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00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30It is a gesture of solidarity from France
00:33against their common enemy, Great Britain
00:36The weapons will aid Washington's notoriously undersupplied army
00:41which has just unleashed a Christmas surprise on the British
00:46The Battle of Trenton has bolstered the rebels
00:49But America needs more than supplies to turn the tide of war
00:53What General George Washington really needs is money and a navy
00:58In pursuit of this goal, the Americans have sent their own secret weapon to France
01:07He arrives on a crisp December morning along the French coast
01:10He is old and frail with a variety of ailments
01:15But Benjamin Franklin is also the most famous revolutionary leader in Europe
01:21Franklin is the man who tamed lightning
01:23A renowned scientist, inventor and writer
01:26Who brought the simple wisdom of poor Richard to the world
01:31When Franklin gets to France, there is an enormous sense of consternation
01:34What is this figurehead? What is this great celebrity doing here?
01:37And remember, given the way the media worked in those days
01:39He washes up on the shores of Brittany with no announcement
01:42And there are all sorts of wonderful rumors afoot
01:45As to what he's doing in France
01:47He's come to buy himself a chateau with his immense fortune
01:49He's come to educate his grandsons in Europe because the schools are better
01:52Every possible idea is put forth
01:55The idea that he's actually there to enlist the French in this cause
01:58Is not the obvious conclusion
02:00And he doesn't feel he has to illuminate anyone
02:06Franklin arrives into a deeply divided nation
02:09No place more so than Paris itself
02:13The wealthy live in opulence
02:15While the poor walk on city streets ankle-deep in waste and excrement
02:21This dichotomy has produced new thinking about Europe's age-old system of class
02:27The French read Thomas Paine and cheer America's revolution
02:32As one Frenchman noted
02:33There is a hundred times more enthusiasm for this revolution in the Paris cafes
02:38Than in the colonies
02:46Franklin plays on this enthusiasm
02:49Now, in one of the most opulent courts in Europe
02:52The home of Marie Antoinette
02:55Franklin presents a simple yet carefully crafted portrait of America
02:59And all things American
03:02Picture me very plainly dressed
03:04Wearing my thin gray straight hair
03:07That peeps out from under my only coiffure
03:09A fine fur cap
03:10Which comes down to my forehead
03:12Almost to my spectacles
03:13Think how this must appear
03:16Among the powdered heads of Paris
03:18Benjamin Franklin
03:20Franklin plays on this romance
03:22He wears, he dresses very plainly
03:25He wears a beaver cap
03:26And he becomes kind of a fad
03:29They're, uh, the women love to be around Franklin
03:33They think there's something kind of very romantic
03:35About this backwoodsman who's here in their midst
03:40Before long, all the fashionable women are wearing their hair
03:43In a style that mimics Franklin's fur cap
03:47They call the style
03:48A la Franklin
03:51But not all quarters are equally charmed
03:55December 28th, 1776
03:59Ben Franklin arrives at Versailles
04:01Home to King Louis XVI
04:03It seems like a fool's errand
04:05When you think about it
04:06Franklin is sent to an absolute monarchy
04:08To ask them to fund a revolution against a king
04:11But the truth is that the animus
04:13On the French part against the English
04:15Is so great
04:16Um, that this is a very easy argument to make
04:20Franklin is greeted by France's foreign minister
04:22The crafty Comte de Vergennes
04:27Vergennes is the one behind
04:28France's covert arms shipments
04:32Anyone in his right mind
04:33Would have assumed that the best thing to do
04:34Would have been to let the colonies
04:36And, and England destroy each other mutually
04:38And not to intervene
04:39But he is dead set on revenge
04:41It's the one thing he needs to accomplish
04:43And he could not be more eager
04:45He is intrigued by the revolution
04:48But France needs to know
04:50They are backing a winner
04:52Franklin's attuned sense of gamesmanship
04:54Tells him the time is not right
04:57That, and the fact King Louis XVI
05:00Refuses to meet with him
05:02But without France
05:04The threadbare American revolution
05:05Is in peril
05:08For now, Franklin will have to wait
05:10And pin his hopes on events
05:12Three thousand miles away
05:15Where only a great American victory
05:17Could budge the French
05:19But that couldn't seem less likely
05:26Back in New Jersey
05:27The Continental Army is in bad shape
05:32The Americans have not yet figured out
05:34How to feed and supply the army
05:39John Adams, the always outspoken member of Congress
05:42Complains
