The Rise Of The Lakota Nation | Nations At War | Timeline

my name's dan snow and i want to tell you about history hit tv it's like the netflix for history hundreds of exclusive documentaries and interviews with the world's best historians we've got an exclusive offer available to fans of timeline if you go to history hit tv you can either follow the information below this video or just google history hit tv and use the code timeline you get a special introductory offer go and check it out in the meantime enjoy this video [Music] it's 1865 and the great plains are a war zone from their ancient homeland the lakota nation conquered their way west however in the 19th century a new power threatens their dominance the united states of america conquer surrender victory defeat these deadly battles shape comments [Music] these are nations at war [Music] throughout the world few places have inspired more myths than the great plains that form the heart of north america for generations its vast sky and waves of grass have captivated artists and storytellers from around the world their collective works still conjure the ghosts of soldiers and warriors locked in an endless battle over the west and one nation above all has become synonymous with the bitter struggle the lakota however the lakota haven't always called the planes home their true origin lay in woodlands to the east their ancestors the teton formed a part of ochatishikowi a confederacy of people known in english as the sioux they were a united people until the early sixteen hundreds when waves of migration changed everything sometime before 1640 several bands split from ocheitishekoen and moved north where they coalesced into the nakota known today as the stoney and assiniboine the nakota nations gradually became fierce rivals of their southern kin as the assiniboine people kind of established their settlements in the country of the upper saskatchewan river the red deer river region they became affiliated with the fur trade and that was how they gained their foothold there while the nakota migration may have first divided the sioux it was the arrival of the ojibwe which transformed their society the ojibwe also known as the anishinabe were an algonquian-speaking people hailing from the great lakes but in 1650 they pushed west in search of new hunting grounds it was the ojibwe who derisively nicknamed their enemy narewesu meaning little snakes french traders mistakenly believed it to be the people's name and shortened it for convenience like it's very common in those days when people discuss their enemies they always refer to them as snakes you know their enemies were snakes you know the teton and their allies could tolerate a few hunters in their territory but a mass migration threatened their access to key hunting grounds the sioux were fighting on home ground with superior numbers but the ojibwe had been well supplied with guns by the fur trade it was a devastating advantage all of this expansion came at the expense of other people who were beyond the frontier of the fur trade we would just have more technology that would enable us to push them in ways that they didn't have by the early 1700s the ojibwe had gained so much ground that bands of teton were forced out of the woodlands and into a whole new world the great plains could be harsh and unforgiving but it already supported a large human population the key to survival for most nations was staying on the move going from one resource-rich area to the next throughout the year the bulk of the teton's diet now came from hunting the millions of buffalo who called the great plains home at one time it was estimated there was 60 to 80 million buffalo and turtle island north america it was common to see a million animals in one herd in the lakota language the buffalo is known as tatanka which can be translated as he who owns us the buffalo on the plains became the staff of life for all the people who who lived on the prairies as the teton adapted to their new lifestyle and home their dialect and culture changed into something new the lakota there was no going back now the great plains had remade the teton in their image and their lakota children would fight to claim the west as their own in the 1730s life on the great plains is a constant struggle to survive its climate could be harsh and ever-changing and the most plentiful source of food is powerful enough to kill a hunter with a single blow despite these challenges the lakota learned the grassland secrets now they are flourishing and their life on the plains was about to get a lot easier the horse had arrived introduced by indigenous traders from the south horses spread rapidly across the west horses not only changed the nature of the buffalo hunt but they also changed the nature of warfare they turned hunters into warriors many communities received horses as gifts or acquired them from trade with their neighbors others captured the animals by raiding rival communities a practice which became so common it was ritualized by over a dozen cultures stealing horses became a big rite of passage for young men you know to demonstrate their bravery to go into an enemy's camp and steal a couple of horses and go home with them and these are trophies that they can display the horse became central to lakota warfare wielding bows and lances their warriors became feared across the west in close combat their weapon of choice was the war club a stone head secured to a wooden handle with rawhide it was a sturdy impact weapon which earned the nickname skullcracker the horse may have made the lakota life easier but it also took them deeper into lands claimed by other nations expansion north was not an option their old ojibwe and nakota rivals had allied with the kree to create the iron confederacy while the blackfoot confederacy guarded the land east of the canadian rockies along the missouri river the arikara occupied well-defended riverside villages however the lakota's fiercest rivals were the peoples of the black hills the lakota became one of many nations fighting for control of these south dakota mountains the arikara had settled there