American Reacts How Do They Teach the American Revolution in Britain? 

😂I have seen the comment made elsewhere., but to the USA this was the founding moment for the nation, for the British it was a Tuesday.

I notice with Americans they ignore all the help they got from the French, Spanish, and Dutch, they always say it was a few farmers that beat the British, completely untrue, but it makes them feel better I guess.

British History Teacher here. The American Revolution received a brief mention in ONE of my lessons this year. Think about how many uprisings and revolutions against the British happened since! I have to teach 1000 years of History in 3 years 😂

I'm British and went to my brother's wedding in the USA. My sister-in-law's brother came up to me after the ceremony, never met him before, and said "didn't we fight a war against you". I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about and my mind went to WW2 but that did not make sense because once the USA joined the war they were our allies. I was genuinely confused. Anyway, I think that is a brilliant example of the way Americans and Brits see the USA's independence. For an American, the first thing to say to a random English person, but for the English person, no idea what on earth they are talking about.

i've come to a conclusion the US revolution is taught badly, in the US. The amount of discussions i've had with Americans who don't understand the causes, the powers behind it is maddening

I was once asked why I, an Englishman, didn't celebrate Independance day, as this Amercian thought we did. I then had to explain to him that it was a traitorous act to the crown.

I thought it was the British fighting the British?

18.04 min to say in the UK we don't generally give a crap about the American Revolution, any more than American could give a crap about, well anything that happens outside of the USA.

I was at a works drinks event and a new starter from America came over to chat and was really angry about how none of the Brits he'd met so far gave a crap about the American War of Independence being a significant point in history for us. I tried to explain we had a lot of other history to take in and a country leaving the empire wasn't necessarily novel. This made him even more upset so I did the most British thing I could think of and bought him a pint.

Trying to remember what they taught us in school 35 years ago. I honestly can't remember them ever teaching us anything about US history. It was all Romans, 1066,Tudors, Industrial revolution and ww1 & 2.

We were too busy fighting the French to bother with America at the time and, by the way, it was mostly British settlers fighting the British in your war of independence. "Americans" at that time didn't exist, just colonials. I was taught about your war of independence in school, although more emphasis was on India, before, during, and after the Raj than on America.

As I understand it - and I could be wrong - the American Brits kept starting wars and creeping west in Spanish, French and Native territory, which the British then had to fight, and it was costing UK land owners and absolute fortune, which lead to raising taxes on things like tea. The ‘no taxation without representation’ was the public excuse for the war, which was, apparently, actually due to the desire for expansion and not to be shackled by the crown. The French and Spanish were Britains global rivals at the time, and aided the American effort - the ‘farmers vs high end military’ was a myth. Back in the UK, the desire to continue the war had little support because America was already barely worth keeping, and the cost of the war tipped the scales and made the territory more or less unwanted. In the US, the British side had half the losses and were winning, and when those fight on the side of the Americans cut the supply chain to the bulk of the forces, the British saw it as too costly to continue and sued for peace. I have read that the French nearly bankrupted themselves funding the war. To the Americans, this was obviously a huge deal, but to the British, who were emerging as the dominant power in the world, it was one aspect of a much larger global struggle. Every school in England is taught about the Battle of Hastings, which is a battle we lost, so its not about the fact Britain lose the Revolutionary War, but Hastings was a giant turning point in British history, and the Revolutionary War wasnt.

I don't think most Americans appreciate there was sooooooo much more history before the 1700s. The volume of American history is the equivalent to a single star in the night sky compared to everything else.

Watching from Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 UK and we weren’t taught anything about The American Revolution and the War for Independence. No disrespect intended but it just wasn’t that significant to us.. We don’t just NOT hold a grudge but it’s not something we ever think about..

If you were to ask one of us what that date meant now, we’d probably say “Independence from the Tories”. However, “The day British colonials in America had a strop and the empire was too busy with 3 other wars to care” is the best summary of the 4th of July that I’ve ever heard.

Britain was at war with France, Spain and Holland during the revolution. America was barely mentioned in Parliament at the time. The White house wasn't even built during the revolution it was burnt during the 1812 war. If the full attention and military had been focused on America at the time you'd still have royalty.

In terms of late 18th century revolutions, the most important to Britain would be the Industrial Revolution.

