British Guy Reacts to The AMERICAN REVOLUTION - Oversimplified Part 2 - 'THAT'S INSANE!!!'
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- ORIGIONAL VIDEO: • The American Revolutio...
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PART ONE REACTION: • British Guy Reacts to ...
British Guy Reacts to 'The American Revolution - Oversimplified (Part 2)
American war of independence from Saratoga to victory at Yorktown - hope you enjoy!
Quick jump cut around the nine minute mark is because I had to get rid of a pop-up advert (not through choice - it was playing music which upset UA-cam's copyright system).
Thanks for watching! I hope you enjoyed :)
You may well hope never to be troubled by me again, in which case I entirely understand and sympathise. However if, for some strange reason, you want more of me in your life, here are my social media accounts:
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Cheers!
Yorktown is in New York. Much of the fighting was sentered around New York, because it was the capital of the Continwntal Congrdss, and because the british hoped to split the colonies into two sections.
You mentioned Washington seemed like a fantastic guy for giving up his power, and he is in fact well-loved for that. He's often called "the American Cincinnatus" for holding the office of President for two terms (8 years) and then retiring to live the rest of his few short years of life quietly at Mt. Vernon. It may not seem that remarkable to us today, but Washington easily could have established a royal dynasty as King of America if he wanted it.
@@qsquared8833 lol no. Yorktown is in Virginia - near the Chesapeake Bay.
There was actually very little fighting in the later 3 years of the war up North. If I recall correctly, Washington didn't fight in a major battle for the last three years, and instead was keeping the British bottled up in New York, until he moved south to Yorktown.
If you have access to HBO there's a really great drama about John Adams by the same name starring Paul Giamatti as Adams and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, it's fantastic and shows the part of the war when he was in Paris with Benjamin Franklin
Watch HBO'S John Adams. You'll like it.
In America referring to someone as a Benedict Arnold is still used as a way of calling someone a traitor.
@Benedict the America Ball(Benedict Boonard) If you call someone a John Wilkes Booth you’re just calling him an assassin not a traitor
@Benedict the America Ball(Benedict Boonard) He was from Maryland, a border state, and was a known sympathizer of the Confederate cause. Hardly would have considered HIMSELF a Northerner.
@Benedict the American Emporer What WOULD I call a traitor? I mean, Benedict Arnold. Booth was an assassin, who was part of a conspiracy to assassinate the President, among other members of the legitimate government of the Union.
Isthmus it also a food?
@@serpentmaster1323 Yes. It actually amuses me that we take vengeance by eating him.
One of my favorite facts, Ben Franklin wasn't allowed by the Continental Congress to scribe the Declaration of Independence because they were afraid he would slip in a "joke" in some way. He was well known for being quick witted and more than a little crude.
Plus he wanted to make the turkey the national bird. 😆
@@garyglaser4998 Didn't he suggest the rattlesnake as well?
@@Razaiel Maybe. I hadn't heard that one.
He seemed like the life of the party.
"...that all men are created equal, excepting insofar as their Creator hath granted them with exceptional length."
John Paul Jones is considered the father of the United States Navy. They spent an enormous amount of effort, and, money tracking down his remains. In 1906, they succeeded in locating his grave in France, exhumed his remains, and, reintered them in a crypt at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
great bassist too
That flag is still flown on the USS John Paul Jones
His body was brought back to the US aboard the cruiser USS Brooklyn and was escorted by 3 cruisers and 7 battleships. His body was reburied at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The eulogy was delivered by President Theodore Roosevelt.
I heard he liked bass...
Also JPJ's crypt is quite possibly the most amazing crypt I have seen.
Learning about Benjamin Franklin is a wild ride, the guy tried electrocuting turkeys, and when he had to share a bed with John Adams because the inn was full they bickered all night whether the window should be open or shut
His bastard son was the pro-British governor of New Jersey who had to flee from his office.
I strongly suspect Franklin would have wanted the window open as he viewed air as therapeutic and advocated 'air baths', i.e. standing naked in front of a window with the breeze wafting over you.
Franklin wrote an essay about the benefits of dating older women, I can only imagine what he had to say about windows.
Yeah he’s really the OG American in my opinion.
he was also REALLY REALLY kinky
Oversimplified Civil War is very interesting.
Thanks - will take a look!
In a way, our Revolution was Great Britain's Vietnam War. It was a prolonged, bloody, guerilla conflict, against an opponent that had the luxury of being on their home turf, and, being able to pick their battles. On top of that, it was unpopular with the British people. The average Brit didn't care about the colonies, they were somewhere he had never seen & would probably never see. By the end, more & more MPs saw it as a waste of money, lives, and, equipment.
