The Brits like to make a big deal out of the French supplying the Continental Army and then turn around and act like Lend Lease wasn't all that important.
To anyone that is listening, the war did not end at Yorktown,Va there were still other engagements until 1783 when the treaty of Paris, officially ending the American revolution.
Keep it in context, the British at the time still viewed the colonies as their own only throwing a tantrum, regardless of what the colonists said they wanted. The fact that foreign mercenaries were being used to kill them only made the colonists even angrier and increased militia turnout. I doubt they would have cared if France invaded England, considering that's what they viewed the British as doing to them.
Yorktown was Admiral De grasse's victory.. history remembers Washington, Gates, Lafayette, Rochambeau, Lauzun, Steuben.. but whitout the naval ability of Admiral De Grasse, the battle would never occured or been won, with the Royal navy at sea support.
That's true, but it doesn't make it De Grasse's victory alone. All of the elements for victory had to come together, otherwise the British would have either emerged victorious or slipped the noose.
"The Bristish" a well established & disciplined Super Power vs it's colonist we couldn't have won the war without brave colonist, trick tactics & allot of help from Franch/ other nations.
I love this part of history : at that time, an army of 20 000 men was enough to hold several states of america while many european battles involving an average of 200 000 men had few consequences on the war destiny. This was the glorious colonial era!!!!
You make a fair point but you also seem to clearly underestimate the role the US played in the war. 1) the US did not join at the end of the war, 2) they fought the war on 3 fronts: Western Europe, Africa and the Pacific 3)before they became militarily involved they allowed the allies to fight by supplying them with weapons and ammunition. Without that help the British and the Russians would not have been able to hold out and beat back the Germans.
Jim, most excellent work, my congrats! Acta, I don't think you missed anything, you are just extremely observant. Notice the musket locks are also "backwards" so the editor must have flipped the image to have them appear to be shooting to the left.
HaHa!! Listen at all the whiny Redcoats on here crying because they lost the war. The British had hyped themselves up as being the greatest empire in the world and they failed to defeat a revolutionary government/army with less money, less manpower, less combat experience, a very small navy (compared to the British) and with less equipment. The American leadership was much smarter than the British, realizing their limitations and choosing to fight smaller scale battles they actually had a chance to win, racking up enough victories to secure the help of the French and Spanish. They also used unorthodox methods the British weren't as adept at, such as guerrilla tactics and the use of American rifles to secure some victories. The British had the advantage (especially early on) in almost every way and simply have no excuse for why their forces were unable to squash the revolution early on before the French were even able to enter the war. The British failed to adapt to American tactics and that ultimately cost them the war. That American diplomats were able to secure an alliance with France and Spain in such a non-conventional war, also shows the superiority of American diplomacy. Supporting a revolution usually means supporting the underdog in a fight and that entails great political risk if the revolution fails. The British on the other hand, had already established alliances with other countries before the Revolution began, yet their diplomats failed to capitalize on them. The British can make up all the excuses they want but the Americans beat them, period.
Sore losers. It doesn't help that the second war with Britain ended in a stalemate in large part due to the young 20 year old US Navy having their way with the Royal Navy that was already centuries old. That was also a huge embarrassment for the "Mistress of the Seas." This is a pretty good list of the naval actions during the War of 1812 if you want to see what I'm talking about: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_naval_battles_of_the_War_of_1812
Joe Mumma not really. You never beat any of our first rate ships of the line. Or second. Or third. Or fourth. Not even fifth rates. You never beat Collingwood or any of our admiral with a full fleet
The spanish attack to the british positions in Pensacola opened the Second Front in 1781 . The spanish troops of Louisiana, Florida and New Spain commanded by Bernardo de Galvez helped decisively to the final victory of Washington in Yorktown.
Great blend of reenactment, historical artwork, and documents. Appreciated the voice-over info. But did the video really need to be reversed giving us "left-handed" muskets? I shoot a LH PA flinter (bad right eye) so that detail really jumped out at me. All in all, a most informative video. Thanks.