As mentioned, the US was JUST 1 of over 60 countries who gained independence from Great Britain... We just moved on to handle other issues, while continuing to trade with America anyway! 😊

Many historians consider the American Revolution to be a small chapter in a much larger conflict from 1689 to 1815, between Britain and France, informally known as the Second Hundred Years War.

They dont. It was never mentioned even in passing. Mine was all Tudors, Romans, Victorian and WW1 &2

It's hilarious to hear Americans today talk about how we beat the British or we won our independence or we were fighting off tyranny and yet it has nothing to do with 99% of of Americans, the vast majority of the agrarian colonialists some 3 million we're mostly of British heritage that's almost 70%. I'm obviously excluding the African slaves. We fought off our colonial Masters not understanding that they are the colonists. The vast majority of Europeans arrived in the middle half of the 19th century.

Short answer: they don't 😅

Before we get to the video and if I remember correctly. While we were fighting Napoleon in Europe the Americans thought it would be a GREAT idea to invade Canada and grab a bit more land. America not having enough of course. They burned the Canadians homes and their food Storehouses and, really, just ran amok, leaving Canadians to starve and freeze to death (which they did) as it was on the cusp of a Canadian Winter. Britain took it badly and decided to teach the Americans a lesson. They did burn down your governmental buildings, after making sure no one was in them. They did knock on doors to tell the people what they were about to do and ask if they wanted to vacate their properties to make sure they were safe. Then they dined at the White House and then set it on fire. Yes it is now called the White House, because it was painted to cover the scorch marks. At the time of your fight for Independence. You will also remember that the War of Independence meant that Britain would be asked to fight their own kith and kin as circa 78% or more of the Colonies population at that time was British. Parliament had hoped to build a Nirvana in America, learning from England's mistakes throughout its long history. It had spent a fortune in the Colonies which was a heavy drain on our own Finances. Asking for increased taxes to cover some of that expenditure did not seem unfair. I think you know it wasn't really about taxes, but more about wealthy landowners wanting a land grab from the Native indigenous people. Something that Britain refused to allow having signed a Peace Treaty with the Natives to protect both the Settlers and the Native peoples from the continued violence between them. France supported your Cause because it hoped the British would divide its forces between Europe and America. The people of Britain had no stomach to fight their own family members even if those people wanted to be called Americans and not British anymore. The French spent enormous sums to shore up America and its fight there against Britain. When the 'fight' was over France was a bankrupt Nation and asked America for help or to be paid for their help in the War of Independence. America said 'No'. This led eventually, in 1789, to the misery of the French Revolution where many of France's poorest were starving and neglected. It also put its stamp on European events for a long time.

I think you're right about "the beginning of the world" - for us that's the Norman Invasion, and we all learn about that in primary school. What annoys me isn't when Americans assume we all feel bad about losing the American colonies, but when they accuse us of lying, stupidity and being in denial when we say we don't. If you assume something that's important to you is important to us, fine - that's understandable. But when we say you're mistaken, we do actually know what we're talking about.

For that matter, my own history lessons did not even mention the war of 1812 (too many other things going on). I did not even know that British troops ever burned Washington until I read it in an issue of the National Geographic.

The American revolution was essentially rebellious British fighting the British establishment. With everything that was happening in Europe though, it was simply not that important. And it seems nothing much has changed, today independent Americans are still fighting and killing each other, happily ignoring the wisdom of their seniors. The states were created but they have never been truly 'united'.

It took half a morning to teach us all about it. Basically, it was ex Brits against Brits, the industrial revolution is a much bigger event as far as history lessons go.

I studied Roman Britain, the Middle ages, The Tudors and 1870 - 1918 at school. Too much history to choose from. Learnt a bit since including the fact that Paul Revere did not say 'The British are coming'; ge said 'The Regulars are coming'. Quite revealing as is American historians need to change what he said

I think we have enough history in our own country to need to learn about things that went on with others. I took history, so I had even more history lessons than the standard curriculum, and the only other thing we learned about that involved other countries was the WW1 and WW2. Anything else was just a passing mention at the most

Why try to conivnce yourself "they MUST talk about America leading up to the Seven Years war"? The US really need to take a step back and understand things important to you DOES NOT equal important to anyone else

Hi connor , its important to folks in the US of course but us here we couldn't careless .

