Revolutionary War: What If the British Won?

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today we're heading back 250 years to the end of the Revolutionary War - but this time, we're asking what might have happened if the British had won.

How would the revolutionaries have been punished? How might the colonies of North America have developed differently? And would independence have been achieved anyway?

Don once again welcomes Major Jonathan Bratten and Dan Snow to the podcast. Check out last week's episode 'Revolutionary War: When Was the Turning Point?' for more from Don, Dan and Jonathan.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan, produced by Sophie Gee. The Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to New York City. Local time is 3.20 p.m.
0:07.3	For your safety, please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened and keep the aisles clear until we reach the gate.
0:12.0	Looks like a nice sunny day out there. Temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius with a light breeze.
0:18.0	Thanks for flying with us. You have a great day.
0:26.7	And with that, despite the captain's gracious request, we the passengers on this eight-hour flight just arrived from London, unclip our belts, loosen our limbs, and sore muscles. Doors are
0:31.7	open. We collect our belongings and take that long walk to baggage plane with a cursory stop
0:37.0	at passport control.
0:38.3	That part's easy.
0:39.5	It just takes a brief moment.
0:40.9	After all, we're among our own here, under the same proud red, white, and blue banner, the Union Jack.
0:48.8	Hey, could have happened if the British had won the Revolutionary War, way back when, those colonies could have remained
0:55.8	under the British thumb. And just imagine the possibilities.
1:10.0	Hello, everyone, it's Don Wildman, and this is American History Hit.
1:13.3	I am joined today, again, by Jonathan Bratton and Dan Snow, my good friends.
1:18.2	You can listen to Dan, Jonathan, and me exploring the American victory in a previous episode linked in the show notes.
1:24.3	The upshot is the colonies win the American Revolution, which now, that was
1:28.7	never a sure thing. This all got us thinking, how might the world have looked had the colonies
1:34.2	lost the Revolutionary War in the late 18th century? Before we jump into the hypotheticals or
1:40.4	counterfactual history, let's first think about when in the war the outcome might have gone
1:45.3	the other way. Jonathan, in your mind, are there key moments during that eight-year conflict
1:50.6	called the American Revolution, where you think the colonies really were inches from defeat?
1:55.6	Yeah, that's a great question. And there's so many examples. So I'll pick the key ones.
	...

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