Trenton aside, were these guys a net contribution to the British cause or did their presence just wind up making things worse?I'm not only talking about their battlefield performance, but whether the use of foreign troops enflamed colonial sentiments towards supporting independence.
>>65303208>but whether the use of foreign troops enflamed colonial sentiments towards supporting independence.Good question but sadly I can't contribute to it. But according to some Hessian reenactor (the video of which I also can't find) the hessians themselves were quite jealous of the quality of life that the average settler in North America had, as many of the hessian soldiers were themselves serfs or poor freemen who came from overcrowded estates.
Why are americans still asshurt about mercenaries from a small german town.
>>65303537I think it's just American Exceptionalsim applied to every single event of their perceived common history.In reality, the use of mercenaries was very normal.And parts of the HRE wer still suffering from devastations from the 30 years war, so becoming a mercenray was not unusual at all.For the (more often than not) noble commander of teh regiment, it was a business.For the men who joined up it was a chance to earn money.>>65303535>the hessians themselves were quite jealous of the quality of life that the average settler in North America had, as many of the hessian soldiers were themselves serfs or poor freemen who came from overcrowded estates.This is not unlikely, the men who joined up often were younger sons who might not inherit any land, would probably not be taken on as a apprentice and thus could expect to live their life as day-labourers if they made it to a city, or as de-facto serfs (actual serfdom may have been abolished, but a farmer who owed fuckhuge debts was still powerless) and farmhands with no hope of ever owning their own house or land.Compare this to America, where everyone could just claim a plot of land and build his own house. This is pretty much the definition of culture shock.
>>65303583>For the (more often than not) noble commander of teh regiment, it was a business.Yes.>For the men who joined up it was a chance to earn money.Most men were conscripted in their respective states and then rented out by their sovereigns. The Hessians were not mercenaries. And the soldiers who were subject to the Soldatenhandel recieved no extra pay - but they were clothed, fed and housed (at least they were supposed to) on the cost of the state/whoever rented them which was always an incentive for the poor.>actual serfdom may have been abolishedSerfdom was only abolished in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel in 1831.
>>65303208The Hessians were there for the lulz. The Brits probably figured it would be funny to have slave soldiers torch down the White House, which had been built by slaves.
>>65303763You are mixing up your historic events.
>>65303537>>65303583You don't call foreigners into a family dispute.
>>65303535>>65303583Was there a documented Ranch Dressing moment of the 1770's?>>65303738On the subject of Western serfdom, did anyone else watch picrel? It was very good, an astonishing peek into the brutalities of Danish peasant life.
>>65303208These are the three main Hessian writers journals from the war:>Johann von Ewalda career soldier, officer and the best big picture view: https://archive.org/details/EwaldsDIARYOFTHEAMERICANWAR (also read his Essay on Partisan Warfare)>Johann Gottfried Seumea more introspective take>Johann Conrad Döhlaa everyman private's take
>>65303208Who wore it better?
>>65303938Germans made up 1/3 of the population in the colonies at that time.
>>65304003Lovely. You don't call foreigners into family disputes.
>>65303944>Was there a documented Ranch Dressing moment of the 1770's?Can't think of anything related to the American Revolutionary War but in the 16th and 17th century there was a tobacco craze as this drug became very popular in Europe amongst all social classes and gender boundries.>On the subject of Western serfdom, did anyone else watch picrel?No. But there is another period drama with Mads Mikkelsen named Michael Kohlhaas. Here Mikkelsen plays the aforementioned character who was a horse merchant who suffered a few injustices from the hands of a petty noble and eventually led a very violent feud aginst said nobleman. And while the important characters of this movie are all stationed above peasants in the social hierarchy, they are still subject to the violent and often uncaring order of the estates. It's a rather slow movie but still worth a watch.
>>65303974The Lange Kerls were a total meme unit that got greatly reorganised into a battalion sized unit in 1740 when Friedrich II. ascended to the throne. The hight requirement was done away with and the "giants" were spread over multiple units while the recruitment of such men was stopped.
>>65304042Sounds, good, I'll watch the shit out of that if I can find it.
>>65304003bs
>>65303944hessian pows stayed and settled in the us because they liked it
>>65303535lots of em ended up staying in america afterwards too and did pretty okay for themselves, so the americans can't have hated them too mucht. direct descendant
>>65304490Were there any local post-war militia units that got to keep the uniform?
>>65303208The British probably couldn't have controlled the colonies without the added manpower. Particularly in the north, Hessians were 20-40% of British forces.The use of Hessians was grievance number 25 of the 27 listed against the king in the Declaration of Independence. The animosity was more political than personal. Hessian PoWs were treated well and many kept in Lancaster, PA where there were many settlers of colonial descent. Around a third of them elected to stay in America.
>>65303208The brits had no real long term strategy. It's appropriate that Washington's mansion was named after the guy who famously fumbled the bag in Colombia. They are silly people.
>>65303537Still mad we had to wake up hungover on Christmas to effortlessly exterminate your 'military elite' lmao
>>65306134Apparently they did. The Continental Army struggled with uniformity and often reused captured equipment. Keep in mind that there were not only soldiers from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel in North America but also from other german states such as the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel - all with their own uniforms (luckily mostly in different shades of blue)https://wvssar.org/resources/rev-war/uniforms/https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2026/06/uniforms-of-the-us-army/
bump
>>65303208>>65303535It wasn't some strange or exotic practice, having half your army be made up of random foreign regiments was just how war worked back then. Everybody did it and it was expected.
