Foreign Impact During the Revolution | BRI’s Homework Help Series

0:00 Welcome to Homework Help. Whether you’re studying for the AP US history exam or any other exam that your teacher is inflicting upon you, we’ve got you covered today. We are talking about the American Revolution. We all know the date. July 4, the day Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin

0:20 and the Second Continental Congress published the Declaration of Independence. The day the United States of America was born. The Founders believed it was better to fight against the tyranny of the British government and possibly die in freedom, then to avoid war and die as a subject people. In general George Washington’s words the time is near at hand which must

0:42 probably determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other and show the whole world that a free man contending for liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth. There was little doubt as to why the American patriots were fighting. Their declaration was clear

1:03 that the Americans were fighting for freedom and liberty from tyranny. But the war included more than just the Patriots and the British. Many don’t realize how much of an international affair the war was. The Spanish French along with German mercenaries, played major roles in the revolution. So why did other European nations and people join the conflict?

1:27 Neither the French nor the Spanish really cared about freedom and liberty for the American Patriots. Yet both countries were eager to see the British Empire weakened. The French were looking for any opportunity to regain entry into the continent after having been kicked out following the French and Indian War. The Spanish were looking for any opportunity to hurt their British rivals.

1:49 The French sent spies to the British colonies to show their support for colonial resistance, but weren’t willing to publicly support the American Patriots until they could prove they were a credible military force. And the Patriots did at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, gaining a major military victory which persuaded the French to pledge their open support of the rebellion.

2:12 The Americans then entered into what is known as the Treaties of alliance and of Amity and Commerce with both France and Spain. Neither country provided much support in the form of troops. The Spanish support came in the form of money to help the Americans financially afford the rebellion. On the French side, most of their aid came in the form of money and ships.

2:34 Only 12,000 Frenchmen were involved, which amounted to about 5% of the Continental Army. France instead gave much needed loans for materials and supplies as well as using their navy for support. The British did not fight the war alone. Only a quarter of their troops were British regulars. To make up the rest of their fighting

2:56 force, the British hired roughly 30,000 Hessian mercenaries from a small state in central Germany and relied on American loyalists for the rest of their forces. In the end, the Americans and their allies overcame the British and their higher German mercenaries. The Americans ended with the best result. They enjoyed freedom from Britain

3:17 and the ability to forge their own new path as a nation. For the Europeans involved, the result of the American War provided little advantage for anyone. The British lost their American colonies. The French lost a great deal of resources throughout the war, which played a major role in the French Revolution that erupted six years later.

3:37 The Spanish ended the war on the winning side, but the American success incentivized rebellions in their Caribbean and Latin American colonies. Many Spanish colonies revolted over the course of the next 50 years. The military advantages following the American Revolution did not last for most of the Europeans. Yet the story and example of American patriots successfully fighting the mighty

4:01 British Empire for the sake of enlightened ideals inspired dozens of future generations in similar uprisings against oppressive governments. And in this way, the start of the American Revolution was truly the shot heard around the world.