Whilst the war of independence was a huge thing for America from the British point of view it was a minor rebellion while it was in the midst of a world war with France and it's on/off ally Spain. Basically it was an irritation while we had bigger fish to fry. North America only made up a tiny percentage of the British Empire's income from trade. This meant the American colonies weren't considered very important compared to India, sugar from the West Indies, spices from the East Indies and tea from China, etc. In contrast the only stuff from North America was poor quality timber which was only good for cheap furniture, not building ships, plus a few furs. It didn't even have stategic value unlike say the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), or Gibraltar (access to the Med). Consequently in the war with France it was very low on the list of areas which needed protecting and the troops there were third rate, green and their officers the dregs of the British army, drunks, incompetents who were sent to places where they couldn't do much harm - like the American colonies. I don't think Americans are taught this or the huge part France played. It was common for the various colonial powers to try and stir up unrest in their rivals colonies. The idea was that this would keep them busy and out of your business, stretch their resources and with a bit of luck could be flipped to become part of their own empire. it's very effective. Today Putin uses the same strategy by using the far right in NATO countries as his useful idiots to cause division and unrest leaving him free to annex parts of his neighbours territory. Hence the rise of the far right in every NATO country over the last 20 years. He started doing this back when he was head of the KGB in West Germany - But I digress. In France's case they unsuccessfully tried to get the Scots and Irish to rebell, plus mnay other British colonies, then tried their luck in North America in the hope of either getting their colonies there back, or distracting the British enough that they could strike elsewhere. As soon as they heard the British Colonies were unhappy they sent in agents to stir them up further, provided them with arms and money and gave strategic advice. Without French shit-stirring it's doubtful that the rebellion would have escalated to the same extent. Of course the British were doing similar things in French and Spanish colonies and in fact gained quite a lot of territory using this tactic themselves. Britain's problem was that if they moved troops to the 13 colonies to quell any unrest it would leave other far more valuable areas vulnerable, plus the sheer distances in North America made it hard to defend everywhere properly. At the end of the day it was felt much better to lose the N.American colonies than far more valuable ones elsewhere and it was felt the forces already there should be enough, which if they'd been better led and better quality they would have been.

It's one of those things you just sort of become aware of, mainly from watching US tv shows and movies. They didn't even teach us a fraction of the British history they could have done, there's just too much to fit it all in!

First a question: How much do American schools teach about Alfred the Great or the Norman Conquest? Is that the sound of silence. It is after all a part of YOUR history. History did not start with the Pilgrim Fathers (an unsavoury bunch by all accounts)? I did history in the UK at high school, and vaguely recall that we started around about the Roman occupation, skipped through that & Alfred the Great to The Viking & Norman invasions, briefly mentioned the Wars of the Roses, Agincourt, Crecy etc, then paused on the Tudors, wars with Spain & the reformation, skimmed the English Civil Wars, touched on the Wars with Holland & France, and the French Revolution, covered the Industrial revolution in Britain, Steam Power, & Napoleonic Wars, Mentioned India, covered the South African situation & Cecil Rhodes etc, The Boer wars & WWI, then the Russian Revolution. Where is there is any room in the 2000 years mentioned for much more than a brief mention of the American Revolution? PS Don't conflate the war of 1812 with 1776 the two things have nothing in common, except that they are both not taught beyond a mention in British schools. Britain had far more important things to worry about, and the failed US attempt to invade Canada is the only thing we are likely to be concerned with.

History topics for me in an 80s Cheshire school: Stone Age; Iron Age; Roman Britain; Dark Ages; Vikings and Danelaw / Saxons and Alfred/Aethelflaed; types of Castle design; Middle Ages; Norman Conquest; Feudal and Manorial systems; The Crusades; The Black Death; Wat Tyler and the Peasants' Revolt; Tudors and Stuarts; British Empire; triangular slave trade; 100 Years War; The Enlightenment; Industrial Revolution; (oddly) American Civil War; The Great War/WW1; Suffragettes; WW2 and the Holocaust. There were plenty of school trips to museums and mills in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Style and Avon Croft as well as historic sites in Chester, York and Ynys Mon. Would have enjoyed learning more about the Dark Ages, Celtic Britain, Hen Ogleth etc. But... nothing on the American War of Independence or The US's 1812 invasion of Canada and subsequent DC scuffle. 😊

India was far, far more important to Britain at this time than the 13 colonies. The East India Company which was invested in by many British elites became immensely wealthy. Even the sugar plantations in the Caribbean were more valuable to Britain than the 13 colonies. So Britain lost the 13 colonies but the won the colonization game overall.

