0
The original line is from Ralph Waldo Emmerson's The Concord Hymn : "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, : Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, : Here once the embattled farmers stood : And fired the shot heard round the world." There "Where" of this poem is Concord, Massachusetts. The refernce was to the shot that started the American Revolutionary War. Later it was also used of the shot the killed Archduke Ferdinand starting WWI.
Still curious? Ask our experts.
Chat with our AI personalities
Devin
Beau
Maxine"The shot heard 'round the world" was fired at Lexington Green, a village common in the town of Lexington, which is on the route from Boston to Concord where the British were headed to destroy the stocks of munitions being stored by the colonists. It is not known which side, British or colonists, actually fired the first shot.
The original line is from Ralph Waldo Emmerson's The Concord Hymn : "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, : Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, : Here once the embattled farmers stood : And fired the shot heard round the world." There "Where" of this poem is Concord, Massachusetts. The refernce was to the shot that started the American Revolutionary War. Later it was also used of the shot the killed Archduke Ferdinand starting WWI.
The Old North Bridge in Concord, Province of Massachusetts Bay (modern-day state of Massachusetts)
The "shot heard 'round the world" usually refers to the first shot of the American Revolution at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It derives from the first stanza of "Concord Hymn," an 1837 poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard 'round the world."
The bridge Emerson is referring to is the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, where an engagement did take place on the first day of the Revolution. It was not, however, the location of the actual first shot of the war. This honor goes to a brief skirmish in Lexington, Massachusetts, just after dawn on that same day, April 19, 1775. Who fired the first shot here is a matter of much speculation, since neither the American militiamen on one side nor the British regulars on the other claimed responsibility after the fact. A widely held belief is that the first shot came not from one of the assembled soldiers but from an onlooker; other theories abound, and the answer is not known with any certainty. In any case, the colonial militia at Lexington, realizing it was outmatched, broke ranks and retreated after the first British volleys.
Emerson, grandson of a colonial soldier and resident of Concord, may have had a bias -- or perhaps he was misinformed. Either way, the shot he refers to was at the Old North Bridge in Concord, but is often misused to reference the shot at Lexington earlier in the day. That first stanza has since been engraved on a commemorative statue near the reconstructed Old North Bridge, and appeared on a 1925 U.S. postage stamp.
The phrase "shot heard 'round the world" has also been applied to other similar historical events, most significantly the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary in 1914, the primary cause of World War I. It is also sometimes used in reference to sporting events, especially Bobby Thomson's walk-offhome run which won the 1951 National League Pennant for the New York Giants. Thomson's solo "shot" was the cap on a four-run rally by the Giants, who had been losing 4-1 to the Brooklyn Dodgers going into the bottom of the ninth inning. The use of the term "shot heard 'round the world" in this context may have stemmed from the large number of American servicemen who heard it on the radio from Korea -- halfway around the world. The phrase has become a media buzzword of sorts as well; for example, the first patient of the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak was dubbed the source of the "coughs heard 'round the world."
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
Location of the shot heard around the world?
The "shot heard round the world" was fired at Lexington.
What were the first shots in the revolutionary war called?
the first shots fired of this war was in fort Sumter
What was the shot heard around the world and why was it important?
This is, of course, metaphorical. A shot is not literally going to be heard around the world, but it can set in motion events of global importance. When the American Colonies declared it was time for England to give America her independence. England was not going to do it without a fight. The American Revolutionary War, was the inspiration of other countries around the world, who wanted freedom and independence also. When the guns were fired that began the first battle of the American Revolutionary War, it became known by the expression for "The shot heard around the world."
What day were the opening shots of the American revolution on?
The "Shot Heard around the world" was fired on April 19, 1775 at Lexington Green. However, there are lots of differing accounts as to who fired first--the British or the revolutionaries.
What was the nickname of lexington and concord?
They didn't have nicknames. On the bridge at Concord a statue has been erected of a minuet man that states the " shots were heard around the world" were fired there on April 19, 1775.