I wasn't talking about Yorktown. But if you want to talk about Yorktown, neither the Americans nor the French could have done it alone. It's a perfect example of a well-executed joint operation. The British do like to try to give the French all of the credit, though. Funnily enough, you don't see me going onto Waterloo videos trolling the Brits by calling it a splendid German victory.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the "left-handed" muskets. I shoot a LH PA flinter (bad right eye) so it really jumped out at me! I did the classic double-take when I saw it.
@MrSRB2011 I love the Brits. And I thank them for the great traditions they passed on to we American cousins. BUT you cannot say you have the best: food, weather, teeth, complexion, or best-looking women. (France, Italy, Greece, Spain for that). In your list of "bests" though you forgot Rock Music. Cannot even father the last 40 years of music without Great Britain's influence! You took our blues music, repackaged it and gave us back some of the greatest music EVER! God bless you mate.
More or less. Washington had very personal reasons for wanting to attack New York instead, and a victory against either Clinton or Cornwallis would have ended the war, but de Grasse wasn't willing to sail that far north and since he'd only be able to blockade Yorktown for a certain period of time, attacking Cornwallis had the best chance of success. Most famous Generals who fail in the end fail because they're not willing to look past their own egos and desires or listen to anyone else.
@jordanj942 Yes you are correct. A good number of the British people hated the king and supported the rebels. In fact many British referred to the Americans as their brothers which is understandable considering most Americans at the time were British by blood and culture. Also it's fair to mention that there were many Americans who wanted to remain loyal to king. Americans never hated the British people, most of the hate was directed to the king.
The over-the-mountain men were Scots-Irish immigrants who were given land on the outskirts of the colonies, to help quell Indian uprisings. After 40 years of frontier experience, these Scots-Irish where very proficient at Indian tactics and gave the Brits a sound thrashing. It is also noteworthy that these Scots-Irish also had a bitter history that went back to early English conquests of Scotland and what become known as the Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. In essence a blood feud.
Decisive battlefield victories? Nope, just the war as a whole. One would think that the Europeans would have figured out by now that not every war is won by large tactical engagements.
I guess if you were talking to a Frenchman it would matter a little more. Frankly, we got what we wanted. Though I do always love it when a Brit acts like the colonists "betrayed" Great Britain in some horrible, unforgivable way.
@1stLordTheAdmiralty1 France won that war as America won WW2. Same process, same results. I'm french and thankful toward America for helping us in 1944. Please American, do the same for 1780 !
The American Revolution continued till 1784. The British was still occupying parts of the American colonies till 1784 , most notably New York. The British still occupied spanish Florida till 1784. There were skirmishes after Yorktown
@mjm0787 Your own prejudices against Americans don't change the fact that Britain was defeated. In history classes in America, it is always taught that the French helped the colonists, and also that the colonists did a lot of damage themselves. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, the French foreign minister said that the British army would be defeated with two more such costly victories. Did you also forget that the British brought in the Hessians before Americans had France's help?
The superlative British victory at Saintes (in which 1000 US sailors and Marines were present - Thomas, p. 67) the following year was more important than any set back on the East Coast of America as it secured the Caribbean for the British, which generated significantly more revenue than all 13 Colonies combined.
@gipcambero That's not true. Even if the US had lost the revolution, the union of colonies would have gained dominion status by the 1860s and from then on would have been independent for all intents and purposes.
@wolffromsteam Cornwallis was going to entrench himself at Yorktown as it was, French or no French... Greene's army was still intact in the south. All he had to do was wait for Washington to meet him on the outskirts of Yorktown. The Americans couldve done it themselves. What they couldnt do was beat the Royal navy in the Chesappeake.
It's not just the 13 colonies but the potentiality of what those 13 colonies would entail in just 100 years: a industrial giant of a country which would dwarf the largest empire of the time in both economic and military terms. The loss foreshadowed the rapid demise of the British Empire.
It's not like the Brits didn't already hire tens of thousands of German mercs and Iroquois tribes to slaughter their colonial brethren or anything like that.
@gipcambero Actually the British were fighting the Spanish, Dutch and the French at the same time, with the main bulk of British forces in Europe, so the fact we lost America is no shame.
