Charles Cornwallis: The Man Who Lost the American Colonies

this video is brought to you by blinkist the first 100 people to go to blinkist.com forward slash biographics will get one week to try it out for free you'll also get 25 off the cost of full membership more on them in a bit you probably know the old saying some are born to greatness while others have greatness thrust upon them during the years we've been making these videos we've covered hundreds of men and women who fall into both categories we've even covered plenty of people for whom greatness meant doing something consequential but awful your stalins and your mouths what about those whose destiny isn't to be anywhere close to greatness those who were born to or had mediocrity thrust upon them only for that mediocrity to its self-holder history for charles cornwallis this wasn't an abstract question it was his very life born into the english upper classes cormalis had the misfortune of embarking on a military career just as england's american colonies exploded in revolt promoted above his head and shipped out to fight he wound up being the redcoats commander at yorktown whereas surrender ended the revolutionary war and ensured britain forever lost her 13 colonies in today's video we're examining the life of a mostly decent but a useless man a useless man who somehow still managed to change the world [Music] when charles cornwallis was born on december 31 1738 it was into a family that was spectacularly well connected his grandfather was brother-in-law of the great robert walpole while his father would soon be made both an er and by count the family also stood in good grace with the monarchy despite likely having cornish irish roots the cornwallisers were famously loyal to the british throne it was a trait that charles would inherit and one that would land him in a lot of trouble for now though young charles enjoyed a regulation childhood among the english upper classes attending eaton with future dukes and learning about military glory the boy evidently liked what he learned as a teenager his fascination with war was intense even by the standards of the time despite having a body shape we might charitably call unlike chris hemsworth and suffering skewed vision from a sporting injury cornwallis was determined to one day fight for king and country that day came sooner than he expected in august 1756 just as charles was enrolling at cambridge frederick the great of prussia invaded saxony for the past two years america's british and french colonists had been fighting one another in the french and indian war frederick the great's attack on a french ally in europe was the opening of a whole new theater of combat with britain now allied with prussia in this increasingly global conflict charles decided to ditch his studies and become the soldier that it always dreamed of being from 1757 to 1761 charles cornwallis toured europe with the prussian army fighting in some of the biggest battles of his era and he clearly made an impression by the end he was promoted to lieutenant colonel even before the fighting finished he was able to translate his military glory into a seat in britain's house of commons not that it need it for very long in june 1762 his father died and charles inherited his elder a year later as the seven years war finally drew to a close he took his dad's seat in the house of lords long a by word for stuffy conservatism the lords nonetheless had a handful of liberal-ish members even in cornwallis day known as the rockinghamides after their leader lord rockingham they managed to recruit the new world just as politics got very interesting being on the winning side of the seven years war had been great for britain's standing but it had been terrible for its finances since expelling the french from america it primarily benefited the 13 colonies it was decided the colonists could refill the king's coffers and so we come to the infamous stamp act attacks on all paper and printed materials in the colonies the stamp act was kind of like george iii personally slapping every american about the face with a bit of a frilly glove it was also the stupidest thing that cornwallis had ever heard of in the lords con wallace became a passionate enemy of the stamp act leaving it unfair on the americans when lord rockingham became prime minister and repealed the act cornwallis was one of those who cheered the loudest but rockingham also passed the declaratory act which basically said to the americans okay fine we won't tax you now but we absolutely have the right to only five peers voted against this new also dumb law among them was charles cornwallis yet while he cared about all this politics wasn't charles cornwallis's lifeblood it wasn't what made him get out of bed in the morning in 1768 he was ready to retire from the lords and settle down with his new wife jemima this would be the happiest period of his life jemima was the daughter of a soldier far below cornwallis class but it married her for love and the two soon settled into a blissful and boring domestic life as the years passed and the two became parents and grew fat it's just about possible to see how things could have turned out differently a world in which charles cornwallis was only ever an obscure happy nobody but unfortunately charles did not live in that world in this world he was destined to not be forgotten but to go down in infamy while charles cornwallis was happily slipping into retirement the british government was happily pouring gasoline onto the stamp act dumpster fire just a year after the declaratory act the townshend acts had slapped