The American War of Independence
I’m currently watching the British broadcasting of the series “America: The Story of the US” (titled in the United States “America: The Story Of Us”. It’s heavy on special effects and contemporary figures, but it is very informative and highly watchable.
Episode 2 – “Revolution” – deals with the American War of Independence. Inevitably the programme makers have to simplify the struggle and so it comes over as a crude conflict between rebels and redcoats or good guys and bad guys.
The truth was much more complex as I found when I read “A Short History Of The American Revolution” by James L Stokesbury which I’ve reviewed here.
September 9th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
I would be very interested in knowing the British perception of this war. We are always taught the American version, of course. What do British schoolchildren learn about this conflict?
September 9th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
I don’t remember covering this war in my history lessons at school and I don’t know how much it is covered in British schools these days. Certainly it will not figure anything like as prominently as in American history lessons.
I think that there is sympathy for the American cause, given the autocratic British monarch of the time, and of course over the years we have turned the monarch into a simply ceremonial figure.
Also there is admiration for the drafting of the American Constitution, although the British don’t have a written constitution and we now regard the American one as out-of-date and inflexible.