Funny that you jump straight to the Prussians. Most of Wellington's troops were German and Belgian. He was in overall command just as Washington was at Yorktown. Valid. And even British historians claim that Blucher's arrival was what sealed the victory. Just so you know.
I hate how is always George III who was "evil". Ever though it could be his ministers? Lord North for example. If I were the King I would have sent my son over there to establish a Regency. Established a gentry and nobility.
At the end of the day 90% of all gunpowder in the US army was supplied by France and France supplied munitions as early as 1776. France made the war a global conflict. Spain,Holland and Sweden wouldn't have got involved if it weren't for the French..That's what? 5 nations versus Britain.. and to say that North America wasn't exactly a gold mine compared to other British Empire assets such as the Sugar Cane islands it's understandable to see where the British loyalty was at the time.
i researched that one of my great great great great great grand dads died fighting for england at the batle of yorktown virginia. i would hate to be the last man killed in a war. i would be gutted lmao.
It is not just putting down - but they don't even tell the truth! And I am not British - just find history fascinating - facts here are warped and a lot are just plain untrue.
You're oversimplifying things again. I never used the word "saved" for that very reason. And if you're going to talk about casualties as the singular factor as to who "won" a war or "saved" someone, you ought to be aware of the fact that the British took most of their casualties fighting in the colonies rather than the Caribbean and Europe and elsewhere. Again, that's the problem with oversimplification. But you guys still tend to enjoy doing it.
@1stLordtheAdmiralty I know that the Frnch gave financial support but it was partly to blame for the downfall of the French monarchy about 20 years later.
@gipcambero The Yanks might have beaten us Brits but final war between us was in the war of 1812, after which the States were neutral till later in the First World War in which they became allies of both us and the French against Imperial Germany and again in second world world against Nazi Germany and Japan. without the USA, Britain and France would have lost both wars.
One subject not mentioned is the fact that the people of britain was revolting against a tyrant king , many in secret supported the colonies war for independence due to either relatives living over there or having lost relatives serving in the British army over there! With the country fighting on most continents the treasury was nearly bankrupt and an increase in taxes meant more people wanted an end to the conflict! A decision was made to sacrifice america for the greater good of the British empire as other colonies was far more lucrative and the British navy and forces was sent to protect them from other empires life France and Spain!
you are right about the yankes join both WW late but if it was not for them we would of lost at least WWII look at the allies the british war pretty much by them selves
The correlation is this: France was Britain's prime enemy and the only enemy that mattered. Referring to the original comment. Securing the sugar islands was exponentially more important that holding onto to a bunch of Colonies that stabbed Britain in the back.
Well, I know what you mean when you say that (France did take the largest when it came to war price, not to mention gave a lot of funding to support US too). However, let us not also forget that Spain and Netherlands (was Quebec mentioned?) were also completely ignored in this too. True, they didn't spend much time fighting directly on US soil, but they did stretch out UK military so US and France wouldn't take the full assault. Arguably this is the smallest WW in world history as of 1778-1782.
I thought video cameras were invented in the 1900s? My hole life has changes. I can't beleive they videotaped their war with so much HD definition. Is this real???
I dont care if France disagreed with our decision to invade Iraq in 2003, I still love France and the French people for our common values. We both fought revolutions for the ideals of liberty. We both fought the Nazis in the name of freedom. We both have democratic governments. I love America and I love France!
Tarleton has been unfairly maligned in american history. He never ordered his men to execute surrendering enermies, he was respected by both sides. The reason for the deaths at Waxhaws was not down to Tarleton personally, his men believed he had been killed, so they wanted to avenge their commander
I love how everyone is always fighting with each other about if england or America is better, even though we hold one of the greatest military alliances the world has ever seen. And putting down an American is like putting down yourselves, considering most of us have british roots
About "Bloody Tarlton": This wonderful little documentary neglects to mention that the massacre was precipitated by his horse being shot from under him whilst they were surrendering ;)
yes indeed Gibraltar was the longest siege of the war & involved the largest battle of the war. The Saintes battle avenged the defeat at Yorktown & kept the Caribbean British..
