Partitioning an Empire: The End of the American Revolutionary War 1782-1783

In 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to George Washington at Yorktown. Over the next two years, British and Allied diplomats were locked in negotiations over the fate of the belleaguered but not beaten British Empire. Allied diplomats, despite the initial advantages derived from Yorktown, soon found themselves on the backfoot as British naval strength revived, and the prospect of bankruptcy drew ever nearer.

This video aims to be a short documentary charting the negotiations that ended the American Revolutionary War.

#History, #BritishEmpire, #USA,

[SamAronow]

Quick note: the borders of the Thirteen Colonies by this time had become much jankier than the Proclamation Line of 1763, as they had free rein to make their own treaties with neighboring American Indian tribes and did so several times, with Virginia's borders extending as far west as Louisville. Also the Americans by the time of Yorktown had already occupied the length of the Ohio River down to the east bank of the Mississippi, as well of the lands of the Shawnee and Cherokee comprising most of Kentucky and Tennessee. Not a big deal, but as long as you were showing the Gullah coast and New York under occupation, I thought it was noteworthy.

Also thank you for holding onto Gibraltar.

[gustavoritter]

It is interesting to note that at the time this war was seen first and foremost as a French victory over the UK and yet seven years later France went into bankruptcy

[Adamm]

Definitely the most underrated Geopolitical-Historian Youtube channel

[stuartwald]

A remaining dispute: There is no doubt but that Vergennes was publicly upset by the USA's separate deal with the UK, but many believe that he was actually relieved, as it allowed France to make peace without being held hostage to Spain's endless (and futile) attempts to take Gibraltar.

[monkeeseemonkeedoo]

Benjamin Franklin's 'advisable articles' were huge stretch goals lol

[MattCellaneous]

Some historians believe(Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, author of the 'Men who lost America' amongst them) that Lord North's comment was actually about his ministry and not about the American war at the time. I think I agree with this point of view.

[barmybarmecide]

Brilliant, thank you for your hard work and consistent quality, these videos are great resources for someone looking to read deeper into the subject! Especially the early history of European imperial expansion, such a unique period of human history

[nygothuey]

Your videos are absolute treasures. The geo-political aspect of history is often ignored in favor of the military events. I'm glad that you've chosen to cover this aspect on your channel.

[danz]

Another terrific video from this channel. One aspect not covered here that I thought played a large role was concern in London over what it would cost to win and reassert control over the 13 colonies. Britain simply could not afford to win after Yorktown. That is why it is so significant.

[b-battledroid]

"It's so over bros"
-Lord North

[Grenadier]

Excellent presentation, as usual. An enjoyable dose of information not easily found elsewhere outside of multiple history books fortifies my mind when I watch your videos.

[vihaankaushal]

Hi old Britania! I feel that your channel is quite underrated and your style of explaining geopolitics should be noted. With that said, I would like to ask you if in the future will you be making such videos for more modern events? (from the cold war to today). It would certainly be interesting to be able to see how you explain more recent events in this sort of video style.

[skibbideeskitch]

It's testament to the the under-appreciated qualities of the heavily maligned North Ministry that, despite losing some of her oldest & most populated colonies, Britain came out of the war not only in a _better_ condition than France, but with the position of dominance she'd established at the Seven Years War intact. Without the intractable problems of campaigning in the American enterior, Lord George Germain might be remembered more in the mold of someone such as Henry Dundas.

[louisiananlord]

I have been dying for this video. Old Britannia, as always a masterful analysis and Vergennes, was a keen mind to orchestrate what he did for Mother France! 🇫🇷 Franklin is always being tops, too! 🇺🇸

[danever]

Great channel and video.
Suggestions: independence of Spanish and porchugese colonies in America and geo politics around it, the situation around China and colonialism, colonialism around India and south Asia and how that played out, some parts or a series for the ottoman empire?

[Tassec]

Always appreciate your content! This time period is so important and consequential to our modern era, and yet most people don’t know enough about it. Keep up the great work!

[MartinUToob]

I've managed to watch a good number of videos on this channel and would like to compliment its overall excellence. A very fine job.

[WhydoIsuddenlyhaveahandle]

Thank you so much for this! We are not taught any of the worldwide aspects of the Revolution in the U.S.

Please do more about the War itself outside the 13 colonies! I am super interested!

Great channel!

[forthrightgambitia]

Excellent overview - the period between Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris is sadly too often no more than an short epilogue in many histories of the period.

It is worth remembering that Franklin was a colonial agent for the Pennsylvanian assembly for nearly 16 years, keeping a house in the Strand, so he had deep network of contacts in British political elite, and of course had a wide reputation as a scientist and philosophy in enlightenment France and had had a great many correspondences with figures in Paris. His deep knowledge of both the British and French social scene and political systems was undoubtedly why he was so succeessful in playing a shadow game between Paris and London that for the most part redounded to the benefit of the 13 colonies..

[starliaghtsz]

another one in just 2 weeks? damn what a treat