The only difference was that the US was a colony and a large part of britain's income because of the cotton and sugar trade.
without France America would've lost against Britain
@Ri co Well yeah, taking what was the greatest military force at the time and putting them up against some farmers would be a no-brainer.
The only genuine difference is the fact the Britain was fighting for land that actually belonged to them at the time.
@@Rico-oz4ct Probably. Good thing they helped or they'd be speaking Deutsch now.
The crossing of the Delaware river is one of the most famous moments in our military history. The Delaware river isn’t an easy river to cross today let alone back then plus it was frozen. Some boats crashed making the trip.
I find crossing the Delaware River fairly easy. Usually use the Commodore Barry Bridge, though occasionally the Walt Whitman. Think I did use the Betsy Ross once, though usually didn't go that far north to cross. Though, it is definitely easier crossing into NJ from PA than from NJ to PA as you have to pay the bridge toll for the trip from NJ to PA... XD (Yes, actually crossing the river when half frozen while in little wooden boats would be a nightmare.)
@@gorgarath Walt Whitman, Tacony Palmyra, Betsy Ross and the Ben Franklin. All pretty good options.
As someone that works on the Mississippi, I found the Delaware to be underwhelming.
Where Washington actually crossed the rivers actually pretty shallow and pretty narrow considering it was north of trenton. I literally just crossed it over the weekend and going over the bridge it took me all of one minute
Apparently the reason the river was so frozen and difficult was because the crossing occurred during the "Little Ice Age." Fascinating.
Fun fact: John Paul Jones also played bass for Led Zeppelin.
If you want to see Benjamin Franklin chatting up French girls, the HBO series “John Adams” has a hilarious-yet-historical depiction of Adams’ travels to France, and Franklin’s canoodling with the ladies.
According to the biographies I have read, Franklin understood the need to become a "personage" in Paris salon society, so he played up his image as an eccentric "frontier scientist" who represented the noble "sauvage" of the American wilds. This made him a celebrity, which got him entree to so-and-so's mistress, who was close to the duchess of this and comte of that, etc. So he played the game. Adams got there and said, "What is all this BS? You're not even at court half the time." (Franklin would sleep in until after noon). Like a true New Englander, Adams thought it would all be about committees and letters and business. The French saw this guy and said, "Who is this stuffed shirt who can't even speak decent French?"
“Seducing these rich French women is our DUTY, Mr. Adams!”
-Ben Franklin, probably
It was definitely a good series and certainly added a lot to what I though about John Adams. He certainly deserved is cantankerous reputation but it's good the Colonies and Early USA had him
There is an HBO miniseries titled ”John Adams” from 2008 that is available now on many platforms. The episodes showcasing his time in Europe as a diplomat during the Revolutionary War are among the best in this outstanding series. It was no party for him.
Fantastic series!
I just changed cell plans recently and now have HBO go; I'm absolutely going to look for it and binge now.
@@MrTommygunz420 ua-cam.com/video/GEtajI8Tmsw/v-deo.html
@@MrTommygunz420 trailer
D'oh! If I had scrolled down in the comments I would've seen this not needed to mention the miniseries.
Nathaniel Greene is truly an unsung hero of the Revolution. Brilliant military leader. He also was a tough bastard. In one battle, he got shot 6 times and survived to a decently old age.
Sigma male
I used to live in Greensboro, NC, actually in an apartment right next to the Guilford Courthouse battlefield.
Where did you get that from? He wasn’t wounded, and he died very shortly after the war.
@@bobkatfan2013 Huh… I thought I read that in my history of American Wars and Revolutions textbook. I’ll have to find it and check.
@@nickmanzo8459 he died shortly after the war from sunstroke. Would have been Washington’s first choice for secretary of war. If he’d lived long enough.
“I did not defeat King George III to become King George I.” - George Washington
In 1781, at Yorktown, Va., General George Washington and his ragtag Continental Army soundly defeated the greatest military power in the world, thereby procuring America’s independence. Washington was hailed as the savior of the country. He was offered every honor a man could want. Absolute power was his for the taking, including power to become king.
Instead, on Dec. 23 1783, Washington did the most surprising thing he could have done. He resigned his commission, declined the throne, said no thanks to public office and returned to his Mt. Vernon home to resume life as a gentleman farmer. Not since Cincinnatus in Roman times had a victorious general willingly given up power to return to civilian life.