duties on british exports to the colonies this had led to a boycott on british goods which had in turn led to british soldiers being sent to boston culminating in the boston massacre when soldiers fired into a mob killing five in the wake of this parliament had repealed the townsend act and decided to stop levying unfair taxes on the americans once and for all not really vaguely familiar with history that of course didn't happen instead you had the tea act of 1773 which led to the boston tea party and then the intolerable acts by which point the thirteen colonies had basically become a bit of a powder keg finally on april the 18th 1775 british troops lit the match by marching out to seize weapons held in concord bonn route they bumped into a waiting militia in lexington someone fired a shot and the rest is history that you're familiar with okay so now we've recapped third grade american history class it's time to check back in on cornwallis despite having been parliament's guy most likely to make loveheart signs in america the moment the revolution broke out cornwallis defaulted back to his king and country mode although his wife begged him not to he volunteered to fight and was promoted to major general and shipped out on february 12 1776. on may 3rd his ship made landfall in north carolina at this point in the story cornwallis met his lifelong nemesis sir henry clinton the man who would eventually head all the british forces in the colonies clinton was a sensitive moody envious incompetent entitled screw-up of commander from almost the moment they met clinton and cornwallis regarded one another with a mutual loathing a loathing that would eventually deteriorate into outright hostility but in those early days the british could still pretend that this was just teething problems as cornwallis was sent north to reinforce william howe in new york it even looked like the war might be over before it properly began that summer cornwallis commanded the reserve troops in the battle of long island a cataclysmic defeat that saw george washington lose new york city to the british although william howe let the american general slip through his fingers cornwallis was certain they'd catch him soon unfortunately it quickly became clear that slipping through fingers was something washington was rather good at the next six months of cornwallis's life reads like the synopsis for a rejected road runner cartoon in which wiley coyote briefly commands a major part of the british army there was the battle of fort lee in november which ended with cornwall is forced to chase the slippery washington all over the state then there was cornwallis inexplicable decision to let washington go after finally catching up with him a moment that may have cost the british the war finally that was what happened at trenton on january the 2nd 1777. after marching a whole day to catch washington cornwallis allowed his men to sleep rather than immediately fought a creek and do battle stupidly he forgot to post lookout so washington simply waited until nightfall and then roadrunned away again leaving cornwallis's reputation to plunge widely coyote-like into a bottomless pit when clinton got the news of this blunder he remarked it was the most consummate ignorance i ever heard of in any officer above a corporal as we'll soon see though clinton was himself no slouch at ignorance and comorus also did at least have one thing going for him throughout all the wars he'd ever been involved with the earl would do his best to make sure his men were well fed paid on time and not made to suffer it's here that we see one of the sad contradictions of corwellis life up to a certain point he was a competent man with a humane streak rare for his class had he been a bit less privileged he would have made a fine logistics commander or lower ranking officer but this was the 18th century an era in british history when background was valued above ability poor old charles cornwallis was going to keep failing upwards until it killed him and as you know perhaps all cornwallis might have failed a little less if he had quick and easy access to the greatest wisdom of his time he didn't have blinkus because it was the 18th century and books were still being written with feathers back then but you you have no excuse look if you're like me you've got plans to read lots of new books this year because well you want to add to that sweet bank of knowledge that you keep in your big brain unfortunately reading takes time and energy and attention all things that were all lacking fortunately though i have blink it this is an app that offers easily digestible 15-minute summaries of the best non-fiction books there's more than 3 000 of them you can either read or listen personally i listen about 90 of the time just like a podcast it's easier to fit into my day that way while doing mindless things like going to work or cleaning the kitchen or folding the laundry that sort of stuff 14 million active users are currently using blinkist to get the best insights and need to know info from thousands of books from self-help to business to health whatever you're into it's on there for example on my blinkist list for 2021 i have how luck happens by janice kaplan and barnaby marsh it's a whole book on how to create luck for yourself distill down into a 13 minute package so if you're interested in learning big ideas in small packages head to blinkist.com forward slash biographics where the first 100 people will get one week to try it out for free you'll also get 25 off if you want the full membership and let's get back to cornwallis comic as the image is