British Reacts To The American Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 1)

[@GenXSurvivor]

The French and the Brits were fighting over control of the Colonies. The Brits were not doing anyone a favor. They were protecting their own interests.

[@JustMe-dc6ks]

The French and English colonies were fighting each other as part of the war between France and England.

[@montrelouisebohon-harris7023]

​@@JustMe-dc6ksyeah they were both always fighting each other until World War I and then they became buddies.... The war kept going on and on over in Europe and then Americans came in like the last six or eight months and had a couple million soldiers but didn't have time enough to build the artillery like we did in World War II that actually won World War II. Yeah you take a million or 2 million crazy Americans over to freaking Europe and a lot of Americans had already been volunteering and signed up to fight with France in the Lafayette pilot program where they learn how to fly planes, and that's if they can pass the test and pass the school and then they were taught how to combat fight... They didn't have a long life expectancy but the fly boy from America who flew for Lafayette did extremely well. It's funny because the Americans that volunteered to go over did get paid by the French, but they went over because they believed the French helped us during the Revolutionary War and they kind of did after a while . When they saw the colonies could whip up on Britain for 5 years or so then they started to give us gunpowder and some cannons BUT of coarse it was a war DEBT. The French didn't do it out of the goodness of their freaking hearts but the French did it just as a payback to the British because they lost the seven years war..😂 it was all ego to the French who just wanted to punch the British in the face when they were kind of down. Lafayette who was the General that did come to America for 6 weeks before they had crop picking season in the West Indies.. they had six weeks and they brought up something like six Navy ships and about 10,000 soldiers who actually joined the Americans at the Battle of Yorktown and that was the last battle of the war... The Americans had enough soldiers and we could have won it without the French but it was nice to have their Navy there.. It would have taken a hell of a lot longer, but good grief we'd already been at it for freaking 8 years.. what's another couple years? You probably would have lasted another year if not for the ten thousand soldiers but the British just got sick of fooling with the damn pain in the ass Americans. America paid back a couple million of that word at and I think we owed somewhere around 6 million.. gosh American paid 1-2 million or so back between 1789 and 1803, but the French were bankrupt because of the monarchy and the French Revolution. President Thomas Jefferson knew that the French had absolutely no control over their slaves at all in the South and they were wits' end. Haitian slaves had already rebel against the French and kicked them out.. the slaves in the south in Mississippi and Alabama were uprising as well. Americans were concerned that the French weren't going to be able to take care of the colonies. Napoleon agreed to sell a hell of a lot of land for $10 million, and that was a good deal about that but we still owed 5 million or so in more. So all together the cost of that land including the war that remaining was 15 million.. 15 million was a good deal for that amount of land because it was monstrous. . Good grief that land made money back and then some within 15 years... The Mississippi River brought in so much revenue and sadly the slavery that existed there - & King Cotton.. if not for that big land purchase I think the South would have turned into yeoman farming like Thomas Jefferson wanted but after the Louisiana purchase, new Americans and the ones who lived there a long time got itchy and they moved Westward not South. After the Mexican-American War American had Land from the Atlantic to the Pacific and people were still moving West... The South was more populated than it was early in the 1800s but nothing compared to what it could have been but expansion and manifest destiny was a big thing. The issue with slavery was one of those that was just kicked down the road over and over and American government still does this today... They kicked the border crap down the road and Trump went in and they close the border the best he could and it wasn't because of racism but it was because as most people can see now in Chicago and New York when you get a hundred thousand immigrants, people have to pay for that and the people in those cities are suffering having to pay for free housing and food for those people.. 20 years plus ago immigrants coming to America had to have a job or they had to have a sponsor in America to allow them to stay with them and it's only been maybe since Obama was President that they were able to come into America and draw welfare. They get it better than American taxpayers.

[@austinsinger7565]

And the Spanish

[@lynnw7155]

Right. There WERE no 'Americans'...they were British colonies, these were British citizens. Literally every American knows this. Don't they teach this in British schools?

[@Godzillaminusone70]

@@lynnw7155 fr I'm very patriotic but we were British colony's

[@brandonflorida1092]

The British didn't come to America to help the people there. They came to assist British colonies.

[@L3WGReacts]

oh right!!

[@JustinJurazick]

@@L3WGReacts Its basically like charging protection money to keep your buisness from being shaken down

[@LlyleHunter]

The British were present to rule over the colonists

[@ncjoker420]

Yeah, like, imagine the crown places a tax on Northern Ireland and only them until they got pissed and said no.

[@HeatherBrown-gw7tn]

You're right about native people being there. It's pretty uncommon for even people over here to learn history pre 1492, but there were huge cities all over that were destroyed by disease and people coming in slaughtering the populace. They had only reached coppersmithing, not yet iron, and they didn't have horses to ride. So, they got mowed down and literally decimated. By twenty years after Spanish contact, there was massive social collapse.

[@walkerlocker6126]

Ya gotta remember, most of the colonies were actually British people. Even George Washington, like it said in the beginning, was a British general. They all just lived really far away, and they had no representation in British government. So basically King George was taxing the hell out of them and they had no spokesperson. That was what the big deal was at first. At first it was just a rebellion, and many colonists wanted to fix things with the British, but after so much death and destruction with King George apparently not giving a crap, more and more British colonists wanted to declare themselves their own country. After the war, this America was born

[@sjp-hy6wq]

By which country they were owned by they were British because they were a colony and yes they had British ancestors but by nationality etc they were American cuz by this point mostly everyone living in the thirteen colonies was born there

[@19MichaelDixon]

Yes, the colonists even sent a letter to King Charles, pleading with him to lower taxes and to repair their relationship. But King Charles scoffed at the idea of these "filthy colonists" demanding anything from him, the King! So the colonists, seeing no other option, declared independence and immediately became "traitors" in the eyes of the crown. Still, some of the colonies wanted to repair the relationship with the crown. It was mostly the New England colonies that wanted to get rid of the yoke of the King. The mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies were more open to a reconciliation. After more and more abuses, everyone came around to independence being the only option.