And sadly when George Washington refused the idea of becoming King of America the American people lost any chance of having Kings Spotswood, Bushrod I, Bushrod II, or Lee, or potentially Spotswood II depending on line of succession decisions. Meaning we never got a chance to have the weirdest named Kings in the World trophy. :(
Fun fact, "Tory" was a fairly common insult roughly meaning "British Loyalist" or "Un-American" for a lot of US history (and would be recognized as such, though considered very odd to actually see used) because the Tories were in power in parliament at the time of the Revolution, and thus most loyalists either already did or began supporting the Tories as a representation that they agreed with parliament's right to tax and exert influence in the colonies, while Whigs, as the opposition party in parliament, at least pretended to be more sympathetic to the revolutionaries and were quick to blame Tory overreach for how bad the situation in the colonies got, earning them a lot of fans among those same American patriots. "Whig" was used as a positive term for a while too, but died out more quickly, especially when a US political party started calling themselves the "Whigs" (one of two wings that split from the original Democratic-Republican party, also called the National Republicans, but with no relation to the modern Republican party), which understandably re-politicized the term.
Splitting Whigs... politically speaking, of course.
Interestingfact: George III is reported to have said that if Washington stepped down from office, he would be the greatest man in the world.
And he was until the 1860's. But taking a backseat only to Abraham Lincoln really isn't anything to complain over.
I was going to post the same thing…but since I read the comments before posting, I saw Brian Holly got here first. Viewed very narrowly, Washington wasn’t a brilliant general, or even a brilliant leader. But his ambition (which he had) was tempered by modesty - unfortunately fed by massive self-doubt. He succeeded in the revolution by hanging on through defeats, and bullets missing him like he was covered in plot armor. And he gave our country a chance to become a stable country by the simple (but almost unheard of) act of leaving. Twice. First, when the war ended, as soon as the British left (and many people in and out of the army wanted him to declare himself Emperor). And second, after two terms as President. Ron Chernow, currently known for his biography of Alexander Hamilton, wrote a very good biography of Washington. And a good one on Grant, too.
@@nateman10 Agreed
@@MrTommygunz420 Lincoln made quite a few mistakes we're paying for even today. He severely nerfed the 10th Amendment by essentially cutting that out as an escape clause for States, *greatly* strengthened the federal government, and didn't follow through on emancipation with full repatriation.
@@budgetcoinhunter Meh, a strong federal government is the reason why the US has its place in the world today. And forcing a bunch of people whose parents/grandparents were forcedly brought to the US to then “go back” to a land they’d never been to and had no real connection to would’ve been… questionable at best. Not to mention, didn’t Lincoln kind of die literally right after the Civil War ended? He didn’t exactly have time to follow through on anything because of that.
An important thing to remember is that Native Americans didn't see themselves as one whole group at the time. they were basically separate countries of people that used the land yet didn't believe in land ownership. in other words An Apache Native would see a Comanche Native just as foreign as a British white man. as to why the natives would help either side is simple, diplomatic relations. they were just as capable of Complex societal structure as anyone and practiced it in their own individual ways. Tribes would take sides depending on who they thought would win the war in exchange for the possibility of trading and good standing with the new settlers or the British. Unfortunately no diplomatic reasoning could stop disease which is one of the main reasons between 1492 and 1600, 90% of the Native Population is gone
Based on what I learned from parents, teachers, etc. who were around at the time, the a common Native American political identity didn't really develop until the late 1960s, inspired by the Civil Rights movement. That's what ultimately led to the Nixon administration adopting the doctrine of Tribal Sovereignty, under which direct federal administration of native governments (Termination Policy) ended.
Amazingly, in Canada this conversation is only happening just recently, because the subjugation of native tribes there was comparatively much more recent.
This is part of why many of them still refer to themselves as "Indians," even though that word was completely wrong from the start. They just didn't have their own word for themselves as a group. Plus they were divided by language. Even the Iroquois, who created by far the most successful union of separate tribes, had as many as 14 different languages in their collective. The challenges to them uniting weren't on the American colonial level, they were on the European Union level. Imagine trying to form the EU without a writing system, and without the lessons of two world wars. It was never going to happen.
Such an important comment. I hat how much these events effected them then and moving forward in the future. They existed as several separate but interconnected societies on their own, and then the Europeans and their descendants dragged the natives into their own conflicts. The outcomes of so many battles were decided by their knowledge and participation, and what sort of treatment did their descendants get? IDK, Im just having such a moral problem with how integral the were to the creation of their abuser.
@@maninredhelm My brother has worked with a number of tribal elders, from different tribes, as a linguist, and they hate being called Native Americans. They view it as a term forced upon them by the white man.
I almost burst out laughing from the second sentence. They most certainly believed in the ownership of land, just tribal ownership, not individual ownership. That is the distinction. The noble savage myth is just that a myth. They were just as violent, committed genocide against other tribes, fought over land and resources, but the distinct difference is that they weren't as developed technologically as Europeans. The proof is easy, all you have to do is see what some tribes did after getting hands on guns, they had no problem killing, stealing from, and subjugating other tribes with those weapons.
14:40 the term for such an event is called a "pyrrhic victory" Like you said it is basically when a victory in battle costs so much that on a larger scale it is considered a defeat.
