In the year 1775, British troops under the British General Gage launched attacks on the towns of Lexington and Concord. These attacks, coupled with the colonists already seething rage over the many taxes and laws that had been placed on them, caused a chain of events that led to the Revolutionary War. During the beginning of the war, soldiers went around recruiting more men to fight for them. A man by the name of Joseph Martin was ecstatic to join the fights against the British, his problem was that he was a year to young to join the army. However, a year later he was old enough, so when soldiers came around looking for new recruits, Joseph was one of the first to volunteer. (Hart, pg.119) Even though the Americans were outmatched in …show more content…
There were a few things that allowed them to do this, one of them being their numbers. The British had over forty two thousand men, four hundred ships, and lots of training. This army was the largest to ever be sent over seas. These numbers allowed them to control the situation in almost every battle by flanking and surrounding the continental army with men to spare. The British also had thirty two thousand hired German mercenaries, the Hessians, on their side. The Hessians were a highly skilled group of German mercenaries that could fight better than any other army on the planet. Another strength of the British was that they were well supplied. They had constant streams of guns, gunpowder, food, clothing, supplies, and other items coming in from Great Britain. The final strength that the British had was experience and training. The British army had fought on almost every continent and essentially ruled most of the world. They had the most experienced men and the biggest armies. In comparison, the continental army was just a group of ragtag volunteers. Over a long course of the war, the British always held the upper …show more content…
For starters the British had more than twice the men that the revolutionary army had, not to mention the Hessian soldiers that the king had hired. On the other hand, the Americans had better leaders and smarter tactics to counter those numbers. On the downside ,the American soldiers couldn't get any supplies or food because they had no money to pay for it. To change matters again, the British leaders never cooperated with each other and were always going behind one another's back. At the end of the war, both sides had many strengths and weaknesses, but it didn't matter because the Americans still
The American Revolutionary war began in-part because of economic struggles England faced after securing safety for it’s colonies during the Seven Years War. England needed to increase their taxation on the colonists after the war to pay off its war debts. Prior to these taxes, the colonies were wholly content while under the wing of the British Empire. Not only because the protection the British provided, but also because of their deep reverence for the Motherland. Colonists were angered by with Parliament due to their lack of acknowledgement towards colonists rights and opinions. Colonists stood together in a defiant motion towards liberation from England’s tyrannous acts of lawless duplicity. Before British government was able to fully
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “No gains without pain.” This could not be more of a true statement when speaking of the American Revolution. There are so many factors that are said to have caused it, that it's hard to determine what never needed to happen. Because of the French and Indian War, the British were suffering from debt. They needed the find a way out; therefore, new laws and acts were established. If the British would have treated the colonists as friends instead of their instant way out of dept, we could have never seen independence. Another reason that the American Revolution couldn’t have been avoided; because the colonists had already learned to fight, were tired of British
During the American Revolution, The British and the American colonists had many difficulties and challenges to overcome. Both sides had great disadvantages and advantages, but the in the end the colonists had the most advantages and won their independence from the British. Some of the most important reasons the colonists won was that they were fighting on their own continent and knew the land better than the British, they received help from other European countries such as France and they had a well-experienced General; George Washington.
Against all odds, The United States’s meager volunteer army defeated the British, who were said to have been the greatest army at that time. The war began in 1775 when the Americans demanded independence from Britain. America united with the French and Spanish and the British were on their own for the most part. At the time, America wasn’t an official country which makes it even more astonishing that they beat such an enormous empire. Although the American army was at a massive disadvantage, they did have a few elements on their side. The Americans were more motivated than the british because they were fighting for their freedom. They also had better leaders that were encouraging and innovative.