in the 1500s but they were quickly followed by the pawnee the arapaho the crow and the kiowa by the 1760s it was the cheyenne who dominated the black hills mountain lakota warriors launched devastating raids deep into cheyenne territory now they they don't have as great a population resisting their expansion so they they brought their militarism you know their warfare with them but the people who were already on the planes had less ability to resist that expansion while the cheyenne were fierce warriors the lakota attacks coincided with devastating european pandemics [Music] as the cheyenne sickened and died the lakota pressed their advantage and pushed them out of their territory by 1776 the same year the united states of america declared independence the lakota claimed the black hills for themselves just 100 years earlier their ancestors had been refugees now the lakota were conquerors with the black hills under their control and most of their enemies defeated the lakota were among the most powerful nations in the west the lakota could not have known that their entire world was about to change yet again a historic land deal in europe would provoke a vicious war between the lakota and their greatest enemy the united states it's 1803 and years of war have made the lakota one of the mightiest nations in the west though they faced stiff resistance to their western expansion in the 1700s lakota warriors defeated all their rivals and claimed the black hills for themselves however lakota dominance was about to be challenged by a rising power to the east the united states of america the brewing conflict began in france where emperor napoleon was struggling to finance his wars of european conquest luckily for the emperor he had some valuable real estate he could sell the emperor made a deal with president thomas jefferson to sell the louisiana territory to america the louisiana purchase vastly increased america's territory and began a period of violent expansion it doubles the land mass of the united states in one fell swoop the lakota's first encounter with americans came in the summer of 1804 when the explorers lewis and clark entered their territory they didn't really know what they had purchased so that's why they sent out lewis and clark to go and survey this country that they had just purchased from france you know and france had no idea who was living there though the lakota welcomed the americans with hospitality the animosity between the two peoples was instant and mutual the lakota found the americans to be ignorant and belligerent while clark described his hosts as the vilest miscreants of the savage race it was an ignominious start to what would become an increasingly hostile relationship the usa wanted to grow and the lakota were in the way throughout the 19th century the united states began to expand their territory west at the expense of spain and great britain american migrants hoping to find a better life in oregon began traveling through the heart of lakota territory killing buffalo in large numbers as they went the lakota and settlers began to clash on a regular basis conflicts between people on the overland trail heading towards oregon territory get into conflicts with the lakota whose lands they are passing through by 1845 the american government sent troops to intimidate the lakota into leaving the wagon trains alone lakota warriors like red cloud were not impressed by this show of force if the americans wanted a fight a growing number of lakota were happy to give them one the americans however could not afford a war on the plains because in 1846 they went to war with mexico within two years they had won a triumphant victory claiming california and the southwest as spoils of war with their southern flank secured the americans redeployed battle-hardened troops to the west and began meddling in local affairs in 1851 the american government attempted to create fixed borders for the first nations and prevent wars that would threaten their immigrants they called influential leaders from several nations to a council at fort laramie the lakota represented by oglala chief conquering bear were among the attendees the americans would be allowed to build roads and forts on their land in exchange they would give the first nations goods money and renounce any claims to their territory but conquering bear did not speak for every lakota almost immediately other leaders broke the treaty by resuming their attacks on the arikara cheyenne and arapaho with their diplomatic overtures rejected the americans decided to cement their authority over the west with force instead all they needed was the right pretext for action they found it in a dispute between mormon settlers and the lakota over the killing of a lost cow the cow's outraged owner complained to the garrison at fort laramie so conquering bear offered one of his own horses as compensation the americans weren't satisfied the following day 30 soldiers marched into the lakota camp and demanded the man who killed the cow when conquering bear refused the americans opened fire and killed him those sort of conflicts over you know specific homicides or the death of specific animals were typical throughout the process of settlement those who attempted to flee were cut down by warriors led by red cloud the battle became known as the gratton massacre outraged by the deaths of their soldiers many americans called for lakota blood on september 3rd 1855 the american army massacred a lakota community at blue water creek killing over 80 men women and children today in the military we have rules of engagement what are we allowed to do there were no limits there and if somebody said something said oh these on it's only a savage the savagery of the american army stunned lakota leaders into declaring a ceasefire but any dreams of a peaceful coexistence between the two peoples were dead though they made peace with the lakota the americans faced fresh resistance to their western ambitions between 1860 and 1864 their soldiers and settlers went to war with the shoshone dakota soon cheyenne and arapaho though their cutting-edge firepower gave the