The Battle of Yorktown | The Surrender That Ended a War

In the autumn of 1781, a quiet coastal town in Virginia became the center of a global conflict.The British army under Lord Cornwallis had moved into Yorktown expecting support from the sea. Instead, the Chesapeake closed. French naval power disrupted British relief efforts while American and French forces advanced across the peninsula.What followed was not a dramatic single battle, but a methodical siege.Positions tightened. Artillery moved forward. The British army became increasingly confined within its defenses as days passed.Yorktown represented more than a military defeat. It exposed the limits of imperial control across an ocean and altered political calculations in London. Within months, negotiations for peace began to take shape.This episode traces the final campaign that shifted the balance of the American Revolutionary War and set the stage for the emergence of a new nation.For viewers seeking the more exhaustive cinematic version with archival imagery and graphics, the full episode is available on the official YouTube channel, Empty Night.