05:43Our army is an object of wretchedness
05:46Enough to fill a human mind with horror
05:49Disgraced
05:50Defeated
05:51Discontented
05:52Dispirited
05:53Diseased
05:54Naked
05:55Undisciplined
05:56Eaten up with vermin
05:57No clothes, beds, or blankets
06:00No medicines
06:02No vittles
06:03But salt, pork, and flour
06:04And as winter turns to spring
06:07The problems only worsen
06:12No one is joining the army
06:15And officers sent on recruiting missions
06:18Must dig deeper to fill the quotas for new recruits
06:23The colonists, like every generation before or after
06:27Seem convinced that the war is going to be over by Christmas
06:31When the war isn't over by Christmas
06:34Washington has a hard time recruiting soldiers
06:38And it's in 1777 that we see many states beginning to offer significantly increased bounties
06:46That's a cash payment for enlistment
06:48Service in the Continental Army is now offered as an alternative to corporal punishment when you're brought into court
06:55Service in the Continental Army is encouraged for vagrants
07:01The shortages of trained soldiers hits the army hard
07:07No place more than the northern American outpost of Fort Ticonderoga
07:12Where America's inexperienced recruits are about to become the target of a major British attack
07:25America's envoy in Paris, Benjamin Franklin, has made his first overtures to the French
07:30An attempt to get the European power to join in the fight against their age-old enemy, England
07:37But for now, the elder statesman has come away empty-handed
07:41Swaying the French will take a major American victory back in the colonies
07:45Where the British are getting ready to mount a new round of assaults
07:54June 1777
07:57Just south of Montreal, Canada
07:59A new British general has arrived in America
08:03General John Burgoyne surrounds himself with all the trappings that wealth and status afford
08:09He has recently returned to the colonies
08:11Where he witnessed the British loss of Boston just two years earlier
08:16Burgoyne's goal
08:17To take revenge and end the war
08:19Whatever the cost
08:22It is an endgame
08:23He has staked his career on
08:27John Burgoyne has always led the good life
08:30A gambler
08:31A military man by career
08:33A playwright by hobby
08:35A social climber by marriage
08:37Gentleman Johnny, as his soldiers call him, leans towards the dramatic
08:43Before his return to America in June
08:45The cocky Burgoyne wagers that he will have the war won by Christmas
08:50Charles Fox, a member of Parliament who stood in opposition to the war
08:54Takes the bet
08:55With a warning
08:57Be not over-sanguine
08:59I believe when you return to England
09:02You will be a prisoner on parole
09:04Charles Fox
09:09As commander of Britain's northern forces
09:11Burgoyne aims to take the Hudson River
09:14The vital waterway that separates the northern colonies
09:17From the southern colonies
09:19It's important to realize that in the 18th century
09:22There are no bridges across this river
09:24There are only a limited number of crossing points
09:27If you control those points
09:29You control key terrain
09:30And you are able to sever the lines of communication
09:33That the colonists are able to use to coordinate their actions
09:36Between Boston and Philadelphia
09:38And certainly prohibit the transfer of troops
09:42From one side of the river to the other
09:48The British plan requires precise coordination
09:51Across great distances
09:54Burgoyne's force will move south down the Hudson
09:57To meet up with the man in charge for the British
09:59General William Howe
10:01Whose forces will march north from New York City
10:06Burgoyne's first target is a remote northern outpost
10:09The mighty Fort Ticonderoga
10:14People referred to it as the Gibraltar of the north
10:16Or the Gibraltar of North America
10:18It was by all standards
10:21The most spectacular fortress in North America
10:24Angled bastions
10:26Very defensible
10:27And it sits astride this very, very strategic water corridor
10:36July 2nd, 1777
10:41General Burgoyne's force of 8,000
10:43Descends upon Fort Ticonderoga
10:48The undermanned Americans are at a mighty disadvantage
10:51Just 2,500 Continentals guard the fort
11:11Skirmishes break out around the stronghold
11:13As British soldiers snipe at the Americans
11:27But taking the fort will require a strategic advantage
11:33Fort Ticonderoga sits on a peninsula
11:36Surrounded by three mountains
11:37But the lean American forces can only defend two of them
11:42The steepest and most formidable
11:44The aptly named Mount Defiance
11:46Is left unprotected
11:49But from its ridge
11:50Artillery has an easy shot into the fort
11:55It is the weak spot that Burgoyne will exploit
12:00July 5th
12:02Burgoyne dispatches a unit to the west side of Mount Defiance
12:06Their mission?