As the war began, it seemed that the British possessed a greater advantage over the unprepared American rebels. The population odds alone were about three British to every one American rebel with around 7.5 million British soldiers against around 2.5 million American colonists. When it came to wealth and military power, the British were in favor. In addition to having a much greater amount of soldiers, the British soldiers were professional trained when compared to the minute amount of poorly trained American militia. While numerous and highly trained, the British also had the necessary money to equip their soldiers with the necessary ammunition, clothes, training, etc. The American soldiers, on the other hand, suffered from lack of supplies, lack of money, no leadership, and the difficult weather conditions. Recruiting, supplying, training, equipping, and paying soldiers were monumental challenges, especially for a nation that was barely forming its first governments. Due to the lack of money, there was a lack of supplies for the soldiers who rarely received their pay
While there are numerous contributing factors to America’s success in achieving independence, the most critical factor can be attributed to the series of British mistakes throughout the conflict. Prior to the onset of the Revolutionary War, the British government faced serious challenges, both politically and fiscally. The conclusion of the French and Indian War coupled with the fighting in Europe, India and the West Indies, left Britain with considerable debt and with few to little allies. The British government saw America as a way
The American Revolution: the war for our independence. This revolution opened the door to our liberty, freedom, and basically what America is now. Most Americans have heard the stories of famous battles, important people (George Washington for instance), and everything in between. However, this was only for our side of the American Revolution and a small fraction of people have been told of Britain’s campaign of the revolution. The only thing people have been told was the Britain lost the war. What of Britain’s triumphs, strategies, and everything that happened in the span of a few years? Not many people know it, but the British struck a major blow against the Patriots in the last few years of the war. Even though the United States won the
Britain lost a truly great country, America. Americans fought for their rights and liberties. This was one of the biggest disadvantages for the British as the Americans had a solid reason for fighting. They wanted to be free and made their fighting more controlled. The British had to persuade the Americans to give up their Independence. This was proved quite difficult. Fighting people who were determined to get their freedom was one of the hardest things Britain could do. Although Britain was a strong nation, they thought they were better than everyone else. They had so many advantages on their side such as their army, a majority of colonists who were loyal to the crown, and Indian aid. However, they didn’t realize that they also had major
Most people did not expect the colonists with their under trained militia to last long against the British superpower. The colonists did just that. In the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of 1200 troops under orders from Artemas Ward, and led by William Prescott was supposed to entrench themselves on the rise on Bunker Hill, but instead misunderstood the instructions and went to Breed’s Hill by mistake. The next morning, the British were shocked to see Americans threatening them. In the 18th century, British military custom urged that the British soldiers attack the American soldiers, even though the Americans were in a superior position. Major General William Howe, leader of the British forces could easily have surrounded the Americans with his ships, but chose to march his troops up the hill; to the Americans. Howe might have believed that the Americans would retreat in the face of a smashing, head-on attack. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how a person looks at it, William Howe was wrong. The Americans stood their ground, dug in their heels, and stood firm. In the first wave, the Americans waited until they were within forty meters, then opened fire. The British force retreated with their wounded for a second wave. The British rushed up yet again. Again they retreated, suffering a great number of casualties. By the time the
Bunker Hill, while not officially a ‘win” for the patriots, served two purposes. With British casualties outnumbering Colonial loses nearly 3 to 1 (1,054 British to about 400 Colonial), and Congress’ call for all able bodied men to join the militia, the war was in full swing; but it was not the warfare that the British had expected (Shi).
The British had very few, but significant disadvantages/weaknesses. Since America was large and unfamiliar territory for them, it was troublesome to conquer and to hold territory. The British were 3,000 miles from home so it often took months for military orders, troops, and supplies to arrive from Britain after it was is sent out. And also due to distance, they couldn’t communicate with their leaders, reinforcements, and supply lines. They didn’t send their top military leaders, which caused problems. Their Red Coats and militant style made them easy targets to identify in the wilderness or on open fields. Their soldiers were fighting for a King, not for their own cause. They lacked motivation to crush the opposition from the onset of the war. They were also over-confident and cocky. Their goal was persuade the Americans to give up their claims of independence, which was an extremely rigorous objective. Also, the country had been at war for years and citizens were tired of war and war taxes.
The irregular and disorganized British rule of the American colonies in the previous years led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Most Americans did not originally want to separate from mother England. They wanted to stay loyal to the crown. England’s unwillingness to compromise, mismanagement of the colonies, heavy taxation of the colonists that violated their rights, the distractions of foreign affairs and politics in England and the strict trading policies that England tried to enforce together made the revolution inevitable. The British were definitely expected to win the dispute because they significantly over powered the Colonists in most areas. They had more money, weapons, people, etc. However the American’s prevailed with
The Revolutionary War was a dreadful war leaving almost 70,000 U.S. and British soldiers dead or wounded. The war lasted eight years with America, France, Spain, and the Dutch on one side and Great Britain on the other. On October 19, 1781 the last major land battle took place, the Battle of Yorktown. Similar to other battles in the Revolutionary War, the Americans were fighting for independence from the British and as threats from them kept increasing, the situation did not get any better. George Washington is recognized to having inspired the victory achieved over the British forces. The tactics, skills, courage and the collaboration George Washington sought with the
Many factors contributed to the British losing the American Revolutionary War. By the 1770’s the American colonists were not socially, religiously, or culturally connected to Britain. The colonists has their own ways of life and thus were not British by culture. The majority of the colonists had immigrated to America to escape the rigid class structures of Britain and Europe.
The British military was considered the strongest in the world at the outreach of fighting between England and the American colonies in 1775. Britain had just defeated France and the Indians in the Seven Years War and had attained its prominence as a world’s superpower. Yet despite Britain’s overpowering military dominance, the British found themselves unable to subdue General Washington and the American colonies. The American’s success in achieving independence during the American Revolution was not due to General Washington’s strategic skill but by numerous British blunders. The British mistakes during