How would the war be different if Benjamin Franklin was not there?

Answer 1

When you say, "war," I presume you mean the American Revolutionary War. The question is essentially two parts, each of which are difficult to answer:

1) Would France have supported American independence without Franklin as the U.S. ambassador?

2) Would the Continentals have won the war without French support?

It is generally agreed that Franklin was far more deft at diplomacy in France than his co-worker John Adams. However, almost ANYONE would have been better at diplomacy there than Adams. It is quite a stretch to say that nobody but Franklin could have convinced the French government to join in this war, although Franklin was certainly one of the best choices to do so.

Without the COVERT support of the French, the Continentals would have had no chance of victory -- plain and simple, France was their only significant source of gunpowder during the War. It is difficult, however, to be certain of the degree to which the OVERT support of the French military was for an American victory. Yorktown, for instance, could not possibly have been an American victory unless the French Navy won the Battle of the Chesapeake Bay -- but it is not a given that victory at Yorktown ended the War.

*IF* one presumes that only Franklin could have persuaded the French to openly join the War, and *IF* one presumes that the Continentals could have won the War only with open French support, then Franklin not being there would clearly have resulted in an American defeat.