Fluff being not Random! I wanna make a random Comment,
in the hope it 'may randomly' help someone maybe.
Here, some warm Recommendations:
'Veritasium' and 'Its ok to be smart' for Science.
Also just in General many Channels like Krosmo and SciShow.
Unbiased Religion-Discussions: 'Genetically Modified Sceptic' and 'Believe
it or not'.
Unbiased Research incarnated: 'Hbomberguy'.
A new angle, truly: 'Cinema Therapy'.
Another way to look at stuff: 'Legal Eagle'.
Fun in General: ReddX
Small Content Creators doing EPIC:
'Pokemon: Banette's Curse' and 'Cliffside' and 'Epithet Erased'.
Which is odd, given the Vietnam War for America went much this same way. The objective of the war not met, but more Vietcong killed than Americans. So did America actually win that conflict by the logic of pyrrhic victory?
This is really the big issue with recognizing such events as defeats, even if the overall goal was accomplished. You risk undermining (potentially, in the case of Vietnam) people that gave their lives for an ideal they believed in, not just someone someone ordered them to do.
After the Revolutionary War, many Loyalists moved to Canada. That gave Canada a huge population boost.
That was the later consequence, but the concept of a border was pretty loose in that time and place. And it was mostly about money. A government (especially an American one) barely existed to object to, so people just followed their income wherever it went. In a few cases, it led to the small forts and settlements past the fictional line that had been agreed to. Later interpretations were cherry-picked to read political sentiment into more cases than were really there.
"Leaders don't want to lead, they are chosen to lead." I thinks that's how the quote goes.
Benjamin Franklin was a wild man. The French loved him.
Washington is the American Cincinnatus
Look into the Society of the Cincinnati (not the city, the Latin plural).
If you want a larger insight on how the Native Americans sided, and why, during which decades, read the book "Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America"
The Natives weren't stupid. They never wanted the British to win against the French because having both there, meant no one side would be the only power and thus spell their doom.
7,000 troops isn't a lot when you're on the continent in the Napoleonic wars, but when getting reinforcements requires sending a letter (that maybe doesn't make it) across the ocean, calling up troops in Europe, and then shipping the troops (some of which maybe don't make it) back across the ocean, losing 7,000 men (which is a large portion of the army you have) is crippling.
There was actually a group of soldiers that wanted to stage a coup and make George Washington king. But he found out about it and talked them down with a speech so moving it reportedly brought some to tears.
When he eventually declined to run for a third presidential term, even King George III was impressed and said he was a "great man".
Philadelphian here, can confirm we like to have a good time all year long. Look up the Mummers Parade to see America's oldest folk tradition (and its very much flowing with alcohol)
Cool little fun fact, the black man in the painting with Washington crossing the Delaware is thought to be Prince Whipple. He was the former slave of William Whipple, who signed the Declaration of Independence and then in 1779, freed Prince because he could not fight in a war (which Prince was also fighting in) for freedom while holding a person in slavery.
Prince Whipple... is he the one considered to be the Prince of "Prince Hall Masons"? An African-American sect of Freemason's, founded by a Freed Slave (that does accept people of all Races, but is still majority African-American and has it's largest collections on College Campuses). *Also, this is not to say that Freemason's do not allow African-Americans outside of Prince Hall... they do. This is a special group because of how it was conceived, from a Freed Slave.*
@@theclimbto1 So i did just look that up, Prince Whipple and Prince Hall are two separate freed men. hella interesting, I had no idea about the Prince Hall Masons- thanks for bringing that to my attention!
Von Steuben was the guy who not only taught the army to use a five step method in loading their muskets, but it is his layout of a "Camp" that today has the latrines on one side of the forward base and the chow hall on the other side. Tent City at Prince Sultan Air Base had that very same layout.
At the end of the war King George was told that Gen. Washington wanted to retire and not become leader. The King said that if Washington resigned instead of rushing to take power "he would be the greatest man in the world."
...Fluff being not Random! I wanna make a random Comment,
in the hope it 'may randomly' help someone maybe.
Here, some warm Recommendations:
'Veritasium' and 'Its ok to be smart' for Science.
Also just in General many Channels like Krosmo and SciShow.
Unbiased Religion-Discussions: 'Genetically Modified Sceptic' and 'Believe
it or not'.
Unbiased Research incarnated: 'Hbomberguy'.
A new angle, truly: 'Cinema Therapy'.
Small Content Creators doing EPIC:
'Pokemon: Banette's Curse' and 'Cliffside' and 'Epithet Erased'.
To your point around 9:00, you should 100% watch the the HBO series "John Adams" for a great viewpoint of this whole part of history + the start of the US through the view of eventual President John Adams. Not only is it just a great series, but if you like history it's great either way.
