Captioning performed by vitac certainly a part of the American Revolution, specifically yeah, the united colonies. So when does the Continental Army begin . Its not necessarily with the start of the revolution, but we are going to pick up their story at the beginning of the war. So a couple classes ago we were talking about the french and indian war and the french and indian war was a world war that fundamentally altered several different nations, but primarily france, removed from the north american continent, britain and the british colonies. Many americans had fought alongside british soldiers and british officers during the war. Anyone recall what were some of the things that transpired when the two groups interacted . I mean, the british, they looked down on the colonies. Okay. So in a lot of ways the british are looking down on the coal nists for a number of reasons and that was having to do with tactics, having to do with a lack of formal military training, some of it had to do with how they dressed. We know theres lots of resistance, theres also a large aspect over who holds the higher rank. So does a colonial officer outrank a british officer . As you recall the british officers of lower rank said they outranked any colonial officer and this infuriated a young George Washington. So our story begins after the french and indian war. What caused the American Revolution . The tea party. Thats part of it. Taxes. And give me the phrase. No taxation without representation. Okay. No taxation without representation, or if you like taxation without representation is tyranny. From there, build to a potential chance to seize gun powder at the town of concord or maybe even arrest sons of liberty, leading revolutionary figures who would be samuel adams or john hancock in nearby lexington. And what results is this, the shot heard round the world maybe, concord also says the shot heard around the world happened in concord. One of the first shots of the American Revolution is fired when the British Regulars meet up with colonial militia men. So from massachusetts on lexington green. And shots are fired. Who fires the first shot . Nobody knows. Exactly. But who do the british say fired . The colonists. The colonists, rebels. Who do the colonists say fired . The british. Good enough. The british. Murderers. And its from this that the war begins. Now, this is initially a militia unit so refreshing, a militia unit is basically anyone from the ages of 16 and 60, they would meet up roughly once a month and drill and train in traditional trappings, think of like the National Guard today. Most american colonists do have some experience with a gun, with a musket, more so than your average british soldier, largely from hunter or fighting native americans. But theyre not dont have necessarily formal military training, fighting in ranks and lines. Shots are fired, nominally the colonists lose and the british win here, but this is the profound moment that is going to begin the war. Thomas jefferson is going to refer to this very specifically. Its unprovoked murder, an open violation of plighted faith and honor in defines of the sacred obligations of treaty which even savage nations observe. So what is jefferson getting at here . Hes saying that like what the british did was like it was just straight up slaughter, like we didnt really provoke them, like they just decided to kill us, even like savages can comprehend. Okay. There is no ethics behind this. This is fundamentally immoral. What the british have done is something that is so barbaric, to use a term, that this is cannot be looked over. This is beyond rights now, this is a justification for the war and weve talked about briefly the idea of a just war principle and what makes a war just in almost every circumstance . Yeah, it basically comes down to who attacks who. So the americans are presenting themselves as an aggrieved party, so they are fighting a defensive war, which means what . They are not right. They are in the right. Their war is just. Largely based on everyones one of the theorists weve read in class, a swiss philosopher, who in his law of nations is very much going to fast the correctness or the morality or the honor of a war based on who starts it. So if the british start the war it justifies american resistance. Meanwhile, we get another battle at concord bridge, named that because it has a bridge. So the americans are successful at concord bridge, even against more trained, skilled British Regulars. So why do you think this is . You may remember this from william wallace, scottish rebellion. They have to cross the bridge to fight. Okay. So you have to cross the bridge choke point, meaning numbers dont matter. Dont matter, you have to funnel in. This is where you get the, quote unquote, traditional shot heard around the world and this is where americans under orders fire, whereas at lexington both sides were under orders not to fire. So when we think of american colonial militia men fighting we probably think of the romanticized notion of the minute men. Okay. So what is a minute man . Someone who is ready to fight in a minute. Okay. So theyre going to jump out of bed fully clothed, put their hat on, grab their musket and run out, ready to fight. You know, average musket at the time takes a minute and a half to load, so whats in a name . The idea is the militia man is fighting in a regular style, what we call today a guerrilla style, but very much copying the native american style. Why have the americans developed this style as opposed to the british who are fighting very much in an open rank formation as they had in europe. They had to defend themselves against the native people that were living in the americas when they got there so they had to adapt their tactics to they learned from the indians. They have adapted over centuries this tactic. Also the british werent equipped to fight in that style of warfare so they would be marching in ranks. Exactly. So weve seen this specifically if we think back to the french and indian war, the battle of monongalia where they were defeated using the same tactics. The british had the higher numbers so they had to adjust their fighting style to accommodate