Fun Fact: Calling someone a "Benedict Arnold" is still an insult in the states. The term is used to call someone a traitor.

"I did not defeat King George the Third, just to become King George the First" - George Washington He said to the Continental Congress this after he resigned after the revolution he could have been King, but he was one of a kind.

7:15- John Paul Jones is considered as the father of the US Navy; there are tons of videos about the man if you really want to know more (like so many I'm not going to even suggest one in particular.) The description they gave introducing him was accurate AF though

Interesting story about the British surrender at Yorktown: General Cornwallis refused to attend the surrender ceremony, claiming he was ill, and sent his second-in-command in his place. Said officer (Brigadier General Charles O'Hara) then attempted to surrender to the French general, Rochambeau, who was having none of it and gestured for him to surrender to George Washington. Washington also refused to accept the surrender and indicated for the surrender to be given to _Washington's_ second-in-command, Benjamin Lincoln. Oof.

The civil war one is good and it explains why Maine was separated from Massachusetts.

Handsome, Scottish, and absolutely insane.

Next Ones Gotta Be the Civil War Oversimplified, with the time you're spending in America these videos will help with a lot of historical context.

There's a reason why here in the U.S calling someone a Benedict Arnold is an expression for calling someone a traitor. Also, in the film, The Patriot, Colonel Tavington is VERY loosely based on Tarleton.

Oversimplified's videos about the Civil War and the French Revolution are definitely worth checking out

My surprise that this man had never heard of the French Revolution was somehow topped by the fact that Benedict Arnold turning traitor was a twist to him.

John Paul Jones is known as the "Father of the U.S. Navy". The Navy Dept. went to great effort & expense locating his humble grave in France. In 1906, they finally did, exhumed his remains, transported them back to the States, and, reinterred them in a crypt, specially built for him, at the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. I highly recommend paying it a visit.

The Benedict Arnold story is actually pretty sad. His last words, having been dress in his Continental Army uniform were, “Let me die in this old uniform in which I fought my battles. May God forgive me for ever having put on another.” He really regretted that choice, his entire life.

John Paul Jones is the badass father of the US Navy. Every sailor knows who he is. "I have not yet begun to fight!" His life should be a movie. Even if he only did half the stuff he is said to have done it's still legendary.

John Paul Jones is probably my favorite side character in all of US history

11:32- I’m 95% sure Banastre Tarleton was the main inspiration for the antagonist in Mel Gibson’s The Patriot.

"Although the French generally loved any opportunity to hoodwink the British, they weren't going to join unless they thought it was a sure win." Yep, typical France.

8:55 Native Americans tribes were already at war with each other before settlers arrived. In fact, some Native American tribes where grateful for the settlers arrival because they helped them defend against the more aggressive tribes.

Oh, if it wasn’t for the French, the Revolution would have been lost. The Marquis de Lafayette was a young man who came from France with the intent to kill the British for familial revenge, but he ended up becoming a true believer in the American cause. He helped gather French support, and was so beloved by both Americans and French that he wasn’t killed during the French Revolution and was brought back as a hero to tour the US when the country turned 50, I believe? (He was in his 20s during the Revolution). To see the country he helped create.

You should react to the napoleonic wars video. Definitely one of his best

It’s great to see someone with military experience looking at history videos, it provides a unique insight If you want another Oversimplified to react to I definitely recommend the Napoleonic war 2 parters! They spend a lot of time explaining Napoleons battle strategy and how he organised his army

You should react to Emu war from Oversimplified too, it's hilarious.

You know Luke's mad when he nearly swears on camera.

17:00. It is supposed to be a group. That’s what congress’s job is. The presidents job is diplomacy and enforcing congress’s law, not making the rules, but congress has basically given up and leaves the president to be king and unelected agencies like the FDA, EPA, etc to make the actual rules that affect us.

~12:00- the southern campaign is (pretty inaccurately but it's Hollywood so,) in the movie The Patriot (a HUGE cast and won awards; great film.)

Liberty Kids taught me about many of the little facts that get shaved off in history books. Was also interesting to learn that one of my fellow Boy Scouts was Descended from one of those Hessen Mercs.

