To Americans, King George III is mainly known as the monarch we rebelled against, but within the UK itself, he may be best known as the King who suffered from severe mental illness later in life, leading to the necessity of the regency after which the Regency Period was named. (I think that's one of the reasons we don't worry too much about offending the British by making fun of him as much as we do - they're known to crack jokes about the poor 'Mad King' too.) Benjamin Franklin was indeed a notorious womanizer, but he got along quite well with the French: his attitude towards romance was far more in keeping with their own than it was with the puritan colonists back home, and he was quite effective in his role.

Most of these jokes are " inside jokes " , Americans will get them.

The betrayal by Benidict Arnold was such a big event that still today the word Traitor is interchangeable with Benedict Arnold in the USA

John Paul Jones is known as "The Father of the American Navy", and was friends with such people as John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin. After the Revolutionary War he went on to work for Catherine the Great. Interesting character.

King George III was known as being the 'Mad King', and he was pretty mentally unstable by this time and not making the best decisions. He wasn't the best or the worst king but was unfit to rule. In modern times it's believed he probably had porphyria, considering all his ailments, but obviously it's hard to know exactly. At the time he would've essentially been tortured with so-called medical treatments, these included putting him in a straightjacket, bloodletting, freezing baths, and forced starvation. He suffered hallucinations, pain, vomiting & nausea, muscle weakness & numbness, and his the last decade of his life became deaf and blind. Descriptions of his mood & personality also suggest he may have been bipolar, but of course he may have been "out of sorts" due to the severe pain he was constantly in as well, so that's harder to diagnose. He also seems to have had some kind of dementia. Kind of a pitiful figure tbh.

yes, Benjamin Franklin was quite the hound dog. At least one illegitimate child too

Britain especially during the time of the Revolution under the Hanoverian kings was not an "absolute monarchy" as Oversimplified said. France was an Absolute Monarchy, but Britain had a parliament that had control over taxation and many other things, the king wasn't able to just hand down orders and make changes to the nation at whim. The only time Britain was an absolute monarchy was during the Tudor era when King Henry the 8th with his a crown imperial worked to change the religion of the nation from Catholic to Protestant to get a divorce and so claimed that the King was head of Church and State royal supremacy. Protestantism both set up the idea of the royal supremacy for Henry the 8, but Protestantism a poison pill ally who's philosophical basis nature was ultimately based in challenging absolute authority not supporting it. It was Protestantism and the reign of Queen Mary and her Husband the Dutch Prince William of Orange known as King William the 3rd starting in 1689 who made the British monarchy into the modern limited monarchy it has been since them and as it already was when George the 3rd was in power with his limited powers and a Parliament needing consulting with in order for him to get things done. France remained absolute monarchy of the "sun king" Kingly dictatorship till it's French revolution fall, where as Britain had had a Parliament since before the Tudors came to power and reestablished the powers of parliament and Magna Carta over the King in the centuries after the Tudor era.

John Paul Jones is considered one of the fathers of the US Navy

things like the joke @7:24 are based on knowledge of Benjamin Franklin: 1) He's a well-known womanizer 2) He did this famous electricity/kite experiment. So in short yeah some of the jokes won't hit if you don't know enough about the subject, but overall I still recommend Oversimplified videos, especially his more recent ones, where he's improved his humor overall (in most people's opinion, I'd say).

"The British had hired a large force of mercenaries from the German states of Hesse Kassel and Hesse Hanau [...]" Oh, cool I can add to that! Soldier trade: The extravagance of the (absolutist) princes swallowed up enormous sums of money, more than the (often quite small) dominions could generate. To remedy the ever-present shortage of money, some princes found completely new sources of money: they sold their countries children. Young men aged 15-16 were sold as soldiers to the warring nations. In the American War of Independence, for example, several thousand German soldiers fought under English command. The bartering of children as cannon fodder to foreign powers proved to be a very lucrative source of income. The series of so-called German subsidy contracts was opened by the Catholic Bishop of Münster, Bernd von Galen, who from 1665 to 1677 sold 6,000 - 8,000 men one after the other to England, France, the Emperor, Spain and Denmark. Always to the highest bidder. The princes of the small state of Hesse probably benefited most from the blood of their countrymen. The oldest Hessian subsidy contract dates from 1677 and was concluded by Landgrave Karl I (1677 - 1730) with King Christian of Denmark. In 1702, Charles I supplied 9,000 Hessians to the maritime powers, in 1706 11,500 men to Italy, and after the Peace of Utrecht 12,000 men to George I of England. Since George II's accession to the throne, England paid 240,000 pounds sterling in subsidies annually. Frederick I of Hesse (1730 - 1751) increased his holdings considerably. The standing men were brought up to 24,000 men. During his reign he received 1,249,699 pounds sterling from England alone. William VIII of Hesse (1751 - 1760) bartered away 6,000 Hessians to George II of England, who had allied himself with Maria Theresa, and another 6,000 Hessians to Charles VII, who was at war with Maria Theresa. The Hessians were thus allowed to slaughter each other for the profit of their country's father, who collected an average of 30 crowns per dead and 10 crowns per wounded. Apart from very considerable supplies to Holland, the Landgrave placed 20,000 Hessians at the disposal of the English during the Seven Years' War. Frederick II of Hesse (1760 - 1785), who rewarded a former mistress of the Duke of Bouillon for her love with a fixed annual sum of 10,000 thalers, who squandered most lavishly and had the most expensive buildings built, earned so much from his human trafficking that he left behind 60 million thalers after his death. These figures only take on a terrible significance when one considers that the small state of Hesse-Kassel had a population of only 300,000 at the time. In the other German states, the soldier trade flourished no less lavishly. Source: The Book "Die Verbürgerlichung der deutschen Kunst, Literatur und Musik im 18. Jahrhundert"