can you please tell me what you think was innacurate in The Patriot and Braveheart? and by the way, they were only films, both showed the truth, if it wasn't for cannons and rifles the british would be nothing as they were no Match for the Scots or their Celtic brothers when it came to real fighting,
@wing2ply asleep during your history lessons then? A, America at the time of the War of Indepence was a British Colony so 'you' were British colonials, B, America actually enjoyed far more freedoms than the lower classes in Britain did so 'your' demands were always going to be viewed as unreasonable or even treasonous, C, for the first year or so it was by no means certain the colonial forces would win.
You can thank the european nations this July, without them your rebellion would have fallen to pieces. And Britain still grew bigger even after losing america, we where the most powerful and vast empire up until 1947-49.
Then what would most likely happen is Asia will conquer the new world with Britain but I'm sure if only Britain has been there diseases would spread much slower and the natives probably would wipe out the british
You're wrong on two things. The French sent surplus rifles and just cut the Brits off from escaping back to England which wouldn't have changed the American hold in 1783. And no, you had the most powerful empire until 1945 when American disbanded your empire and surpassed you in every way possible.
ImTheWaffleman haha the empire wasn't disbanded on americas say? where do you learn this shit, seriously americans think of them selves like some master race. we disbanded the empire due to financial reasons, and the majority of the empire was disbanded between 47-49 with the last of the empire getting independance in 1997. We still are the biggest empire the world has ever seen, come back when america has that title.
@gipcambero Exactly, but where was it credited? I think the UK and France should have allianced together,onsidering Americans had fought against France in the Past..
@wigster600 Hey The British were regulars & a super power, you gotta do what you gotta do to win a war. Some of the battles were without honor but at the end were a free nation. We could of fought the British head-to-head & foolishly be beatn.
My 4th g-grandfather, Benjamin Gilpin (4th Maryland Regiment), fought with Washington at Yorktown.
The Brits like to make a big deal out of the French supplying the Continental Army and then turn around and act like Lend Lease wasn't all that important.
After seeing this I'm pretty sure that Tavington, the bad guy from the Patriot was based on Tarlton.
To anyone that is listening, the war did not end at Yorktown,Va there were still other engagements until 1783 when the treaty of Paris, officially ending the American revolution.
As Thomas Jefferson said after Yorktown "every man has two countries, his own and France.
God bless America and Vive la France !
Tony Nelson But you have to remember. He only said such, because France saved his country's ass. He didn't really mean it.
It was not America's final victory, our men fought and died another two years after Yorktown.
Keep it in context, the British at the time still viewed the colonies as their own only throwing a tantrum, regardless of what the colonists said they wanted. The fact that foreign mercenaries were being used to kill them only made the colonists even angrier and increased militia turnout. I doubt they would have cared if France invaded England, considering that's what they viewed the British as doing to them.
Great Video.... And Great Fife and Drum at the beginning! Oh wait... That is my son and I!
Yorktown was Admiral De grasse's victory.. history remembers Washington, Gates, Lafayette, Rochambeau, Lauzun, Steuben.. but whitout the naval ability of Admiral De Grasse, the battle would never occured or been won, with the Royal navy at sea support.
That's true, but it doesn't make it De Grasse's victory alone. All of the elements for victory had to come together, otherwise the British would have either emerged victorious or slipped the noose.
fantastic, thanks for the upload.
"The Bristish" a well established & disciplined Super Power vs it's colonist we couldn't have won the war without brave colonist, trick tactics & allot of help from Franch/ other nations.
Im just saying, most of the people leaving negative coments are probably in britan right now
I love this part of history : at that time, an army of 20 000 men was enough to hold several states of america while many european battles involving an average of 200 000 men had few consequences on the war destiny. This was the glorious colonial era!!!!
You make a fair point but you also seem to clearly underestimate the role the US played in the war.
1) the US did not join at the end of the war,
2) they fought the war on 3 fronts: Western Europe, Africa and the Pacific
3)before they became militarily involved they allowed the allies to fight by supplying them with weapons and ammunition. Without that help the British and the Russians would not have been able to hold out and beat back the Germans.