You were British settlers, so we were basically fighting ourselves. Well done America you have achieved a lot in your short history, must be because were related.😊

American Independence is a footnote in British History.

Some of the things I was taught in the uk were that: 1) The people of the American colony paid the least amount of tax anywhere in British held territory, it was a loss making venture for the crown. 2) American political figures sat in, and we're active in the British parliament where they represented the interests of the colony and its people. In its early days, this actually made it difficult to get the revolution started as too few people were angry at the British. 3) The British made more money from three tiny Caribbean islands than they did from all of the American colonies. This is probably the real reason so few in Britain cared about the loss of the colonies. 4) An attempt was made to invade mainland England by Americans but it ended in farcical circumstances. Apparently ordinary English people either didn't know who the invaders were, or could not be bothered to fight them depending on which account of those events you read. The Americans apparently did some shopping then decided to turn around and return home probably leaving behind some presumably confused locals. 5) Most colonials saw themselves as British at the time of the war. 6) Large numbers of loyalists were forced to walk to Canada leaving their property and land behind. 7) Changes made to american law designed to stop disposesed people from reclaiming property and land still plague the American legal system to this day. America still does not have a loser pays the fees system resulting in endless frivolous law suits.

There are houses in the UK with average families living in them that are older than the USA.

Americans focus mostly on their own history as a nation and forget that European history is why they are where they are, Britain considered the colonies less important than saving Europe from its self.

As I've pointed out in other videos on my hometown of Liverpool, the very first US consulate in the world was opened here in 1790. That's pretty good going after the end of hostilities, when you consider that an entire diplomatic corps had to be constructed from scratch. So it was 'business as usual' within a very short period. The building is still there (despite the blitz). It's now a Cote bistro at 51 Paradise St, but the very first consulate/embassy eagle can still be seen on the upper floor.

We had more important wars to fight in europe. It's that simple, we prioritised and had more important things to defend. Also, the americans would never have repelled us without the french and dutch. There's a reason the statue of liberty is french. We are taught of america in history when we recall how much they charged us for lend lease and how much they benefited from WW2. Medicine, science, aeronautical science.

The British Empire is incredibly old and the USA as a whole is a very young nation, so realistically the loss of one of many colonies doesnt really matter that much in Britains history.

We were going to give give you independence as long as you allow the Indian tribes to keep their lands but your people said no and never would have won the war without the Franch. the rest is history

America was inevitably going to break away. It was a good thing for everyone.

Regarding the 7 years war, the majority of Britons don't even know what it was about. Hell, most Brits can't name a single battle from our own Civil War. And it's not for a lack of care, but just that we have a lot of history to cover. Britain as a nation has nearly 2500 years of history and culture, around 10x that of the USA. We can't cover all of that in all the detail necessary, so a lot of stuff gets skipped or ignored.

I live in London and my grandchildren's local primary school [ ages 5 - 11 ] they have a map of the world in the school play ground and pins showing where all the children from that school have family relatives or other connexions . Fun way to learn about the whole world

Yeah, we 100% don’t give a shit about this in the UK.

I think in hindsight it was a very lucky escape for Britain, the USA leaves a lot to be desired.

In England, in the younger years, I’m talking to children from the ages of 6 to 11, they learn about ancient Egypt, ancient, Greece and Rome, the Tudors, Vikings, World War II, all very broadly. In secondary school, from the ages of 11 to 16, we didn’t learn anything about the American revolution really. It really wasn’t seen as that important. Our little islands owned so much of the planet that losing that one chunk of it, so far away, I don’t think has had that much of an impact long-term. You have to remember, that we didn’t lose the America you have now, we lost the America that’s existed back then. It wasn’t that important

Honestly Connor, there's no resentment from the UK about Americans celebrating Traitors Day. After all, our gain is your loss!!! I hope that you and yours did have an enjoyable 4 July!

Connor spitting facts and I'm 40 seconds in, you've learned so much over the past few years and its been a pleasure to watch it happen haha but in all seriousness, I hope you enjoyed July 4th with gusto!

