That's the spirit. Glad you weren't around for the Revolution.
For the French and others, the Revolutionary War wasn't about American independence; it was about fighting a war by proxy against the British. They cared more about tweaking the nose of the British than they did about the American colonists. And even if they were there out of the goodness of their little froggy hearts, the Americans were already fighting--not waiting for someone to come save them. That makes all the difference.