History offers a recurring pattern that conventional history tends not to recognize: governments overreach abroad, miscalculate badly, and the resulting strain — financial, political, and psychological — comes home to roost in the form of unrest, rebellion, or outright civil war. The public is usually fed lofty justifications at the outset, but in the aftermath, real consequences expose hidden, deeper structural weaknesses. France in the late 18th century. The monarchy’s heavy involvement in foreign wars—most notably the Seven Years’ War and then the expensive intervention in the American Revolution—left the country financially crippled. While the American venture is celebrated as...