of cornwallis as some kind of doofus cartoon coyote we don't want you to go away thinking he was completely useless the key takeaway is that he was average an average guy in a position that required someone well above average but even the mediocre have occasional moments of greatness cornwallis's came at the battle of brandywine brandywine is notorious today as washington's biggest screw-up but from the british perspective it was a triumph taking place on september the 11th 1777 it saw william howe and cornwallis launch a dual attack on washington's troops under the cover of fog assuming howe's division was the entire british force washington left his right flank clear open only for konwallis to come crashing into it the continental army suffered over 1 100 casualties compared to just 600 for the british although washington again road runner away he lost all of his artillery pieces and philadelphia which now lay wide open for cornwallis the sneak attack was a huge personal victory he was even allowed time off that christmas to go home and see his wife we can only hope he enjoyed it because that christmas would be the last normal one that charles ever spent with his family the following winter jemima was taken ill she died on february 16 1779 thanks to emergency leave cornwallis made it home just in time to see her but with the war still raging he had no time to mourn instead he had to pack back up and return to america his domestic life in england no longer something to look forward to just a happy memory one of happier times back in the colonies the war was moving inexorably against the british the french and spanish were now involved the americans had refused to surrender after philadelphia fell and henry clinton was now overall british commander with predictably cruddy results so qualis decided to change tac in may 1780 he headed into south carolina at the head of a vast fighting force determined to open a new front charlestown fell quickly as did other key strategic points before long cornwallis had effectively taken control of the entire state when general gates attempted to retake the town of camden for the continentals cornwall has even managed to win another great victory killing or capturing nearly 2 000 americans while losing only 300 of his own men come fall of 1780 cormalis was secure in south carolina had it been his dream to rule the state as a warlord he would have been pretty happy but of course that hadn't been cornwallis goal he wanted to take north carolina too then march into virginia and link up with clinton's army like so many dreams it would prove to be beyond charles cornwallis reach north carolina was not south carolina the mini civil war between patriots and loyalists was more bitter here the terrain less friendly in january 1781 the battle of cowpen saw many of cornwallis's best soldiers killed or captured two months later konwallah squared off against nathaniel greene at the battle of guilford courthouse and managed to rack up a technical victory that cost so many of his remaining soldiers that you might as well call it a defeat by now the great victory at brandywine must have seemed like very long ago even the battle of camden was three-quarters of a year passed still cornwallis gamely pushed on marching up into virginia despite north carolina not yet being pacified in may of 1781 his exhausted men finally reached the james river at which point they received the fateful order a message from clinton came demanding cornwallis establish a fortified base at either williamsburg or yorktown as far as cornwallis was concerned this was like clinton asking him to choose between a kick in the nuts and a rectally inserted cactus neither was particularly pleasant to contemplate but orders were orders with what we can only imagine was a pained sigh the earl chose the kick in the nuts that was yorktown little did poor charles come wallace know it but he'd soon be wishing he'd chosen the prickly comforting cactus in williamsburg instead [Music] the moment cornwall is settled in yorktown the revolutionary war was basically over the french and most of the americans immediately realized the british were sitting ducks although washington initially ignored it as a sideshow he eventually realized its significance the only person who never figured it out was henry clinton in sconced in new york clinton was certain washington was going to attack him so certain that when he received a pathetic plea from cornwallis begging for more troops he ignored it but washington was already making plans to head south for the final battle on september 28 the combined american french force began its assault on yorktown as the siege trenches were dug and the artillery began cornwallis sat tight barely bothering to give orders it's possible he thought clinton was coming to rescue him or he may have just realized how hopeless his position was on october the 14th the first assault began in his last act of competence cormallis began ferrying his men to safety across the james river he got a thousand of them over before a storm blew up and ended it impossible escape cut off there was nothing to do but wait for the end at 11am on october 19th 1781 the british surrendered yorktown it was a frankly pathetic end as the redcoats marched out they acknowledged the french battalions but ignored the american troops corwalis himself refused to meet washington for the formal surrender instead sending an assistant it was a cheap last-minute snub but it didn't change the fact that the man he was snubbing had just handed cornwallis ass yorktown ended the revolutionary war thanks to a