How Did George Washington Face Off Against The British Army

In David McCullough’s national bestseller, 1776, he illustrates the struggles that the colonial army went through in facing the powerful british army lead by General William Howe. The American army faced dark times: suffering food shortages, rough weather, and undisciplined troops. Yet under the leadership of General George Washington the colonial troops were able to clash with the British army to establish their independence as a nation. Throughout the novel, the underlying theme was perseverance emphasised by the various obstacles that General Washington and his army had to overcome during the year 1776. Even though George Washington lead the army of common folk to the best of his abilities he was still ill-prepared to battle the British

Based on the evidence provided in the novel 1776, General Washington was not prepared to face off against the superior british forces because the Americans fell short in many crucial aspects that would make it important to win a war against a powerful army. This is not due to the leadership of George Washington. Many people of the time and present day historians believed that Washington was the best man suited for the job. Not only had he had experience in the French and Indian War, but he was a sound strategist and revered amongst his men. Even though George Washington was quite qualified for his position as a general, he was not ready to face the British. Washington and his army lacked fundamental instruments of war which made it nearly impossible to fight against another army. There came a time during 1776 in which the Colonial army had access to less than 10,000 pounds of gunpowder and they had to ration that to an extent where they allowed “enough only for about ten rounds per man” (McCullough 28). This situation is similar to that of Russia when faced in the Crimean War. They had access to so little supplies that the generals made it so that the troops had to run out onto the battlefield and use the weapons of the diseased. Not only did the American army not have the necessary supplies to fight, the troops lacked the morale

David McCullough aesthetically incorporates the first person perspectives of the soldiers and generals to illustrate the events and struggles of the year 1776. It gives a phenomenal representation of the generals and the mindset of each set of troops when faced with particular challenges. This novel is significant to AP history students to read because it lays out the events in a chronological order in order for the reader to comprehend the momentum swings of the war. Each of the crucial moments is explained not only from the perspective of the soldiers, but also form a historian’s standpoint. Due to the layout of the novel, a reader longs to proceed reading the text. This is almost unseen when reading a textbook which tends to come out as boring and tedious to an AP history reader. 1776 is genuinely a good, informative novel that provides the necessary knowledge to the young readers in an entertaining