for that. Okay. They have to accommodate and adapt to their enemy. Now, the popular perception on the march back from concord is this sort of attack from the tree line. You will see them all down here from hidden positions. On the exposed flank, the exposed side of the british army. Whats interesting, though, on this long march back now, think about this, the british army is marching back after doing an immediate march at night from boston to the outskirts and then marching back with limited ammunition. They can just be picked off. But what you will see on this map is you will see these little explosion marks and every time you see that it was actually a moment where there was a pitched battle. So despite the common romanticized of their running, hiding behind trees, think of mel gibson in the patriot there are pitched battles through there. It will force the british to retreat to boston and defend themselves. Ultimately the british are going to attempt to take fortified colonial positions at bunker hill which every historian knows is fought on. Breeds hill. Breeds hill. The americans lose but they inflict heavy, heavy casualties. This is not the Continental Army. These are militia forces. A win at concord, a forced retreat to boston, an imp rick sort of victory, the idea that the british win but lose heavy losses only due to the colonists running out of ammunition and its this fighting in massachusetts that ultimately is going to force a unified response by the colon knee. So the question is is this americas war . Is this massachusetts war . And a Continental Army is going to be formed by who do you guess . [ inaudible ]. Under the Continental Congress were going to get George Washington as commander in chief. Hes going to say hes serving based on my countrys honor and my own character, which is very different than the young washington we talked about in his early 20s where he actually resigns his commission and he says for his own honor and his countrys well being. So its a fundamental reversal of these roles and washington is saying i am taking this up for duty to the nation, enhancing civilian supremacy. Hes saying i take my orders from congress. I dont function as sort of a military dictator. Meanwhile, theres some opposition and a lot of it comes from this man, his name is charles lee. You may remember him from that twosecond reference in the hamilton musical. He is a general. So charles lee, british trained, he had actually been all around europe trying to change his ranks, accumulate rank and he thought he would be one of the people named commander in chief. There are others as well. Lee in a lot of respects is british trained. He does not think the americans could win fighting in a traditional european style and he thinks the americans should be using this guerrilla hit and run militia style, in fact, maybe even retreat west and make the british chase them. Washington is fundamentally opposed to this. Washington, though he uses multiple styles, is very much trying to fight the war more on the traditional european style. There are a few reasons why and one of them is hes concerned with the reputation and how this revolution will be viewed internationally. If theyre fighting as other your means do, they are fighting in a quote unquote gentlemanly, civilized way it will be respected, if they are not they may not gain alliances or support from other nations. There is this difference of opinion and these two will sort of clash many times throughout the revolution. Ultimately washington will prove successful, but thats a story thats coming. Anyway, washington is going to take command and hes going to meet the now Continental Army in boston late spring, 1775. So this is right after the battle of bunker hill. At first the two sides dont get along, particularly the militiamen of massachusetts. If you think back when we talked about early colonial warfare, the massachusetts militia in particular elects their officers. In virginia, where washington is from, they were appointed. So whats the problem with elected officers versus appointed officers . In any sort of fighting force. Its whoever is popular. Many times it becomes a popularity contest rather than skill and people are often unwilling to order their friends into combat. I feel like when youre voting on who is going in, i feel like maybe more people dont run as much or like its kind of an, oh, im going to do this because it seems cool. Oftentimes who would win is whoever brought like the most beer to the barbecue or whatever whatever would happen. Okay. So washington, though, is going to try to staff his army and he is going to urge a certain type of individual to be an officer. Gentlemen. And nowadays youve heard me ramble about this, nowadays every man is a gentleman, but in the 18th century it meant something different. It meant a man of honor, a man of reputation, morality, bravery and valor. Washington is saying if you are a gentleman, a man of honor in civilian life we can translate that to the military because america doesnt have a military academy, they dont have a professional army, so who are your officers, who are your soldiers . Just regular people. No formalized training. Yeah, some had fought in the french and indian war, some had dealt with native raids, but very sort of limited overall. Here are the british trapped in boston and you will note on the map here are the british forever retreating in this depiction and any of these elevated positions you would have american colonial excuse me Continental Army cannons and they would force the british out through bomb bargd certain areas and the british are going to evacuate often. The date of that was actually two days ago, march 17th. So here is a big overarching map of the campaign. So the war is going to go from 1775 to 1783, technically the last major battle was in 1781. If you are the british what are your tactics here . How are you going to beat the americans . Numbers. Whats that . Numbers. Numbers. Okay. Superior army hands down. You want to snuff them out, get them to quit, cut them off from the rest of the world. How do you cut them off from the rest of the world. The navy. There you go, youre going to blockade