I moved to the UK (from the US) over a decade ago and the Brits really do not care about the US any more than the US cares about Britain. We are allies when it matters of-course but over 65 nations celebrate independence from Britain in one way or another. The US is (in the words of a pub-land-lord...) a good idea that got out of hand. :)

In the uk, we start with learning about ancient civilisations. Greeks, Romans, Saxons, Egyptians. Our local history, how our town’s name developed over time, how our town was impacted by World War 1 & 2. The Tudor and Stewart’s/ War of the Roses, The British Civil War, the Black Death, the Empire and the Industrial Revolution. All before we leave primary school at 11. When the road you take to school was built by the Romans and there are burial mounds in the countryside surrounding your town that predate organised civilisation and the surrounding villages were plague towns and you can see visible evidence of that in the construct of the village. When the local church has battle scars in the stonework from medieval battles and sieges and there’s a Norman Castle nearby…our local history is tangible and it dates back over 2000 years….3000 years in some places

The history of the British Isles is over 2,000 years old. There's a lot there bluntly. 1776 was Brits against Brits, and by the 1800s we'd established good relations. So, shrug basically

hes right,im 48 and from UK in my younger days always played cowboy & indians,grew up watching ALF & the A team etc etc,we learned a lot,same values so no need to get upset about a nation bettering itself, also when i was young tv showed a lot via books made into a series,"north & south" being one & my GCSE English lit exam was based on the book "to kill a mocking bird" and "kelly heros" on telly :) & also served with my friends from across the pond,we not much different

Your knowledge of the UK is impeccable. You are amazing sir. Cymru Am Bith

Fun fact. My secondary school was originally a girl's school and a separate boy's school built with a large garden between the two. The schools overtime were merge together and physically joined together, and expanded with many many extensions being added, The two original buildings became the Maths department and the English department. The Math & English departments of my school were older than the USA.

Ultimately, I think the reason our schools in the UK don't teach more about this topic is because we have a lot more history than the United States, we can track our history back to the Romans and the umpteen sets of invaders since then. They're more interested in teaching us about that stuff. Despite that my secondary school history coursework was about 2 different US topics. The JFK assassination and Prohibition era Chicago. I guess we find your drinking habits and assassinations more interesting than your revolution 😂

On the subject of America, I have a little video you might find interesting. Its nearly 6 minutes "I Never Knew That About Britain - Is America named after a man from Bristol?"

And just to sow further confusion on country names, the British Isles (not Great Britain) comprises the group of islands to the north of mainland Europe, consisting of Great Britain, Ireland (as a whole), Isle of Man, The Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland

From what I remember (I'm 66) it was taught as an addendum to the Seven Years War. You have to remember that Britain has a lot of history to try and squeeze into a couple of hours a week.

The American Revolution was really the first American civil war, fought mainly between revolutionary colonists and loyalist colonists. Over 100,000 loyalists (a significant share of the American colonies' population) resettled in Canada after the war. The Revolutionary War divided neighbours and families, fighting on different sides, just like the later American Civil War

The 4th July in Amurica is called Independence Day, here in the UK we call it a lucky escape. 😂

From a Brit who used to live in the states I can honestly say no one in the UK that I've ever met cares about the American war of independence.

The British Parliament began reacting to American grievances in 1774 after the Stamp and other Acts with the Intolerable Acts which restored the Governor as a Royal Governor for the Crown and authority over the Massachusetts Legislative Assembly. Troops were sent and Boston Harbor was closed. Those who participated in the Boston Tea Party were to be jailed and fined with properties confiscated. Troops were housed in American homes at the expense of Americans. Americans were to shelter, and feed British troop at American expense until further notice. Americans lost any rights to redress grievances other than to British troops or the Royal Governor. Trade fell dramatically and merchants on both sides of the Atlantic complained.The British public was initiially against the Americans rebels. Violence increased and British troops made efforts to confiscate weapons and jail rebels. Lexington and Concord saw more bloodshed after the Boston massacre as violence escalated. As the war wore on the average British worker began to have sympathies for the rebels. Lord North astutely feared French and Spanish direct involvement in the war after the loss of Saratoga (which was being lobbied for in Holland and Versailles by Adams and Franklin) to the American Revolutionaries and tried to hastily compose a ceasefire, truce and solution to the rebellion. As the rebellion became a war (France, Netherlands, Spain) and 35,000 troops had been diverted to the American Colonies (Britians largest expeditionary force outside Europe at that date) as well as many ships of the Royal Navy, discussions about peace talks gained momentum. With the surrender of more than 7000 British troops at Yorktown the realization that Britain would recognize American Independence had been decided by Lord North and the British Parliament (see Lord North). History has lost the urgency of the period as other future events occurred, but when it actually happened it was defintily more than just a Tuesday in Great Britain. It was celebrated in France and received with shock by other Europeans. Newspaper circulation shot up in London duringThe Revolution--the conflict sold papers. Foreshadow -The British would violate the Treaty by inciting Indian uprisals in the Ohio Valley and seizing American ships and sailors as the Napoleonic Wars began. British Officers would give blankets to Native peoples contaminated with small pox and blame Americans.