Jim, most excellent work, my congrats!
Acta, I don't think you missed anything, you are just extremely observant. Notice the musket locks are also "backwards" so the editor must have flipped the image to have them appear to be shooting to the left.
@gipcambero i love my county (USA) but you are right, we probally wouldnt have won without france, thank you france! :)
HaHa!! Listen at all the whiny Redcoats on here crying because they lost the war. The British had hyped themselves up as being the greatest empire in the world and they failed to defeat a revolutionary government/army with less money, less manpower, less combat experience, a very small navy (compared to the British) and with less equipment.
The American leadership was much smarter than the British, realizing their limitations and choosing to fight smaller scale battles they actually had a chance to win, racking up enough victories to secure the help of the French and Spanish. They also used unorthodox methods the British weren't as adept at, such as guerrilla tactics and the use of American rifles to secure some victories. The British had the advantage (especially early on) in almost every way and simply have no excuse for why their forces were unable to squash the revolution early on before the French were even able to enter the war. The British failed to adapt to American tactics and that ultimately cost them the war.
That American diplomats were able to secure an alliance with France and Spain in such a non-conventional war, also shows the superiority of American diplomacy. Supporting a revolution usually means supporting the underdog in a fight and that entails great political risk if the revolution fails. The British on the other hand, had already established alliances with other countries before the Revolution began, yet their diplomats failed to capitalize on them. The British can make up all the excuses they want but the Americans beat them, period.
What the hell is with all these Brits dissing the Revolution?? Maybe everyone in the comments is just in their 18th century characters XD
They have a deeply set feeling of insecurity over anything American. I've been tempted to do an anthropological piece on them, its truly disturbing.
Sore losers. It doesn't help that the second war with Britain ended in a stalemate in large part due to the young 20 year old US Navy having their way with the Royal Navy that was already centuries old. That was also a huge embarrassment for the "Mistress of the Seas."
This is a pretty good list of the naval actions during the War of 1812 if you want to see what I'm talking about:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_naval_battles_of_the_War_of_1812
Cpl. Gadway USMC and I would do the same about you spamming lists
Joe Mumma drivel, new england was on the verge of leaving the union due to british blockade even that shit you celebrate at whitehaven was a lie
Joe Mumma not really. You never beat any of our first rate ships of the line. Or second. Or third. Or fourth. Not even fifth rates. You never beat Collingwood or any of our admiral with a full fleet
thanks this vid. helped me understand the surrender for my test tomorrow.
Who else is here because they just heard "Yorktown (the world turned upside down)" 😂😂😂
Overall, a well done video. Thank you.
i was learning about this in fifth grade it was really cool
Love the grammar. Cornwallis was beaten strategically before he even surrendered at Yorktown. The victory primarily served to tell the Brits that.
The spanish attack to the british positions in Pensacola opened the Second Front in 1781 . The spanish troops of Louisiana, Florida and New Spain commanded by Bernardo de Galvez helped decisively to the final victory of Washington in Yorktown.
I needed to know about the revolutionary WAR
Great blend of reenactment, historical artwork, and documents. Appreciated the voice-over info. But did the video really need to be reversed giving us "left-handed" muskets? I shoot a LH PA flinter (bad right eye) so that detail really jumped out at me.
All in all, a most informative video. Thanks.
I am a reeactor too. I am in the 7th Regiment "Royal Fusiliers"
IT IS BETTER TO LOSE WITH HONOUR THAN WIN WITH DISGRACE! -
A agree with wing2ply. If british weren't harsh and treated us horribly, we would have a british flag flying over America today.
A long battle we Fought hard and Won The British have been Defeated
Lmao bunch of angry Brits
Yrotsih k
taxation without representation, my friend. That's what it was really about.
well yes the french did help us but we repaid that debt to them, by fighting 2 world wars and saving them twice. enough said
I wasn't talking about Yorktown. But if you want to talk about Yorktown, neither the Americans nor the French could have done it alone. It's a perfect example of a well-executed joint operation.