americans a distinct advantage they were stretching their resources thin in 1863 america made the situation even worse by building the bozeman trail through lakota hunting grounds within a year thousands of westward-bound gold miners were following that route to montana fighting running battles with the lakota as they went in the name of mutual survival the lakota put aside their grudges with the cheyenne and arapaho to form a united front against the americans on july 26 1865 3 000 allied warriors overran the american garrison at platte river bridge and cut the bozeman trail [Music] the u.s government responded by sending 2500 troops to reopen the route however the americans were fighting a highly mobile opponent in their own territory the lakota warriors led by red cloud avoided head-on engagements instead they attacked wagon trains or ambushed patrols this guerrilla strategy was devastating the months of bloody raids and skirmishes culminated in a fierce battle just outside fort phil kearney in wyoming it began when a wagon train leaving the fort was attacked by lakota and allied warriors in response a captain named william fetterman led 81 men on a rescue mission fetterman's soldiers chased a decoy party led by a young warrior named crazy horse over a ridge where a thousand lakota and allied warriors under red cloud were waiting within 20 minutes all the americans were dead their bodies were stripped mutilated and left for their enemy to find red cloud was sending washington a message respect our territory or face a war to the death though it took two years washington eventually listened in 1868 they invited their enemies to fort laramie and signed a treaty with red cloud supporters in the treaty the americans recognized lakota claims to what they called the great sioux reservation however 10 years later gold was discovered in the black hills the americans broke their treaty and marched west to finish what they started in the 18th century the lakota had come to the great plains as invaders driven from their ancient woodland home by an aggressive rival the lakota had to fight just to survive in time the great plains reshaped the people into mighty warriors whose courage and skill earned them fame across the globe and when a new enemy emerged from the east it was these lakota warriors who led a coalition of old enemies in a battle to save the west they shared [Music] [Music] since the dawn of the 16th century mass migration has caused change and conflict across north america from ojibwe hunters in search of game to american settlers hungry for gold the migrants ambitions came at a bloody price conquer surrender victory defeat these deadly battles shaped continents [Music] these are nations at war [Music] from the dawn of history to modern day mass migration has shaped the identities economies and ideologies of whole civilizations century after century whole societies wandered north america in search of a better life these epic journeys provoke bitter conflicts between migrants and those who already called the land home in north america the clash between newcomers and earlier residents would define much of its history from the dawn of the 16th century to the close of the 19th wave after wave of migration created a violent epoch which reshaped the face of a continent however it was not boatloads of europeans who began this era of change indigenous people were already on the move long before the settlers arrived migration had already provoked fierce conflicts among the peoples who lived along the saint lawrence river in the early 1500s the iroquoian-speaking nations who called this land home were under threat from powerful neighbors moving into their territory to their south were the algonquian speaking migma and malaysia while to the west were their cultural cousins the mohawks under this combined migration the saint lawrence iroquoians faded into history but the struggle for the dawn land raged on the malaysia got involved with wars with the iroquois for much the same reason that other native groups did as the aircraft started to expand from their own core country they expanded eastward and that brought them into conflict with their neighboring groups the analyses that migma the abenaki an unlikely observer to the algonquin mohawk conflict was a french mariner named jacques carche carche's voyages across what is now eastern canada charted the course which the merchant samuel de champlain would follow french merchants allied themselves to nations like the abenaki ojibwe and ottawa to build a fur trading network when the mohawks and their allies in the iroquois confederacy received guns from rival dutch traders the french turned to their allies for protection as well so the abenaki play a role as sort of front line soldiers front line warriors against this expanding territorial empire in return their ojibwe otawa mao seat and other allies would receive european technology to make their lives easier and weapons to guard against rivals the constant chronic warfare it didn't end well for for most of the native people the fur trade created an arms race amongst the first nations because of the intrinsic value of owning and controlling the trading routes as the 17th century progressed the franco-indigenous alliance became essential to both sides survival as new europeans began to arrive the english migrants who landed on the shores of massachusetts in 1620 hadn't come to trade they were trying to escape poverty or persecution in their homeland this combination of zeal and desperation made british americans the most dangerous opponents the first nations and canadians would face though they had not originally come to conquer the americans would use force to protect their expanding settlements faced with an openly hostile neighbor the malasite migma and abenaki pioneered a style of guerrilla warfare to keep constant pressure on british settlers their french canadian allies emulated these tactics and joined the fight this combination of indigenous tactics and french weapons kept the british and american colonies at bay until the mid 1700s but it never earned the respect of the