Amerikanische Revolution 08

Joel Barlow, American Diplomat and Nation Builder

Autor: Peter P. Hill

The House of Yan: A Family at the Heart of a Century in Chinese History

Autor: Lan Yan
Übersetzer: Sam Taylor

United States History Research Guide: Unveiling the Rich Tapestry of U.S. History | A Captivating Guide to American History, From Revolution to Modern Challenges

Autor: Elizavetab T. Popova

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

Autor: Joseph J. Ellis

Inside the Texas Revolution: The Enigmatic Memoir of Herman Ehrenberg

Herausgeber: James E. Crisp
Mitwirkende: James C. Kearney
Übersetzer: Louis E. Brister

George Washington's Nemesis: The Outrageous Treason and Unfair Court-Martial of Major General Charles Lee During the Revolutionary War

Autor: Christian Mcburney

Defiant Brides: The Untold Story of Two Revolutionary-Era Women and the Radical Men They Married

Autor: Nancy Rubin Stuart

Baron Johann de Kalb: The Life and Legacy of the German Major General Who Fought in the American Revolution

Charles River Editors

By the time the Revolutionary War started, military confrontations between the world powers had become so common that combat was raised to the status of a fine art. Weaponry was developed to a degree of quality not accessible to most North Americans, and European aristocrats were reared in the mastery of swordsmanship with an emphasis on the saber for military use. Likewise, the cavalry, buoyed by a tradition of expert horsemanship and saddle-based combat, was a fighting force largely beyond reach for colonists, which meant that fighting on horses was an undeveloped practice in the fledgling Continental Army. Few sword masters were to find their way to North America in time for the war, and the typical American musket was a fair hunting weapon rather than a military one.  

German participation is historically noted for the Hessians, mercenary soldiers recruited in whole companies by Britain, whose standing army featured relatively low numbers when the American Revolution began. However, other Germans noted for their mastery of the science of war sided with the colonies, and one of them was Baron Johann von de Kalb, a mentor and elder colleague of the legendary Marquis de Lafayette. Considered by some to be far too old for one attempting to rejuvenate the career of a soldier, de Kalb was a keen student of war with a steady mind and hand. Once able to prove his worth to the Continental Congress, he rose immediately to the rank of brigadier general under George Washington, served with distinction, and died heroically in the Battle of Camden, a battle in the South that foretold the eventual surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.  

For professionals of a European country to graft themselves to the culture of another was not so unusual in the 18th century, whether in the arts, government, or the military, but de Kalb was distinctly unique from a young age as a German with a strong Francophile bent. As a youth, he served in a German infantry division training and fighting for the French king, and after two grisly wars that left no nation in Europe untouched, he threw off his anticipated retirement and turned toward the American Revolution against Britain. By the time of his participation in the American theater, de Kalb was in his 50s, but given that he was still physically strong and well-trained in combat, he took up the fight against Britain as a matter of personal rejuvenation, on both a political and emotional level. In his efforts on behalf of the colonies, he proved himself to possess extraordinary vitality, regardless of age, and his legacy, much like that of his protége, remains a strong one. To this day, he is commemorated by numerous communities and counties across the present-day U S.

Baron Johann de Kalb: The Life and Legacy of the German Major General Who Fought in the American Revolution profiles one of the Revolutionary War's most famous soldiers. You will learn about de Kalb like never before.

The Life of Francis Marion

William Gilmore Simms

Francis Marion was probably the most romantic figure to emerge from the American Revolutionary War. Of Huguenot ancestry, Marion was descended from a French family fleeing the religious persecutions of Louis X I V. His grandfather came from the French region neighboring Belgium and settled in South Carolina in the late 17th century.  

Marion was born on the family plantation in Berkeley County in 1732. He gained his first military experience in the French and Indian War in 1757, and was a keen observer of Indian tactics and those of the colonists in defeating them. Marion was commissioned a captain at the outbreak of war with Britain in 1775, and later as a general. Desultory fighting extended through 1779. Then, in 1780, the British took Charleston and a new and deadly phase of the war commenced. During the next two years, with several devastating defeats to the Americans ensuing, South Carolina found itself prostrate, with numerous British garrisons spread around the state.

The dashing British cavalry officer Colonel Tarleton was ravaging the estates and homes of patriots all over the state. And Washington's army was too far away to send much help. Into this desperate and seemingly hopeless situation stepped one of America's greatest heroes. Gathering a small force of irregulars around him, Francis Marion headed into the backwoods and swamps to carry on the war. He succeeded so brilliantly, it is hard to imagine South Carolina turning the tide without him.

