The American War of Independence began as a minor skirmish
seemingly doomed to failure. Even those in the 13 colonies that
then comprised North America considered the rebels to be no more
than a bunch of drunken rabble-rousers. No one could know that
their actions would eventually produce the world's most powerful
nation. Previous writers have often represented the war as a
spontaneous uprising of repressed people against their brutal
colonial rulers. In fact it wasn't that way at all, as the American
historian and anglophile Hugh Bicheno shows. Nothing about those
turbulent years of the 1770s was at all as straightforward as you
might believe. Few are aware, for instance, of a French involvement
that proved decisive in Britain's defeat. In researching this
masterly study, which accompanies a BBC four-part series, Bicheno
has drawn on the most graphic contemporary accounts, many of them
from personal journals. These show how low-scale conflict turned
into a civil war, with more Americans fighting on the British side
than there were ranged alongside George Washington for the
republicans. The war split families, turning father against son,
brother against sister. Many regarded British rule as greatly
preferable to that of the money-grabbers who had aligned themselves
with Washington's rebels. Bicheno comes to some surprising and
challenging conclusions, not least the assertion that both Britain
and America emerged from the war far less secure than they went
into it. The real winners, always stirring things up from the
sidelines, were the French. Bicheno's overall grasp of how culture,
greed and extraordinary circumstances came together is
illuminating. His book is lavishly illustrated with both pictures
and maps, and a six-page chronology is invaluable in keeping track
of how the many volatile events intertwined. (Kirkus UK)
Controversial and revisionist history of America's first civil war.
Published with hugely successful accompanying four-part BBC TV
series - written and presented by star military historian, Richard
Holmes. Most people view the American Revolutionary War of the
1775-83 (also known as the War of Independence) as a popular
struggle for liberty against an oppressive colonial power. REBELS
& REDCOATS by historian Hugh Bicheno, written to accompany a
four-part BBC television series presented by Richard Holmes,
demonstrates that it was in fact America's first civil war.
Employing the latest scholarship and vivid eyewitness accounts,
Bicheno argues t that the war was the product of a broad French
imperial design, and greed of many prominent colonials. As many
Americans remained loyal to the Crown as rebelled against it, and
the reasons for adopting or changing sides were as varied as the
men and women who had to make the unenviable decision. Native and
African Americans overwhelmingly favoured the British cause.We hear
not only the voices of Rebels and Redcoats, but also of German
mercenaries and aristocratic French adventurers, as well as Indian
warriors and Black slaves fighting for their independence, which
together shed new light on events that forged a nation. The main
loser was the French monarchy, which ruined itself to gain no
lasting influence over the United States, while unable to exploit
the distraction the war created either to invade Britain or gain
control of the West Indies, which at the time were considered a far
bigger prize than all of North America.
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