[@dawnyoung2294]

No they were not mostly British . They were French Spanish and British . It’s fair to say European even , but not mostly British . My French and Swedish and British relatives have all been here equally as long . The royal families all established family here too . The lesser royals came here from all sides . The French Canadians were sided with the Catholic Church , they sent so many girls here to marry and have as many kids as possible for the King . The casket girls , pelican girls , Filles du Roi . They cranked out kids and had settled everywhere across America . As soon as you do ancestry and look at who they are when and where , you’re entire understanding of history changes . It’s amazing . I thought I knew mine because my grandpa did his , I didn’t know anything .

[@lindiharris-axon8167]

Actually, it was mostly Parliament, not the King himself. Most thought all colonies existed to serve England alone, never the colonists' interests.. But King George III went happily along with it all. Who knows if he was sane at the time, poor guy.

[@danashaffner2913]

Washington was never an officer in the British Army. He sought a commission but as a colonial he was laughed at. Washingtons commission was in the Virginia Colonial Militia.

[@jackdelane]

Americans prefer coffee since colonial times because tea drinking was seen as unpatriotic after the Boston tea party

[@GTSN38]

Plus, tea tastes like shit compared to coffee ☕️ 🙃

[@Karinagrinchishin]

​@@GTSN38 lmao

[@OhArchie]

American colonists were still British subjects at the start of the war, loyal to the King and wishing to stay that way. So, despite what OverSimplified calls each side, *everyone* was British until independence was declared. The bit with the French was more about securing future riiches for Britain and less about protecting the Britsh colonists.

[@jtlaramore4946]

The situation in the 13 Colonies by this point was quite a bit more nuanced than what you just described. Of course all American colonists were still British subjects when the Revolutionary War began at Lexington and Concord. But to say that prior to the beginning of the conflict the colonists were still loyal to the King and wished their relation to the mother country to stay that way it was is in my opinion a gross mischaracterization of what at the time was a much more nuanced reality with a wide variety of dissenting views. The idea of independence had been brewing for a long time. By 1776, at least half of the colonists actively despised the King. If King George III had made them loyal to anything it was to the lofty ideal that the very abstraction of a king was utterly reprehensible.

[@clinthowe7629]

Oh boy! let the conflict begin. 🫣😂

[@arielview6601]

That's not even close to the truth. The colonies were not all British. And removing their boot from our necks was not the idea of a few. Liar.

[@dalemac614]

And many Americans stayed loyal especially in Virginia and South Carolina.

[@dafukinman3330]

I'm dead so funny they didn't teach you this it's a big part of your history too

[@KiwiDragon15]

“We only learned about the wars that we won, that’s why I haven’t learned this.” Honestly my favorite part of this video 😂

[@gregl9570]

@L3WG and your not getting it…. The American colonies and colonists were created and consisted of British settlers still under the rule of the king! Britain didn’t just let thousands of their people sail to America so they could start their own policies, government, and country! They sent those people to expand the British Empire and extract the lands financial potential.

[@terryrodriguez6209]

There were also people from other countries as well. Scots, Irish, German for example and after Culloden and the clearances the Scots weren’t big fans of the British nor the Irish for that matter. Some of the French who stayed behind didn’t like them either. The people who had been put in charge like local Mayors and Governor’s were titled and the locals didn’t like being ordered around and controlled by the soldiers.

[@rybolov]

My friend from India was in Boston, where I live, and I took him on a tour of town, including the Boston Massacre. He was like "Wait a minute, Americans went to war with the British?" He was way too happy about that idea.

[@Texasiscoolorsmthidkiforgor]

aw hell nahhh

[@radioactive_sunflowerz2450]

I love that 🤣 former colony solidarity 😂

[@militanttriangle2326]

TWICE EVEN.

[@kpaggie]

😂😂😂

[@DJSpike-ft9yw]

@@radioactive_sunflowerz2450America is basically Britain’s first born kid. We’re the most talented, stubborn, independent, successful, and rebellious.

[@ms.muffin7592]

Watching the video, and I really like your reaction! Here’s a bit of context from me to help answer some of your questions: - There were lots of natives in the Americas, and the first meetings between tribes and Europeans ranged anywhere from friendly to hostile. However, the Europeans unwittingly brought diseases that ravaged through native populations, and already by the time of the American Revolution, the native population was reduced by as much as 75%. - Both France and Britain set up colonies in the Americas. It wasn’t so much that the French got there first, but both the French and British had gotten there around the same time. Eventually, they ended up fighting cause they couldn’t agree on where the border between their colonies was, and the British Won. - The British didn’t leave afterwards because they still considered the American Colonies to be just that, Colonies which, regardless of what the Americans thought, were still theirs to rule over. However, by the time of the American Revelation, the people living in the colonies now had a culture distinct from Britain, and that combined with political turmoil led to them fighting for independence. Sorry if that was all a bit too wordy, just wanted to help you understand. I liked your reaction, you’ve got a new subscriber!

[@L3WGReacts]

thank you for all of the info!! and glad you enjoyed the reaction:)

[@marykme]

This was a nice bit of history and I just want to add a couple of things. In some cases, at least in the 1800's, some infections were deliberate. There are many stories of small pox -infected blankets being distributed or traded to Native American villages. Also, a little bit of history here, the Huron were allied with France until France decided dealing with this continent was too much trouble and abruptly left, leaving the Huron kind of out to dry without any other allies.

[@thekissklimt]

​@marykme actually the smallpox blanket myth is incorrect. There was no actual source for that story and germ theory was not far along enough in the common knowledge of the population to know that was possible. Also, spread like that is still not considered probable as the germs do not last long.

[@kays4290]

They purposely brought disease knowing it would kill them. They purposely used the unknown diseases like small pox, spread it on blankets, and handed them out to Native Americans to kill them. This was a frequent tactic.

[@conniewilkinson9347]

@@thekissklimt Actually it's possible it could have been spread that way. Smallpox viruses, while fragile, have been known to live up to 24 hours and it would only take ONE Native American getting it from touching infected materials. Since it takes 10-14 days for symptoms to present, it would have been easy to spread it person to person and from tribe to tribe before anyone knew they were sick. Sentence from an article on smallpox by CDC: "The virus can spread through these materials or through the objects contaminated by them, such as bedding or clothing." www.cdc.gov/smallpox/transmission/index.html There's also at least one documented instance where an attempt at giving Native Americans smallpox via bedding was tried. Native American 'diplomats' were given two blankets & a handkerchief from the smallpox ward at Fort Pitt. www.history.com/news/colonists-native-americans-smallpox-blankets

[@porozil4068]

Can't believe they never taught you what a colony is in school

[@LlyleHunter]

Particularly since the British held so many colonies around the world by the end of the nineteenth century. The sun never set on the British Empire

[@XISCify]

Maybe they're afraid to teach English schoolchildren about the concept of colonies for fear instinct will kick in

[@DanielMWJ]

​@@LlyleHunterAnd then they lost almost all of them. I wonder why they don't teach that. 😂

[@juanvaldez7279]

Or a what a Revolution is by extinction

[@starmnsixty1209]

​@@DanielMWJ Indeed, the Sun sat every 24 hours on the British Empire post-WW 2. Rest in peace, BE.

