Did you enjoy this series? Then you'll love James Early's new show "Key Battles of American History." Check it out on the podcast player of your choice or go to keybattlesofamericanhistory.com. Listen here to a snippet of his episode where he and a guest discuss the World War One movie "All Quiet on the Western Front." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
There are few events that would shake the world order like the success of the American Revolution. Some changes would be felt immediately. English traditions such as land inheritance laws were swept away. Other changes took longer. Slavery would not be abolished for another hundred years. Americans began to feel that their fight for liberty was a global fight. Future democracies would model their governments on the United States'. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Spycraft was seen as a treacherous craft, but it was necessary to win a war. Washington knew this, as his early attempts to gather intelligence on British-occupied New York led to an execution of Nathan Hale, a young school teacher. More sophisticated networks developed, particularly the Culper Spy ring, which involved a farmer, a whaleboat captain, a tavern owner, and a slave. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After Yorktown, a truce was declared in America, although some skirmishes did break out until final peace was negotiated in Paris in 1783. In this episode, Scott and James look at what happened to the British and American generals and politicians involved in the war. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Battle of Yorktown sealed the fate of the Revolutionary War. In late 1781, American and French troops laid siege to the British Army at Yorktown, Virginia. First, a bit of background. The partisan warfare that kept occurring in the upcountry of the Carolinas made it impossible for the British to obtain supplies from there. This in turn made it necessary for Cornwallis to keep his army relatively close to the coast. Greene kept his army far enough from Cornwallis to avoid a major pitched batt...
On October 14, 1781, Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau attacked on October 14th, capturing two British defense. British Gen. Cornwallis surrendered two days later. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Battles of King's Mountain and Cowpens were fought in 1781, between the Continental Army under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Sir Banastre Tarleton, as part of the campaign in the Carolinas. Daniel Morgan, who had been sent south by Washington, joined Nathanael Greene’s army. Greene decided to send Morgan with a force of militia and cavalry westward. This dividing of his army was risky, but Greene wrote “It makes the most of my inferior force for ...
In 1788, the battle lines of the Revolutionary War moved from New England to the southern colonies. Lord George Germain, the British secretary responsible for the war, wrote to Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton that capturing the southern colonies was "considered by the King as an object of great importance in the scale of the war" Germain and the king believed that the majority of southern colonists were loyalists and that if the British army could take key parts of the South, Loyalists woul...
The Philadelphia Campaign of 1777-8 was a British attempt to capture Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States and the seat of the Continental Congress, led by Gen. William Howe. They did capture the city, but British disaster loomed north in the Saratoga campaign, threatening any British gains. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Benedict Arnold’s fierce attack disordered the enemy and led to an American victory. The decisive Patriot victory compelled France to enter the war as an ally with the United States. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Battle of Saratoga was an incredible turn of fortunes for the United States. British Gen. John Burgoyne thought he would cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. Instead, he lost the battle and was forced to surrender 20,000 troops. Saratoga was also Benedict Arnold's finest hour. He loathed American commander Horatio Gates, who relieved Arnold of his command. Nonetheless, at the Battle of Bemis Heights on October 7, 1777, Arnold took command of American soldiers whom he led in an ...
The Saratoga campaign gave a decisive victory to the Americans over the British during the American Revolutionary War. The battle also saw great heroics by Benedict Arnold. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Washington and his men had their work cut out for them after crossing the Delaware River. Over the next ten days, they won two battles. First, the Patriots defeated a Hessian garrison on December 26th. They then returned to Trenton a week later to draw British force south, then launched a night attack to capture Princeton on January 3rd. With the victory, New Jersey fell into Patriot hands. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
At the end of 1776 George Washington was in a desperate situation. The Continental Army had retreated completely out of New York after losing Long Island to British General William Howe. Many of his soldiers’ contracts were set to expire at years end. He needed a dramatic victory, and fast. An opportunity arose when intelligence revealed Hessian forces camped in Trenton, New Jersey that were vulnerable to a sneak attack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
The New York Campaign ended in a decisive victory for the British and terrible defeat for the Continental Army, which barely escaped destruction. It was completely driven out of New York fro the rest of the war, and the British used it as a base of attack against other targets for years to come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When the British left Boston, George Washington realized that their eventual destination would be New York City. He quickly traveled to NYC to oversee the building of defenses, organized the Continental Army into divisions, and prepared for the invasion. What happened next was the largest battle of the entire war and (if not for a miraculous stroke of good luck in the form of fog) the near-total defeat of the Patriots. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
In the background of the opening battles of the Revolutionary War, an assembly of colonial statesmen issued a document announcing their formal separation from the British Empire. How did this document come about, what did the British make of it, and how revolutionary were these ideas to an eighteenth-century audience? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Battle of Quebec, fought on December 31, 1775, marked the end of American offensive operations in Canada. General Richard Montgomery was killed, Arnold wounded, and Daniel Morgan and more than four hundred American soldiers taken prisoner. Returning forces of the Continental Army arrived ragged and nearly starved. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Continental Army thought they could rally the French-speaking residents of Canada in their uprising against the British. Such thinking led to the Quebec Campaign. Although a major defeat for the Americans, it showed the dogged determinism of American commander Benedict Arnold, who also showed his bravery in the Battle of Saratoga before defecting to the British. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” — famous words, and smart strategy for using terribly inaccurate muskets, but what were the conditions that gave rise to that advice? Find out in this episode, as the Battle of Bunker hill wraps up. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
With the Revolutionary War turning from cold to hot, the British made plans to send troops from Boston to break the Colonials’ siege of that city and occupy the surrounding hills. About one thousand militiamen fortified Breed’s Hill to prepare for the coming onslaught. It was the first serious battle that pitted the fiery but inexperienced colonists against the battle-hardened British. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Continental Army and the British Army were significantly different in their organizational structure, levels of experience, and funding. The Continental Army was an undisciplined, unprepared fighting force with makeshift uniforms and sloppy tactics (at least at the beginning of the war). The British Army was the world’s elite fighting force and fresh of victory of the globe-spanning Seven Years War against France and her allies. What caused the Continental Army to prevail in the Revolutionar...
This episode delves into the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the initial military engagements of the Revolutionary War. It explores the British policies that agitated colonists, General Gage's mission to suppress rebellion, and the pivotal "midnight rides" that warned American militias. The hosts detail the skirmishes at Lexington Green and Concord's North Bridge, examining the British retreat under guerrilla attack and the significant casualties sustained. The discussion highlights the symbolic importance of these battles, which led to the British being besieged in Boston and transformed the conflict from political opposition to full-scale armed rebellion.
Our series is picking up steam as we jump to the years immediately prior to the Shot Heard ‘Round the World. James and Scott discuss the interregnum between the French-Indian War and the Revolutionary War, the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), then Townsend Acts (1767), the Boston Massacre (1770), the Tea Act (1773), and the Coercive Acts (1774). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hosts James Early and Scott Rank introduce a new series on the Key Battles of the Revolutionary War. This episode delves into the complex world of the 18th century, examining the fundamental shifts in warfare, government, political philosophy, British policy, and the colonies themselves that created the conditions for revolution. They discuss topics ranging from changing military tactics and global economies to the influence of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, setting the stage for understanding the conflict's origins.
A couple of announcements from host Scott Rank. He tells you what this series will be about and where to find his main podcast History Unplugged ( http://historyunpluggedpodcast.com ). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