The British do like to try to give the French all of the credit, though. Funnily enough, you don't see me going onto Waterloo videos trolling the Brits by calling it a splendid German victory.
Great video. Vive la France and God bless America! Both great nations!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the "left-handed" muskets. I shoot a LH PA flinter (bad right eye) so it really jumped out at me! I did the classic double-take when I saw it.
@MrSRB2011 I love the Brits. And I thank them for the great traditions they passed on to we American cousins. BUT you cannot say you have the best: food, weather, teeth, complexion, or best-looking women. (France, Italy, Greece, Spain for that). In your list of "bests" though you forgot Rock Music. Cannot even father the last 40 years of music without Great Britain's influence! You took our blues music, repackaged it and gave us back some of the greatest music EVER! God bless you mate.
I like the sound track, especially the Drum and Fife. I wish they had a CD I could buy!!
Very Nice Video! :)
More or less. Washington had very personal reasons for wanting to attack New York instead, and a victory against either Clinton or Cornwallis would have ended the war, but de Grasse wasn't willing to sail that far north and since he'd only be able to blockade Yorktown for a certain period of time, attacking Cornwallis had the best chance of success. Most famous Generals who fail in the end fail because they're not willing to look past their own egos and desires or listen to anyone else.
I think your Gloucester is older and bigger, but we do have a Severn River here too.
@jordanj942
Yes you are correct. A good number of the British people hated the king and supported the rebels. In fact many British referred to the Americans as their brothers which is understandable considering most Americans at the time were British by blood and culture. Also it's fair to mention that there were many Americans who wanted to remain loyal to king. Americans never hated the British people, most of the hate was directed to the king.
@gipcambero
The red coats didn't fare too well when they got to New Orleans however.
The over-the-mountain men were Scots-Irish immigrants who were given land on the outskirts of the colonies, to help quell Indian uprisings. After 40 years of frontier experience, these Scots-Irish where very proficient at Indian tactics and gave the Brits a sound thrashing. It is also noteworthy that these Scots-Irish also had a bitter history that went back to early English conquests of Scotland and what become known as the Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. In essence a blood feud.
Decisive battlefield victories? Nope, just the war as a whole. One would think that the Europeans would have figured out by now that not every war is won by large tactical engagements.
I guess if you were talking to a Frenchman it would matter a little more. Frankly, we got what we wanted. Though I do always love it when a Brit acts like the colonists "betrayed" Great Britain in some horrible, unforgivable way.
A+
@1stLordTheAdmiralty1
France won that war as America won WW2. Same process, same results. I'm french and thankful toward America for helping us in 1944. Please American, do the same for 1780 !
At York Town there were 6000 Americans and 11000 French and 5000 british and "France took very little part in the fighting" yer OK
The American Revolution continued till 1784. The British was still occupying parts of the American colonies till 1784 , most notably New York. The British still occupied spanish Florida till 1784. There were skirmishes after Yorktown
Nice touch showing the man cleaning his musket by pouring hot water down the barrel.
@mjm0787
Your own prejudices against Americans don't change the fact that Britain was defeated. In history classes in America, it is always taught that the French helped the colonists, and also that the colonists did a lot of damage themselves. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, the French foreign minister said that the British army would be defeated with two more such costly victories.
Did you also forget that the British brought in the Hessians before Americans had France's help?
The superlative British victory at Saintes (in which 1000 US sailors and Marines were present - Thomas, p. 67) the following year was more important than any set back on the East Coast of America as it secured the Caribbean for the British, which generated significantly more revenue than all 13 Colonies combined.
Nice video I loved the part between 6:40-8:33
@gipcambero
That's not true. Even if the US had lost the revolution, the union of colonies would have gained dominion status by the 1860s and from then on would have been independent for all intents and purposes.
@wolffromsteam
Cornwallis was going to entrench himself at Yorktown as it was, French or no French...
Greene's army was still intact in the south. All he had to do was wait for Washington to meet him on the outskirts of Yorktown. The Americans couldve done it themselves.
What they couldnt do was beat the Royal navy in the Chesappeake.