[@kennethmyers6160]

"The wars the British win...like world War 2" What the hell do they teach you?!

[@Texasiscoolorsmthidkiforgor]

IMAOOO

[@sallychase1564]

Yeah lol if it wasn't for American intervention, Brits would be speaking German

[@TruthHurts2u]

@@sallychase1564 You poor ignorant propagandized fool. America couldn't have done it without British, French, Soviet and Chinese help. The British successfully fought off the German invasion during the battle of Britain. America came in after that.

[@pokemata1035]

@@sallychase1564 Not necessarily without American intervention in the first world war the Central powers might have won and if they did no WW2 and btw the Germans were not gonna punish the British harshly if they lost WW1. Meanwhile without direct intervention from the US in WW2 the Soviets would have still won but with no American indirect support AT ALL (I mean no trading or aid which is highly unrealistic) we would all be speaking German.

[@chucku.farley3927]

@@pokemata1035 if not for America the soviets would have lost, a huge part of their equipment came from the US

[@johnwillis1631]

I really loved the part where he stated that Leif Ericsson actually discovered north America. My 5th grade teacher laughed at me in the 90s for correcting her.

[@Sputterbug]

i bet she feels silly now

[@bettyir4302]

Leif discovered North America before Christopher but neither set foot in what is now the US.

[@riphopfer5816]

I got the same response when I had to correct my grade 11 AP U.S. History teacher over that, also back in the 90s. @bettyir4302 : My grade 11 teacher literally said ‘the New World’, and not ‘the United States’, or ‘the eventual United States’, or suchlike.

[@dmsalexjsa]

The American flag changed a ton of times before the modern one we know today. Similarly, the union jack didn't exist until 1801 with the Act of Union, before that England just had the cross of Saint George, the red cross on the white background.

[@rabemolon]

The Union of the Crowns came when James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England as James I, on the death of Elizabeth I. You're probably thinking of the Act of Union in 1801 when Great Britain united with the Kingdom of Ireland to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The flag that was in the corner of the American flag was the Union Jack used from 1707 to 1801.

[@LlyleHunter]

S the Star Spangled Banner changed by adding stars by the number of states as states were added to the union.

[@LLC4269]

In the case of the video though I think he used a red flag with the union jack in the corner to differentiate the British from the colonials so there isn't cpnfusion. Because at this point we were still Brirs over here. Almost everyone was for making peace and remaining British. They didn't adopt a new flag until independence was declared on July 2nd 1775. Americans celebrate on the day the proclamation was read to the public - July 4rh,

[@Heavywall70]

@@LLC42691776 . If your’s was a typo I apologize for being a stickler.

[@nedeast6845]

Paul Revere never said "The British are coming" that is from the movies. He actually said "The regulars are coming"

[@MimosaRose]

Sybil Luddington, a seventeen year old girl, also road out warning colonists that the “British were coming “ and she covered more ground than Paul Revere.

[@bettyir4302]

@@MimosaRose Along with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott

[@blake7587]

It wasn’t “America” at the time. At the time they were British colonies and the people considered themselves British subjects. The issue is they weren’t being given the same rights as British subjects living in Great Britain. They had no voice in Parliament like British subjects in Britain even though they were legally British citizens. That’s why it was considered treason.

[@patmanchester8045]

all of the Western Hemisphere is 'the Americas". but when talking about the Brits and French, they are referring to the two nations of Canada and the US.

[@grabble7605]

@@patmanchester8045 Who asked?

[@kkandola9072]

@@patmanchester8045 bruh South Americans constantly correcting in the comments about how America is a continent gets annoying as fuck. Nobody cares. We’re going to keep calling the US America forever.

[@OddBallPerformance]

@@patmanchester8045 The two continents of the W. Hemisphere are indeed NORTH America and SOUTH America. "America" is a country. As in United States of America, but without the 'United States of' included. To further drive this point home I will simply say this; Go ahead and call somebody from Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Jamaica, Greenland, Haiti, Costa Rica, Nicaraugua, Dominican Republic, or a person from any one of the other many countries located on the two Continents, North or South, an American. Let me know how they react, because I PROMISE you, it won't be positive. "I'm not American" will be the number one response, by a landslide.

[@garyi.1360]

If you didn't figure it out from the mention of the Tea Tax, colonists began drinking coffee instead of tea. And that's the beginning of America drinking coffee more than tea like the British.

[@kimberlys8422]

I'm American and in school I learned about British history; Amerigo Vespucci discovered the Americas. Hence the name. The French and Native Americans helped the colonials defeat the Brits; France gifted us the statue of Liberty and one of our founding fathers Thomas Jefferson helped write the French Bill of Rights.

[@GodelFishbreath]

We never learned even a quarter of British history. They get to memorize kings and battles that most Americans have never heard of.

[@themadwomanskitchen9732]

13:10 Before the American Revolution, there were thirteen individual British colonies. The people there were considered British citizens, but we're allowed to govern themselves for the most part, but didn't have representation in Parliament. So when Parliament approved taxing the Colonies to cover the costs for the war with the French. they were upset because they had no formal way to protest.

