The American Revolution: A World War

Edited by David K. Allison and Larrie D. Ferreiro

The American Revolution A World War Essays by: José María Blanco Núñez

Marion Huibrechts

Olivier Chaline

Jean-Marie Kowalski

Kathleen DuVal

Andrew Lambert

John D. Garrigus

Alan Lemmers

John L. Gray

Richard Sambasivam

José Manuel Guerrero Acosta

Robert A. Selig

Agustín Guimerà

Alan Taylor

David J. Hancock

Patrick Villiers

Smithsonian Books Washington, DC 4

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Edited by David K. Allison and Larrie D. Ferreiro

The American Revolution A World War Essays by: José María Blanco Núñez

Marion Huibrechts

Olivier Chaline

Jean-Marie Kowalski

Kathleen DuVal

Andrew Lambert

John D. Garrigus

Alan Lemmers

John L. Gray

Richard Sambasivam

José Manuel Guerrero Acosta

Robert A. Selig

Agustín Guimerà

Alan Taylor

David J. Hancock

Patrick Villiers

Smithsonian Books Washington, DC 4

RUNNING FOOT

Part I Major Powers

Artist unknown, The Battle of Minden in Westphalia, 1st August. 1759, 1801. Engraving. Charles Cornwallis, the first Marquess Cornwallis, and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, were both involved in this particular battle during the Seven Years’ War, as was the Marquis de Lafayette’s father, Michel du Motier, who died in the conflict. (From Alphabetical Digestion of the Principal Naval and Military Engagements in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, Particularly of Great Britain and Her Allies from the Ninth Century to the Peace of 1801 [Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France, Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images])

Part I Major Powers

Artist unknown, The Battle of Minden in Westphalia, 1st August. 1759, 1801. Engraving. Charles Cornwallis, the first Marquess Cornwallis, and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, were both involved in this particular battle during the Seven Years’ War, as was the Marquis de Lafayette’s father, Michel du Motier, who died in the conflict. (From Alphabetical Digestion of the Principal Naval and Military Engagements in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, Particularly of Great Britain and Her Allies from the Ninth Century to the Peace of 1801 [Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France, Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images])

Reimagining the American Revolution David K. Allison

Britain viewed its opposition to the American Revolution as only one element in a broad strategy for securing global maritime and economic power. Far from losing the war, Britain used its involvement to foster a second empire that ultimately exceeded the size of the first, which had been centered on the Americas. —Editors

America had held up a mirror to their own Republic in which they had glimpsed an idealised image of heroic patriotism. . . . The Dutch were on the point of inaugurating Europe’s revolutionary generation.

Simon Schama, Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands, 1780–1813

John Trumbull, Declaration of Independence, DATE?

(1977: 63)

Images, like facts and stories, shape our understanding of important historical events. Circling the rotunda of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., are eight grand historical paintings—each eighteen feet wide by twelve high. Four were commissioned by Congress in 1817 and painted by one artist, John Trumbull. They commemorate events that he believed summarize the essential history of the American Revolution: The Declaration of Independence, the Surrender of General Burgoyne, the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and General George Washington Resigning His Commission.

Trumbull intended them as symbolic statements more than as factual representations; like his artistic contemporaries (and indeed like modern movie directors), he strove to present aesthetic “truth” and ascribed greater importance to his own artistic judgment than to historical accuracy. His images unquestionably reveal cultural biases characteristic of the era. Yet over the past two centuries, they have exerted a lasting influence on how Americans visualize key moments in the founding of their nation.[Figures 11.1–11.4 here] John Trumbull, Surrender of General Burgoyne, DATE? 16

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Reimagining the American Revolution David K. Allison

Britain viewed its opposition to the American Revolution as only one element in a broad strategy for securing global maritime and economic power. Far from losing the war, Britain used its involvement to foster a second empire that ultimately exceeded the size of the first, which had been centered on the Americas. —Editors

America had held up a mirror to their own Republic in which they had glimpsed an idealised image of heroic patriotism. . . . The Dutch were on the point of inaugurating Europe’s revolutionary generation.

Simon Schama, Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands, 1780–1813

John Trumbull, Declaration of Independence, DATE?

(1977: 63)

Images, like facts and stories, shape our understanding of important historical events. Circling the rotunda of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., are eight grand historical paintings—each eighteen feet wide by twelve high. Four were commissioned by Congress in 1817 and painted by one artist, John Trumbull. They commemorate events that he believed summarize the essential history of the American Revolution: The Declaration of Independence, the Surrender of General Burgoyne, the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and General George Washington Resigning His Commission.

Trumbull intended them as symbolic statements more than as factual representations; like his artistic contemporaries (and indeed like modern movie directors), he strove to present aesthetic “truth” and ascribed greater importance to his own artistic judgment than to historical accuracy. His images unquestionably reveal cultural biases characteristic of the era. Yet over the past two centuries, they have exerted a lasting influence on how Americans visualize key moments in the founding of their nation.[Figures 11.1–11.4 here] John Trumbull, Surrender of General Burgoyne, DATE? 16

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