5:12 You'd have to wait when you watch the French Revolution part, Ok I'll stop yeah they did that

Our country's history is really quite short but it's very eventful! I love your reactions and your perspective. Seeing you learn about the history of my country rekindles my pride as an American. Thanks man!

I love how the green screen works on his hat. Lol

Even though the war ended, the British Navy continued to treat US flagged shipping like they were British subjects which contributed to the War of 1812.

These oversimplified videos are so damn good

2years later, but... fun fact, the 42nd "Royal Highland" Regiment (still known today as the "Black Watch") fought here on the side of the British!

I am from Wilmington North Carolina. It was mentioned in the Video that British General Cornwallis abandoned Wilmington,NC. The Mansion that General Cornwallis used is called the Cornwallis House. It is in the Historic district. I visited it in the 1970's as a Student.Our Class went on a Tour of the House.

Over simplified's just so dang good at story telling, hope to see more reactions of over simplified videos!

Also, fun fact: There is a statue at Fort Saratoga of Benedict Arnold..........'s leg. It doesn't mention his name, and is only his leg because he suffered leg injuries defending the fort.

Keep reacting to over simplified they’ve got a lot of good stuff , also love the way you speak about , love and respect the USA we are glad to have you here

From what I understood, hiring mercenaries was the way the British fought wars in the colonial period. No manpower? Tons of money? Pay Germans or Austrians to fight on land. Worked against Napoleon

"Look at the horse in the background, that's hilarious!" *horse falls of boat* *doesn't notice*

You absolutely need to react to the Civil War series by oversimplified next.

Great reaction!! I say a lot these should be used in grade school for introductions to history. If you liked this you’d love oversimplified civil war vids. Would love to see your reactions. For American history I’d also recommend his video on prohibition, and beyond that just about everything on the channel is gold.

I’m glad you’re here brother. From a US Marine veteran to a British Marine, welcome to our country. I know there’s a lot of division in our country at the moment and that our country doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to slavery, etc. but every single country that has ever existed on the face of the planet has done something atrocious. Doesnt mean we don’t acknowledge it, but also doesn’t mean we have to be ashamed to be American. I’m proud to be American. Our country was founded on unheard of principles and a presidential system that was thought of at the time to be ridiculous and unheard of, and yet it’s produced the most powerful country the world has ever seen. Acknowledge and condemn the wrong, but have pride as well. Semper Fi, and welcome, fellow American.

The actual reason slavery was removed from the Declaration, is because the south said they refused to agree to sign it, if slaves could be freed, so instead the Constitution and everything created afterwards was made so that it could be improved, and even more so, that slavery could one day be removed. Also, many of the people that owned slaved that were big politicians, actually have records and reputations of treating their slaves respectfully, not treating them with whips and such, but with food, water, clothes, and shelter. Slaves to them were really just hired/non-paying workers to take care of their stuff, and only needed food, water, clothes and shelter.

More Oversimplified reactions, lesss goooooo

5:05 - On the topic of King Louis and talking about heads getting chopped off, that was the French Revolution- what destroyed the original French monarchy and was one of the leading factors in Napoleon's rise to power. Oversimplified has a two-part series on the French Revolution you should watch sometime! I would also really love to see you react to the Civil War, it could give you a better grasp on the cultural differences between North and South.

When John Paul Jones died in France, the French mummified him in a barrel of beer, just in case we wanted him back. And we did just that. Teddy Roosevelt, when he was president, reclaimed JP Jones' body from the French and sailed it back home for burial aboard a cruiser (the USS Brooklyn), accompanied by 3 other cruisers and, nearing the American coast, by 7 battleships.

The part that I've never seen mentioned is the fact that all if these guys were British trained. Doctors, soldiers, lawyers, etc.

6:19 John Paul Jones is the equivalent of "Fine, I'll do it myself." To Americans.

We would love more of this videos

Bill Whittle's "America's forgotten heros" had a fantastic episode on John Paul Jones.

As you said there was a lot of politicking. Ben Franklin actually went to London and spoke to Parliament more than once (trying to prevent a war). Franklin, at first, did not want to see a war, but learned after his meetings that there were irreconcilable differences. Franklin joined the patriot movement soon after. Someone told him "We must hang together" and Franklin replied "Yes, or we'll hang separately."

