The correspondence between Louis XVI and his foreign secretary the comte de Vergennes represents a major new source for the history of French diplomacy and warfare in the last years of the ancien régime. New light is shed on France’s intervention in the American War of Independence – and in particular on how and why the king’s decision to intervene was taken; on the Franco-Austrian alliance, and the pacte de famille with Spain. But since Vergennes was also from 1783 chef du conseil royal... Expand abstract