Comments for page "American Revolution"

(no title)

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:54:46 +0000

I recently re-read The Patriots by A.J.Langguth, an engrossing and very readable account of the American Revolution from the initial protests against the Writs of Assistance through George Washington's farewell to his troops. It covers a lot of things that tend to be skipped over in American history classes as well, such as the role of James Otis, the brilliant but unstable firebrand whose personal antagonism against Thomas Hutchinson first ignited the rebellion; or the campaigns of Benedict Arnold, who if he had died at the Battle of Saratoga would have been counted as one of America's greatest heroes; or General Howe's incredible reluctance to pursue his advantages against the colonists, giving the Continental Army much needed breathing room; (one London newspaper said that only General Howe could fail to defeat General Washington, and only General Washington could fail to defeat General Howe); or Baron von Steuben, whom I recently did a page on.

Lots of good stuff!

(no title)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:52:15 +0000

Well, thanks for your hard work. I mean, as a European I am vaguely aware that it happened and when, but the details are all rather hazy…

Neverending Battle

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:23:17 +0000

*Whew* I knew this sucker would be a monster when I started it, but I didn't anticipate how much work it would be. Encapsulating the Spanish-American War wasn't this bad. On the other hand, I know more about the American Revolution and there's more that I don't want to leave out.

I considered just doing the whole piece as a timeline with dates and important events; but I'm a storyteller at heart and I like narrative; and I wanted to explain a little of the context of the events. I got as far as Bunker Hill and ran out of steam.

So I sketched out the rest of the Revolution as a timeline, so I'd have an outline to flesh out and a source of Date-In-History links; but even that turned out to be more work than I expected.

I'll try to work some more on this a little at a time.

Good grief; doing a proper job on World War II is going to be a nightmare!