jonathan R. A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1942. Higginbotham, Don. The War of American Independence. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1983. Waltz, Kenneth N. Man, the State and War. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.