The little I know about the American war of independence, was that there were two main reasons, it was intended to change the tax laws, reducing the burden on the poor, but with large increases on the rich. The second was the then treaty with the native Indians not to expand westwards. The UK does tend to abide by treaties, the oldest still observed was signed in 1373.

TBH we learned more about Robert Clive in India and Cecil Rhodes in Africa than we did about Ben Franklin in the American colonies. In fact we learned more about Paul Revere than about Ben Franklin.

The whole "fighting British tyranny" thing is a tad overstated, the UK was in a big colonial war with the French and the reason given for the tax increase was to pay for the troops protecting the Americas, money that the colonialists could afford given the average US colonist was well off. It was mostly the rich elites and merchant class that instigated it.

When I was taught history the US civil rights movement and the transatlantic slave trade were more important than anything else relating to the US. Being a Scot, I did learn several times about the Scottish Wars of Independence. Even when I went to uni and studied colonialism for a semester, the American Revolution didn’t really matter when compared to other colonies like India or how indigenous Americans have had their land, livelihoods, culture, and people stolen.

A better way to put it for Americans is to think on how important to the average American is the independence of the Philippines from America. Now imagine how important that event is for Filipinos.

In the early 80's I can remember we did study the American civil war.

I seriously recommend you get the following two books from your local public library: 1. Liberty's Exiles by American writer Maya Jasanoff. Tells the stories of some of the thousands of loyal Americans who left the infant USA. 2. The Last King of America. The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts.

Everything I know about American history I learned from TV and movies because they bring it up all day, every day, all the time again and again and again.. I never learned anything about it in school.

i have T shirts older than the USA 😂❤🎉

Most Brits have never heard of the Seven Years War.

It's the same in the Netherlands. We mostly learned about Dutch and European history. How the USA came to be was mentioned, but wasn't exstensively dealt with. But same goes for Asian and African history. Although I do remember Egypt being a subject and writing an essay about it in middle school. Maybe the teacher had a special interest in Egypt or it's more at the front of my memory because I thought it was so interesting. I don't know. It's more than 20 years ago.

As a British student who did GCSE history not long ago, the only thing that was mentioned in history about the American Revolution was that the only reason they got their independence was because the Brits were battered and bruised, waiting for reinforcements at a river where they were then cornered and forced to surrender, which i will admit was a genius move by the Americans tbf. If it weren't for this, its unlikely America would've got their independence. And if you're wondering what was actually taught in history GCSE, we did America 1920s, - featuring 'scarface' Al Capone - the Spanish armada along with the Queen at the time (Queen Victoria I), the space race, the arms race and a few other things I can't remember :)

Puerto Rico is seen as the 51st state.

What has surprised me about American History Lessons is that a lot of Black ethnic people seem to blame Britain for Slavery, and are now doing reaction videos about Slavery discovering for themselves that Britain Ended Slavery and it was universal, and saying i was not taught that in school? You have to have the right people doing the teaching and those people have to cover the truth not their own Agenda.

At higher level education 15 - 17 for my now grown up children with regard to the USA, the most comprehensive part of your history taught in British and Irish schools was the Civil Rights era. My daughter when we moved from Scotland to Southern Ireland found herself studying this part of your history for the second time. What has shocked me is finding out that this part of your history is not taught in many US schools.

Hi Jibby. I wasn't much interested in history at school. But North American history grabbed my attention in later years after browsing at our biggest bookshop in the world. Today you get bits of information on the Net, but nothing compares to a serious book on any subject, and in that store they have a section on every subject known to mankind, including the USA.

As the pub landlord said - it was a lucky escape.

Proud of you for knowing the UK/Great Britain stuff.

from the British perspective the AWI is a skirmish on a far away front during the Anglo Spanish war with the french on Spain's side... which... we won. Gibraltar was the biggest battle during the AWI, and was fought in Spain and is still a British colony and controls all trade via the Mediterranean.