Listen to this great history as you learn how Marion used guerrilla tactics to defeat one British force after another. It is a thrilling tale of patriotism, determination, and sacrifice.  

P L E A S E N O T E: When you purchase this title, the accompanying P D F will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski: The Lives of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Polish Officers

Charles River Editors

By the time the Revolutionary War started, military confrontations between the world powers had become so common that combat was raised to the status of a fine art, consuming a large portion of time for adolescent males in training and comprising a sizeable component of the economy. Weaponry was developed to a degree of quality not accessible to most North Americans, and European aristocrats were reared in the mastery of swordsmanship with an emphasis on the saber for military use. Likewise, the cavalry, buoyed by a tradition of expert horsemanship and saddle-based combat, was a fighting force largely beyond reach for colonists, which meant that fighting on horses was an undeveloped practice in the fledgling Continental Army, and the American military did not yet fully comprehend the value of cavalry units.

However, with European nations unceasingly at war, soldiers from one side or the other often found themselves in disfavor, were marked men in exile, or were fleeing from a superior force. To General George Washington's good fortune, a few found their way to the colonies to join in the cause. Some were adventurers recently cut off from their own borders, while others embraced the American urge for freedom.

Nations such as France undoubtedly had an elevating effect on America's capacity to make formal war, and Lafayette is the most famous foreigner to serve in the Continental Army, but some of the most important individuals who fought for the colonists came from Poland.

One of the most important individuals who arrived at Washington's door was Polish aristocrat Kazimierz Michal Wladyslaw Wiktor Pulaski, known to future generations as the " Father of the American Cavalry. " Few foreign participants in early American events are as widely decorated in non-military society as this Polish cavalry officer driven into exile from his own nation's fight for independence. Pulaski considered the American urge for resistance against Britain to be an inseparable principle from Poland's lengthy struggle against Russian domination.

Tadeusz Kosciuszko possessed a uniquely expanded vision that perceived the American conflict as the test of a new universal paradigm. A hero in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus, Kosciuszko not only fought as an officer in the Continental Army of General Washington, but also designed and constructed the defenses for some of America's earliest cities and important military defenses.

Today, streets, bridges, monuments, and even neighborhoods bear both men's names across the country, and in Polish-American communities, they are often hailed as heroes equal to Washington himself. Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski: The Lives of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Polish Officers profiles two of the Revolutionary War's most important figures.

Casimir Pulaski: The Life and Legacy of the Polish Commander Who Became the Father of the American Cavalry During the Revolutionary War

Charles River Editors

" I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it. " - Pulaski   

Many Americans labor under the misconception that the nation's colonial and national heritage was almost wholly accomplished by an English migration, and the notion of early American diversity ends at an acknowledgment of the slave trade conducted between Southern buyers, Northern shippers, the African continent, and the Caribbean region. However, early America witnessed the development of New York by the Dutch, the southernmost regions by Spain, and what would become eastern Canada by the French after lengthy battles with Britain. In fact, the Seven Years' War during the 1750's was fought on a nearly global scale between several European belligerents.   

As a result, when the Revolution began, the Continental Army sported numerous volunteers from Ireland, Scotland, virtually every European nation between France and Russia, and men from the northern and southern borders of the European continent. There are good reasons America doesn't possess a constitutionally-confirmed national language, despite an English-speaking majority. Among the early proposals for such a common language, German and French served as contenders, with the latter going on to become Western Europe's official diplomatic language. Likewise, those who accomplished the legislative, diplomatic, and military miracles that helped 13 separate colonies hold off the greatest power in the world represented a multi-national heritage.   

With European nations unceasingly at war, soldiers from one side or the other often found themselves in disfavor, were marked men in exile, or were fleeing from a superior force. To General George Washington's good fortune, a few found their way to the colonies to join in the cause.

