The Rise and Fall of the Wild West

[Music] all nations seek identity culture and stories that bind us together protagonists that challenge us to strive for more settings with historical context to add realism and contribute to a nation's mythos in the United States of America the Wild West is more than a it's a culmination of the ideals of self-sufficiency the strive for a better life but it didn't come from nothing and the portrayal of it in many classic stories take great liberty with the source material I am NOT here to dispel all of the myths but I'd rather look at some of the things that led to its creation and moreso its legacy now we can't have the Wild West and the myths that come with it without having the American frontier to bring about the fledgling settlements that fueled us to the European settlers of the new world anything and everything was primed for the taking disregarding the sentiments of those who already resided there the European settlers coming across the Atlantic sought to find a new life and with it an equal playing field it just so happened that as the 13 colonies developed class structure and systems began to form yet again with this the disenfranchised thought to venture forth for new places however the land to the west was dangerous yet it remained alluring it would allow anybody to live out their own life without the pre-existing conditions of living in the established colonies yet the danger wasn't just in fending for oneself against the power nature civilizations had formed in the Americas well before the Europeans arrived and the influx of settlers was easily perceived as a hostile move to the native residents to wander off and make claim in native american territory could be bad for one's health yet some found the new frontier as too good of an opportunity to pass up but prior to the American Revolution of these outstanding European settlers didn't venture too far away from British rule the eastern seaboard was in itself land with potential moving too far past the borders of the colonies would be both dangerous and without legal precedent in the the crown this would change as America declared its independence verdun ceded land to the newly formed American government in an act of goodwill eager to push the new nation towards a more positive attitude regarding its former governing body while the new land was saw by the American government in public as newly acquired assets free for the taking ownership was obviously disputed by the Native Americans who had called it home for so long from the American public's perspective they were in their legal right to venture off into this new territory but again this legal view was only agreed upon by those who benefited we must remember that the society built by the Native Americans was in claps well before this point smallpox had devastated villages and much of the potential Warriors would have died been ill or never been born with such nasty population happening this depopulation made the growing threat of a new society conquering the North American continent a considerable fear especially when the largest concern isn't armed forces but civilians our forces will retreat when losses don't justify the gains but civilian ligation was more or less a force of nature that could not be stopped attacks from Native Americans on new American settlements brought an age of hostility greater than the conflicts prior as the war of 1812 began the British sided with some native tribes aiding with weapons with the promise of land it was here that the Native Americans had their final shot at regaining that lost land to come so formed a coalition of several major tribes in an effort to create something that almost paralleled the rise of the United States but the American fighting force was far stronger than to come to get credit and his army fell after this the dynamic between Native Americans and the American government was clear the claims made by the American government would be eventually enforced the Indian Removal Act of 1830 further showed the extent of how far this new government was willing to go the threat of encroaching on native lands became less of a concern to the mass public it was at this point that the benefits of going out west was seen as more or less worth it the front tier line the furthest point in which settlements were popping up was slowly stretching across the continent the Texas Revolution brought about more land which led to it being added to the US which led to a war with Mexico which led to more land being added to the u.s. manifest destiny was in full swing and this new land had money in the earth the Gold Rush brought hundreds of thousands to the western coast promised a vast lands that were primed for the taking brought farmers and ranchers the various trails that led families to the west were unsafe and disease ridden but if you were to succeed in making the trip it brought about the promise of a better life the Pony Express brought quicker communication from the west coast to the east seemingly connecting the coasts of the nation well until the transcontinental telegraph puts it out of business less than two years after it starts but this signifies something special growing in a new frontier isolation is traded in for some practical elements of society it allows prospectors and settlers to tell friends family and more about the new possibilities out west growing the appeal but what really creates the modern vision of the Wild West and all it entails is when railroads allow transportation quicker and safer than other means the journey from