[@isaacmorris4745]

The American Revolution began in Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord on 19 Apr 1775. On 3 Sep 1783, 8 years later it officially ended. Although the war took 8 years to end, the fighting was not one constant continuous effort without any major battle being fought after 1781 (Revolutionary War, 1996). The war was victorious with 13 British colonies in North America winning their freedom and becoming what is now known as the United States. In 1770 the Boston Massacre occurred. It was a direct result of Parliament, being compelled by British store owners who were losing their colonial trades (Agresto, 1979). This was an effort to try to soothe the colonists by repelling the Townshend Acts. The Townshend Acts came into existence in 1767 and was created by Charles Townshend. The act was passed by English Parliament. It was put into place to collect taxes from American Colonists by adding import customs to items such as paint, glass, lead, and the well-know tea (Townshend Act, 2007). Colonial relationships with their home country were already strained due to events such as the Townshend Acts and the Boston Massacre. However, it is believed that when an attempt was made to tax tea is what laid the foundation for the American Revolution. Parliament was already facing resistance from the colonies as they would not pay the taxes on the Townshend Acts. They argued that they were not obligated to pay because they were not represented by Parliament. Parliament went along with this; however, tea was excluded (The Boston Tea Party, 2002). Parliament attempted to devise a plan to fool the Colonies thinking they would rather pay taxes than live without tea, but it failed with tea sitting in a Charleston dock warehouse for 3 years. That December in Boston, tea from 3 ships was dumped into the harbor and the Boston Tea Party was born. In 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The rebel leaders wanted their independence more and more as year one of war was ending and the Common Sense Pamphlet by Thomas Paine was in mass circulation (Independence Declared, p. 200). A committee was appointed by the Continental Congress to propose a draft for the “declaration of free rights”. Eventually, on 4 July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted which was pen and inked by Thomas Jefferson. At this point, the war was becoming one that was willing to give men the right to be free and also the right to set up their own government. Although the King may have more than encouraged a fight, independence was imminent. Talk of independence spread through the colonies like wildfires. The Royal government was eventually forced out as the colonies started devising out constitutions which was exhilarating as everyone loved the thought of freedom (Independence, 2004). Although the Declaration of Independence was passed in 1776, what followed that passing was grim for the Americans. Immediately after the Declaration of Independence was passed, a British fleet arrived in New York City with soldiers hired by German rulers. The Battle of Trenton was fought in Trenton, New Jersey on the Delaware River. It was a battle between the British Troops and Hessians against the Americans (Battle of Trenton, 2010). Washington had no choice but to organize his own troops. Washington and his men paraded into Trenton with blood traces following them in the snow. Colonel Rahl, which was the commander for the Hessians had direct orders to build defenses throughout the towns, but decided to go against the orders. Rahl was given information about the imminent American attack the prior night at dinner, but he did not respond; those missteps lead to his death and an American victory. In the year to follow, 1777, it was a critical one with many developments. General John Burgoyne concocted a plan to conquer the Americans. A British Army lead by General Burgoyne began to move from Canada to Saratoga, New York. The bands of American soldiers were completely warned of the fact that of Burgoyne and his being there (Burgoyne, 2004). Because of this information the American’s were ready and out in record numbers. When the 2 battles of Saratoga were finally fought, Burgoyne’s troops were outnumbered by American troops by almost 2 to 1. There was a treaty put into place that said that Burgoyne’s troops would be taken as prisoners in Boston and allowed to be returned to England under the condition that they never fight in North America again. Burgoyne gave up the rest of his men and that was a turning point for the war (Hickman, 2010). Saratoga’s victory played a key role with the treaty of alliance with France. Victory was finally won in Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. The end of the fighting seemed near when for the American Colonies when Cornwallis signed orders to surrender his British Army to both American and French forces outside of the tobacco port of the town of Yorktown in Virginia (Yorktown, 2004). Washington thought he had a small time period to corner Cornwallis in Virginia, so he and Rochambeau moved from New York and headed south fast. When an officer from the British Army finally surfaced, he surfaced with white flag on the stockade that was surrounding them in Yorktown. When this happened, quiet fell upon the land with all of the American and French guns falling silent. As the battle ended, the British drums played “The World Turned Upside Down” which meant that the colonies no longer belonged to the British, but to the America’s. Prime Minister Lord North resigned his position after Yorktown’s victory. The successor Prime Minister thought that France and America should make peace and that the war should end (Taking Action, n.d.). 17 October 1781 was the official date that the British laid down their arms at Yorktown. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 and was the contract put into place to end the Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris represented peace between Britain and what is now the United States. The treaty was signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams, all of whom represented the United States. Despite the end of the Revolutionary War, smaller battles continued between the colonists and the British. The Proclamation of Cessation of Hostilities was issued by George III in February of 1783, concluding in the Peace Treaty of 1783 (The Peace Treaty, 2010). This Treaty is what officially put an end to the United States War for Independence. In summation, two centuries of British rule was ended by the American Revolution for a large portion of the North American colonies which resulted in the creation of today’s United States of America. The Revolutionary War was an odd time for the Colonies and Great Britain. It has been described as “exhilarating and disturbing”. No matter how one describes this era it can absolutely be understood that without that era progression may have never happened.

[@clinthowe7629]

interesting story, i guess you could call it undersimplified, 😂 I enjoyed the read, not sure what you mean by progression at the end, progress, did you mean progress? anyhoo, it fills in alot of the holes oversimp leaves out, and he does leave out alot. thanks.

[@jpgcne]

DUDE CITE THE SOURCE. DONT JUST COPY AND PASTE WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

[@sazonecrusade373]

look up the mayflower in america it will tell all you need to know about how the british came to the americas and conqured the territory.

[@bettyir4302]

Jamestowne Settlement was here before the Pilgrims ever thought about sailing over.

[@MultiCatPass]

No taxation without representation, bro.

[@EonNShadow]

Except in Washington DC. Which, despite being the head of state, is home to a large population that have that slogan on their license plates, but don't have actual representation in the House or Senate.

[@kkandola9072]

@@EonNShadowLOL that is pretty ironic.

[@negf22]

The original 13 colonies were British colonies…the French teamed up with the natives to try and push the British out, but Britain won. The British colonies provided raw materials and goods to Britain. Britain was protection its assets in the colonies. It’s British citizens living in the colonies fighting for freedom from the British government, because they are taxing them without providing any representation in parliament.

[@1dk_man]

Basically, but a few additional things A. The colonists did (technically) have representation. It was just 'virtual representation' in which the colonist's were not actually represented by one of their own, rather just by the British government because virtual representation is essentially the idea that representatives in parliament spoke on the behalf of all British subjects- including the colonies. Same idea though. B. In the Seven Years War (or French and Indian War) the Native Americans actually participated on both sides of the conflict

[@arielview6601]

Actually, Delaware was an Irish colony, there were also German colonies, so much so that German was considered as a possible official language. The British took over and forced the original colonies to change their charters. Their usurpations began early on and became unbearable. Personally the Brits can take their regime and blow it out their ears.