>>65303944Must have been a mighty culture shock all around for a serf who never even heard of the enlightenment.19th century germans had a pretty good picture of how america differed from europe and why the political system was much more desirable. The hessians didn't have a clue, they just saw fabulously wealthy people who still rebelled against their rightful king.
Most Hessians were essentially military slaves who got pressed into service due to debts or other factors and then rented by their ruler to various states. It's weird US historiography made them out like these elite mercenaries sent by the British to kill them.
>>65309300It was also common to straight up integrate POWs you took after a battle into your own army, often whole regiments at a time.
>>65309867IIRC, very few Hessian actually died from direct enemy action under the expectation they weren't really invested in the fight ideologically and largely just there to hold ground.
>>65303944Im related to a Hessian captured by Washington's men when they crossed the Delaware and he decided to stay here as some kind of voluntary indentured servant to a Pennsylvania farmer before he had enough money to start his own family.
>>65309861I get the impression anglo historiography often can't admit that wartime was wartime propaganda and not truth. Everyone does propaganda, but anglos think they're better than that and therefore have to believe theirs in perpetuity.
>>65306140Anon the ones nursing hangovers were the Hessians drunk in their beds captured at gunpoint.
>>65309300That is quite the overstatement. At most 25% of the british armed forces in North America were their german auxiliaries. And throughout the late 17th and 18th century the armies were increasingly comprised of the subjects of the respective states that raised them. Already in 1677 21% of the army of France were "foreign" contingents - which were either swiss mercenaries or germans who were the de facto subjects of the french crown. And those numbers only decreased over time. And the reason for the relatively high number of foreign auxiliaries in the british army of the 1770s was the fact that said army relied overly on volunteers, impressment was illegal (it became legal for a short time but was so unpopular that it was outlawed quickly again) and suffered from neglect after the Seven Years War. >>65309867I can't think of a single example of an entire regiment getting incorporated into a previously hostile army. Officers were far more likely to get "poached" due to their skillset but most remained POWs who were soon to be exchanged - same as the regular soldiers, who were often put to work details. Important for the topic of this thread: many Hessians after Trenton found themselves in a POW camp in Pennsylvania simply called Hessian Camp. There they worked on the farms and industries to supplement the missing workforce of the loyalist men who fought in the Continental Army. Similarly there was also the Convention Army - a force of nearly 6000 british and german soldiers which was somewhat stranded between the lines as no agreement for a proper imprisonment or evacuation could be made.>>65309937The Hessians were instrumental for the british campaigns on Long Island and the capture of New York. Only when the war dragged on did the risk of desertion increase and many of the regular german soldiers were relegated to garrison duties. It didn't help that the Continental Congress actively poached them with the promises of immediate pay and land grants.
>>65309300About 30 years before, Hessians were brought over to Britain to fight the Jacobites. IIRC, these were ex-French POWs who had been paroled (released) on the condition that they would not be used to fight France or her allies, so they were broadly useless in the context of the wider European war being fought. They pissed off the British as some of them got captured again and set up a cartel (prisoner exchange system) with the Jacobites - which implied that the Jacobites weren’t rebels but actually peer enemies - then the French landed some troops and said that the Hessians were in breach of their parole conditions, so they had to get rotated out of the campaign.
>>65310257Happened a lot with Swedish armies
>>65303938The British and the French had german regiments, and using mercenaries was very common back then.
>>65303208>unmotivated foreign troops who are perceived by the locals as invaders get brought in to make up for manpower shortages
Is there any reason why the British were so keen on hiring German troops specifically (as opposed to other nationalities like Poles, Swedes, or the Swiss)? Or was it a case of the Germans were selling and the British were buying?
>>65303208>the best British soldiers were German>The American army was trained by GermansWas the American Revolution a German Civil War?
>>65314735>Or was it a case of the Germans were selling and the British were buying?This. A few states within the HRE maintained relatively large (for their size/populations) armies which were rented out to for other states to use. The first case of such a "rented regiment" was when the Duchy of Württemberg rented out a regiment to the Republic of Venice in 1687. Other customers were Prussia, Austria or the Dutch East India Company. It also helped that George III. of Great Britain was related to several of those minor german princes and thus had connections.
>>65311729wtf happened to this nigga’s nose
>>65309861>It's weird US historiography made them out like these elite mercenaries sent by the British to kill them.Their elaborate dress and status as a "European" army contributed immensely to "Hessian panic" if you will. It also made them incredibly easy to vilified and paint the cause of the United Colonies as not just a fight for freedom, but an existential battle against foreign hordes.
>>65306138This
>>65314735Muh HRE Muh Hanover Muh dynasty mutha fucka
>be me>kraut>had ancestor who supposedly fought in America as a Hessian>know basically nothing else about him (don’t even know his birth/death dates)
>>65303208They fought well most of the time but arguably never had their talents fully appreciated by the British
>>65304490What would an 'indirect descendant' mean?
>>65303537They had a lot of loyalty for a hired hessian.
>>65317725A particularly nasty case of untreated syphilis.Apparently penicillin is unknown technology in North Korea.
>>65330017Descended from a sibling of the person in question.
>>65303537Have you ever had to wear hessian underwear? You'll be asshurt alright.
>>65303938>Begs the French for help
>>65303938Wasn't Hanover technically a part of the United Kingdom at that time?
>>65330392No, that's not how personal unions worked. Both Great Britain and the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (Hannover) were seperate states that just had the same person as their respective monarchs. Fun fact: the soldiers from Braunschweig-Lüneburg were deployed to Gibraltar to replace those british soldiers that were shipped towards America.