the east to the west in America is no longer months something that the everyman can do and this here is where we see the romanticized Wild West begin population influx more money coming in more towns more potential for all this was no longer the realm of outcasts and disenfranchised members of society it was becoming another arm of the core American society of course it's common knowledge now that the portrayal of the American West in the late 19th century is filled with some exaggeration it's the product of a fascinating time period that's often used as a setting for media that would follow and while there are many inconsistencies with the perception of life in the Wild West there is some level of truth crime wasn't a constant concern in this anarchic landscape but it was hard for justice to have a solid foundation a lot of crime or the accusation of crime would be settled through vigilante which led to less than optimal sentences for the accused the relationship between the Americans and the Native American tribes was poor new civilians were coming to the west and tribes were not putting up with this attacks on Americans entering the western region grew from raiding parties in response American forces attack Native American settlements going into each of these conflicts would take a significant amount of time but understand that it was a reality of living in the West at this point towns in the West were smaller than out in the East populated by many seeking fortune and land the jobs were rough often consisting of fooling manual labor combined with exploited upend some jobs would offer pay in the form of proprietary currency only exchangeable from stores and by employed prospectors would go to rivers to pan for gold often finding very little substance considering the countless hours of hard work ranchers would fend off rustlers with the only law of the land violence the opportunities of the frontier were not for the faint of heart and it only strengthened the fascination Outsiders had for the area well I felt West was still very different than not only the eastern United States but the rest of the world a very distinct identity that was appealing to many not necessarily enough to actually go there but enough to say see a show of which is where Buffalo Bill comes in his real name being William Frederick Cody he was a natural frontiersman and a scout for the US Army living out much of the archetype of life one would expect from a man in the Wild West he took part in many battles between the Americans and Native American tribes in his time with the military giving him tales of battle he would remember he was a skilled Huntsman of Buffalo which gave him his name this was before it was a relatively safe and trendy thing to kill the giant furry cow things he took part in some acting out east when offered the chance well this was less acting and more a storytelling to be honest his appeal was being an authentic figure that could portray to the public what life in the West was really like at the time he filled shows with stories of his exploits in ventures and since he had lived a pretty interesting life audiences were captivated as he ventured back into a life out west he returned to his old life he would take interested high paying clients on Buffalo hunts making him a relatively popular figure of the West and his stage days began to influence his general life in fact during a battle with the Native American tribe he wore his stage costume and acted with theatrical Flair breaking a strange inverse authenticity to his tales but the proposition of acting was too much for bill to pass up it paid well very well for the time also people really wanted to see what he had to say so he developed Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show it displayed historical reenactments of various realities of frontier life this was all done with an element of theatrical Flair as any entertainment would be expected to do it did have historical validity but it was done with an intent to entertain of course without flair you can't have a successful show touring it round what may be his greatest contribution to the methods of West was that he created the archetypal hero the cowboy now in reality being a cowboy didn't entitle anybody to noble actions or fantastic adventures you just heard it up cattle but in the Wild West Show the cowboy was a culmination of the hardships faced by settlers and vigilante justice give it an extra boost of adventure it wasn't a purely nostalgia trip because the West still remained for the time being wild the frontier wasn't dead well until it was in 1890 the US census revealed that the frontier line had nowhere left to go the American frontier had been conquered the Wild West would surely conform to the rest of the nation standards it was only a matter of time by this point Buffalo Bill was in Europe touring his show across the continent he had become not only the face of the Wild West but America the American frontier was dying but fascination for what life was like wasn't gone the cast at warring between American forces and native tribes was slowing down it was becoming apparent to many tribe leaders that the American military was too vast a force to reckon with Sitting Bull even Joe Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in an attempt to see what life was like out east what he saw was a population unlike anything he could have imagined and he stated that as he saw it Indian tribes had no chance of reclaiming their land the forest was just too strong out in the West tribes couldn't have a complete idea