combination of clinton's poor leadership and cornwallis's painfully mediocre performance the british were knocked out of the fight of course the wind had been blowing in that direction for a very long time it's not like cornwallis was single-handedly responsible for the british losing the war but he also didn't do much to help them win had he been just a bit more talented a bit more daring a bit more well anything really well over six years of fighting that could have really added up a few more brandywines here another camden there and the history of america might look very different despite his major role in losing the 13 colonies though cornwallis didn't return to britain under a cloud of shame the view in london was that he was a good loyal soldier and more importantly a gentleman one who'd been put in an impossible position all of which is why within seven months of the disaster at yorktown charles cormalis was offered military control of british india i know right this guy's literally just proven himself to be super on excellent at this and here's the british establishment being all like want to try something even bigger i mean why not at least cornwallis himself had the brains to say no something he kept saying for four whole years you can't have people falling upwards without the complicity of everyone else though in february of 1786 after years of cajoling by prime minister pitt the younger comales finally agreed he had only one request still smarting about clinton's dumb orders conwallis demanded he be given total control of the subcontinent and pit agreed so rather than retiring into obscurity corwell has sailed off for india so would it go any better than america did well what do you think the india charles cornwallis arrived in was undergoing a seismic change in its relationship with britain until recently the east india company had almost free reign over its territories it was in 1784 that pitt the younger made the company formally subservient to the crown as such british rule was riven with corruption and beset by local warring sultans and it was conwallis job to sort it all out his success would be qualified to say the least for corwallis corruption was synonymous with natives so he decided to kick them all out of the colonial administration declaring every native of hindustan i really believe is corrupt cornwallis enacted laws that effectively created an all-white governing class up until recently india had been a colonial enterprise but one in which indians could at least attain important positions kamal has changed all of that a new glass ceiling stopped locals rising above the most minor roles in the civil service while indian police units were brought under british control meanwhile corwalis castigated any white officer who he deemed had formal connections with the worst black people in bengal on the flip side he did at least try to promote the learning of native languages among british officials but compared to everything else that's a fairly faint silver lining there's also the matter of the third anglo-mysore war unlike the american revolutionary war this war with the tipu sultan of mysore ended in a comale's victory in 1790 the sultan started raiding around the edges of british territory cormalis personally took control of the response and by april of 1791 he had taken the mysore city of bangalore but the war dragged on another year in part because cornwallis refused to trust britain's indian allies leading to an unnecessary prolonging of the fighting when he finally did make peace in february of 1792 it was with a treaty seemingly calculated to please absolutely nobody the sultan was upset because he had to cede half his territory while london was unhappy cornwallis hadn't held out for the whole lot still at least defeating tipu took some of the stench of failure that was left over from yorktown and kowalis was certain that this wasn't going to be his last war in february of 1793 france then in the grip of revolution declared war on britain with his term expiring and certain that he'd be needed to prepare england against a french invasion corwalis returned home stopping only to annex french pondicherry on the way but although he was made head of the home front charles wouldn't make his final mark on history fighting the french well not exactly instead he was destined to spend one last frustrating chapter of his life trying to pacify ireland at the time ireland was in a personal union with britain but not a political one they had the same king but were separate countries sort of like how today canada and the uk both have elizabeth ii as the head of state but the canadians fortunately don't have to have boris johnson as prime minister however the islands of the 1790s had only just gained autonomy from britain and no one was adjusting well to the new state of affairs the catholics who made up about 90 of the population wanted to go further and establish a french-style republic the protestant minority who were 10 of the population but held all the power wanted to hew closer to britain and also just kill as many catholics as possible when this erupted into the united irishman rebellion in may 1798 london freaked out that the french would help their fellow catholics and establish a foothold on britain's doorstep their solution well that was to send charles cornwallis to quell the rebellious irish i mean what could possibly go wrong in the end cornwallis career fighting irish rebels ended before it even started he landed in dublin on june 21 1798 only for the rebels to be effectively knocked out of the war before it even finished unloading all