Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It
While most documentaries of the American Revolution focus on the action in and around the United States, Ferreiro periscopes a much more global spectrum. This narration follows the flow of what would have been considered by the British government an illegal smuggling operation of certain rebels within its colonies. “In the early battles, Dutch gun powder and Spanish, French, and Liege muskets were not winning the war, but they were certainly preventing it from being lost.”
Armed with maps and an extraordinary list of ships’ manifests, Ferreiro details when and how the tons of arms and ammunition made it to America from Europe, often at enormous personal risk and always on credit. Interwoven through the gun trafficking, you will learn new backgrounds on the motivations behind French and Spanish negotiations with those representing the Revolutionaries. Seen from this point of view, the Declaration of Independence takes on new meaning, one aimed more at solidifying alliances than at listing grievances against the King of England.
“In May 1776, the French court had made the momentous decision to join with Spain in providing two million livre’s worth of arms and munitions to the American insurgents via Beaumarchais’s company Roderigue Hortalez…it was the first official step to creating what would soon become an overt alliance with America.”
Author | Larrie D. Ferreiro |
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Star Count | /5 |
Format | Hard |
Page Count | 464 pages |
Publisher | Knopf |
Publish Date | 2016-Nov-15 |
ISBN | 9781101875247 |
Bookshop.org | Buy this Book |
Issue | January 2017 |
Category | History |
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