Knight-Dragon wrote:
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Originally posted by Vrylakas
8. Kublai-Khan came very close on this one.
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I'm still stumped by this one. Some of the Poles involved were also involved in the actions of the American Revolution?
Yes! The point was that 18th century European nobility still typically traveled all over the continent as virtual officer mercenaries, lending their military services to whatever monarch was willing to pay them. Poles were no different. When the First Partition of Poland took place in 1772, it sent a flurry of just such Polish nobles abroad, and the American colonies benefitted from their expertise and experience. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the Polish rebel leader of the 1791-95 wars against the Russians, had founded West Point in the Hudson River valley and gave many military engineering pointers to the Americans during their Revolution. He is buried today in Wawel Castle, the royal castle in the old royal capital Krakow, with both Polish and American military honors. The more commonly-known Polish noble in the American Revolution was Kazimierz Pulaski (Casimir) who had both seige and cavalry experience that helped the Americans in their southern-state campaigns, although Pulaski was ultimately killed in the seige of Savannah. Simply said, one European state's misery led to a flood of experienced military personnel for the American colonists.
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10. These were the same two countries who benefitted by the distraction the American Revolution caused in Europe. They realized things were getting out of hand....
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Got to be Austria and Russia.
It does indeed.
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13. Anyone know any Irish 18th century history for this question?
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Something to do with the Potato Famine?
No, sorry.
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20. related to question # 2.
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Must be something to do with Spain. They've some remaining issues with Great Britain?
Yes! The French, Americans and British had come to terms by 1783 but the Spanish hadn't - they wanted Gibraltar before the war ended, and their several attempts to take it had failed. By treaty the Americans and French could only sign a peace treaty together with the British, but the French had another treaty that said they couldn't sign a treaty without the Spanish - hence the road block. Though the Americans weren't officially allied with the Spanish and their war aims had nothing to do with one another, Madrid's refusal to concede defeat at Gibraltar meant men still had to die in North America.
The solution? - for the answer to question # 21 - was that the French secretly told the Americans to sign a peace treaty with the British anyway, breaking the original Franco-American treaty. When the Americans did this, the French publicly declared their shock ("Sacre bleu!") but said that the war is apparently over anyway, which forced the Spanish to either sign or continue alone against the British. They signed. Incidentally, decades later Napoleon would try to invoke the original Franco-American treaty to induce the young United States to enter his wars against the British, but the Americans said that since Vergennes had advised them to break that treaty in 1783, it was no longer valid.
Excellent K-D! All but one question wrapped up...
Kublai-Khan wrote:
Vrylakas I think that you should answer the remaining question because it seems that no one knows the answers.
...which I'll answer because K-K's probably right.
13. George III of Britain viewed the American colonies in the same light as any of his conquered colonies, and therein lay the basic problem. The fact that the American colonies were filled largely with Englishmen, many born in England itself who migrated voluntarily, did not distinguish them in George III's mind from India or Ireland. He therefore treated them like India or Ireland. In the 1760s he passed a series of laws ("The Intolerable Acts", the Americans called them) that added up to almost the exact same treatment the Irish had gotten from the British after a series of futile revolts in 1703-09. By creating an Irish Parliament in 1782, George was hoping to entice the American colonists back by showing how much autonomy he was willing to grant to a subject people like the Irish. Unfortunately, this act came way too late - a year after the last major British Army in the 13 American colonies had been captured, aside from the minor force occupying New York and some obscure outposts. The British were in no position to impose their rule, and after 7 years of war the Americans were in no mood for compromise. Had George III proposed an American Parliament with autonomy in 1765 or even 1773, it probably would have worked and Queen Elisabeth's aged face might be on all North American currency nowadays, but by he was too stubborn to do so then and by 1782 it was just too late.
Great answers folks - thanks for all who participated!