The American Revolution, Part 4

[Jilly_in_VA]

After watching this chapter, ihave one buring question: HOW THE HELL DID WE WIN THIS WAR, ANYWAY? The whole chapter seemed to be a chronicle of American missteps and mistakes, with the odd victory (hurray for John Paul Jones!) stuck in there. But it sure looked like the British were winning by the end of it.

Stuff I did not know or was not taught in 1959-61 American history classes: I didn't know about Washington's horrible crusade against Native Americans in New York, or that George Rogers Clark was such a horrid racist. I was never taught that the reason Charleston fell was basically that white men refused to arm their Black slaves against the British for fear the slaves would revolt and turn their guns on them .Or that Washington wasn't the perfect strategist he was supposed to be, he was just a pretty good leader of men. And the list goes on...

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Did they cover the invasion of Quebec yet?

I'm not watching the series right now, but might get to it over the holidays. I started but found the pace ponderous and dramatic, but I'm sure it will be a good series. I watch everything that 1.7x speed to conserve time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Quebec_(1775)

[ITAL]

2. We won by not losing

I agree the series has been great so far. I haven't caught every minute (my wife has distracted me here and there with chores- I've probably missed 15-30 minutes of each episode during the airing....I'll go back and watch the whole thing on demand some time). I do read a lot of history, but I've learned quite a bit.

Washington wasn't a great tactician, but he figured out that he just had to hold out. His iron will and his ability to get others to believe was extraordinary. It was telling that even the historian who said he didn't believe in the "Great man" idea of history seemed to want to say that we wouldn't have won the war without him.

As with basically all of Burns' stuff, I really enjoy how he makes it a well rounded picture. No one is all good or all bad. Yet, even with all the flaws the Founders had, I am rooting for them. Can't wait to see how it ends.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. There's one thing I can tell you: Benedict Arnold is going to go down in history as a hero. NT

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I think

that what did in the British in the end was the 9-week delay in having to wait for supplies and more troops. That's how long it took to get anything across the Atlantic. And then, of course, there were the privateers (hello, John Paul Jones, you crazy Irishman!) they kept having to deal with along the route.