the coast and then the british are going to make another tactical decision and they believe since the war has begun in massachusetts, if you cut off massachusetts, what can you stop . The war. Okay. So how do you cut off massachusetts . You create like a board almost, you cut them off from the ocean and you basically trap them. You blockade them and dont you blockade the hudson river . Yeah, you take new york, go up the hudson and you can split them off. Now, this is one of the worst kept military secrets, washington knows theyre going to attack there, the british know theyre going to attack there, so why attack there . Its the only thing they can do. Well, the british know they have a good shot here, its a harbor, they can use their navy. Washington in a lot of ways is reluctant to defend this, but the Continental Congress said, no, you must, because what is the basic obligation of government . Protect its citizens. There you go. And if they dont do it then they are failing just as the british had and attacking their citizens literally in lexington and concord. The declaration of independence is read right before the battle of brooklyn, battle of long island and these are the reasons theyre giving, some of the chief reasons for breaking away from britain. That the king, he, george iii had abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection in waging war against us. So how do you split with the king . Break up letter because he is no longer your king, he has done something wrong. At the same time the americans are taking issue with the conduct of the war, particularly the british are going to hire mercenaries commonly known as hechans. The popular belief is they are mercenaries fighting just purely for money. They are actual ly the army tha are rented out by their prince. So they are fighting for their regular wages, their regular position, its just the prince thats actually can a, shing in this. So battle of new york does not go well. In fact, it is numerous retreats. So here in washingtons retreat from long island to manhattan island. Again, extremely difficult moving an army across any body of water but washington proves quite successful. The british are easily going to take new york. Again, the Continental Army is forced to retreat. Literally crossing the palisades. Traditionally a major defeat like this would be crushing to a war, crushing to a commander, but its how washington interprets this and how washington uses this to fundamentally change the way we look at the military and warfare. How does he do that . Well, he studies. Washington is going to complain about his defective education for his whole life, he never went to formal schooling. So how do most american officers learn to become officers . You have a handful like charles lee or Horatio Gates who have been trained by the british. How do most learn . They get a booklet. They get a book. Two of your most successful general, henry knox and Benedict Arnold, American Hero up until a certain time anyway both sold books. So how do they making it a little simplistic, henry knox becomes the head of artillery because he read a book on it. So they are many ways selftaught so they are going to these military texts to learn how to be officers and soldier. Religion upon which true honor is founded, the idea that there is an ethical basis in the military, this concept of honor. Honor consists in the constant practice of virtue and the duty of a soldiers honoree and properly performed. The idea that if you act well in a battle or campaign that you are doing your duty, you can receive honor. Used to be that honor was only for the victor. James wolf who had been a british general that actually died during the french and indian war in quebec is going to say also the character of why you are army. He doesnt want a drunken, vicious, irregular army, a poor defense to the state, but the virtue, courage and obedience in the troops are a sure guard against all assaults to execute their part with honor and spirit. So why dont you want a drunken vicious army raping, pillaging and brutalizing . Because you cant organize them and they cant maintain order so whats the point. If they cant maintain order that fundamentally breaks down the military and the revolution is about ideas so who do you want on your side. Gentlemen. The gentlemen certainly but who else . Youre fighting this war in america. Americans. You dont want to upset the delicate balance between potential patriot, potential loyalist or the, quote unquote, neutrals. Frederick the great, we read about him. Frederick the great, prussian king, prussian general. In this point numbers are an essential point of war and a general who loves his honor, reputation will take extreme care to recruit and conserve his troops. The idea that theyre taking hes concerned with the well being of the average soldier. Whats so shocking about that if you think about war and the common soldier prior to this, whether its in the british army or any pretty much european army, they were the drages of society. You joined the military because you had no other choice. They were viewed as expendable. What is frederick the great doing here thats fundamentally different. Hes talking about how like the numbers of your army is really important because each individual man could be the tipping point. Okay. Like a Single Person could make you win or lose. You are dependent on the conduct of your soldiers and at the same time for washington what happens if the army is defeated . If he loses too many men . The whole country yeah, thats the revolution. War is over. This is what he has. So theres an understanding of the soldiers are something different. Humphrey bland, another british general is going to publish a book that the Continental Army takes seriously. When the officer has the unfortunate of being beat, he has done his duty and acted like a soldier. Youre going to lose, at some point an officer will lose, and it shouldnt be that officers are chasing victory or chasing the potential of victory as long as they put in a valid effort when the odds make sense, they can be honorable. They are performing their duty and washington is literally going to relay this to the marq