Thanks - will have to check it out!
@@britishguyreacts You should do reaction videos to it. I haven't seen many people do reactions to that series, but it's a great one! I think it would be awesome to see a Brit's perspective on one of our most prominent (and notoriously outspoken) founding fathers.
@@britishguyreacts I’m seconding the request to react to the series “John Adams“ from HBO, with Paul Giamatti. Brilliant acting, writing, and Series was directed by a British guy.
Great reaction, you should do the Civil War next.
It's certainly on the list!
And eventually the Cold War (because if you aren't American or Russian so much is new to most people,) but after WW1&2 first (the way 2 ends is a perfect setup.)
Please please more videos. These are great!
Thanks - I certainly plan to!
Loved hearing your perspective and tidbits of information privy only to British folks! You should do Oversimplified’s Civil War videos next.
Hey your reactions are great. We haven't had a quality reactor to Oversimplified videos in quite some time, looks like it's going to have to be you the people demand it!!!! My personal request would be French Revolution + Napoleon but I'd look forward to anyone you decide to do!
While I absolutely agree with you he said he loves American history specifically during part 1; so I would also like to add the Civil War and Prohibition (the role that doctors took up at the start and have never relinquished along with how much profit exist in it are WHY we have such ridiculous drug advertisements today. Plus if you swap out the word alcohol for cannabis then you have the redirection they[drug companies,] took when they discuss what the gangs did near the end it applies to marijuana being illegal today. I'm eagerly drooling over the day this channel tackles that topic.)
But in the interest of keeping the world involved I'd also recommend WW1 and 2, following up 2 immediately with the Cold War (it's one of my favorites simply because of how little anyone who isn't American or former USSR actually knows of it. I've yet to see a reactor who didn't learn a ton from it.)
@@MrTommygunz420 Bonjour and also Hello! Oh, and Hi.
We do live in a Quality-Draught named 2021, dont you agree?
Well, just 'because' and for no deeper MASTERPLAN,
i recommend fun stuff to people.
Just so i know for a fact that theres more laugher in the world than if i'd never been born... i dont know,
i am kinda low-key-obsesses with that Thought. Dont know why!
Anyway: Can i randomly recommend you some Books, Games, Movies, UA-cam-Channels?
Now that's a good idea - I'll look those videos up!
There is an HBO mini series called "John Adams". It mostly focuses on Adams, obviously, but it has all the stuff where he goes to France and finds what Franklin has been up to. Among other interesting facts, one that I never knew before watching it was that Adams was actually the lawyer for the British soldiers who were on trial after the Boston Massacre. So, a future President of the United States actually defended British solders in court.
HBO made a really good mini-series on John Adams. Think there is an episode where Adams arrives in France only to get irritated AF at Franklin.
Something that stands in most of American war history is that even when they lose they tend to cause far more casualties than they concur, and even more so than that, they always hit back really hard.
A more popular story being that of the Republic of Texas during the battle of the Alamo
(Reports vary but this is what is widely accepted)
At the battle a host of only about 200, some trained some militia and many Hispanic settlers held out for 13 days vastly outnumbered by a force of 6000 soldiers Led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
They lost of course with there being less than 20 known survivors.
But it remains well remembered as for every man that fell on the Texas side, 3 fell for the Mexicans with 700 killed or wounded.
The battle cry "Remember the Alamo" was used at the battle of San Jacinto one month later, where Santa Anna would lose after less than 20 minutes. Despite outnumbering the enemy 3/2 he lost 650 men, 210 were wounded, and 300 were captured. The Texas/American force suffered only 11 casualties and about 30 injuries. This battle being called by many historians one of the most one sided victories in history, and serving to inspire more rebellion around mexico.
"Remember the Alamo" has come to be a metaphor or analogy to 'think before you do something reckless' because even if you know you'll get what you want you can still get hurt and make very big enemies doing it.
2:30 the crossing was chaos and was hours late. Fortunately they still were able to achieve surprise in Trenton. That is not to speak ill of Colonel Glover (probably spelling it wrong) and his Massachusetts fishermen who ferried them across the river.
Britain: can you pay us back?
America: No
France: can you pay us back?
America: No
🤦♂️😂
American soldiers: can you pay us our agreed upon wages?
America: No
Yeah we suck. Sorry guys.
Also love the 'no matter how stable of a genius he claims to be' line.
Last dumpster fire in office ring a bell?
Watch the AMC series, “Turn” about a spy ring called Culper which played a decisive role during Revolutionary war.
While tarring and feathering someone might seem mild, the mobs would sometimes beat the recipient to death or more often the person/s would be left with permanent scars because they were just hit with boiling tar.