12:07To drag their cannon to the top
12:09It is a treacherous climb
12:12But out of sight of the Americans
12:16By noon they crest the ridge
12:18And position themselves for a clear shot into the fort
12:21With one move
12:23Burgoyne puts the Americans in an indefensible position
12:26And without firing their cannon once
12:29Leave the outmaneuvered Americans no choice
12:32But to retreat
12:34It is an easy win for Burgoyne
12:37And bolsters his belief that the campaign to take the Hudson River
12:40Will be a simple one
12:47News of the fall of Fort Ticonderoga reaches Paris
12:51Where Benjamin Franklin has been closely monitoring the war
12:55He's constantly waiting for his bail
12:57I mean none of our impatience for our mail could possibly equal what Franklin must have felt at that point
13:02The ignorance is crippling
13:04But sometimes ignorance is bliss
13:07That the undermanned American army has been forced to retreat in the face of an attack
13:11Is the last thing Franklin wants to hear
13:15On top of that he has made little progress with King Louis XVI
13:19Franklin is after all the representative of rebels
13:24He is fraught with frustration
13:26There is nothing better to do here than drink
13:28How can we fool ourselves that France might understand America better than Britain
13:33How can we fool ourselves that a monarchy will help Republicans revolt against their monarch
13:39Benjamin Franklin
13:42The fall of Fort Ticonderoga hits General Washington's desk with a thud
13:47His soldiers lost it without so much as a fight
13:51And now the British army is on the move
13:537,000 soldiers are heading down the Hudson
13:57The rest are stationed in New York City
14:00Washington flounders
14:01And begins moving his troops up and down the river
14:05Hedging his bet against where the Redcoats might attack next
14:09General Washington may be conflicted
14:15But so too are the British
14:20Their commander, William Howe
14:22Has gathered up his 13,000 troops
14:24And set sail from New York City
14:26Destination
14:27Unknown
14:32Howe is torn
14:33He is expected to move up the Hudson to aid Burgoyne
14:36But he can't escape his own designs
14:40A fixation on conquering Philadelphia
14:42The rebel capital
14:45His decision when it comes
14:47Will change the course of the war
14:56The mighty Fort Ticonderoga
14:58The gateway to the Hudson River Valley
15:01Has fallen to the British without so much as a shot fired
15:04It is another defeat for the undermanned Continental Army
15:08And is an ominous start to the summer of 1777
15:14Across the ocean in France
15:16Benjamin Franklin's waiting game continues
15:20Franklin is biding his time
15:22Looking for news from America
15:24Some victory that would open the gates to Versailles
15:28Would convince the French to join the war
15:31But he keeps his intentions to himself
15:35It is a secrecy that breeds intrigue
15:38For the first year that he's there
15:40There's a real question
15:41Is he here because he's running away from the American Revolution
15:43Is he here to undermine it
15:45Or is he here to underwrite it
15:47Desperate to find out more
15:48Both France and England surround Franklin with spies
15:52It turns out in retrospect that his own secretary was a spy
15:56And that anything that crossed Franklin's desk
15:58Was sent back within the week
16:00Via a little bottle sunk beneath a tree in the Tuileries
16:03To the British government
16:04And those dispatches arrived regularly 72 hours later
16:08Because of the espionage
16:09Franklin realized the only way he could keep a secret
16:12Was to keep it to himself
16:13And he's very, very closed-mouthed
16:15Plays his cards very close to the chess
16:19Franklin's silence is a calculated diplomatic strategy
16:22Akin to his favorite game
16:24Chess
16:26Life is a kind of chess
16:28In which we have points to gain
16:30And competitors to contend with
16:32By playing a chess
16:33We learn not to make our moves too hastily
16:36Benjamin Franklin
16:38Franklin follows his own advice
16:40Too well for some
16:43But he knows the time will come
16:44When he finally gets to play his next move
16:50Back across the ocean in America
16:52British General Howe remains adrift off the coast of New York City
16:5913,000 soldiers on 260 ships still don't know where they are headed
17:07John Burgoyne's plan calls for General Howe to head up the Hudson
17:10Yet Howe is intent on Philadelphia
17:14Revenge for his embarrassing losses at Trenton and Princeton
