The shot heard round the world was fired by Paul Revere on April 19, 1775. It signaled the start of the American Revolution.
In his poem “The Concord Hymn,” Ralph Waldo Emerson called it the shot heard round the world because it was the first shot of the American Revolution and it signaled the start of the fight for independence.
During his speech, he said that many people thought that this was just a local problem, but they didn’t realize that this was a “shot heard round the world.” The phrase is often used to describe something that has far-reaching effects or that affects many people or places. For example: “It’s hard to believe that one single action can affect so many different people in different places.”
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. British soldiers were marching to Concord to capture an arsenal there when they met resistance from local militia groups known as minutemen (volunteers who could be ready at a moment’s notice). The citizens’ resistance forced the British troops to retreat back toward Boston under heavy fire.
Afterward, other battles took place across New England between British troops and colonial militias. Eventually, enough American colonists had joined together to form Continental Army units that could challenge British authority over all thirteen colonies (which became known as “the United States”).
