Pluses And Minuses Of The Revolutionary War
After all, they had more troops and they were better trained. There were many factors, though, that led to their defeat. Just like in the Revolutionary War, the British underestimated the Americans, and that was their main issue. Arrogance was a factor in this. Admiral Cochrane, for example, would not accept his men’s plan of how to move the barges from the bayou and instead wasted days executing his plan of how to do it (128).
It wasn’t until the battle for Washington at Bladensburg that they received any serious damage by the Americans. During the battle, the Americans had the advantage of numbers having around 6,000 men while the British Army had around 4,500 (82). The British were outnumbered by the Americans, but the British were also veterans with more experience, while most of the Americans were inexperienced and untrained (84). Another advantage for the British was the ineffectiveness of the American’s defense strategy, which had many weaknesses. The American’s defense was made of three lines that were widely separated, so they could not give each other support, and were easily susceptible to being outmaneuvered by the British (83).
This was an advantage for Great Britain because they were able to recruit a large number of people to battle against the colonists. Secondly, Great Britain’s military had structure, which intimidated other countries. Many of Great Britain’s soldiers were well trained and had experienced fighting in war in the past with the French (Kelly, 2014). Great Britain looks attractive to place a bet on to defeat the colonists, but their weaknesses would help them lose this battle. According to John Ferling, the British did underestimate the colonists in battle (Ferling, 2010).
After the Revolutionary War started, the British and the Americans dove into a series of violent and bloody battles. While the British troops were well-trained and equipped with advanced weapons, the Continental Army suffered through hardships and their lack of experience lead to constant bloodshed at the battles. Throughout the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the Americans suffered through painful losses against the British until the Battle of Saratoga occurred. This battle was led by Benedict Arnold and General Gates on the American side and General Burgoyne on the British side. In the end, the British army was defeated by Gates and Arnold’s careful plans in which they were trapped and ultimately forced to surrender to the Americans.
However, the British had a naval far superior than any kind the Americans had. Their army dwarfed the Americans’ army. Why would the Americans risk their country against another that was far beyond their league? And most of all, how could the Americans possibly conquer the British? How did the Americans beat the odds?
Their unequipped army simply wasn't up to par when attempting to occupy the square miles of terrain in North America. The American rebels knew they had the "Home Field" advantage, while Britain had to maintain long supply lines back to their Country. So long as the colonists were ready and focused on resisting, the British armies would not have a very easy time controlling all of the thirteen colonies. They were determined to ruin the American will to fight against them or at least mess up the America's unity to make it too increase difficulty for the colonists to stand ground during a sustained rebellion. French supporting the American colonists was, no doubt, a key significant aspect that finally decided in how the American Revolution turned out.
The American Revolutionary War was not supposed to be won by the revolutionaries. No one of the time would have thought that the greatest empire in history would lose a war to their sister country made up of farmers and merchants, but they did. The Americans revolutionaries were able to pull of this feat by having morality on their side. Loyalists and British citizens towards the end of the war realized they had no protections from their rebel neighbors in the states and realized how costly the war was. On top of this, the inclusion of Spain and France in the war greatly benefitted the rebels by stretching British supplies and troops, effectively creating a world war.
When war erupted in 1775, the odds favored the British, and many loyalists believed that they would be victorious. The main reason was the British army was organized. It had a large, well-organized land army, and the Royal Navy was known for its ability in the sea. The army built by the colonists was relatively smaller than the British. Most of the soldiers in the American army were young, landless, unskilled, and poor men.
To the population, war is when you are told what to fight for, and a revolution is when you decide for yourself. On April 19, 1775 was the day that America had decided for itself that we needed to be independent, the start of the American Revolution. The American revolution was over in about eight years. After the war Americans had decided to turn its focus inward and decide on what government they wanted and what America as a country would become. That is how the articles of confederation came to be on March 1, 1781 and of course like everything it had it’s pros, cons and results.
With the best navy in the world, a better trained militia, and abundance of wealth, weapons, and supplies, it was Britain 's war to lose. When it came to the best navy in the world, it was no contest, the British ruled the seas. The British navy was feared throughout the world, they rarely lost battles. It protected Britain with great success. A reason for this is that they were a world leader in manufacturing.
So going into this war they didn’t have very much money nor anyone helping to fund the war like America had the French. The British simply could not afford to go into lengthy and expensive war but had no choice. What gave America the upper hand when fighting the revolutionary war was that we were on home soil. They had the advantage when fighting the war, Britain was in new territory and climate change so it made it very difficult for them compared to America that was used to all of this.
After the French and Indian war, Britain was left with a huge debt to pay. The colonies were happy that they had won the war, so they never thought of what had to come after the war that they had caused in the first place. Great Britain thought that by taxing the colonies, it would be the only way to help pay off their debt. The taxes and laws that Britain had imposed on the colonies were the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, The Proclamation Act of 1763, the Quartering Act, Townshend Acts and the Coercive Intolerable Acts. Some of these acts had been for the solely purpose to help pay off the debt that Britain had, after the French and Indian War.
Nearly all factors to win the war favored Britain, except for two. First, the American’s had just beaten the British in the American Revolutionary War and gained independence from them, so, they believed they could take on the English again. Second, in both wars, Britain had been fighting France, who was trying to take over Europe.
Until the battle of Louisburg in July 1758 England was not flourishing in battle, and by that time the colonists had made up their minds and decided that England was not as potent as it was made out to be. During the French and Indian war England’s focus was not on the colonists, and
The British were the strongest navy and army in the world and somehow the weakest the americans beat them. Do you remember how the United States was started. When it was made up of just 13 small colonies. I believe that it is important to know the story of America.
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