Opposition in colonial North America to British policies over taxes, land, and sovereignty escalates into violent confrontation. Fighting in Massachusetts ignites a war that gives common cause to thirteen otherwise disunited colonies.

Thirteen American colonies unite in rebellion, win an eight-year war to secure their independence, and establish a new form of government that would inspire democratic movements at home and around the globe. What begins as a political clash between colonists and the British government grows into a bloody struggle that will engage more than two dozen nations and forever change the world.