I love this guy so much, I cannot believe you don’t have at least 10k right now. So wholesome, honest, and entertaining. Keep it up!
In Cokie Roberts’ book, Founding Mothers, she talks about Ben Franklin. He was, among other things, the first Postmaster General, but then he went to France, leaving his wife to do the job, while he started a whole other family in France! John Addams was very close to/ dependent on his wife Abigail back in the colonies, so I’m sure they did not get along.
You can’t handle a modern Philly party. A modern Philly party is people rioting in the streets because a local sports team WON
Or lost.
Or because Bill Burr roasted them. "Bill Burr insulted us all? TIME TO PARTY!"
It's a year late but I still want to tell you about Benjamin Franklin an interesting character. He was a printer (he printed books and published a local newspaper in Philadelphia) and he was an inventor (among others he invented bifocals lenses and experimented with electricity and came up with the lighting rod by tying a metal key to a rope and flying it with a balloon during a thunderstorm. The key was hit by lighting and the electrical charge traveled down the rope and caused no damage). In this video they referred to him as an 'electrifying man'. He was sent to France to advocate for help with the independence. He was a ladies' man and got distracted in Paris until John Adams went to reunite with him. Franklin had a wife and son but they stayed behind when he lived in Paris.
Benjamin Franklin was actually very well known as a ladies man in a time where that was frowned upon.
Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous people in the Western World at the time. His invention saving tens and thousands of lives and properties across UK and Europe by this time.
There was an American British re-match in the war of 1812 where America declared war on Britian.
I really love your perspective (dad) and at the end of the day we are both the best of allies
'I don't know if you guys noticed, but one of the horses fell into the water.' Horse falling into the water is now the most replayed moment in the video.
Yep at valley forge they literally had the latrine right next to the kitchen. Which caused outbreaks of typhoid and dysentery, scabies, lice, and influenza. Once von stuben arrived he fixed all that, and things got better.
But then there's the winter, it's always depicted as being extremely cold, and snowy. It wasn't. Temperatures were usually above freezing and it infrequently snowed.
the only video of yours i’ve ever watched was part 1 and i finally got this one recommended as well. I loved the first and am looking forward to this;)
Another brilliant video, my guy! And congrats again on the successful reception of your videos! (P.S. I love the humor you put into these.)
As far as the tribal nations fighting for one side or the other: just really depended in who contacted them first. Once contacted they basically told the tribe to fight with them for some money or be removed from existence. Pretty fucking brutal tactics. Maybe a more subtle threat about the enemy, and then raiding the tribe while masked pretending to be the enemy. Usually just coerced at the threat of a gun barrel.
"Philidelphia is a great place to party."
Ohhhhh boy. Good luck.
one thing that is undercovered in these conversations is that the colonial troops were fundamentally out of supplies, attacking and seizing the hessian resources was fundamental to continuing to exist as a fighting force. Fun fact for the hamilton fans out there, hamilton commanded one of the boats that crossed with Washington, i like to think of this as a "hamilton wont abandon us, yo lets steal their candles" moment
Fun facts about Benedict Arnold:
- Benedict Arnold did, at the time, get the credit for the battle of Fort Ticonderoga, as he was technically the highest ranking officer present (he had attainted the same rank as the actual leader of the battle by about 6-7 weeks before, and that established seniority).
- One of the main reasons Benedict Arnold decided to betray the colonies was being passed over for promotion to General in the Continental Army. Ironically enough, while he was making plans to betray the colonies, Washington offered him a promotion to General, but he had to refuse to keep his plans in place.
- The courier that was delivering the plans met with a group of people a few miles away from British held New York, who asked him whether he was for the colonies or the king. Due to the proximity to New York, he assumed they were royalists, and announced as such. He was wrong.
John Paul Jones, in response to a demand he surrender. ‘’
I have yet not begun to fight.’’ And he won the battle.
I've got an interesting little story.
My first paternal American ancestor was a British loyalist in Charleston, SC. But by the time the war broke out he was an old man, so the locals kinda just left him alone but instead went after his son who was also a loyalist. So he fled towards the appalachians. He came back later on to collect some things and once again got ran out of town, so he settled in Missouri. His son was about 40 when the civil war broke out, so his son that was maybe 20 enlisted with the idea of "Well, we were loyalists and we lost, so this time we will rebel and win!" They lost again lol. I think it's funny
HBO miniseries “John Adams” is awesome showing this era. It does go into Ben Franklin’s time in France too, hilarious
While the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War, did nominally give the United States control of territory all the way west to the Mississippi River, the British actually continued to directly be involved and interfere in those western territories in an effort to prevent American growth and expansion westward. This became one of the key grievances motivating the Americans to declare war on the British during the Napoleonic conflict - i.e. the War of 1812.
