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Event · Significance tier 2

December 31, 1775

American assault on Quebec fails

A nighttime assault in a snowstorm failed; Richard Montgomery was killed and Benedict Arnold wounded while much of the American force was captured.

Category
armed conflict
Episode relations
1

Episode coverage

Episode 2

set piece · spoken: caption verified

Visual check: not checked

Why this coverage: The film explicitly follows Montgomery and Arnold as they plan and launch the assault on Quebec City; this relation verifies spoken treatment without making a separate event-level visual claim.

Caption entry: 01:11:34.490

Why it matters

The defeat exposed the limits of American logistics and assumptions about Canadian support while leaving a weakened army vulnerable to disease.

Why this tier

Quebec reversed the northern offensive and helped ensure that Canada would not join the rebelling colonies.

Counterfactual test: Capturing Quebec could have prolonged American control of the St. Lawrence and radically changed the international and territorial war.

Evidence trail

  • episode-2-srt-local
  • dcb-benedict-arnold
  • pbs-episode-2-guide

Return to this event in the timeline

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