Rebels & Redcoats: How Britain Lost America

I saw "Rebels & Redcoats" in my library, checked it out, and watched it a few days ago. I liked it enough to buy it, especially at such a low price. However, I do not recommend it without some caveats.I've been mulling over the presentation for several days because I needed to give it a fair chance: my own bias was suspect, to say the least. As a United States citizen, it was difficult for me to watch such potent iconoclasm.Now that I've digested the presentation and my reaction to it, I can say two things: it represents a point of view that everyone interested in the American Revolution should hear; and it has nontrivial flaws.The narrator's tone is just a bit too shrill to be taken as unbiased. He has an axe, and by gosh he's going to grind it. He wants to convince us that each and every colonial revolutionary fell into two groups: rich, self-interested ingrates and their poor, deluded puppets. He leads us to think ourselves naive for suspecting that a single one of them had a legitimate grievance. This absolutist thinking strikes me as suspect.Another big misstep the narrator makes is to make emotional entreaties for us to dislike Washington. He constantly reminds us that Washington's ideas about liberty only applied to white males. Yes. Thank you. I understand. I also understand the need to see a historical character from the point of view of his own culture. It's easy to take potshots at almost anyone if we indulge in seeing them through a self-satisfied modern lens, but when we do so we jettison our chances of seeing that person clearly. The narrator asks us to make that mistake, rather than take the more challenging and rewarding road of seeing Washington from a contemporary perspective.The most telling piece of axe-grinding comes during the bit about the southern campaign. The narrative goes to great lengths to establish absolute moral parity between the Brits, loyalists and Hessians on the one hand, and the revolutionary colonists on the other: he wheedles that, though the former group committed atrocities, the latter committed just as many. Big mistake. I know a bit about this subject because I've read a fair amount about the New Jersey campaign of 1776. Before the British forces followed the Continental Army across New Jersey, most of the state was loyalist. By December, ratio had flip-flopped, and the colonists had nothing to do with that. The atrocities committed by the British and Hessian forces had enraged the populace so much that local militia groups were cropping up independently of Washington's forces and beginning to be a serious problem for Rall. If this doesn't convince you, then look at the Hessian response to their treatment by their colonial captors after Trenton and Princeton. Contrary to their own expectations, they were treated with dignity -- per Washington's orders! Conveniently, the narrator never mentions any of this.Again, this presentation is valuable as an opposing viewpoint. Just don't be duped into thinking that it is without flaws.

I have mixed feelings about this DVD on the American Revolution. On the positive side, the use of reenactors was good. Generally, PBS does uses reenactors much less than A&E (and its sister companies)and Discovery. This DVD was quite refreshing in that respect. I also very much enjoyed certain characters talking to the audience. I like this technique in historical documentaries. It cuts up the monotony of listening to a narrator and makes history come alive. Great job here. However, the battle scenes were small--only a handful of reenactors showed up on filming day, so we see the same few guys again and again. Also, the use of guys with beards seemed odd. Nevertheless, you work with what you have.As far as the presentation goes, the narrator is the star of the show. He is on screen way too much. It's 'interesting and valuable to see how some of the old sites, e.g. Breed's/Bunker Hills, Old North Church, etc. look today, but I really don't care to see the narrator traveling around in his car, playing with his radio. I felt that the film crew just followed this guy around on his vacation with a camera. And I cared even less to see MODERN New Yorkers (I think they were) going about their business. At least show me some painting from the 18th century.On to the content. This DVD is supposed to be from the British perspective. This is a welcome idea. I felt that it was very balanced, but too much so! I didn't get any sense of what the British, in 1776 or now, thought/think about the American Revolution (of course, there is the usual "loudest yelps of freedom from slavedrivers" quote, but so what? That really doesn't tell us much). I also didn't care for the narrator interviewing random people on a bus. That looked more like something from Leno's "Jaywalking" segment.Well, why did the British lose the war? The only thing that came through was that they "didn't win the hearts and minds of the people." Well blow me over with a feather!! I want to know what policies and practices, both from the generals and in London, led the British to defeat. What could they have done differently? Who was making the policy in London? What forces influenced his decisions? Could we have spent a few minutes watching a reenactment of a debate or council or the Prime Minister even working out things in his own mind? That would have been made this a great presentation.Quite honestly, there's not much new here. I would recommend A&E's or Discovery's Revolution sets (not PBS's Liberty, though). They go into much more detail. This set could be cut by half and we wouldn't miss anything. I've criticized a lot, and my criticisms are valid. However, the show gives good information, but it could have been a whole lot better.Fritz Juengling PhD