[@alfredoalejandro87]

@@arielview6601 "German was considered as a possible official language" No that's a myth. It's an old American urban legend. Look it up.

[@themadwomanskitchen9732]

17:24 Actually, at this time, the Colonies DID belong to the British Empire, but the Colonists did not believe they were given the rights of British citizens, which is why they fought to be independent.

[@iKvetch558]

13:05 You are totally correct, HUGE chunks of history are left out of this, but it is called Oversimplified for a reason. Oversimplified basically skips pretty much everything that happened between Columbus discovering the Americas in 1492 and the 7 years war that started between the French and British in North America in 1756...they cover that entire 250+ years in 1 or 2 sentences, depending on how you count them. That is why you fee like something is missing. As others have detailed, there are a lot of things that happened over that time, and I would say that this is one of Oversimplified's MOST Oversimplified and incomplete efforts. But it is still pretty good, and very very entertaining. 💯✌

[@WoodnNails]

What’s funny is the American colonists are depicted as old men but they were like 24-27 at this time.

[@jameskoskidescamps2497]

Well, you can always watch "the patriot" a mel gibson movie. One thing to understand was that america was band from making finished goods. So bulk goods like wood would be sold and shipped to Britain where it would be made into finished goods and shipped back to america for sale. This is why at the beginning of the movie he is trying to make a rocking chair, a finished good, cause there is a ban on skilled workers in america, he would have to purchase a British rocking chair and he refuses.

[@phoenixfire124]

At one time, there were colonies in America for Spain, France, and England. The British colonies ran along the east coast from Maine to Georgia. The Americans referenced in this video were British subjects that rebelled against British rule.

[@GodelFishbreath]

And Dutch. And West coast had Russian at some point.

[@brettmuir5679]

It is so fun to watch a Brit learn about how and why the United Kingdom was thrown off of the American continent. The founding of The United States of America can be found susinctly in "The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America" Everyone interested in Liberty aught to read it :)

[@grumblesa10]

A group of Vikings under Leif Erikson landed on what is now Newfoundland in the 11th century. Contrary to most popular histories though, a settlement remained there and expanded over about 100 years give or take.

[@CafeDeDuy]

The Indigenous Americans discovered America first and established civilizations here. Then the Vikings came and found land, but didn’t stay here long - we have a few relics found here from them. Colombus came here thinking he found India. Amerigo Vespucci (note the name) came here with the intention of finding a new continent.

[@Eniral441]

I think the colors of the flag may have been minorly influenced no the British, but they were chosen for their symbolism. 13 stripes are for the 13 colonies. Red is for valor and white is for purity (new country sort of purity); and the number of stars are for the number of states in a blue background that symbolizes vigilence as a unified group.

[@gaylasanders1739]

Very interesting recorded story of Leif Erikson, the Norse (Viking) explorer, the first European, & Christian, to set foot in continental America, 500 years before Christopher Columbus. I learned about them both in school when I was a kid bc it was part of American history.

[@binabina4445]

I don’t understand why England doesn’t learn about the American revolution. We learn all about English and French history (or we’re at least supposed to) as well as a lot of other countries. And it’s England’s history too. It’s weird.

[@patmanchester8045]

History in the Americas started in the times of Native American settlement@@Eniral441 We have enough archeological information to piece together a lot of that, but we do not study it till college ...if you take those classes.

[@binabina4445]

@@Eniral441 I learned a lot about native American history and we learn more about slavery than anything else. Also not a good time in our history. But yes I can agree that they're biased and cut it out.

[@alfredoalejandro87]

Because it's not really as important to the bigger issues going on at the time closer to home, such as Napoleon.

[@amberlong5498]

No Leif Ericson, son of Eric the Red ( from the blood of his family in a war for heirship) founded the first settlement in what would be America. He first settled in Vineland- Newfoundland in Canada, and then traveled south into the Americas. Constant wars with the Native American's was the only reason they left. Oversimplified skips alot, but they hit the high points lol. The Native Americans crossed a land bridge into the Americas from Asia, (Siberia) between 30,000 and 16,500 years ago. They always say that Columbus "discovered" America because the rest of the world did not know it existed and he happened to run across it while looking for another route to India.

[@Eniral441]

Yeah, the Native Americans are often not a part of the 'discovering America' discussion. When they are talked about, they were already here for thousands of years. Even now that more Native American history is tought, their discovery of America is a different previous topic. So in things like this, it can be confusing to some.

[@msoda8516]

I grew up in New Jersey which is home to 90 major military engagements visiting key American revolutionary war sites it was a large part of my history education. I had class trips to revolutionary war barracks and battlefields. It real brought history alive and gave me a love of history. My hometown town has a very large revolutionary graveyard and where I currently live is about 15 minutes from the site of battle of monmouth we’re they do a giant reenactment every year.

[@Evil-Dude3]

Love the reaction hello from Texas

[@L3WGReacts]

thank you!! and hi!!:)

[@patricequinn7733]

The Declaration of Independence is the best depiction of the situation at that time.

[@k1nk1ng57]

bro im learning more from these videos than in my history lessons

[@L3WGReacts]

k1 friend, you are welcome:)

[@k1nk1ng57]

@@L3WGReacts no worrys oncle lewis. Can u let me out of the basement tho im starving.

[@billbliss1518]

Yeah Leif Erikson the Viking went from Greenland to modern day Canada. But the settlement lasted for about 5 years before they left, it had pretty much zero effect on history.

[@omargraham8591]

It was not free to take…people already LIVED THERE! 😂 i love how he is learning as he goes along and has the epiphany like no wonder we didn’t learn about this

[@jkent9915]

It’s kinda dope that you do videos like this. There are at least a dozen Americans out there with videos about the English Civil Wars, for every British person talking about the American Revolution.

[@JoshDoingLinux]

I think it’s probably my American bias but I audibly laughed when you said “the British won ww2”

[@Iwantbrains247]

Russia enters the chat..

[@KiwiDragon15]

They were on the winning side though right? That still counts.

[@vampiro4236]

@@Iwantbrains247 The rest of the allies roll their asses. Everyone (likely) would've lost if one of the three had not been there.