Good movie about King George III -- "The Madness of King George (1994) Not too many movies about the Revolution as there are for later wars, but "The Patriot" (2000) is pretty good. ("1776" is a movie musical, but more for a niche audience.)

@angiepen

8 ай бұрын

Good rec. [nod] The Evil British Officer in The Patriot is a loosely disguised version of Bannistre "the Butcher" Tarleton.

Ben Franklin loved the ladies. Yes, that's accurate. In the series John Adams, Franklin introduces his "girlfriend" Mme. Helvitius, and she says "M. Franklin has asked me to marry him many times." Abigail Adams (wife of John Adams), who never minced words, replied, "An inconvenience to Mrs. Franklin I'm sure."

if u have ever watched a film called the patriot then youll know all about colonel tavington aka the butcher tarleton!

7:32 it's kind of a mixed bag, while some of the jokes are just jokes, some do have historical basis. As for Benjamin Franklin, to say he was a big romanticizer would be an understatement. If you want to learn more on that subject, you could look up "Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress", a letter he wrote to a friend in 1745.

what I love is to this day the term 'Benedict Arnold' is still used in America to describe a shady, untrustworthy and traitorous person haha. he shall never be forgotten!

Give "Yorktown" from the Hamilton-Musical a listen (or a watch), and maybe the preceeding "History has its eyes on you" as well. It's an AMAZING piece about that final battle and the British surrender.

Washington's brilliance as a leader was his ability to choose, and, then to trust his subordinates. He knew that Horatio Gates was effectively useless, and, that Daniel Morgan, although he was junior, was a much better choice. He was then able to trust Morgan, and, not micromanage him, and, it paid off. John Paul Jones is the man known as "The Father of the U.S. Navy". He died, in 1792, in Paris, and, was buried in a small graveyard belonging to the French royal family. Due to the French Revolution, that graveyard became forgotten for over a century. In the 1840s, when the U.S. built it's Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, the search for his remains began. In 1906, his remains were finally located, exhumed, and, reinterred in a very ornate memorial crypt under the chapel at Annapolis.

Yea a lot of European people don't know how much power the South had during this time in American history. They were the biggest states and contributed most of the supplies for the Continental Army. That's why the Founding Fathers mostly avoid the slavery question because they didn't want the southern states to side with Britain (Slavery was still legal in Britain during this time). So they decided to kick the can down the road.

Americas revolution was the first in the modern Era and one could say has been influencing the world since its inception. Because our revolution inspired many others around the world such as France and s. American countries to name a few. By the dawn of 1890 we'd already started leading the world's economy in GDP. And of course ww2 set us as a world power because we were only ones who had a robust economy and geography leaves us impervious to invasion but with great oil reserves and farmable land and navigable rivers. So in 1776 we became a nation and in 250 years we'd lead the world in military and economy and influence. Def not all positively either!

Benjamin Franklin was a known womanizer. He loved women and they loved him. He mantained lifelong friendships with many women after their affairs were over. The jokes have a duality to them. They are primarily to keep the casual viewer engaged. Howver if you have more background knowledge you get the underlying inside joke as well. It's actuallu very clever.

Even though these are called Oversimplified, they actually do have a lot of information in them! I studied history in the US and some of this is not taught. I gained more knowledge by going up to Virginia regularly where a lot of colonial sites are well-preserved. Also learned my British history that way when I lived in the UK. And yes Ben Franklin was a notorious womanizer!

Watch "Hamilton" to see a different version, George III and all.

Your are clever. There are several instances of passing info while joking. Yes, Benjamin Franklin was a womanizer and also an inventor. Among many other accomplishments he created the lighting rod and invented bifocals lenses. -----the reference to the women being "electrifying". The Scottish "pirate" John Paul Jones navigated to America and to British colonies in the Caribbean. Also was hired in Europe to carry out assaults in other countries, he had a long history. His remains were brought from France to the US and he is buried with great honor in the chapel of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Ben Franklin was a notorious womanizer

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