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A Hessian in general is anyone from the Hesse area in the central region of Germany. However, when people are talking about the American Revolution, they mean the German soldiers hired by the British to fight the American colonial army.

Landgraf Frederick II of Hesse (Landgraf is a position similar to a count) restored his country's depleted wealth by conscripting men into the Hessian Army, training them, and then renting them out as large organized units to other rulers in need of trained fighting forces. Approximately 19,000 Hessians were rented by Great Britain to fight in the American Revolution. Most of the money paid by Great Britain went to the Landgraf, not to the soldiers who did the fighting.

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10y ago

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