I always have trouble with the war of 1812 and how it factored into current events elsewhere; thanks for reminding me that it was concurrent with Napoleon's era.
That was the best, most concise description of the Father of the American Navy that I have ever heard.
There is a story told about Arnold in Virginia. The story goes that he asked a prisoner what they would do if they captured him. The story goes he was told "we'd cut off your leg and bury it with full honors (Arnold was wounded in the same leg in Quebec and Saratoga, it was why he wasn't given a field command) and then we'd hang the rest of you."
It's a cool story, and there is a monument of a boot (with no inscription) where he was hit at Saratoga. But in fact Washington's instructions to laFayette when he sent him down to contain the raids was "don't bother with a court martial", he was to be summarily executed.
"Both sides were kinda dickish at times to African Americans." Understatement of the century.
The name Benedict Arnold, since the Revolution, is synonymous with the word "traitor."
Just wanted to mention since you talked about wanting a romantic comedy with John Adams and Ben Franklin, not quite the same thing but there’s a musical called 1776 where those two are major characters and the dynamic between them is hilarious. The movie version has most of the original Broadway cast. Actually the reason John Adams is only mentioned in the musical Hamilton and not a character is because Lin Manuel Miranda considered William Daniels portrayal so iconic that he wanted the audience to just picture that character.
Fun Fact: Neither Lord Cornwallis nor George Washington were present at the surrender of Yorktown. Cornwallis sent one of his generals due to illness and Washington refused to accept the sword of anyone but Lord Cornwallis himself. If you ever get the chance to cross the pond again I highly recommend visiting Yorktown, Virginia as a lot of the battle fields and entrenchments remain untouched. (I am biased being raised and living most of my life in Yorktown.) If you visit around October 19th you can even witness Yorktown Day, a local holiday celebrating the surrender at Yorktown. We are still celebrating 240 years later.
Future president James Monroe was a soldier fighting under Washington during the crossing of the Delaware.
Also each Christmas they do a re-enactment at the location, a town literally called ‘Washington’s Crossing”.
There IS a musical comedy built around the Adams-Franklin relationship. It's called 1776. There is a film version starring William Daniels (John Adams), Howard da Silva (Franklin), and Ken Howard (Jefferson).
There is a Musical about the Declaration of Independence (the writing and approval of it) called "1776". Adams is the central figure (he's the guy herding cats), Franklin is a major player. Which he was, if these were the founding fathers, Franklin is our founding Dirty old Man.
Greene was one of the most successful generals who never "won" a battle. He just wore the other army down and moved in when they had to pull back "We fight, get beat, rise and fight again."
The back country went to the Americans because of a small expedition (about 100 men) under George Rodgers Clark (his brother William is the Clark of "Lewis and Clark"). They captured 2 important forts (Vincennes twice) and the governor of Fort Detroit in the bargain (who had the macabre nickname "the hair buyer" for exactly the reason you'd expect).
Total troops in the Colonies were probably around 20,000 most of the time, with half of that holding the area around New York. Field armies were 10,000 max and rarely above 5,000 there wasn't much land to live off and the roads were nigh non-existant. Most of the British garrisons hugged the coast (one reason Philadelphia was given up, it was vulnerable to being cut off).
The antagonist in "The Patriot", Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs) was actually based on Bannister Tarleton, he wasn't meant to portray Tarleton himself
Washington truly was one of our greatest men in America's history
If you've ever seen the musical 1776, it does quite a good job covering a lot of the internal political squabbles that surrounded the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence. And it's a personal favorite movie of mine (even if, like with most musicals, it takes quite a bit of license).
The unfortunate truth of any sort of guerrilla style warfare is it's essentially a meat grinder. You throw troops at it until you win, but you'll always lose more than the more mobile but smaller guerilla force.
Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben aka Baron von Steuben, wrote the first manual for the US military, some of those lessons are still present in our modern doctrine. Granted, we do not fight in lines anymore, but there is a good amount of his lessons in drill and ceremony.
I believe King George complimented George Washington at the time when he heard that George Washington stepped down from his office voluntarily
George Washington older brother served in the British Navy. Also that George Washington was a distance cousin to King George. Thomas Jefferson wrote United States Constitution. But it was Benjamin Franklin who edit out parts of it.
Fun fact about the movie the Patriot. The history experts on the film got so pissed off at the director at not listening to them they just started making shit up.
Born and raised jersey guy 🤘🇺🇸. Been to all of those towns over my years. Even lived in two of those major towns
Still can't believe people willingly got in formation, wearing a uniform instead of armor, and took turns getting shot with 80 caliber balls.
HBO’s ‘John Adams’ mini-series shows a great deal of Adams and Franklin’s time in France
1) The British Loyalist being tarred-and-feathered at 3:11 is wearing a Team GB jersey!
