Complex sentence: In the same year Louis XVI was persuaded by Pierre Beaumarchais to send supplies, ammunition, and guns to the rebels secretly, then to sign a formal Treaty of Alliance in early 1778, and later that year to go to war with Britain.
Split into simpler sentences: In the same year Louis XVI was persuaded by Pierre Beaumarchais to send supplies, ammunition, and guns to the rebels secretly. Early in 1778 he signed a formal Treaty of Alliance, and later that year France went to war with Britain.