17:18Howe is obsessed with holding Philadelphia and sustaining Philadelphia
17:23Situated almost exactly in the center of the 13 colonies geographically
17:28Because it's the political capital
17:30It's where the Continental Congress resides
17:34It's an important strategic center too
17:36Both commercially as well as politically
17:41Howe makes his decision
17:42He will abandon Burgoyne, his northern army, and the Hudson campaign
17:49He will invade Philadelphia
17:54In one move, he changes the course of the war
18:06August 22nd, 1777
18:09Hartsville, Pennsylvania
18:13American scouts bring word to Washington
18:15That Howe's fleet has entered the Chesapeake Bay
18:17Their target is now clear
18:19They are headed for the rebel capital
18:24Washington immediately sets his army in motion
18:27Marching south through Philadelphia
18:31Three days later, the British land at Elk Point, Maryland
18:34And begin their northward march
18:37The two armies are now on a collision course
18:42September 11th, 1777
18:45Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
18:48Washington positions his forces along the banks of a tributary called Brandywine Creek
18:53It is here that he will make his stand against the advancing British
18:59Brandywine Creek is the perfect place for a defense
19:02There are only a few crossings along this stretch
19:05Where troops can be transported from bank to bank
19:08And Washington has them covered
19:11By 7 a.m.
19:13The British reach the banks directly across the river from the main force of the Americans
19:17Musket and artillery fire erupt between the two armies
19:2125,000 soldiers will clash on this day
19:25The battle, intense and bloody
19:29In the thick of the fighting, the Continental Army makes an alarming discovery
19:33Fire!
19:35The weapons sent secretly by France months earlier have only now arrived
19:40And many of them aren't working
19:43Some of the muskets are fitted with the wrong cartridges
19:45Others have shot of the wrong size
19:48It renders them unusable
19:54On the opposing side, the British are trying out a new and improved rifle
19:58Captain Patrick Ferguson, a skilled marksman, is the inventor
20:04The new weapon is lighter, has a longer range
20:07And Ferguson's expert hands is deadly accurate
20:10During the fighting, the captain gets a high-ranking officer in his sights
20:15But killing involves more than aim
20:17On the 18th century field of battle, there is also the matter of honor
20:22The American Revolution occurs during what some of historians term the age of limited warfare
20:27These professional military officers, who deem themselves professionals
20:30Did not think that it was gentlemanly nor honorable
20:34To intentionally lay low an enemy officer
20:39It's an easy shot
20:41But Ferguson passes it up
20:45His decision possibly changes history
20:48The man at the end of his barrel was, evidence suggests
20:52George Washington himself
20:58Four o'clock strikes on the field at Brandywine
21:01The Continental Army has successfully held off the British advances for eight hours
21:06But all of that is about to change
21:09What Washington doesn't know
21:11Is that his main force has only been engaging half of Howe's army
21:16The other half has been sent on a day-long march to the west
21:19Around the American defenses
21:23And is now headed for a surprise attack from behind
21:27It is the same tactic the British used at the Battle of Long Island
21:31And once again, Washington is surprised by the maneuver
21:37Having outflanked the Americans, the battle quickly becomes a rout
21:45One thousand American soldiers are wounded or killed
21:49Washington is forced to retreat north
21:52Giving up the fight
21:53And giving up Philadelphia
22:01Six weeks later, the news reaches America's emissary to France
22:05Benjamin Franklin
22:07His hometown, the rebel capital, Philadelphia
22:10Has fallen to the British
22:13In response, the sage statesman makes an unlikely quip
22:19Instead of Howe taking Philadelphia
22:21Philadelphia has taken Howe
22:25This is not only spin of the finest kind
22:28From a man who, remember, made his name writing hoaxes
22:31And dispensing misinformation in his own papers
22:34He knows his job
22:36And his job is essentially to make it appear to the Europeans
22:39And particularly to the French
22:41That the American cause is a viable one
22:43And moreover, that the Americans can win this contest
22:46Those are all of them, at that point, fictions
22:50Franklin, as shrewd in his diplomacy as he is in his chess