2) At 4:49 OverSimplified said the British army under was Burgoyne was obliterated. He and his approximately 6000 men were forced to surrender. War was somewhat of a gentleman's game back then, and it seems that all the captured British were required to do was surrender their weapons. General Burgoyne and presumably his men returned home.
3) At 8:17 OverSimplified said "keep ripping in heaven, John Paul Jones." This is likely in reference to the bass player for Led Zeppelin. Coincidentally, neither man was born with that name. The ship captain was born John Paul, and added Jones for some reason. The musician was born John Richard Baldwin and changed his name after seeing a poster for a movie about the ship captain.
4) Regarding Benjamin Franklin philandering with French women: One of his techniques for persuading the men of the French court to assist the Americans was attending prestigious salons and using whatever "necessary" methods to persuade French women.
5) At 10:20 OverSimplified talked about a condemnation of slavery being removed from the Declaration of Independence to avoid offending Southerners. At this time slavery existed in all 13 colonies, but it was more prevalent in the southern colonies which would later secede from the Union in 1860-61, starting the Civil War.
6) The captured British officer who had the evidence of Benedict Arnold's treason was Major John Andre. He was hanged for being a spy.
7) I imagine many of my fellow Americans would say we defeated the British. Aside from the fact that most Americans' ancestors were not yet here, this is not accurate. The British could have persisted with the war, although they likely would have fared no better. But there were at least 2 reasons why they chose not to: they were also fighting global wars against the French, Spanish, and Dutch; and despite their large size, the 13 American colonies generated far less income than the sugar plantations of the Caribbean islands.
8) At 18:24, "using campaign funds to pay your mistress hush money" and "no matter how much of a stable genius he claimed to be" at 18:41 are references to a certain recent U.S. President.
There is a monument to Benedict Arnold's leg in a Saratoga Historical Park, it is supposedly located on the spot where Arnold was injured in the battle. I kid you not, the biggest traitor in American history has a monument to his leg in a Saratoga Historical Park. Thank you for the time and effort you put into your video , thumbs up
Another good series was called "Turn" and regarded the spy network working for George Washington.
There is a great bar in Philedelphia called Paddy's Pub. It's run by 5 certifiably insane maniacs. You'll love it. Plus, it's always sunny there.
Never have I been this early to reaction video. Well done
Thank you! You Sir/Madam are an amazing human being!
I really love the subtle jabs at trumpster fire.
One month later this British guy reacts to the second part of this video........ Might not have been a month, but it definitely has been a few weeks till this guy got to part two of Oversimplified on the American Revolution.
I know I'm really late to the party, but what you pointed out about the Americans losing ground but the British losing people was actually extremely significant. At the time, volley fire was the most common military tactic for the British forces. Everyone stands in a line with guns and cannons and just blasts away the opponent. By doing so you would shatter enemy morale, as they watched entire rows of thier friends die in a massive blast and knew there was no hiding in the chaos of war, in 60 seconds they were next. To fight this, Americans took to the guerilla tactics that had made the natives so difficult to fight.
The British were had run into this tactic, but mostly from enemies they had such VAST advantages against that they could just win with brute force. Firing lines are far less effective against light hit-and-run tactics, cannons just can't move as fast, and large armies require large supply chains to be effective. From an enemy that was extremely familiar with this, familiar with the terrain, and had the same weaponry? Suddenly they were capable of losing, even if the odds were in thier favor. It's what led America fight back strongly enough that we stopped being worth the war.
So this video series is the revolutionary war mainly focused on the American theater. In reality, the revolutionary War was an international conflict with multiple different theaters when the French and Spanish got involved.
I feel privileged to be one of the first people to see the first video, and this new one certainly didn't disappoint! That said, I also strongly recommend the delightful and surprisingly accurate musical "1776." Even though it doesn't have Franklin in France, it definitely captures his attitude.
They say, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
The indigenous tribes were persuaded with the promise of peace and being left alone on their land. And each tribe chose on either who they already had a relationship with, or who offered them the best deal.
FYI that crazy Scott Jones has a tavern named after him in the UK which honored him. He went there for a drink after raiding but it was closed
Great to see you back.
King George, when hearing President Washington gave up his office after two terms said, “if that’s true Washington is the greatest man who ever lived”. But of course he said it in German since the king didn’t speak English.
Thought I subscribed after the first revolution video, quickly corrected that after watching this second one! Great videos, and I look forward to watching more! Cheers
The HBO mini series John Adams includes Adams and Jefferson's antics in France. It is worth watching.
It's cool that i live outside of Philadelphia and there's alot of history around me that relates to the revolution
most people don't do these a month apart, but it still showed up in my recomended.
Please make more oversimplified videos. Also there are other great channels like simple history and infographics show.