John Ferling’s ‘Shots Heard Round the World’

By Christopher Miskimon

When the British Army marched on Lexington and Concord, the American Revolution began. However, the war was not just between England and its rebellious colonies. This war became global in nature, involving France, Spain and the Dutch Republic, once Britain proved unable to quickly quell the uprising. France had agents assessing the possibility of a successful American Revolution even before it began. By 1777, French material support began arriving in America, followed by Spanish ships soon after. Othe supplies came through a Dutch port in the Caribbean. Still the war dragged on for eight years, with little sign of ending in America’s favor. When the situation suddenly turned America’s way shortly before the Battle of Yorktown, it was a surprise to many on both sides, but it was largely due to the international aid the colonists received.

This new book assesses the military and civilian leaders on both sides. It also considers their decisions and the effects of those decisions as the war raged not only in North America, but also in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Central America. The work provides a fascinating look at the global legacy of the American Revolution.

Shots Heard Round the World: America, Britain, and Europe in the Revolutionary War (John Ferling, Bloomsbury Publishing, New York, 2024, 560pp., maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $36.00, hardcover)