I can shed some light on the war, but not on french economy.
OE decided to make a landgrab in Russia. When OE was about to capture the goldmine Samara earmarked for Poland, Austria intervened to stop OE expansion. Venice decided to piggyback on Austrian demolition derby, and France stood by its ally.
Thus, it ended up at war with OE ally England.
This turned out to be a great waste of resources when the only gain was Bosnia for Venice.
At the moment, France is at war together with Venice over the "Chambers of Reunion".
Austria protests most heartily these new french claims and will have them dropped at the tip of a sword unless France acquiesces, drops them willingly and pays a symbolic sum for the costs incurred preparing for this punitive expedition.
Next session will be good clean fun.