I write this on July 3rd, 2010. Tomorrow is Independence Day when the entire nation will celebrate its victory in the Revolutionary War. Last week, a Marist College survey asked respondents which country we won independence from. The good news: seventy-four percent got it right. The bad news: one out of every five Americans did not know which country we won independence from. The even WORSE news: six percent named the wrong countries, ranging from Mexico to China.
Accurate, dramatic, informative documentaries from The History Channel -- Now, more than ever! This series is a big improvement over Charles Kuralt's series of ten years earlier. Not because it's narrated by Edward Hermann instead of the late Charles Kuralt, but because it's longer, so it includes more personal, civil, and military details, and because it obviously had a bigger budget.
The earlier series seemed filmed all at once in the same location and season -- a mild winter day within a milieu of skeletal trees and a carpet of dry dead leaves. Here, when a column of soldiers marches through South Carolina, it LOOKS like South Carolina. And the winter in Morristown is convincingly snowy.
Also, Kuralt's resources were limited beyond the constraints of the budget. Now, when a cannon ball plows up the ground, there is a CGI of a puff of black dirt and smoke. And I don't know who did the research on this series but it was a job well done, with quotations not just from somebody with the name of Samuel Plum, but other grunts too, and George Washington and Cornwallis stuck in Yorktown and the comfortable, self-indulgent Clinton in New York City.
We don't really hear much about the Revolutionary War. Not really. Not in any detail. One of the reasons may be that, although we "won," the victory was won over a nation that has been our staunchest ally for the past century or more. The US and the UK have been through two bloody world wars together and are now engaged side by side in the Middle East. Too many military histories flourish because they are able to demonize the enemy in ways both major and minor. It's hard to watch an older documentary like "Victory at Sea" nowadays without a shudder at the way the narrator pronounces the word "Japanese," using the same morphemic contours some bluenose might use for "pornography."
I would guess that the majority of Americans couldn't name a single battle of the Revolutionary War. Those that could, would probably come up with Yorktown (we won -- hell, we named an aircraft carrier after it). Those whose interests extend farther beyond their own body sheaths might come up with Cowpens (we won). Maybe Trenton (we won). You'd have to go pretty far down the list to reach Camden (we lost). Most histories emphasize the victories of the country of their origin. But "The Revolutionary War" avoids this. Its even-handedness is admirable. The defeats at Camden and Charleston are right up there with the better known victories.
Maps are plentiful and clear. Reenactments take up most of the footage, and some portraits of leaders as well, since after all no photographs are available.
The episodes on what's known as The Southern Strategy were particularly informative. With a stalemate in the North, the British moved an army into the Southern cities hoping to find more loyalist sentiment. But when they found themselves in the backwoods and uphill country they ran into disorganized bands of feuding loyalists and patriots calling themselves "militia" and fighting clan feuds left over from the original settlement of the area. Think Hatfields and McCoys. In other words, instead of finding themselves hailed by the locals, the British troops wound up in the middle of civil war, with they themselves being treated more as an alien force. Meanwhile, back in London, the English were tearing their hair out over the apparent endlessness and the expense of the war in money and in lives. Here comes Santayana.
Also surprising, to me anyway, was the role of the French. It amounted to far more than some symbolic "Lafayette." France and England at the time were traditional enemies. What began as a small rebellion in Boston had turned into a world-wide war six years later, with the French Navy keeping the British fleet occupied in places as far away as Calcutta. And the British surrender at Yorktown was preceded by a four-day battle between the French and British navies in the Chesapeake. Seven thousand British troops yielded to 12,000 American -- and 5,000 French soldiers. We did not win it alone.
I guess I'm also surprised that the war didn't end with a wholesale slaughter of the opposition, and with one dictator replacing another. That seems to be how revolutions usually wind up.
Our shared cultural data base is shrinking at an alarming rate. That's one reason I recommend seeing this documentary. Boy, do I recommend it.
Accurate, dramatic, informative documentaries from The History Channel -- Now, more than ever! This series is a big improvement over Charles Kuralt's series of ten years earlier. Not because it's narrated by Edward Hermann instead of the late Charles Kuralt, but because it's longer, so it includes more personal, civil, and military details, and because it obviously had a bigger budget.
The earlier series seemed filmed all at once in the same location and season -- a mild winter day within a milieu of skeletal trees and a carpet of dry dead leaves. Here, when a column of soldiers marches through South Carolina, it LOOKS like South Carolina. And the winter in Morristown is convincingly snowy.
Also, Kuralt's resources were limited beyond the constraints of the budget. Now, when a cannon ball plows up the ground, there is a CGI of a puff of black dirt and smoke. And I don't know who did the research on this series but it was a job well done, with quotations not just from somebody with the name of Samuel Plum, but other grunts too, and George Washington and Cornwallis stuck in Yorktown and the comfortable, self-indulgent Clinton in New York City.
We don't really hear much about the Revolutionary War. Not really. Not in any detail. One of the reasons may be that, although we "won," the victory was won over a nation that has been our staunchest ally for the past century or more. The US and the UK have been through two bloody world wars together and are now engaged side by side in the Middle East. Too many military histories flourish because they are able to demonize the enemy in ways both major and minor. It's hard to watch an older documentary like "Victory at Sea" nowadays without a shudder at the way the narrator pronounces the word "Japanese," using the same morphemic contours some bluenose might use for "pornography."
I would guess that the majority of Americans couldn't name a single battle of the Revolutionary War. Those that could, would probably come up with Yorktown (we won -- hell, we named an aircraft carrier after it). Those whose interests extend farther beyond their own body sheaths might come up with Cowpens (we won). Maybe Trenton (we won). You'd have to go pretty far down the list to reach Camden (we lost). Most histories emphasize the victories of the country of their origin. But "The Revolutionary War" avoids this. Its even-handedness is admirable. The defeats at Camden and Charleston are right up there with the better known victories.
Maps are plentiful and clear. Reenactments take up most of the footage, and some portraits of leaders as well, since after all no photographs are available.
The episodes on what's known as The Southern Strategy were particularly informative. With a stalemate in the North, the British moved an army into the Southern cities hoping to find more loyalist sentiment. But when they found themselves in the backwoods and uphill country they ran into disorganized bands of feuding loyalists and patriots calling themselves "militia" and fighting clan feuds left over from the original settlement of the area. Think Hatfields and McCoys. In other words, instead of finding themselves hailed by the locals, the British troops wound up in the middle of civil war, with they themselves being treated more as an alien force. Meanwhile, back in London, the English were tearing their hair out over the apparent endlessness and the expense of the war in money and in lives. Here comes Santayana.
Also surprising, to me anyway, was the role of the French. It amounted to far more than some symbolic "Lafayette." France and England at the time were traditional enemies. What began as a small rebellion in Boston had turned into a world-wide war six years later, with the French Navy keeping the British fleet occupied in places as far away as Calcutta. And the British surrender at Yorktown was preceded by a four-day battle between the French and British navies in the Chesapeake. Seven thousand British troops yielded to 12,000 American -- and 5,000 French soldiers. We did not win it alone.
I guess I'm also surprised that the war didn't end with a wholesale slaughter of the opposition, and with one dictator replacing another. That seems to be how revolutions usually wind up.
Our shared cultural data base is shrinking at an alarming rate. That's one reason I recommend seeing this documentary. Boy, do I recommend it.