that was left to do from a military perspective was to defeat the small french force that landed in august but while the war was easily won the peace would be a nightmare kowals's remittan island basically boiled down to well go and sort out this annoying island once and for all old chap however that was easier said than done although london had likely envisioned cornwallis using his broad powers to kick a few catholics in the testicles the earl soon came to believe that the rebellious catholics weren't actually the problem it was the protestant rulers who were tearing ireland apart with catholics in the vast majority the only way the protestants could have any importance was by locking their countrymen out of power doing that required convincing themselves that the catholic irish was subhuman cornwallis was aghast at leading protestants celebrating the murder of priests he grew to blame the bloodthirsty loyalists for the whole sorry war and even began trying to build personal links with the catholic communities to sort the mess out unfortunately his chosen method would be very controversial not long after defeating the french expeditionary force cornwallis had made friends with the zen acting secretary of ireland viacount castleray an ulsterment castleray was the island's leading proponent of reconciliation but he'd convinced himself that dragging ireland into union with great britain was the only route to catholic emancipation now he managed to convince cornwallis of this too the trouble was a truly independent island with equal rights would be a catholic bastion in northern europe won the french would no doubt ally with but to leave things as they are risked in ireland ruled by protestant tyrants who repeatedly triggered civil wars and then demanded london protect them no the only future cornwallis could see was one where ireland joined with great britain and catholics were emancipated and protected by the benevolent majesty of george iii as any american who still remembered the stamp act would tell you this was never going to work nonetheless cornwallis and castle ray began a determined push to make the union happen it was a grueling two years first had to convince the protestants who feared their own power being curtailed and demanded massive bribes to vote it through seconds they had to convince the catholics that this would be a new brighter chapter in their history and not just an excuse for london to oh i don't know brutally exacerbated potato famine several decades down the line killing millions finally they had to convince the british cabinet that tying catholic emancipation to the act of union was both fair and just to come as a surprise they succeeded the cabinet was all like sure willa pressed them a bit less afterwards but then the union actually got voted through and the cabinet were all like just joking let's press the out of them on january the 1st 1801 ireland and great britain formally joined into a single state that same month king george iii declared there would never be any relief or increased rights for catholics shortly after ill exhausted and miserable charles corwalis resigned privately he raged against the mule-headed stupidity that would allow britain to persevere in the old system of prescription and exclusion in ireland but publicly well cornwallis was still all about king and country remember he accepted the settlement and then he packed his bags and returned home and that was pretty much it for the earl although he would play a role negotiating peace with napoleon after the war of the second coalition in 1802 the wind seems to have been sucked out of his sails by the island debacle he went back into retirement perhaps determined to enjoy the choir life that he and his wife had briefly known all those years earlier but in this era even failure and retirement couldn't stop the crown from forcing you into service in july 1805 cornwallis was ordered to return to india he didn't want to go but he felt he couldn't refuse sadly it was the wrong choice not long after landing charles cornwallis contracted a tropical fever he died on october the 5th thousands of kilometers from the country that he had served so dutifully today the most striking thing about cornwallis's life is how much of it he spent in over his head in america he was fighting a war he didn't really believe in while totally outwitted in india he was tasked with solving intricate problems using only the blunt hammer of racial apartheid and in ireland well let's just say he was too trusting of his own king it's not to cornwallis's detriment that we bring these up they are problems that would have befuddled someone with ten times the talent but that's sort of the point charles kamalas was not a talented man he was mostly mediocre with occasional flashes of humanity or brilliance that were too few and too far between had he just stayed in retirement with jemima in 1775 he would have been completely forgotten by history but how much happier his life could have been how different the fates of millions the story of charles cornwallis is both the tale of a moderately decent man who failed upwards and a damning indictment of his time a time when who your parents were mattered more than your capabilities cornwallis may have had the soldiers life had always dreamed of but as his story shows it sometimes may be better when our dreams don't come true so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Biographics

Views: 277,549

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: Jlx7AZIVAr4

Length: 25min 35sec (1535 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 08 2021