What did the American Revolution really achieve?

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. It's the fourth and final installment today of our Sunday series on the American Revolution, as Professor Adam Smith guides Eleanor Evans through the final stages of this seismic global event. And if you've enjoyed this series, don't miss our next Sunday series launching next week on the Odyssey. But for now, it's over to Eleanor and Adam. Victory was soon to be close at hand at Yorktown, the moment the war was effectively won.

But what did independence actually mean in practice? Who gained, who lost, and what kind of nation emerged from the revolution? And how far did it really go? Welcome back to the fourth and final episode of this podcast on the American Revolution, the American Revolutionary War. I'm joined by Professor Adam Smith.

Thank you again, Adam, for your time. My pleasure. We are in the final stages, and you provided a quote from each episode to frame a perspective or a view on this conflict, and today's episode we're going to start with that quote. You selected one from William Pitt the Younger, which was delivered on February 26th, 1781, in the House of Commons. He said, I am persuaded and I will affirm that it is most accursed, wicked, barbarous, cruel, unnatural, unjust, and a most diabolical war.

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