Yes on this series. I want to see more!!!

Both Oversimplified's Civil War and French Revolution are worth it. Really all his videos are, they are all worth checking out.

Yes do a reaction to Oversimplified the Civil War. It is a good video, well all the Oversimplified videos are good. If I remember right I believe it is longer than this one.

Fun fact! So at the surrender at Yorktown, and in a way to thumb his nose at Washington, General Cornwallis refused to give the surrender himself, instead ordering his second-in-command, General Charles O'Hara, to be the one to give it. What's more, he ordered O'Hara to give it to the Marquis de Lafayette, the commander of French forces during the Siege, instead of to Washington. Lafayette, seeing the slight for what it was, refused to accept it, and instead ordered HIS second-in-command to accept it. The French second in command insisted that Washington be the one to accept it and Washington, having caught on to what was going on, took it further and ordered HIS second, General Benjamin Lincoln, to accept the surrender.

You really need to watch the TV series Turn. It's all about the spy espionage through the revolution. Talks all about the Benedict Arnold stuff

You need to do the civil war next. If you want an understanding of the country and who we really are, a good understanding of the civil war is essential. Ken burns also did an excellent documentary on the civil war back in the early 90s. That really provides a good look at it.

There's a famous saying birthed by John Paul Jones that goes 'I have not yet begun to fight!' Also, there is a slenderman esque movie called the Wendigo about native American mythology of night walkers. Been a while since I've seen it and I'm not entirely sure on the accuracy or if it's offensive to Native Americans or not. But it's the only thing coming to mind atm...

If you've ever seen the US folklore scary story of the headless horseman 🎃 the horseman was a Hessian merc who was killed while fighting the rebels.

The civil war videos are probably my favorite ones from Oversimplified you should definitely check those out

In regards to the end of the video where you mention that one man shouldn’t be in charge. The reason we have three coequal branches of government is so that one man ultimately isn’t in charge. That would be a monarchy. Although I will say that the office of the president has become more powerful probably than originally intended over time. Great video! Thank you for covering this subject!

Well the President doesn't run the nation, it's a combination of the Executive branch (President), legislative branch, and judicial branch. It's so each branch can check the other ones, so that no one person, or group runs everything

Luke, you gotta do the Civil War video. It's an extremely interesting part of American history

Okay, im loving your reactions to these but I cant get past the greenscreen picking up the letters on your shirt and hat 😂

Civil war series is awesome and you should definitely react to that next

When they say gates ran away that was a major understatement. While the majority of his troops retreated in relatively good order gates flat out left his own army and got as far away as he could. Needless to say when he reported back his military leadership career was over.

i love this content

Definitely react to the American Civil war!! You’ll learn sooo much!

I’m actually related to Benedict Arnold, my family married into his long ago

There's three branches of the government, Executive Branch, Judicial Branch and Legislative Branch, and they all have checks and balances to keep all branches from gaining too much power. So the country is actually ran by a group of people but the president is just the face of it.

In Mount Vernon, you can see the key to the Bastille, given to Washington by Lafayette

fun fact John Paul Jones has an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer in the U.S. Navy DDG-53 currently part of Destroyer Squadron 23

The story of the American Revolution is the origin of a "New Renaissance" of ideals all coming together for mutual benefit. Though we may never know it at the time, we are all steersman of our collective histories.

I'd love to see you react to some civil war content

You should definitely watch the Oversimplified Civil War videos, they're pretty good, and it's always good to learn more.

Also, the President is the commander and chief, but the country isn't solely headed by him, such as Congress, the house, and the Senate.

I highly recommend learning about John Paul Jones, the man was an absolute mad man who just wanted to fight in the navy it seems

YES! The 1st thing to do as a citizen of the US: condolences/apologies to the native American. Good form old bean

Oversimplified civil war is gold!

Benedict Arnold had to have a leg amputated while in American service due to a bullet shattering his femur at the Battle of Saratoga. Because he lost the leg in loyal service before he betrayed the country, the leg is buried with honors and has a memorial statue to it, but the stone does not have Arnold's name on it. The monument merely reads "in memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army."