22:53Will have to wait yet again
22:56The unanswered question
22:58Is whether the French will support America
23:01In its next move
23:04Monsieur Franklin
23:05In France, we do not take King's soul
23:09Madame de Bourbon, French Duchess
23:11Ah, madame, we do in America
23:20Back in the colonies
23:22America's northern army
23:23Is getting ready for a battle
23:25That will turn the tide of the war
23:34September 11, 1777
23:37Washington's army takes on the British
23:39At Brandywine Creek
23:4125,000 soldiers clash
23:43But the Americans are outflanked by their enemy
23:47It is another route for the British
23:49As the rebel capital, Philadelphia
23:51Falls into enemy hands
23:53But British General Howe's decision to take Philadelphia
23:57Has meant abandoning his northern army
24:06With no knowledge of Howe's choice
24:08General John Burgoyne
24:10Leader of Britain's northern army
24:12Continues his campaign to take the Hudson
24:16And the gentleman general makes sure he travels in style
24:20Thirty carts of food, clothing, and liquor
24:23Take the edge off a campaign
24:25Through the rugged terrain of upstate New York
24:28Tonight, he is confident and in good cheer
24:33Burgoyne has enlisted help in his campaign
24:35A secret weapon that he believes will give him the upper hand
24:41500 Native Americans from the League of the Iroquois
24:44Have joined Burgoyne's army
24:45They will serve as guides to the British
24:48Helping them navigate the northern frontier
24:51The Indians were not really interested in theories of monarchy versus democracy
24:57The Indians were playing it according to how is this going to play for us
25:03Which side is going to be most likely to grant us our sovereignty
25:10Who is our greatest friend and conversely who is our biggest threat
25:16Each Indian nation has to make a choice
25:21Virtually none are able to remain neutral
25:25Most, overwhelmingly, they side with the British
25:31For the Native Americans, it is a marriage of convenience
25:35A British victory is their best hope for protecting their lands
25:39Against the westward-pushing American colonists
25:42Burgoyne partakes in the ancient practice of sharing a peace pipe
25:45But he wants the Indians to attack the Americans without mercy
25:50And wastes no time broadcasting his objective
25:54Issuing a proclamation to the inhabitants of New England
25:57A warning to all who stand in his way
26:02I have but give stretch to the Indian forces under my direction
26:06And they amount to thousands to overtake the hardened enemies of Great Britain
26:11Wherever they may lurk
26:13The messengers of justice and of wrath await them
26:18General John Burgoyne
26:20Burgoyne's proclamation is a fateful decision
26:25July 27th, 1777, Western Vermont
26:30Two Braves capture a woman by the name of Jane McRae
26:34There is a struggle, a fight, a shot is fired
26:37Jane McRae dies
26:40But it is unclear who killed her
26:42There are varying versions of this story
26:44And some contend that in fact she was killed by militiamen firing on the Indians
26:50In an attempt to rescue her
26:51However she actually met her fate
26:53This is one of those sort of events that's prone to being manipulated for propaganda purposes
26:59The story spreads through the colonies with lightning speed
27:02And becomes fodder for brutal anti-Indian propaganda of the highest order
27:08It is written that bloodthirsty Indians have killed a white woman
27:11And Burgoyne is held accountable
27:16Back in the British camp, the scalp of Jane McRae is presented to Burgoyne
27:20Who receives it with disgust
27:22Even though he is the one who ordered the raids
27:26The savages, having scalped a young lady, their prisoner, fills me with horror
27:33I would rather put my commission in the fire than serve a day
27:36If I could suppose government would blame me for such strong acts
27:39Such unheard barbarities
27:43But Burgoyne's reaction is too little, too late
27:47The killing of McRae becomes a call to arms
27:53Militia grab their muskets and head to the Hudson Valley
27:57And begin to pour into continental camps
28:01For General Horatio Gates, who arrived on Washington's orders in August
28:05To take over as leader of America's Northern Army
28:08It is the boost he has been waiting for
28:12Gates is a proud, albeit disheveled, man
28:15Who comes from a clouded past
28:16Born in Britain to a servant mother
28:18He is rumored to be a bastard son
28:21America has given him an escape from the rigid class structure of Europe
