Fort Ticonderoga Hessians

Why did Britain hire German soldiers to fight the American Revolution? Discover the true story of the "Hessians," the German subsidy troops who crossed the Atlantic to help suppress the rebellion in our latest video!In 1775, Britain faced a growing colonial rebellion with an army far smaller than those of France, Austria, or Russia. Raising and training new recruits would take years, so the British turned to a long-standing practice: hiring foreign auxiliaries. After Catherine the Great refused to send Russian troops, King George III looked to the smaller states of the Holy Roman Empire.Americans came to call all of these soldiers "Hessians," but troops came from Hessen-Kassel, Hessen-Hanau, Anspach-Bayreuth, Waldeck, Anhalt-Zerbst, and Braunschweig. They were not mercenaries. Britain contracted with their rulers, paying subsidies for portions of their armies, which is why they were known in the period as "subsidy troops." Follow the Brunswick corps, whose treaty of January 9, 1776,…