Blog #4: Rethinking the Revolution

1. Many people are focused on the brutality of the Civil War and don't realize that the Revolutionary War, although not as bloody as the Civil War, was very brutal too.

2. Popular paintings of the American Revolution don't depict an actual battle scene, leading people to view the American Revolution as a less bloody war than it really was. Especially since we have access to photographs from the Civil War, and during the American Revolution we didn't have that technology, people tend to view the Civil War as much more brutal.

3. The War of Independence fell between two epic events: The American Revolution- the struggle to declare independence and the change caused by rebellion- and the Constitutional Convention in 1787. This has caused the War of Independence to be downplayed.

4. Due to a lack of the advanced weapons that were available in the Civil War, soldiers in the War of Independence had to fight at a dangerously close range, which was terrifying and (obviously) deadly.

5. The Americans were faced with horrible conditions during the Revolutionary War. Many men were hungry and without clothes. They resorted to eating pets, shoes, and horse food. They even took what they needed from prisoners, leaving them naked and cold.

Washington Crossing the Delaware, painted by Emanuel Leutze, is a famous painting that takes place during the War of Independence. However, this painting does not show the blood and horrors that truly took place in this war, causing some people to overlook these realities.

Although World War II was clearly more murderous and atrocious than WWI (60 million died), people tend to forget that World War I was terrible as well, and the horrors of war were real there, too (10 million people died).