It's not just the 13 colonies but the potentiality of what those 13 colonies would entail in just 100 years: a industrial giant of a country which would dwarf the largest empire of the time in both economic and military terms.
The loss foreshadowed the rapid demise of the British Empire.
It's not like the Brits didn't already hire tens of thousands of German mercs and Iroquois tribes to slaughter their colonial brethren or anything like that.
@gipcambero Actually the British were fighting the Spanish, Dutch and the French at the same time, with the main bulk of British forces in Europe, so the fact we lost America is no shame.
Funny that you jump straight to the Prussians. Most of Wellington's troops were German and Belgian. He was in overall command just as Washington was at Yorktown. Valid.
And even British historians claim that Blucher's arrival was what sealed the victory. Just so you know.
I hate how is always George III who was "evil". Ever though it could be his ministers? Lord North for example. If I were the King I would have sent my son over there to establish a Regency. Established a gentry and nobility.
Well France wasn't broke but Spain did supply the French which supplied us. So we basically owe half the reason for our Independence to them.
At the end of the day 90% of all gunpowder in the US army was supplied by France and France supplied munitions as early as 1776. France made the war a global conflict. Spain,Holland and Sweden wouldn't have got involved if it weren't for the French..That's what? 5 nations versus Britain.. and to say that North America wasn't exactly a gold mine compared to other British Empire assets such as the Sugar Cane islands it's understandable to see where the British loyalty was at the time.
I'm from Gloucester.......in the UK lol.
i researched that one of my great great great great great grand dads died fighting for england at the batle of yorktown virginia. i would hate to be the last man killed in a war. i would be gutted lmao.
It is not just putting down - but they don't even tell the truth! And I am not British - just find history fascinating - facts here are warped and a lot are just plain untrue.
@Zukouh
Yeah but we had our way with them more times than they did with us. Thats why we had the biggest and most powerful empire in history!
You're oversimplifying things again. I never used the word "saved" for that very reason. And if you're going to talk about casualties as the singular factor as to who "won" a war or "saved" someone, you ought to be aware of the fact that the British took most of their casualties fighting in the colonies rather than the Caribbean and Europe and elsewhere.
Again, that's the problem with oversimplification. But you guys still tend to enjoy doing it.
@1stLordtheAdmiralty I know that the Frnch gave financial support but it was partly to blame for the downfall of the French monarchy about 20 years later.
@gipcambero The Yanks might have beaten us Brits but final war between us was in the war of 1812, after which the States were neutral till later in the First World War in which they became allies of both us and the French against Imperial Germany and again in second world world against Nazi Germany and Japan. without the USA, Britain and France would have lost both wars.
@considine93 It was an American and French allied victory....obviously since they both participated.
You fail to mention the Americans that participated at Yorktown...typical Euro.
One subject not mentioned is the fact that the people of britain was revolting against a tyrant king , many in secret supported the colonies war for independence due to either relatives living over there or having lost relatives serving in the British army over there!
With the country fighting on most continents the treasury was nearly bankrupt and an increase in taxes meant more people wanted an end to the conflict!
A decision was made to sacrifice america for the greater good of the British empire as other colonies was far more lucrative and the British navy and forces was sent to protect them from other empires life France and Spain!
you are right about the yankes join both WW late but if it was not for them we would of lost at least WWII look at the allies the british war pretty much by them selves
World War I and II shouldn't be called the 'Allies'' victory.
It should be called the Americans save the world's ass... twice.
The correlation is this: France was Britain's prime enemy and the only enemy that mattered. Referring to the original comment. Securing the sugar islands was exponentially more important that holding onto to a bunch of Colonies that stabbed Britain in the back.
I hear the drinking song they're singing! The world turned upside down...
Well, I know what you mean when you say that (France did take the largest when it came to war price, not to mention gave a lot of funding to support US too). However, let us not also forget that Spain and Netherlands (was Quebec mentioned?) were also completely ignored in this too. True, they didn't spend much time fighting directly on US soil, but they did stretch out UK military so US and France wouldn't take the full assault.
