Lecture Access

This lecture will be available to view until 5 October 2026

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OVERVIEW

Watch on Demand | Online Lecture


The American Revolution is most often told from the perspective of the patriots — a clear-cut battle for freedom against an oppressive crown. But the story is far richer and more complex than the familiar narrative suggests. 

King George III was not the tyrannical villain of popular imagination, but a monarch navigating a deeply divided nation, constrained by a constitutional system in which Parliament held enormous power. From the halls of Westminster to the streets of London, British opinion on the American colonies was anything but united. Politicians, merchants, journalists, and ordinary citizens held differing views on loyalty, governance, and the true cost of war sharply. Figures such as Lord North and Charles James Fox embodied these tensions, representing competing visions of empire, diplomacy, and responsibility. 

In this lecture, Professor Richard Bell examines the American Revolution through British eyes, revealing a fascinating landscape of division, doubt, and debate on the other side of the Atlantic.

LECTURER

Biography

Professor Richard Bell received a BA from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from Harvard University. He joined the Department of History and the University of Maryland in 2006, earned tenure in 2012 and promotion to the rank of full professor in 2020. Rick is also a Trustee of the Maryland Historical Society and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an elected member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and as a board member of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System Foundation.

Prof Richard Bell

Historian