continental french officers like the marquis de montcalm when the seven years war began in 1756 his disdain for canadian and first nations fighters undermined his own war effort the french army collapsed under punishing british offenses by 1760 mount calm was dead and the war was all but over as france abandoned the continent to its fate their former allies would be the only ones left to resist britain's march west it's 1763 and after a century of bloodshed the guns have fallen silent in eastern north america mass migration from britain and france had divided the continent into rival factions forcing indigenous nations like the ottawa to choose which group of europeans they could tolerate before the seven years war france had secured alliances with the first nations of the interior with careful diplomacy the french had greater success at making indigenous allies than the british because the french practiced this expansive and expensive program of gift giving when the french were defeated in 1763 the british who took their place ended this beneficial arrangement the arrogance and racism of britain's commander-in-chief jeffrey amherst only made the situation worse amherst ended diplomatic gift-giving banned the sale of ammunition to first nations and built forts on indigenous land jeffrey amherst despised first nations because he was a product of his time what i mean by that is he held the prejudicial and racial beliefs of many people of anglo-saxon heritage and that was frankly that indigenous people were racially inferior to the anglo-saxons when the english became the only superpower the way they kept that status was to ensure that all the native nations were weaker in amherst's mind nations like the ottawa were conquered peoples they simply had to be pacified so the settlement of western north america could begin however amherst's views flew in the face of reality it was the french who had capitulated not their indigenous allies across the great lakes and ohio country indigenous communities joined forces and rose up led by people like the ottawa chief pontiac warriors set the british frontier on fire this early success did not last in august of 1763 elite scottish highland troops won a decisive victory at bushy run which crippled resistance in the ohio country but in his moment of triumph amherst was undone by an enemy in his own ranks irish diplomat william johnson had reported his warmongering to london amherst was removed from his post allowing johnson to negotiate a peace treaty in 1766. king george iii tried to prevent future violence by issuing a royal proclamation declaring the land west of the appalachian mountains off limits to settlers it didn't work american migrants continued to seize indigenous land you can't stop squatters from crossing that line right it's not possible for the british army to really police the appalachian mountains in 1763. the king and parliament saw protecting indigenous territory as a pragmatic way to avoid fresh violence already angry over interference in colonial affairs and new taxes many americans were outraged by the crown's attempts to limit expansion in 1776 american rebels declared independence from their king yet again the first nations were forced to pick a side in a foreign war the malasite and migma saw a chance to liberate their homeland from british occupation they promised to support an uprising in eastern canada their old rivals the mohawks whose homeland was in danger of being swallowed up by american settlers backed the british forces our british policy and strategy has always been to co-opt in order to gain strategic advantage to build up the interests of the crown and to protect that at all costs after a ferocious seven years struggle the american rebels emerged victorious britain conceded not only their own territory to the united states but huge swaths of indigenous land as well this included the homeland of the mohawks their most loyal north american ally for over a hundred years the mohawks were forced into a permanent exile along the grand river in ontario rather than accept defeat the influential mohawk chief tyan denega sought to revive his people's fortunes if the first nations wanted to halt the migration into their homelands they would have to stand together in 1783 tyandanega helped found a powerful coalition of indigenous nations in the ohio country called the western confederacy he hoped it could protect indigenous land from the americans almost immediately cracks began to appear in this supposedly united front using diplomacy and military force the united states defeated the western confederacy by 1795 however the dream of indigenous unity would die hard in 1811 the united states were forced to defeat a new western confederacy led by the shawnee chief tecumseh among tecumseh's dead warriors the americans discovered weapons supplied by britain a discovery which gave some american politicians exactly what they'd been searching for an ideal pretext to pursue america's manifest destiny north and take canada by force it's 1812 and the united states of america are marching to war the year before their army had crushed an indigenous coalition which threatened settler migration into the ohio country and in the process discovered they had been armed by great britain this treachery was enough to rally the american people into supporting a new conflict the conquest of british canada many american politicians believed it was their republic's manifest destiny to spread across the entire continent there is i would say like a strong vein in american thought that dates to the earliest british settlement that has these continental aspirations at a time when there's no clear idea of what the topography or nature of that continent is britain was distracted by a costly war against napoleon's france leaving their colonies in north america lightly defended it was the perfect moment to strike many americans were convinced the war would be over in months people who are advocating for war always project that it's gonna be a swift conquest that's why they get into the war in the first place the invaders were in for a rude awakening