It`s rather a shame that this excellent series is only available as a region 1 DVD release from American PBS, given the participation of Granada Television, BBC Wales and the presentation by the much missed historian Richard Holmes.The series is in 4 parts and was made in 2003; I think it was broadcast twice by the BBC but has never - to my knowledge - had another airing on terrestrial UK television.The documentaries chart the history of the War of Independence from its beginnings to the fall of Yorktown; throughout Holmes provides a balanced commentary from a British perspective, aided by re-enactment groups, American historians and military experts.This series is one of Richard Holmes` best; it illuminates some of the accepted mythology accumulated over decades and takes a fresh look at a period and events in history that are not taught in British schools but has a central place in American identity; Holmes` affable, understated manner and authority provides a fair insight into the experience, aims, failings and fortunes of both sides – often comparing the conflict with Vietnam – a reasonable argument.The accompanying book written by Hugh Bicheno takes a more robust approach to myth-busting, but is equally fair and balanced in its overall assessments of the military and political elements of both sides.A hugely recommendable series presented on a single disc; the picture is 4x3 aspect ratio, NTSC; the picture quality is quite acceptable. There are no extras or subtitles.

Richard Holmes presents the story of the American Revolution by travelling around America visiting the historic sites and retelling the events, illustrated by eye-witness accounts and re-enactments.As one of the foremost Military Historians of his day Richard analyses the battle tactics with impartiality and fills in the historical context to present the bigger picture.Rebels and Redcoats is essential viewing for anyone interested in the founding of the country that has in less than 250 years has become such an influence in all our lives. If you want to study the subject in more detail the book of the same name by Hugh Bicheno that accompanied the original TV series covers the war in great detail.Richard's relaxed, but authoritative presentation style makes us realise how much he is missed in the field of Military History.

I am a keen amateur student/fan of the American revolution having read many books on the subject.I found it strange that this dvd is unavailable here in England but having imported it from the U.S.A. i must say i enjoyed it very much indeed.It is put together from a British angle and gets to the heart of the complications of the war regarding Americans fighting for Britain,British fighting for their adopted America,French fighting the British etc.I found it refreshing that we can get away from the American idealistic flag waving approach to the subject and look at the situation objectively.Most books just trot out the "founding fathers/frontiersman taking on the bullying redcoats" myth which in my opinion sells the subject and indeed the achievement of independence well short!I highly recommend this dvd and would very much like to know the opinions of Americans on this work.I should add that the book Rebels and Redcoats by Hugh Bicheno is a great companion to this video.

A historical view of the American revolution from the English perspective. I would recommend this documentary to anyone who has an interest in that historical period. The series is crammed with very interesting facts about the conflict and it highlights the fact that there is always two sides to every story.

I found this excellent documentery to be informative, unbiased and historically correct. It's great to see that people are finally putting the record straight about this time in history when the supposed good were fighting evil. This dvd gets it bang on right. Freedom, liberty and tax were not the real reasons for going to war, but land that they wonted, guns they needed, slaves they wanted to keep and well so on... Well done to these men for giving us a book worth reading about this so called war of independence, Also check out this book called " A few bloody noses" great work as well.11/10, 100 gold stars, Brilliant work.