today we're looking at marquis de lafayette
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the questions down in the description so without a doubt americans would not have been victorious
in the american revolution if not for foreign nations coming to their aid most notably or most
importantly france france officially recognized the united states as an independent country
in february of 1778. and soon after offered support um after britain had declared war on
france in march of 1778 this now would convert the american revolution into not just a war between
the british and the americans but it would convert it into early a world war and would really strain
the british resources the french offered important financial support as well as sending troops
to help fight and most importantly naval support to the american cause but before the french
officially extended their help to americans french officials had had come to america to basically
assess the american cause and determine if it would be for in france's best interest to aid
in the cause among these officials that arrived in june of 1777 was marquis de lafayette now before i
go any further i'm going to have to be honest with you and confess that i'm terrible at pronunciation
so i apologize in advance if i mispronounce you know some of these names and places associated
with lafayette marquita lafayette would become famous during the revolution by leading both
american and french troops into battle as well as becoming one of george washington's most trusted
advisors lafayette was born september 6 1757 in chavaneck france located in the south central part
of france he was born into a family of wealth and lafayette's ancestors had a long history of being
involved in battle and demonstrating courage going all the way back to the crusades in fact many if
not most of his ancestors had died in battle now as for marquita lafayette's full name now get
ready for it it's a long one marie joseph paul eve roche gilbert du morte marquis de lafayette so now
now you see why americans basically shortened it to the last part of his name technically gilbert
or gilbert would have been what people would have called him but that just doesn't really have the
flare or or anything of marquis de lafayette his father was killed in the seven years war in 1759
struck by a british cannonball so lafayette grew up despising the british for what had happened to
his father and then lafayette's mother and grand grandfather both died in 1770 so by the age of 13
he had a large inheritance in 1771 he joined the french royal army and was not even 14 years old at
the time then barely two years later in 1774 when he was only 16 years old he got married to marie
adrian francois who was from another wealthy family she was only 14 years old when they were
married but they remained married for the next 33 years until her death in 1807. together they would
have five children as news of protest and eventual war started in the american colonies lafayette
became very supportive of the american cause so much so that he was eager to join in the fight
he was recruited in december of 1776 by silas dean who was an american diplomat in france attempting
to get the french to aid in the war both lafayette's father-in-law and actually king louis
xvi advised lafayette against going but lafayette was so determined that he purchased his own ship
and set sail for america he arrived in june of 1777 at the age of 19 and was given the rank
of major general in the continental army shortly after he met george washington now washington was
about 45 years old at the time and was extremely impressed by lafayette and lafayette whose father
had died when he was young looked at george washington as almost like a father figure to him
lafayette quickly became one of washington's most trusted aides lafayette was with washington on
september 11 1777 at the battle of brandywine as the continental army tried desperately to
keep the british out of philadelphia during the fight lafayette was shot in the leg
but continued to fight despite the injury washington recognized his bravery by recommending
that he take command of his own division lafayette did so and continued leading continental soldiers
into battle lafayette was with the continental army during the terrible winter at valley forge
and then in 1779 he traveled back to france to convince king louis xvi to send the french
naval fleet from the caribbean and send them north to aid in the fight with the british
by 1781 he was back in command of continental troops and was instrumental in fighting uh british
general charles cornwallis in the south and helped in trapping cornwallis at yorktown in virginia
which of course eventually would lead to the siege that would bring the whole war really to an end
during the entire war lafayette never received any pay for his military service actually he ended up
spending his own money to supply continental troops with uniforms weapons and ammunition
after the war he remained close friends with george washington and in fact there's a room at
mount vernon which is washington's estate that is called the lafayette room after the war marquita
lafayette went back to france and he actually had started having children and his first son
born was named george washington the lafayette in france lafayette of course played a crucial role
in commanding troops during the french revolution as well lafayette died on may 20th of 1834 at the
age of 76. he was buried in france next to his wife and his son george washington to lafayette
is said to have sprinkled dirt from bunker hill on his casket as it was being buried
in america president andrew jackson who was president at the time when lafayette
died or that lafayette received the same funeral honors that george washington had received
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you