Freedom isn’t free. In fact, sometimes it’s so expensive that it costs someone their kingdom. Or, in the case of the American Revolution, it cost someone else their kingdom.

That’s the dirty little secret of America’s war for independence: we didn’t pay for it. The French did.

Yes, Washington, Jefferson, and Adams gave us the rhetoric, and the ragtag Continental Army gave us the muscle. But without French gold, French muskets, French fleets, and French generals, the world’s most powerful empire would have trounced us.

And here’s the punchline: Versailles went broke bankrolling us. That bankruptcy helped spark the French Revolution and, eventually, a short-ass Corsican’s rise to power.

That should sound uncomfortably familiar. Because right now, America is playing the role of Louis XVI. Only this time, we’re pouring money we don’t have into someone else’s war, that we don’t care about, to impress warmongers who’d never stand a post themselves. And if you don’t think this war is such a wasteful suck of blood and treasury, I refer you to the IMF, which is getting ready to bail out France and the United Kingdom for their idiotic expenditures on this war (wasteful welfare states notwithstanding).

And just like the French treasury in 1788, Uncle Sam’s books aren’t exactly pristine.

Vive la France (and Pass the Muskets)

Back in 1776, America had tremendous spirit but not much else. Our army (their word, not mine) was barefoot and starving. Ammunition was scarce. Inflation was brutal.

France stepped in. At first, they quietly slipped us powder and muskets through shell companies. But by 1778, they openly declared for us. And from then on, it was a French lifeline that kept us alive.

• 90% of our arms in crucial campaigns were French-made.
  
  
• Over 1 billion livres poured into our cause.
  
  
• Lafayette and Rochambeau became legends, not just advisers.
  
  
• The French fleet at Yorktown slammed the door on Cornwallis, ending major combat.

We toasted our independence. France sent the bill to Versailles.

Champagne Tastes, Nattie Light Budget

Except that France couldn’t afford it. The Seven Years’ War - which started in North America as the French and Indian War - had already maxed out its credit. The American Revolution pushed them off the fiscal cliff.

The numbers are staggering: 1.06 to 1.3 billion livres—in today’s money, tens of billions. And unlike America now, France didn’t have a Federal Reserve to print funny money. (Editor’s Note: As the great Ron Paul wrote in End The Fed, “It is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking.”)

Tax reform? Blocked by aristocrats who didn’t want to pay.

Borrowing? Paris was tapped out. The monarchy’s fiscal house of cards collapsed.

By 1789, Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General, hoping for a bailout. Instead, he got a revolution.

And instead of balancing the books, the people placed his head on the guillotine.

Liberty, Equality… and Guillotines

Here’s the irony: France bankrupted itself to spread American ideals of liberty and equality. The slogans crossed the Atlantic, fueled revolutionary fervor, and ignited a fire Versailles couldn’t control.

The result wasn’t fiscal stability but Robespierre, the Terror, and an aristocratic bloodbath.

Heads rolled. Literally. (You can read about my disdain for the French Revolution here.)

Enter Napoleon

Into the chaos marched a brilliant, ambitious artillery officer from Corsica. Napoleon Bonaparte capitalized on the vacuum. He reorganized the military, conquered Europe, and crowned himself emperor.

All because Louis XVI thought it would be clever to bleed the treasury dry just to stick it to the British.

The lesson: wars fought on borrowed money don’t end when and where you think.

Déjà Vu in Kyiv

Fast forward to 2025. Replace America with Ukraine. Replace Louis XVI with Uncle Sam. Replace livre debts with $37 trillion in U.S. obligations.

Sound familiar?

Washington is bankrolling Kyiv’s war effort against Moscow the way Versailles bankrolled Philadelphia’s against London. Billions in weapons, billions in cash, endless “supplemental appropriations.”

But here’s the difference: France in 1778 was the world’s second power. America in 2025 is already the most indebted empire in history.

We’re running trillion-dollar deficits with no end in sight. Our elites, like French aristocrats, resist meaningful reform. Whether by legislative taxation or central bank inflation, our citizens, like French peasants, are squeezed until they squeal.

And still, the money printer whirs—because “supporting democracy” sounds noble, even if it empties the coffers.

The Guillotine, Modern Edition

Now, I don’t expect Congress to break out guillotines. But financial collapse doesn’t need a blade. It comes with bond market tantrums, currency devaluation, and social unrest.

In 1789, Versailles couldn’t refinance its debts. In 2025, the U.S. faces rising interest costs that already eat over $1 trillion a year.

The French monarchy collapsed because lenders lost faith. What happens when the world loses faith in the dollar?

That’s the 21st-century guillotine, and Russia and China are already preparing an alternative payment system when the blade finally drops.

Why Ukraine Matters to Your Wallet

Here’s the onion: Ukraine isn’t about Kyiv or Moscow. It’s about us.

Every howitzer we ship, every HIMARS battery, every check signed to Zelenskyy is borrowed against America’s future. Just like France mortgaged its future for ours.

What’s worse is that most Americans couldn’t care less. Make no mistake: this isn’t some existential battle. Certain hyphenated Americans started this war with the hopes of using Ukraine and America’s vast resources to split Russia into pieces. It never should’ve happened at all.

History tells us what happens when you bankrupt yourself funding other people’s wars.

You don’t get a ticker-tape parade. You get regime change.

America, Take Heed!

So when you look back, the parallels should chill you:

1. France funded someone else’s war → Bankrupt treasury.
   
   
2. Bankrupt treasury → Political collapse.
   
   
3. Political collapse → Revolution and chaos.
   
   
4. Chaos → Strongman seizes power.

Sound familiar? You can swap “Louis XVI” for “the U.S. taxpayer” and “Napoleon” for… well, fill in your favorite would-be American Caesar.

We’re not immune. We’re just later in the timeline.

Wrap Up

France’s support guaranteed American independence. But it ruined the French monarchy. The French didn’t get freedom—they got bankruptcy, guillotines, and Napoleon.

Today, America is running the same playbook in Ukraine, only with far less fiscal breathing room.

So next time you hear about another $60 billion package for Kyiv, remember this:

The French gave us liberty and got a revolution. We’re trying to give Ukraine liberty. What do you think we’ll get?

If history rhymes, it won’t be pretty.

Raise a glass of champagne come this Veterans Day—and remember who picked up the tab last time.

Then remember who’s picking it up now.