despite their many differences the peoples of canada joined forces against the common enemy the mohawks would be in the thick of the fighting it was a war against the people that had engaged in such a vicious campaign to exterminate them and dispossess them that i can imagine our ancestors being so fired up when british strategies failed their commanders relied on indigenous guerrilla tactics instead to weaken their enemies denied their easy conquest by fierce resistance the americans marched south in 1815 they would never return canada was now out of the americans reach so they would follow their manifest destiny west instead they would be following the footsteps of the ojibwe who migrated from the great lakes into the west during the 1600s when the dakota sioux and mesquake attempted to resist this intrusion into vital hunting grounds the ojibwe fought back and pushed both nations into lands further west all of this expansion came at the expense of other people who were beyond the frontier of the fur trade their neighbors were still fighting with bows and arrows and they were fighting with guns driven from their woodland home the sioux speaking ancestors of the lakota adapted to life on the great plains a lifestyle made far easier by the arrival of the horse onto the plains horses not only changed the nature of the buffalo hunt but they also changed the nature of warfare they turned hunters into warriors now a highly mobile society the lakota began to migrate west driving nations like the cheyenne arikara and arapaho from their path to the black hills by 1803 they were one of the most powerful societies in western north america but the americans weren't far behind as the lakota expanded their reach across the plains britain and russia were squabbling over control of the pacific northwest in 1804 russia tried to brutalize the clinket of alaska into submission but their fearsome armored warriors fought back and the two nations settled into a permanent stalemate further south the british chose commerce over conquest forging alliances with salish nations like the sequence as they had in the east fur traders blazed a trail for the settlers which followed the arrival of foreign ideas technology and diseases caused widespread chaos some peoples like the nimipu attempted to embrace these radical changes in lifestyle and faith hoping to make a place for themselves in a rapidly transforming world others like the lakota were prepared to tolerate foreigners as long as they didn't pose a threat by the 1840s however the trickle of foreigners became an epic flood on the plains american settlers and troops built forts and roads across indigenous territory without permission and indiscriminately slaughtered whole herds of buffalo as the buffalo stalks began to sharply decline the nations who relied on them for survival migrated in search of better hunting grounds dependent on the herds for trade the ojibwe and metis of red river moved into dakota and lakota hunting grounds using cutting-edge weapons and tactics they dealt stunning defeats to the dakota warriors who challenged them now at that time the sewer were repeated to be the greatest fighters on the planes so the metis were recognized as the greatest fighter on the planes by the greatest fighter on the plains however the threat these interlopers posed to the sewan nations paled in comparison to that of the americans using settlers as a pretext for invasion the united states sent its army west to assert their control over the planes the lakota resisted the americans so fiercely that they sued for peace by 1868 however the americans broke their promise when gold was discovered 10 years later the war which followed spelled the end of indigenous resistance on the great plains mass migration of gold hungry americans would have an equally disastrous impact on the peoples of the mountains the only way you could imagine it is in a very apocalyptic kind of imagery that the gold miners were just obsessed with getting this gold and it was their only purpose you were sitting on the one thing that they wanted and they were going to get it any way they possibly can and if that meant eradicating a group of people well that was just the price they had to pay to get to the gold on the columbia plateau the hunt for gold would cost the nimipu nation everything even though many of their nation had willingly adopted the american faith and way of life the american government was more concerned about the gold beneath the ground than the people on it from 1866 to 1877 washington demanded so much land from the nimipu that those who wished to maintain their traditional faith and lifestyle had nowhere left to go in a desperate bid for freedom 800 refugees tried to fight their way across the canadian border after four months of fighting only 150 nimiku escaped into canada the rest surrendered to the american army the nimipu war was over and so was the violent era which caused it though millions more people would cross many oceans in search of a new life on the continent epic indigenous journeys became a thing of the past as did the rush for wealth and land which had drawn european and american settlers the violent frontiers that once divided civilizations became peaceful borders between nation states but even today we still follow in the footsteps of our ancestors from the mouth of the saint lawrence to the shores of the pacific the legacy of these great migrations endures in the people who call north america home [Music] so you

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Keywords: Fascinating historical events, Historical accounts, Historical accuracy, Historical conquerors, Historical conquests, Historical discoveries, Historical figures, Historical legends, Historical milestones, Historical societies, Historical storytelling, Historical tribes, History buffs, Indigenous documentaries, Lakota legends, Legends of the Lakota, Native American heritage, Native American history, Timeline - World History Documentaries, Tribal history, World history

Id: nVqqcbePC7c

Length: 43min 49sec (2629 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 06 2022