of what the true scale of the American government was like they saw small towns and armed forces that represented just a fraction of the nation by this point the reality was becoming apparent the Americans were here to stay the Wild West died with a whimper not a bang the threat of the enniaa Wars that had created much of Mythology surrounding the West ended civilization had conquered much of the landscape and the promises of the gold rush were losing their value towns grew into cities and soon the West was not so different than the East in 1893 after the frontier line was gone Frederick Jackson Turner presented a thesis the frontier thesis it proposed that the modern standards of American values both positive and negative were created because of the distinct formation of the American frontier the best lands of great potential and danger American values such as equality but also violence work ethic he had a distinct distaste for the products of high culture the validity of the thesis is debatable by many but its influence is not for decades American politicians scholars in the general public so the American frontier as core Americana the product of American traits that founded the nation and also the genesis of many American attributes they gave credence to the notion that the Wild West was truly a special place something that transforms a nation also contributing to the public perception of the West was the artwork of painter Frederick Remington it grew the sense of awe for the West as he captured slices of frontier life Native Americans in the grandiose landscapes it all gave way to a booming culture around what was seen as the core of the American identity but Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show did something different to memorialize the West it portrayed the lives of the citizens of the frontier the battles fought all with that the element of theater and entertainment certainly filled with hyperbole in theatrics but it wasn't ice it became massively popular forever changing how the world perceived the Wild West and more than anything it was what America needed story a hero the cowboy became the American Knight an idealistic protagonist of great skill and moral compass it romanticized specifically the late 19th century not the other centuries of frontier living this became the standard and it was a phenomenon as time passed the Wild West became escapism from the conventions of 20th century society dime novels and comic books film portrayed the lives of stern cowboys seeking out adventure or justice it was all very much influenced significantly by the tales of Buffalo Bill cowboy was Lee notable protagonist something created through Bill's popularity guns slinging battles in the center of town something that rarely ever happened in reality what interests me is the fact that there was no break between the end of the West and its romanticized myth started before the West fell and it just continued course for son it was probably nostalgia something akin to the good old days somebody born during the era of the Wild West in their youth would likely have seen John Wayne and film later in life interestingly enough the western genre dominated film for quite a while for American creators that fell after the 1960s which would be realistically when most of anybody alive during that time would be reaching the end of their life expectancy is there a correlation here maybe it could just be that the public had lost its lust for the genre after so much exposure for decades the Western fell out of fashion for a while for American filmmakers the spaghetti western popped up in large prominence after this from Italian filmmakers but after this point the genre was certainly out of favor you have to think the Wild West or the official end of the American western frontier had been gone for nearly a century but of course came back during the 2010s we see the modern western genre finding a nostalgic employ of spaghetti westerns in classic films while adding a level of grit and realism to breach the romantic ideals its resurgence has historical significance that should not be lost though as it represents more than just a look back at past works instead it creates a new level of the Western mythos it cements the Wild West is not just a romantic ideal but a true cultural icon the cliches and archetypes and themselves begin to hold merit maybe not in historical context but instead as culminations of the core ideals in the attitudes that the West aspired for the Wild West will not fade into obscurity it's beyond the notions of nostalgia as we look back a hundred and forty years ago to its end it finds itself both in history books in the minds of artists it came at the exact right moment in American history right after settlers reached out into unexplored lands and right before society caught up with it this is Tyler of knowledge hub [Music]

Channel: KnowledgeHub

Views: 968,445

Rating: 4.9234438 out of 5

Keywords: wild west knowledgehub, knowledgehub, alternatehistoryhub, wild west, wild west history, rise and fall of wild west, red dead redemption II, red dead, red dead knowledgehub, cowboys knowledgehub, cowboys history, history of the west, history of cowboys, americana, buffalo bill, rise and fall of west, the wild west, was the wild west wild?

Id: CTChgPj33uM

Length: 16min 4sec (964 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 11 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/coloradomartini]

Well done my friend. I love it. I too do historical videos on YouTube. But yours are a lot better than my. Love them