For America250, France signed the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with the United States. The agreement brought France openly into the Revolutionary War against Great Britain and made the American struggle an international conflict.
The treaty was concluded in Paris on February 6, 1778. It promised French military and naval support and included a commitment that neither party would make a separate peace with Britain. France also recognized the United States as an independent nation through a separate Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed the same day.
French assistance included weapons, money, troops, and naval forces. The French fleet’s support during the 1781 Yorktown campaign helped prevent British evacuation and contributed to the decisive American victory there. The alliance therefore had consequences far beyond diplomacy.
France is sometimes confused with Morocco, which recognized the United States earlier, in 1777. Morocco was the first foreign power to recognize the new country, but France was the first major European ally to enter a formal military alliance with it.