28:25War, a chance to gain glory against his former home
28:30But he harbors even greater ambitions
28:33Horatio Gates wanted to be commander-in-chief of the American army
28:37And it goes much beyond that
28:40Whoever was the victorious leader of the revolutionaries
28:44Would emerge as the leader of a new nation
28:47There had to be a new ruler
28:50Some new kind of ruler, no one had decided what yet
28:55I think he might have been that ambitious and that foolish
28:59Gates adds fuel to the furor over the killing
29:01Of Jane Macrae, writing an open letter directly to his adversary
29:05That the famous Lieutenant General Burgoyne should hire the savages of America to scalp Europeans
29:11And the descendants of Europeans is more than will be believed in Europe
29:15They are harsh words to an old friend
29:20Gates knows his rival John Burgoyne well
29:23In the Seven Years' War they were comrades in arms
29:26Registered one after the other in the British military ledger as gentlemen to be lieutenant
29:32Now Gates sees his chance for glory
29:35In beating his old country and gentleman Johnny Burgoyne
29:38He will prove himself to Congress
29:40Which, to him, still doesn't recognize his worth
29:45Gates orders his army to a position where he knows the British will have to pass
29:49Just south of a region of New York called Saratoga
29:56Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne continues his southward march
29:59But there is no sign of reinforcements
30:03Burgoyne has made a fateful decision
30:05To press forward rather than wait for news from Howe
30:10Clues as to what lies ahead are all around him
30:19A royal patrol scouting close to Saratoga
30:22Comes across a note pinned to a tree
30:26Burgoyne had posted his proclamation
30:28Now the rebels have issued one of their own
30:32Thus far shalt thou go
30:34And no further
30:37September 19, 1777
30:41With numbers swelled by anti-Burgoyne sentiment
30:43The rebel army is ready for a fight
30:46Horatio Gates sees an opportunity to test the British
30:49Just south of Saratoga on a piece of land called Freeman's Farm
30:54Gates has a surprise for his enemy
30:56An elite force sent by Washington himself
30:59Daniel Morgan's rifleman
31:02Morgan, a Virginia officer, fought in the Seven Years' War
31:06Witnessing firsthand the fighting style of the Native Americans
31:10Inspired by what he saw
31:11He has created guerrilla tactics
31:14That are new to the battlefields of the 18th century
31:16Rather than attack in columns head-on
31:19Morgan's men fire from cover
31:23Noon
31:25After a tough morning march
31:27Through heavily thicketed woods
31:28A forward picket of Burgoyne's army
31:31Finally reaches a clearing
31:33A moment to rest, they think
31:40But Morgan's men are waiting
31:42Fire rains down with deadly accuracy
31:46All but one British officer is killed or wounded in the first assault
31:51The ambush is followed by bloody skirmishes
31:54The battle's swinging back and forth through the afternoon
31:58Until finally, at four o'clock
32:00Having inflicted their damage
32:01The Americans fall back
32:03The British suffer 600 casualties to the American marksmen
32:08And come to understand that these rebels
32:10May not give up so easily
32:16In the American camp, militia keep pouring in
32:19The army swells to more than 10,000
32:22Victory against the 5,000 British soldiers now seems possible
32:27Horatio Gates can feel it
32:30So too can another general
32:32Who wants to capture some glory for himself
32:35Benedict Arnold
32:37But before the two generals take on Burgoyne
32:40They will find themselves in a battle against each other
32:43Each vying for credit in a campaign
32:45That will change the course of the war
32:52The battle at Freeman's Farm
32:54Just outside of Saratoga, New York
32:56Has stopped British General John Burgoyne's southward march in its tracks
33:01And given confidence to Horatio Gates' troops
33:04Whose numbers continue to swell
33:07That confidence is shared by another bold American general
33:11Who sees his chance for glory
33:14Benedict Arnold
33:17Arnold comes from a prominent Connecticut family
33:20That fell on hard times
33:21His alcoholic father squandered away the family's fortune
33:26But Arnold would not yield to his lowly circumstances
33:30Achieving great wealth and success in business through sheer will
33:36He has been in the war since the outset
33:38And has always made an impression
33:41He was spit and polish
33:44When he sat on a fine horse