I've always heard that Washington's attack in the winter worked so well is because Americans didnt really celebrate Christmas and the Europeans did so they were partied out from that. (Also if you want videos on native mythology then I'd check out Overly Sarcastic Productions; specifically Rainbow Crow, The Five Suns, Quetzalcoatl) 12:20 This is true of all historic wars, the information becomes desaturated and generalized so when you actually dig into the details there's so much more going on than you knew. Then getting to add extra details to the information like the hidden relationships, geographies, etc you get to see the fuller picture of what these people went through

If you want a really good book explaining what lead up to the start of the Revolution, check out Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775 by Derek W. Beck. Also the follow-up, The War Before Independence 1775-1776 is excellent as well. It's as unbiased of an account as can be possible, dealing with the facts as we know them. Uses a lot of letters from both sides to give insight into why things probably went the way that they did. I used to find history rather boring, and reading it even more so. But as I get older, it seems I find it a lot more interesting and books like these make it easy to digest a lot more than I ever did in school. I also credit Oversimplified, other videos, and even Hamilton for putting seeds of things to look up to find out more for a better understanding. That's one of the beauties of these videos. They gloss over a lot, but still manage to cover a lot in an interesting fashion. There's bound to be something that sparks your interest to find out more about that one thing. This often leads to wanting to find out one more thing, etc. etc.

Please do more oversimplified videos it is more than worth it

Definitely watch the civil war one! It's my favorite :)

lol I was just checking if this video is out.

YES! Do the American Civil War next

Please do the civil war. It not only explains the war thuroughly but also how america expanded so rapidly

The irony I found with Benedict Arnold is that he wanted glory and ends up becoming infamous in American history with it being synonymous with treachery

I love the hat! ;)

"OK, Benedict Arnold!" is a pejorative in the American lexicon. You're accusing someone of betrayal. 'Turn: Washington's Spies' was a great TV show that included Arnold's treachery.

Here's another fun fact about John Paul Jones, whose birth name was John Paul: The bassist for Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, was born John Richard Baldwin. He took his stage name after seeing a poster for the 1959 film "John Paul Jones." Neither John Paul Jones was born with that name.

Civil War Oversimplified is good, but I LOVE French Revolution Oversimplified. Ya gotta do both!

It is like saying "Just build a house." However, it is a bit more complicated than one thinks.

So here’s some fun facts: Washington stopped a Coup with just glasses: I honestly don’t want to go into details because there are videos and I’d like your reaction on it already but simply put it the Continental Congress didn’t pay the army well since the beginning of the war and was looking to disband the army before the treaty of Paris was signed. Many men would have gone to debtors jail so they planned to march on Congress to scare them and the rest is pretty interesting so I’d highly recommend again you watch some videos on it Benedict Arnold: he was probably one of the best generals of the war and was actually wounded two times in the same spot on his leg (which was almost fatal) so that kinda of played to his want to get more recognition. And not only did he give the plans he was also sabotaging the forts defenses and weakening the the garrison to allow the British to take over a vital position. So he was willing to get his men killed for Recognition and money but in the end died in London a social pariah and penniless

Bannistre Tarleton was a terrible man. I had a distant relative (5 or 6x great-grandfather) get tortured by his men for information following the Battle of Cowpens and left for dead in a ditch by the side of a road. His sons temporarily deserted to rescue him before eventually returning to the Continental Army. However the tortured relative, who was a 70 year old man, died within a year and a half of the war's end from the various lingering injuries of torture.

JOHN PAUL JONES IS WHERE WE GET THE QUOTE "I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT!"

Would love it if you reacted to all of oversimplified's vids

12:32 And remember that this is “Oversimplified.” Meaning that there is still small details removed

"I have not yet begun to fight!" "Words attributed to the eighteenth-century naval hero John Paul Jones. He was doing battle with a British ship when his own ship was badly damaged, and the British commander called over to ask whether Jones had surrendered. He answered, “I have not yet begun to fight.” He and his crew then captured the British ship. His own ship later sank."

3:40 “Hey look new flag!” *ignores and invades* “):”

OverSimplified Civil War is a really good one to watch. You will learn a lot in just a few minutes. In addition to OverSimplified the Extra History channel has a lot of really good videos.

How you watched The 12th man.? :) Love your videos man !