The Importance Of British Intervention In The Battle Of Saratoga

543 Words3 Pages

The British were the strongest military power in the whole world in the 1770s. Britain had the strongest military, and yet they were defeated by a group of colonies that didn’t have a standing military before the war. The colonies were at every disadvantage, only held together by their patriotism and their desire for Independence. Due to Britain’s methods of warfare, their judgement of the colonists, and France’s intervention in the war, Britain was defeated by the colonists against all odds. European style of fighting involved large numbers of companies forming a line in an open field and taking turns firing upon one another. Britain practiced this style of fighting, as it had worked for them in the past. The Patriots had adopted an old, yet new to them, style of fighting from the Natives called Guerrilla Warfare largely inspired by Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion. Americans imposed surprise attacks or had riflemen in woods that could pick off British officers from a distance, although this went against “gentleman’s warfare”. In the Battle of Trenton, General Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River into Trenton and attacked German Hessians based there on Christmas morning. The Hessians …show more content…

The Battle of Saratoga showed the world that the colonists had a chance at winning the war. The French Navy and French troops were instrumental in the Patriots’ success. The Battle of Yorktown is considered the end of the Revolutionary War, as Britain lost the will to fight and General Cornwallis surrendered. The French Navy stopped all reinforcements coming from New York and French troops assist in the bombardment of Yorktown. Cornwallis runs out of supplies under this constant bombardment and is forced to surrender. The Treaty of Paris was signed soon after, ending the war and declaring America’s