University History Report: Visual Analysis of American Independence

This report presents a visual analysis of an engraving depicting the end of the American War of Independence, focusing on its historical context and significance. The chosen visual, created by German artist Daniel Chodowiecki, portrays the defeat of the British army and the victory of the Americans. The analysis explores the symbolism of the visual representation, highlighting the American soldiers' triumphant posture and the British soldiers' acceptance of defeat, which signifies the end of British colonial rule and the establishment of American sovereignty. The report delves into the historical context, including the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and emphasizes the global implications of the British defeat, particularly its influence on other colonized nations. The report also discusses the political significance of the visual representation from a German perspective, highlighting the historical rivalry between Germany and Britain and the broader effects of the American victory on global politics. The report references the provided textbook to support its claims, making this a comprehensive analysis of the visual representation and its historical implications.

Running head: VISUAL ANALYSIS
VISUAL ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1VISUAL ANALYSIS
Identification of the visual representation
The visual representation which has been chosen for the purpose of analysis has taken
form the book titled U.S. History authored jointly by P. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John M.
Lund, Todd Pfannestiel and Paul Vickery, published in the year 2014. The chosen visual
representation has been taken from the sixth chapter of the book, titled America’s War for
Independence, 1775 - 1783. The visual representation is originally an engraving which had been
made by German artist Daniel Chodowiecki in the year 1784. It is related to the time period
when the American War of Independence had come to an end and the victory of the Americans
over the colonizer Britain (Corbett).

2VISUAL ANALYSIS
Description of the visual representation
The visual representation does not portray anything abstract, it is extremely straight
forward and portrays the defeat of the army of the coloniser nation Britain against the American
forces in the American war of Independence, and that Great Britain has accepted their defeat and
that America had turned out to be victorious in the war, and successful in overthrowing the
British colonial rule. The American soldiers can be seen as keeping their heads and arms up in
the air, while the British soldiers hanging their head down in a bowing position expressing a
sense of humility and accepting their defeat. The gesture of the American soldiers in the
engraving is also symbolic of the fact that they have secured the right to determine and manage
their affairs by themselves and the days of being subservient to the British Crown has come to an
end (Corbett). The political message of the visual representation is extremely significant and is
way beyond the victory of America over the British colonialist forces. The fact that the visual
representation has been created by a German national is also politically significant which shall be
discussed later in the essay.
Analysis of the historical context of the visual representation
Context of the visual representation
The context is set against the background of the American War of Independence, the end
of the war, Britain accepting the terms and conditions of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and
recognizing the sovereignty of the United States of America. The lack of violence in the chosen
visual representation shows that the peace treaty had been accepted by Britain and the eight year
long war from 1775 had finally come to an end in the year 1783, on the third of September
(Judd).

3VISUAL ANALYSIS
Historical significance of the visual representation
The chosen visual representation is historically significant as the defeat of the might
British Empire was a major setback to the glory and economic pursuits of Britain. Losing control
over colonies were not just about losing control of an overseas territory in political terms, but it
also meant that the economic gains by means of exploiting the natural resources and man power
of the colonized nation to enrich the economic interests of the coloniser nation had also come to
an end. However, the loss of Britain was a gain of America as that had laid the foundation of the
independent nation of the United States of America free from outside control, and the liberty to
manage their resources political affairs by themselves (Judd).
Reasons behind choosing the visual representation
The reasons behind choosing the visual representation are embedded in the political
significance and the message that it conveys about not just the issue of Britain colonizing
America, but also of its larger consequences in other parts of the world. As it has been mentioned
earlier that a German artist producing the visual representation has a political significance, it
must be said that the defeat of Britain is a matter of great euphoria for Germany (Judd).
The people of Britain were originally of German descent and the English language had
developed as a result of the overwhelming influence of French language in the Germanic dialect.
England was a hub of business activities for the Germans and with the passage of time the
English had tried to delineate from the German influence and free itself from both overt and
covert control from Germany. That had caused immense dissatisfaction to Germany as it had
gradually lost control over the economy of Britain. This was the German cause of
discontentment with the British (Judd).

4VISUAL ANALYSIS
The British also had their reasons to be dissatisfied with Germany. First of all, the
German mercenaries being hired during the period of the War of Roses is a reason why the
Britishers were discontented as the German involvement was treated as matter of foreign
intervention in the internal political matters of Britain. The Britishers had alleged that German
involvement had been the reason why the civil war had prolonged itself. Secondly, a German
speaking Prince had ascended to the throne of England in the year 1714 and he had neglected the
British interests over the Hanoverian ones and that caused the Britishers enough disappointment.
These political and economic reasons had fuelled rivalry between Germany and Britain.
Naturally, the defeat of Britain shall be a cause of rejoice to Germany (Judd).
The defeat of Britain in the American War of Independence is not just a matter of
concern only restricted to the continents of North America and Europe, rather it had had effects
in other parts of the world as well especially in those nations which were colonized by Britain.
The defeat of Britain have had far reaching effects in the nations which were colonized by
Britain by inspiring nationalistic sentiments in other parts of the world as well. The feeling that
the might of Britain is too less compared to the resolve of the colonized nations to self
government and self determination had been generated by the defeat of the British Colonialist
forces by the American forces (Judd).
These are the political reasons why the chosen visual representation is significant. It
shows that the American politics has its effect on the world at large which is relevant even today.

5VISUAL ANALYSIS
References
Corbett, P. Scott, et al. US history. OpenStax, Rice University, 2017.
Judd, Denis. Empire: the British imperial experience from 1765 to the present. Sterling
Publishing Company, Inc., 2001.

6VISUAL ANALYSIS