U.S. intelligence specialist James M. Potts shows how covert French military aid changed the course of history by enabling the rebellious Americans to hold off the forces of George III, most notably in the pivotal battle of Saratoga in October 1777. Potts probes the actions of Louis XVI's government in secretly providing vital arms and ammunition to George Washington's forces-and much-needed subsidies to the Continental Congress-in the critical early years of the American Revolution, 1776 to 1778. Drawing heavily on contemporaneous French government archives and other historical sources,...