George Rogers Clark: The Life and Legacy of the Revolutionary War's Conqueror of the Old Northwest

Charles River Editors

Includes Clark's quotes about his life and career Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading

" I am George Rogers Clark. You have just become a prisoner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. " - George Rogers Clark

The last days of the colonial era in America seemed to spawn a number of Renaissance men, unique individuals who were as comfortable in a log cabin as a ballroom and could write as well as they could hunt. George Rogers Clark was one of these men, and in many ways he was a paler, less-accomplished version of his illustrious neighbor, George Washington. Like the Continental Army's leader, George Rogers Clark was an accomplished surveyor who helped map out their Virginia homeland, a good soldier, and an officer in the Virginia militia before and during the Revolutionary War. While Washington led the army, he tasked Clark with leading the American troops along the frontier border in that portion of Virginia that would one day become Kentucky.

While he did not necessarily share Washington's success and military genius, Clark played a major part in winning the war, including capturing the important town of Kaskaskia, Illinois, then in the hands of the British, on July 4, 1778. The following year, he took Vincennes, Indiana, in a similarly successful maneuver. These two victories weakened the British presence in the Northwest Territory and allowed the patriots to focus attention on battles further east. After the war ended and the British gave the Northwest Territory to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the newly formed nation proclaimed Clark " Conqueror of the Old Northwest", a noble and serious title for a man not yet 30 years old.

Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr

Nancy Isenberg

My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze: Memoir of a Soviet Interpreter

Pavel Palazchenko

"Most Blessed of the Patriarchs": Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination

Annette (Harvard Law School) Gordon-Reed, Peter S. (University of Virginia) Onuf

George Washington, Volume 4: Leader of the Revolution

Douglas Southall Freeman

Volume Four opens as the British abandoned Boston in March 1776. They moved their troops to Long Island and their fleet to New York Harbor. Washington, anticipating such a strategy, had moved his troops to New York and then came out to face the Redcoats in Brooklyn, but was driven back to the city. More British troops were landed on Manhattan Island, forcing Washington to withdraw north of the city, and finally to the Jersey side of the Hudson. When the English general, Howe, lunged for Philadelphia, Washington interposed his Continentals but was outmaneuvered.  

As the winter of 1777 approached with Redcoats occupying Philadelphia, Washington restricted the British army's supply line. But almost nobody believed the British could be defeated and few believed Washington's army could survive. Then, late on Christmas day 1776, George Washinton was once more beckoned by history. He did the impossible and crossed the ice-choked Delaware river to deliver a blow to the English crown. Suddenly, the war for independence gained new impetus. But the ordeal of winter-quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania had to be overcome.

P L E A S E N O T E: When you purchase this title, the accompanying P D F will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Revolutionary: George Washington at War

Robert L. O'Connell

From an acclaimed military historian, a bold reappraisal of young George Washington, an ambitious if reckless soldier destined to become the legendary general who took on the British and, through his leadership,  defined the American character.

How did George Washington become an American icon? Robert L. O' Connell, the New York Times best-selling author of Fierce Patriot and The Ghosts of Cannae, introduces us to Washington before he was Washington: a young soldier champing at the bit for a commission in the British army, frustrated by his position as a minor Virginia aristocrat. Fueled by ego, Washington led a disastrous expedition in the Seven Years' War, but then the commander grew up. We witness George Washington take up politics and join Virginia's colonial governing body, the House of Burgesses, where he became ever more attuned to the injustices of life under the British Empire and the paranoid, revolutionary atmosphere of the colonies. When war seemed inevitable, he was the right man - the only man - to lead the nascent American army.

We would not be here without George Washington, and O' Connell proves that Washington the general was at least as significant to the founding of the United States as Washington the president. He emerges here as cunning and manipulative, a subtle puppeteer among intimates, and a master cajoler - but all in the cause of rectitude and moderation. Washington became the embodiment of the Revolution itself. He draped himself over the revolutionary process and tamped down its fires. As O' Connell writes, the war was decisive because Washington managed to stop a cycle of violence with the force of personality and personal restraint.

In his trademark conversational, witty style, Robert L. O' Connell has written a compelling reexamination of General Washington and his revolutionary world. He cuts through the enigma surrounding Washington to show how the general made all the difference and became a new archetype of revolutionary leader in the process. Revolutionary is a masterful character study of America's founding conflict filled with lessons about conspiracy, resistance, and leadership that resonate today.

Advance praise for Revolutionary:

" Given the amount of ink spilled over the years, it is not easy to offer a fresh look at George Washington's leadership role during the war for American independence. But Robert L. O' Connell has done it in Revolutionary. The title announces the insight, which is the otherwise uncontrollable political and military energies released by the war that Washington was able to orchestrate. " ( Joseph J. Ellis, author of American Dialogues: The Founders and Us)