33:46He was literally a commanding figure
33:49Men looked up to him
33:51It was Arnold who helped snatch Fort Ticonderoga from the British two years earlier
33:56But the credit for the victory went to the hard-drinking frontiersman Ethan Allen
34:02It is a slight that Arnold has not forgotten
34:06But this campaign offers him a chance at redemption
34:09To get the credit he feels he deserves
34:19Meanwhile, around Saratoga, New York
34:21The two armies wait
34:23Just miles away from each other
34:29They wait, as soldiers do
34:31For their next order
34:51In the American camp
34:53Gates and Arnold talk strategy
34:55Over a meal of ox heart
34:59Their army has swelled to twice the size of Burgoyne's
35:04The question is, what to do next
35:08And the two generals have two different ideas
35:13Arnold, ever on the offensive, proposes an aggressive act
35:16An attack on Burgoyne
35:19Gates, however, is characteristically circumspect
35:23Let Burgoyne come to them
35:27The conversation turns heated
35:29Tempers flare
35:30Horatio Gates couldn't stand Benedict Arnold
35:34Considered him an upstart
35:35An arrogant upstart
35:37And Benedict Arnold
35:39Like many of the revolutionary soldiers
35:42Called Gates, Granny Gates
35:44A fussy old woman
35:48But the headstrong Arnold
35:49Takes his argument one step too far
35:54Gates, in no uncertain terms
35:56Reminds, reminds Arnold
35:57That it is he who is the ranking officer
36:02And Gates banished his best general
36:06From the dinner table
36:08Insulted him
36:09Wouldn't let him come to meetings
36:10Told him to basically
36:11Stay in your quarters
36:13Which were a little hot
36:14On the edge of the battlefield
36:20And Benedict Arnold fumed
36:22As a result of that dinner
36:24And decided that he would have to defy
36:27The orders of his commanding officer
36:29Because he believed the Americans
36:31Were going to be beaten
36:31If it were up to Granny Gates
36:45In the British camp
36:47General John Burgoyne
36:48Is filled with frustration
36:51News has finally arrived from Howe
36:53There will be no reinforcements
36:55Coming from the south
36:58But gentleman Johnny Burgoyne
37:00Refuses to retreat
37:02Burgoyne is exceptionally ambitious
37:04He is definitely a glory hunter
37:06But his greatest failing was that
37:08Like many officers of his time
37:11He placed a premium
37:12On individual martial glory
37:15He wanted to gain fame for himself
37:16Saratoga should have never happened
37:18Johnny Burgoyne's pride
37:20His hubris
37:21Is what precipitated the disaster
37:24At Saratoga
37:25With his supplies dwindling
37:28Burgoyne decides to make one last push
37:32An assault on the Americans
37:34Just to the south of Saratoga
37:36On a rise of land
37:37Called Bemis Heights
37:40October 7, 1777
37:44Burgoyne sends a reconnaissance force
37:46Of 1,500 towards the American lines
37:50Gates sets 2,400 of his men
37:53Out to meet the British
37:58It is the final engagement
38:00Of the Battle of Saratoga
38:04On the field
38:05Benedict Arnold
38:06In defiance of Gates' orders
38:07Leads the charge
38:09Against the royals
38:10Arnold employed snipers
38:12He got riflemen
38:14Highly accurate
38:15Put them up in trees
38:16Like snipers
38:17Not down in red uniforms
38:19With white stripes
38:21That you can sight
38:23Arnold fought like an Indian
38:25From cover
38:27With camouflage
38:29Surprise attacks
38:30It was a new kind of warfare
38:32And the British
38:33Didn't adapt to it
38:37Through the smoke of battle
38:39Arnold spots an opportunity
38:41He can't ignore
38:45British General Simon Fraser
38:47Seems to be single-handedly
38:49Rallying the troops
38:52Arnold makes a snap decision
38:53That changes the course
38:54Of the fight
38:55He orders his men
38:56To target the British officer
39:00One month earlier
39:02George Washington
39:03May have been spared assassination
39:04At the Battle of Brandywine
39:06But at Saratoga
39:07British officers
39:09Are offered no such favor
39:12It takes three shots
39:14Three shots
39:15That take down his adversary
39:20With Fraser removed
39:21From the battle
39:22The life seems to disappear
39:23From the British soldiers
39:24Who begin to retreat
39:26Under the pressure
39:26Of Arnold's advance
39:28But not before
39:29Taking a well-placed shot
39:31Of their own
39:32Benedict Arnold
39:33Takes a bullet to the leg
39:35And barely survives
39:37Being crushed by his horse
39:39When the battle was over
39:41His second-in-command
39:43Said, sir
39:44Where are you hit?