[@natalieann80]

The flag you saw is the Grand Union Flag, or Continental Colors. It’s the first recognized flag of the USA, adopted in 1775

[@Itsme60804]

You’re right that a lot of chunks are missing relating to early American History. We spend so much time in elementary and middle school learning about the early settlements and what led up to them that we forget that others need that background to fully understand the relationships between the different groups of people. For time frame reference, if you’re interested, one of the first colonies, Jamestown, was settled in 1607, and the Declaration of Independence was signed 169 years later on July 4th, 1776. So this tension between colonial British Americans and the British built up over some time. The “gist” of it is that the British along with the French and other European countries settled North America the 1500s and 1600s for resources (gold, tobacco, etc), which led to the 7 years war, a war for resources. The British decided it was best to team up with the Native Americans (guerrilla warfare was an effective tactic new to the British that the Native Americans used). Keep in mind that the British colonials by the 1760’s had been living in America for a long time; many had even grown up here by that point so relationships with the Native Americans, although complex and often hostile, had time to evolve. Annnnndddd then after the help they gave us we just turned around and put them in reservations and continued to steal their land.

[@christopherlee5584]

The USA was once a set of separate British colonies, like India, Australia, etc. were. Our founding fathers were all British, upper class mostly.

[@Eniral441]

I think the reason you didn't hear about the American Revolution was because it is sort of a blip compared to the total of English history. However, it was also a bit of a blemish on English history. Similarly, Scotland has a rich history that they didn't learn in school until recently either. In America, Native American history has always been closed over. This is slowly changing here. There are a lot of similarities in the British-Scotish situation and the American-Native American situation, but there's enough there to write a thesis or more and it's not the topic of your video.

[@Xassaw]

Fort Ticonderoga is a great place to visit. It’s pretty much totally restored, & has a museum inside, including musket balls the men had to bite down on as their limbs had to be amputated. They show the teeth marks. They even put on an Ethan Allen reenactment, & shoot the muskets & cannons. Worth the trip. Also, look up Fort Montgomery, (Fort Blunder), also in upstate NY.

[@erinwessel2195]

You are absolutely right. The Native Americans discovered the America 30,000 years before anybody else and were very established. The erasure of that history is pretry established in American history taught in schools so much do that it is difficult even for people who know better not to slip into the language of discounting their presence.

[@WolfInStep]

30k years is on the higher end of the estimates, as of the last few years new data suggests that it’s most likely that migration across the Siberian land bridge during the last glacial maximum 18-26k years ago. We don’t know exactly when the first people came or how they got to America, that’s just a best informed guess. Also the earliest genetic record we have comes from about 15000 years ago. That said yes, the term discovery for people finding an already inhabited mass of land has its issues and it is an erasure.

[@SmugAmerican]

It wasn't hard to "erase their history " because they didn't have writing in most of North America. Only word of mouth stories they passed down. There is a real problem that most studied history is only that of civilizations with the written word from which we can recover artifacts with information.

[@tempest7773]

I remember during elementary school in language arts class we would read books as a whole class, and one of those books was set during this time period, "My brother Sam is Dead" and I still vividly remember it to be a pretty l good read.

[@seanspartan2023]

The American forces flags had British symbols because the colonists were still technically British, albeit in open rebellion. Washington and others later recognized the need for a distinct American flag. One of the flags used in the video is the 1775 Continental Colors, which had 13 stripes (alternating red and white) but had a Union Jack in the upper left corner. In 1777 the Betsy Ross flag was adapted, replacing the Union Jack with a field of blue and 13 stars in a circle. After that, a star was added each time a new state was adopted into the union, which is why there are 50 stars today. Fun fact, the famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware river in 1776 while flying a Betsy Ross American flag is historically inaccurate. That flag didn't exist at the time. Washington was likely flying the Continental flag which had a Union Jack, which may have been the reason it was changed.

[@zoemoody6903]

The tea was shipped in leaf form in bottles. There is still some at the bottom of Boston harbor.

[@megatwingo]

Some others already explained it to you, but here one major fact described very simply, that you obviously didn't know: The "Americans", who were protected against the French...were indeed BRITISH subjects. The "Americans" were BRITONS! To be more precise: They were British settlers in America. The Britons in Britain wanted to tax their OWN people in America. Those "Americans" were still BRITONS at that time. There were no white American citizens existing at that time, because there was no USA existing. Again: Those Americans were British citizens who settled in America. Therefore the mix of the American flag and the Union Jack. Because they were Britons, who suddenly rebelled against their own homecountry and their own government.

[@L3WGReacts]

ohh, thank you for this!

[@megatwingo]

@@L3WGReacts You are welcome. Yesterday I've watched your reaction to the cold war. I'm a German. You seem not to know, what the Berlin Wall really was. Further you seem not to know, that this wall went over thousand kilometers straight through Germany with mines, watchtowers, a big death zone, automatic shooting automatons etc. It was not the same in the rest of Germany like the border system in Berlin, the infamous Berlin wall. The Berlin Wall itself only went around West Berlin. The reall inner German border consisted of several lines of three meters high, sharp edged fence with dogs, barbed wire, several anti vehicle ditches, sirens, trip wires for signal rockets etc. All that was in the middle of Germany for over fourty years to keep the east Germans from fleeing to the West. I strongly urge you to watch a documentary (or react to it) about the Iron Curtain and the inner German border. I don't want to sound arrogant...but it amazes me deeply, that you are not knowing anything about this deadly border in the middle of Europe.

[@WonderingWildWanderingRose]

​@@megatwingo though it is certainly surprising that he knows so little of twentieth century European history, it's truly shocking that as a British citizen he doesn't know BRITISH history. Canada and the US started mostly as British colonies, and a lot of British blood was spilled in multiple wars over these territories. It's like British citizens not knowing that Australia was a British penal colony. Really shocking how little he knows or understands considering how much of the globe Great Britain colonized.

