The American Revolution is often framed as a David vs. Goliath story, the Colonies against powerful Britain. But some historians say the full picture is more complicated.
Winning independence took diplomacy and alliance-building, not just battlefield victories. France, Spain and the German states all played significant roles. Benjamin Franklin spent years in France securing support, and French naval and military assistance proved critical to the war’s outcome.
“I don’t think there’s any question America does not exist today if not for French involvement,” Brady Crytzer, associate editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, told us in an interview for this film.
Britain, short on troops, hired German soldiers, known as Hessians, to bolster its forces. Spain entered the war with its own objectives.
The Revolution was tied to rivalries that stretched across Europe. “If you view the war as part of a larger global struggle, you’re going to find all the great powers of Europe had already been fighting, and this is simply a new chapter in that book,” Crytzer told us.
View transcript here.