39:46And Arnold said
39:47It's my leg
39:48I wish it had been my heart
39:50And I do, too
39:51I wish it had been his heart
39:53Because if he had died
39:54At that moment
39:55He would have been
39:55The great hero
39:56Of the revolution
39:58With Arnold's leadership
39:59The British attack
40:00Is repelled
40:01And the campaign
40:02To take the Hudson
40:03Comes to an end
40:05Yet it is Horatio Gates
40:07Who will take the credit
40:08For the victory
40:10Gates doesn't mention
40:11Arnold
40:11In his dispatches
40:13And garners all the glory
40:14For himself
40:15The people
40:16And the press
40:17Hailed Gates
40:18As the new American hero
40:21In fact
40:22The hero of the battle
40:23Was Benedict Arnold
40:30October 17th, 1777
40:33Noon
40:36Two generals meet each other
40:38On a field of surrender
40:41After a seven-month campaign
40:43Down the Hudson
40:43General John Burgoyne
40:45Comes face to face
40:46With his old colleague
40:47Continental General
40:49Horatio Gates
40:52Burgoyne's ill-fated journey
40:53Ends here
40:54With the surrender
40:55Of 6,000 of his soldiers
40:58The largest capture
41:00Of British forces
41:00In the entire war
41:04Burgoyne will return home
41:05A prisoner of war
41:08Losing not only
41:09His year-old wager
41:10But his military career
41:17General William Howe
41:19Who delivered Philadelphia
41:20To the British
41:21With the best of intentions
41:22Has had enough
41:24No one in Britain
41:25Is celebrating
41:26The capture of Philadelphia
41:28Instead
41:29They blame Howe
41:30For not coming
41:31To Burgoyne's aid
41:33Just five days
41:34After the surrender
41:35At Saratoga
41:36Howe prepares
41:37His resignation
41:38To return home
41:40Leaving behind
41:42The rebels
41:42And the war
41:43That should have
41:44Ended long ago
41:49Across the Atlantic
41:51America's envoy
41:52To France
41:52Benjamin Franklin
41:53Receives the news
41:55The victory
41:56At Saratoga
41:57Has changed the war
41:58And changed
42:00The world
42:02I don't think
42:03Anyone was surprised
42:04By the news
42:05Of Saratoga
42:05As Franklin
42:06There had been
42:06Nothing but bad news
42:07From the colonies
42:08It's fair to say
42:09Certainly that he
42:10Is waiting
42:11For something
42:12Like this
42:13Saratoga
42:14Is certainly
42:14The thing
42:15Which finally
42:16Puts him in a position
42:17To be able
42:17To sign the deal
42:18With the French
42:19Benjamin Franklin
42:20Has played his game
42:21Perfectly
42:22Now
42:23The next move
42:24Is his
42:25He dons
42:26His old
42:27Blue velvet suit
42:28The same one
42:29He wore three years ago
42:30On the fateful day
42:31The British ministry
42:32All but accused him
42:33Of treason
42:35He wears it again
42:36At last
42:37To Versailles
42:38At a meeting
42:39With the French leadership
42:45The news of victory
42:46At Saratoga
42:47Is exactly
42:48What Francis
42:48King Louis XVI
42:49Wants to hear
42:51He pledges his army
42:53And more importantly
42:54His navy
42:55To the American cause
42:56It amounts to
42:58A declaration of war
42:59Between France
43:00And England
43:02The American Revolution
43:04Which started as
43:05A far off
43:06Colonial uprising
43:07Is now
43:08A world war
43:14They might be
43:16Celebrating in Paris
43:17But as the winter
43:19Of 1777
43:20Takes hold
43:21General Washington
43:22Has less to be
43:23Joyous about
43:25Horatio Gates'
43:26Anointment
43:26As the hero
43:27Of Saratoga
43:28Again raises questions
43:29Over who should be
43:30In charge
43:31Of this army
43:32Philadelphia
43:33New York
43:34And large parts
43:35Of the colonies
43:35Remain in British hands
43:39Washington
43:39Must turn his army
43:41And his leadership
43:42Around
43:43For the biggest battles
43:45Still lie ahead
43:47To be continued
43:48To be continued
43:59To be continued
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