Arguably this is the smallest WW in world history as of 1778-1782.
Wouldn't it be nice if the re-enactors had to "look" authentic? There were more than 1500 re-enactors at the Battle of the Hook!
This makes me so angry that i am going to cancel my afternoon game of croquet with Mr.Jennings and have a relaxing cup of tea.
I thought video cameras were invented in the 1900s? My hole life has changes. I can't beleive they videotaped their war with so much HD definition. Is this real???
Your comment gave me Chlamydia and Syphilis at the same time.
Sports Facts Daily LOL
I dont care if France disagreed with our decision to invade Iraq in 2003, I still love France and the French people for our common values. We both fought revolutions for the ideals of liberty. We both fought the Nazis in the name of freedom. We both have democratic governments. I love America and I love France!
Tarleton has been unfairly maligned in american history. He never ordered his men to execute surrendering enermies, he was respected by both sides. The reason for the deaths at Waxhaws was not down to Tarleton personally, his men believed he had been killed, so they wanted to avenge their commander
I love how everyone is always fighting with each other about if england or America is better, even though we hold one of the greatest military alliances the world has ever seen. And putting down an American is like putting down yourselves, considering most of us have british roots
About "Bloody Tarlton": This wonderful little documentary neglects to mention that the massacre was precipitated by his horse being shot from under him whilst they were surrendering ;)
you're from Gloucester? Me too!
bringing a Brown Bess up against a Kentucky is like bringing an AK to an M16 firefight
yes indeed
Gibraltar was the longest siege of the war & involved the largest battle of the war.
The Saintes battle avenged the defeat at Yorktown & kept the Caribbean British..
Have I missed something? why were they firing left handed at 8.00 ?
can you please tell me what you think was innacurate in The Patriot and Braveheart? and by the way, they were only films, both showed the truth, if it wasn't for cannons and rifles the british would be nothing as they were no Match for the Scots or their Celtic brothers when it came to real fighting,
the french did alot but they did about as much as the U.S in WWI ya they sent suppies but they didnt fight but in mabey two major engagements..
@PcScottLanyard well said!
@wing2ply asleep during your history lessons then?
A, America at the time of the War of Indepence was a British Colony so 'you' were British colonials, B, America actually enjoyed far more freedoms than the lower classes in Britain did so 'your' demands were always going to be viewed as unreasonable or even treasonous, C, for the first year or so it was by no means certain the colonial forces would win.
You can thank the european nations this July, without them your rebellion would have fallen to pieces. And Britain still grew bigger even after losing america, we where the most powerful and vast empire up until 1947-49.
Without European nations there would be no Britain...
Gerard Muhammad Well the island itself would still be there. But that statement can be said for all countries, going back thousands of years.
Then what would most likely happen is Asia will conquer the new world with Britain but I'm sure if only Britain has been there diseases would spread much slower and the natives probably would wipe out the british
You're wrong on two things. The French sent surplus rifles and just cut the Brits off from escaping back to England which wouldn't have changed the American hold in 1783. And no, you had the most powerful empire until 1945 when American disbanded your empire and surpassed you in every way possible.
ImTheWaffleman haha the empire wasn't disbanded on americas say? where do you learn this shit, seriously americans think of them selves like some master race. we disbanded the empire due to financial reasons, and the majority of the empire was disbanded between 47-49 with the last of the empire getting independance in 1997. We still are the biggest empire the world has ever seen, come back when america has that title.
ok we can argue about if the french won the war for the americans but we can't argue about the EPICNESS of the Tarleton Helmet!
Your profile says your in america so are you based in the US?
@gipcambero Exactly, but where was it credited? I think the UK and France should have allianced together,onsidering Americans had fought against France in the Past..
@wigster600 Hey The British were regulars & a super power, you gotta do what you gotta do to win a war.
Some of the battles were without honor but at the end were a free nation. We could of fought the British head-to-head & foolishly be beatn.
You know it's funny, that debt was repaid in ww1 when we saved your asses. We did it a second time in ww2, so now who's in debt.
Reenactors dryfiring flintlocks without flints? That ruins the rifles!