[@megatwingo]

​@@WonderingWildWanderingRose He doesn't care. I've stopped watching his stuff not long after I've posted the comment above. He isn't paying attention to the videos at all. Or better let's say: It's a mix of not paying attention and deliberately asking stupid questions. Questions where he knows that stupid guys like me are replying to and where guys like me are seriously trying to explain something to him. I think, that this is his method to generate traffic/comments below his reaction videos. So he pretends to be more stupid than he really is and additional to that he isn't really interested in all the stuff he's reacting to. You can see it in this short, effortless and mindless reply to my first, long explanation about the settlers in America. He probably laughs his ass off that I'm so stupid to try to explain something to him. I don't think, he's really THAT stupid. He only want to have many clicks and generate comments below his videos. The rest is without any interest to him. Below other videos with similar stupid questions from him (that are partly really showing, that he's not paying attention at all) he's not replying to the user comments at all anymore. This "reactor" is so infuriating on so many levels. So I left. Too bad, that he's popping up time and time again in my search results, when I'm looking for history & science reactions...with his ultra annoying, birdbrained photo with the mouth-open-wow-face on the thumbnails. I really hate the fact that this way of reacting seems to generate clicks and subscribers to him.

[@meachellebrathwaite1835]

If you look at the Washington family Crest, and his coat of arms, you will see the stars and stripes, in red and white. Blue was added somewhere along the way.

[@clydefrog708]

Its kind of amazing how little Brits know about the colonies or the revolutionary war

[@Texasiscoolorsmthidkiforgor]

ikr

[@thebug410]

my favorite person from the revolutionary war is francis marion the swamp fox. look him up, a frenchman turned american patriot who won many battles appearing and disappearing from and into the swamp. the british had rumors that he and his men were ghosts because they came from nowhere then vanished

[@SweetBrazyN]

4:05 how the hell did you get to that conclusion lmao

[@SweetBrazyN]

14:38 yes

[@carolsakaguchi3739]

I love over simplified…..was introduced to it by grandkids who are being home schooled……it’s fun to see your reaction

[@MD-fh6pq]

Don't know if anyone ever commented on the Vikings thing, but I'm here to help in case you never figured it out. While Columbus is widely given credit for the discovery of the America's, the Vikings 100% arrived way up north far before Columbus ever did. Issue is they just never went far enough south. They were landing way up north in what's like today's northern Canada, whereas Columbus was exploring Cuba, Central America, etc. Places that were far more populated by the indigenous people, and therefore given credit as the "first".

[@StoneE4]

Neither Columbus nor the Vikings discovered America... You can't discover a place if people are already living there. That would be like me walking up to your front door and claiming I discovered your home.

[@Stale_Kracker]

Jeffersons version actually talked about ending slavery but other founders revised it out of the constitution

[@BiologyBabe]

The Vikings didn’t “discover” America either. Just saying. (Sorry, I’m Native American). I sure do love watching Brits reacting to American history. Love the channel man.

[@davidconner-shover51]

No, they showed up and immediately killed off many of the locals, who then, rightfully ran them off after a winter, according to their own documentation. They got run outta Greenland too. though it was harder to say who colonized that first. Cristobal Colon OTOH, was a truly murderous criminal on a mass scale, who really got the European invasion going

[@BiologyBabe]

@@davidconner-shover51 👍 yeah our oral history has stories similar to that. Mostly that they had no idea how to live in the land etc, and were weakened by the winter. It was a big fight from what I heard from my gpa.

[@themadwomanskitchen9732]

13:52 Nope, Parliament taxed ALL the Colonies, even though each Colony had a separate charter with the Crown.

[@joshntn37111]

George Washing was a high ranking officer in the British army when he first step foot in America.

[@Mrsunny649]

George Washington was born in Virginia and so was a Lt. Colonel in the Virginia militia. He tried to acquire a royal commission in the British Army but was denied mainly because he was not a member of the British aristocracy.

[@scottjs5207]

So, if you want to learn about REALLY early history of the Americas, including the ancient ancestor of one of our biggest crops, corn (it's actually really interesting, I swear), you should watch Ancient Americas... It's really interesting because you also get to learn that certain native peoples weren't even the first to migrate and live here.

[@WrestlingSmarks]

The Vikings didn’t really discover America or get credit for it because they didn’t tell anybody that they were there.

[@wentshow]

L3WG: you didn't know America was colonized by the English? They were attached to the motherland. The colonies along the East Coast were all under the Britain. The French entered the picture flanking the British colonies, coming on the continent from the Gulf Coast and Quebec. Fun Fact, had the British known that North America was a huge continent, they probably would've fought much harder, but at the time, Europeans had no idea of how much land they were fighting for.

[@MelvinaRuffin]

I don't know about your school but I learned about this in school, I was born and raised in Liverpool, but I am now an American citizen I have lived here for over 25 years,

[@Steve-hq4fm]

We were a British colony, so technically, we were ALL British citizens, not our own country yet! So Britain protected us from the Fench because we were their's!

[@TheKnizzine]

Yup Leif Erikson was the first European to come to America, even had a short lived settlement in Canada, called Vinland. It streched from Newfoundland Wisconson in America but only little outpost type things outside of the one large settlement. The people of Vinland ended up intermarrying with the natives or dying out, this was 500 years before Colombus.

[@MC-pb2hn]

The Minoans (crete) were here long before the vikings! They supplied the copper used during the bronze age.

[@riphopfer5816]

Listen, mate. This isn’t overly complicated. All Americans in the 13 original colonies were TECHNICALLY British subjects-even those who didn’t want to be-until the colonists officially won the war. Until they won the war, they were just angry British subjects, angry about being British subjects , and in open rebellion. When they won, they were free to become their own nation: the United States Of America.

[@frankievega2755]

i really want him to react to the comments on his most popular video explaining the questions he had on those videos

[@cahmoney1874]

If you really think about it. It was technically a civil war between the British loyalist and the British colonists.

[@dyingbreed5386]

1:58 They didn't. The pre-native Americans did. But as far as non-natives go, yes, its believed that Vikings were the "first".

[@Veritas-TheGoader]

14:47 At this point… The British are (in Star Wars) the Empire. The American colonist are the rebels. The Jedi are the American founding fathers. And the force that protects is FREEDOM!!!

[@wallyhodges]

The Simpson as your historical reference was priceless🤣🤣🤣

[@joeclaridy]

Don't eat yellow snow, it's just COMMON SENSE!

[@Steiner85]

12:45 The flag for the North American colonies at the time was the British Red Ensign. The rebel Americans added white stripes to it so that the 2 sides could more easily identify each other. The stars on the US flag replaced the British flag canton later.