As someone from the UK, I knew of the American Revolution but never really learned about it. I think it is just because there's so much history as the video says. Lol

I think he meant the 51st state, which is common joke term. There would have to be 51 states already lol. You said that the US was not seen as important in the 18th and 19th centuries and, if you think, the British were fighting in the war of the 6th coalition, at the start of the war of 1812 through to 1814, it seems like this war, in gaming terms, was merely a side mission

The American revolution is really rather insignificant to the rest of the world. The US would be nothing of what it is today without for example the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution.

This month we mark the 240th anniversary of a revolutionary battle cry that I think should be better known: “Yo solo”- “I alone,” the words attributed to Bernardo de Gálvez, the governor of Spanish Louisiana, who attacked British-held Pensacola and forced the town’s surrender on May 8, 1781, two years before the end of the Revolutionary War. Gálvez’s words remind us that the American Revolution - the eight-year war between the United States and Great Britain - was also fought here in Florida, led by the Spanish. Their victory certainly should be celebrated as a source of pride for all Floridians. Though Spain never signed an official agreement to fight alongside the United States, the two had a common enemy - Britain, long a Spanish rival - and a common friend - France, with whom both would form their own alliance. Spain declared war on Britain in 1779, but not out of altruism to the American cause. Spain’s goals were self-interested and strategic. King Carlos III wanted to recover key positions in the Mediterranean lost to Britain earlier in the century: Gibraltar, on the Spanish coast, and the island of Minorca. Preserving Spanish access to the Gulf of Mexico and Central America was also vital. Plus, taking Britain down a peg would feel good, too.www.ucf.edu/news/spain-deserves-more-credit-for-american-independence/#:~:text=Though%20Spain%20never%20signed%20an,altruism%20to%20the%20American%20cause.

My memories of school history in England (80's). 1066 - Battle of Hastings (also battle of Stamford Bridge just outside York, but that's a northern thing). Harold gets an arrow in the eye, William the Conqueror, we become French. 1666 - Great fire of London in Pudding Lane, which killed all the rats and ended the great plague (allegedly). 1086 - Domesday book (cos my home town Pontefract is mentioned in it) 16th century - Henry VIII and his 6 wives. definitely some other stuff here, but can't remember what 1914 to 1918 - 1st world war. 1939 to 1945 - 2nd world war. NOTHING, about the American Revolution.

The "51st state" is probably Puerto Rico

USA needed France and Netherlands help

There were far more important territories and enemies for Britain (Remember, it was essentially Britain vs Britain). It was a logistically difficult war but Britain didn't remotely throw everything at the war, otherwise they would've won. The US was also bailed out by France, otherwise they wouldn't have lasted 6 months at war. The UK kept Canada and kept getting richer, so it was just a footnote for them.

I went to a British grammar school in the 1970s and we studied the American War of Independence in great detail when I was 15-16. Our teacher was very unbiased and taught us about British governmental and military incompetence during the war as well as the unreasonable British demands on the colonists which led up to it ('taxation without representation'). We were also taught about the American constitution and the Bill of Rights. These topics are rarely taught in British schools today, unfortunately.

Perhaps Puerto Rico, or even DC is considered the 51st state, so Britain becomes the 52nd? BTW Sweden is sometimes called the 51st state, since we are so Americanised.

As an Australian, the greatest significance of this War of Independence is that it led to the colonisation of the Great Southern Land. The loss of the American colonies as a dumping ground for unwanted convicts meant that Britain looked further afield to solve this issue and extend their sphere of influence, as well as gaining untapped natural resources. Possibly explains why British history doesn’t dwell on 1776 as much as Americans might imagine given that the land that was to become Australia was a worthy addition to the British Empire. And as disastrous for the indigenous peoples as all colonialism.

A fun factoid, the 2nd largest book repository in the World from about 18th Century onwards was Boston, many books that became unavailable in the UK could be found in the Boston archives.

"i think it would atleast take a chapter in a history book" you're giving it more credit than we tend to easily

German here. In fact, the American War of Independence plays only a minor role for Europe and not just for the British. 38 years ago, I wanted to study the subject and discovered that there was practically only one useful book in German. And I had to have it sent to me via interlibrary loan from a university library. But that book also did a thorough job of clearing up the American founding myths. It was particularly fascinating how American crown governors did business with pirates (Thomas Tew) and also lined their own pockets. And that went on for decades and with all sorts of men in office. The fact that the British wanted to clear up the problem was also one of the reasons for setting up their own business. Not particularly noble, is it...?