[@ai1een876]

Our 13 colonies BELONGED to Britain. Although the colonies paid taxes and the people were British subjects, England gave us no representation in Parliament, yet the king kept increasing our taxes. Finally the colonies got so angry, we said, “we’ve had enough of you not listening to us and taxing us with no representation …fine if you don’t want us in the government, we’ll form our OWN government, our OWN country - we declare our independence from England (July 4th). There were still colonists who didn’t want to break from their home country-they were called “loyalists”. England, of course, said No. We fought a war against England and we won.

[@anthonyminimum]

12:21 That flag with the Union Jack and the 13 stripes is called the Grand Union flag and when the American Revolutionary War started, they didn’t want to be separated from the British Empire, but when King George III rejected the Olive Branch Petition with a declaration of rebellion against the Thirteen Colonies, it was the last straw and the Colonies decided they wanted independence.

[@JPINFV]

So the Brits and French make colonies. The Brits and the French (along with each side's Native American allies) fight a war. In the US this is called the "French and Indian War." The rest of the world calls this "The 7 Years War." The Brits win and take over the majority of North America. Parliament then decides to tax the colonies to pay for the defense. Here's the key part... the colonists considered themselves to be English still. So there's this running theme of the King going, "Hey, loyal British subjects, please pay your taxes." The colonists then replying, "Since we're loyal British subjects, and we're, in general happy to be British subjects, can we have representation?" "No." "If no, then no taxes." See Stamp Act, Townsend Act. Etc. The entire point of the Declaration of Independence was a, "Hey, we'll air our grievances and give the King one last chance to respect our privileges as being British subjects." Such privileges were not respected, hence the War of US Independence. The key point to all of this was that this was essentially a British Civil War where even for a long time going into the war there was a large number of people willing to make amends with the King and return to being subjects.

[@williamcole5701]

The combination US and Brit flag is the Grand Union flag. Which wasn’t used by America until 6 months AFTER (DEC 1775) the battle of Bunker Hill (JUN 1775). White stripes were simply sewn onto the British navy ensign.

[@Mr.Schitzengigglez]

My British friend told me that this was nonsense. Britain didn't lose a war. King George went mad, and decided that his resources would be better spent on the banana trade... 😅😂

[@heidiweidmann2926]

Yes, the Vikings got here 1st. They had some villages along Greenland, Canada, and Newfoundland, 10th century I believe.

[@sammurphy3343]

That viking ad segway is perfect.

[@journeyman138]

On the flag question (at about 12:47) The US Flag has the the colonies and now states represented by white stars on a blue background. Blue stands for sovereignty and white stands for purity. That is stood ontop of the stripes of white and red stripes. The red represents blood shed. Together with white it mean :purity of cause or from bloodshed. So, independent states held together under national sovereignty that was paid for with the blood of people with pure intentions for freedom.

[@keithclemons2625]

when paul revere made his ride to alert the minutemen of the raid on concord he did not shout "the british are coming the british are coming". he shouted "the regulars are coming" a reference of the standing british army (the regulars). as all the colonialist (including paul revere considered themselves british) to shout the british are coming would have been like shouting we are coming we are coming.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

revoking their charter meant they no longer were considered a colony, and now were part of the crown's holdings.

[@dylanwillmon5672]

Fun fact, john hancock wrote a signature so big on the declaration of Independence his name is still synonymous with a certain "male organ"

[@TimMcCurry-ue9kr]

Loyalist was a term used to describe someone who remained loyal to the British crown and British rule. Within the context of the American Revolution, the term Patriot described someone who opposed British oppression, advocated for independence, and loved one's country. The Patriots were not a tolerant group, and Loyalists suffered regular harassment, had their property seized, or were subject to personal attacks. The process of "tar and feathering," for example, was brutally violent. What Happened to the Loyalists? In the end, many Loyalists simply left America. About 80,000 of them fled to Canada or Britain during or just after the war. Because Loyalists were often wealthy, educated, older, and Anglican, the American social fabric was altered by their departure.

[@RandyGardnerJr]

American flag is thirteen stripes that represent the 13 original colonies that started America and also 50 stars that represent each state that makes up America.

[@themadwomanskitchen9732]

7:27 I enjoy watching a Brit react to The Boston Tea Party because frankly, most Americans don't have the same affection for tea like Brits, this don't realize how angry the Crown was by the destruction of the tea. BTW, it's because the colonists boycotted tea that tea lost popularity. Southerners do drink tea, but it's highly sweetened, chilled and served over ice and is known as sweet tea.

[@jkutyna]

No it's not called sweet tea. It's called tea and any other way of serving tea is blasphemy. It is the savages who don't drink their tea properly (sweet) that call it sweet tea.

[@chicoharper6711]

1l982 canada finally became its own country. We use to fight for queen. Before that War of 1812. When canadians burned down whitehouse. Was the natice war. The brits and americans. Used natives to fight the war

[@subnoizesoldier2]

As a history lover I really wish this guy would’ve been my history teacher so much more interesting

[@sdjslkdjlsskldjslkdjsl8262]

yeah that was a pretty cool war. no hard feelings.

[@boogieboo5085]

Fun fact!: One of the 5 men killed at the Boston Massacre was Crispus Attucks. A Native American/African sailor.

[@larryfontenot9018]

It's called oversimplified for a reason. The Brits, French, Spanish and Dutch all established colonies in North America, and fought over control of various territories. France had better relations with the native people than Britain did, and during the French and Indian War many sided with France. While this video has the Brits saying they protected the colonies, it was more about the disputed lands. France was completely kicked out of Canada as a result of that war. Another reason why the revolution was sparked was because the people in the British colonies rebelled was because the Crown was forbidding them to spread west into Indian lands and because the Crown was invalidating the charters that the colonies were formed under. So much power was being taken from local government that they couldn't pass any new laws without permission from Parliament. British territories back in England could pass local laws for their own citizens, but the colonies couldn't. And there were no colonial representatives in Parliament.

[@Manpigeon]

There are a bunch of maps from Bronze age empires that have origins in older and possibly forgotten/distroyed countries that indicate that both the Americas and Antarctica were discovered quite a long time before Columbus or the Vikings. The problem was that the knowledge was probably not practical/useful at the time and was slowly forgotten and merely hinted at on record.

[@huscarl1048]

And here I thought Americans didn't know history ... wow.

[@lauriecole3312]

And red, white, and blue are common among many nations, not just Britain. Check out your neighbors France