British Involvement In The Revolutionary War
Ingrid Ortiz
Mrs. Buice
APUSH- Period 3
30 September 2014
Intro
With all of the circumstances weighed, one can see that the outcome of the American Revolutionary War of 1776 inevitably tilted toward victory for the colonists. The British brought an experienced Army to bear on the Colonists; however, fighting a war across the Atlantic Ocean required supplying the army by way of the sea, a great logistical disadvantage. The Colonists, by contrast were fighting in their own backyards, and had a well-coordinated system of supply routes that made it easy to support their smaller and constantly moving army, no matter where they fought. The sheer size of the Colonial geography made it impossible for the British army to occupy and control. Although …show more content…
Even if the British had worked out solutions for their supply lines, to conquer a country requires an occupying force to control each territory once won. The British had insufficient forces to provide such an occupying force. The British army rarely ventured far from the main port cities, most of which they controlled. When the British attempted military actions far from the safety of an occupied port, the results were often in favor of the colonists. The decentralized nature of the colonial government turned out to be an inadvertent advantage: being without a central point of control, the colonies did not have a single capital to capture from which to pressure the country into surrender. The colonial population, dispersed in the countryside, were largely unaffected by the British capture of key port cities. The geographic disadvantage for the British also deprived them of a resource that could possibly have tilted the outcome of the war if properly exploited, a 50,000-man strong loyalist movement within the Colonies. The loyalists, dispersed among the rest of the population, are targets for harassment and are tarred and feathered, or otherwise neutralized by the Colonists. This severely weakens their effectiveness by the time the British made an effort to exploit them in …show more content…
This colonial victory was a turning point in the revolution. In an effort to stave off the French recognition of the United States as an independent nation, British Prime Minister, Lord North, called on parliament to repeal immediately the Tea Act (a trigger for the start of the war) and the Massachusetts Government Act. He then immediately dispatched The Carlisle Peace Commission to negotiate a settlement with the United States. The commission had broad power to negotiate a settlement with the United States that included self-governance of the type first proposed by Thomas Pownal (the basis for the eventual British Commonwealth Status). The commission failed partly because the US had already declared independence from Great Britain. The commission’s authority fell short of the ability to recognize the newly declared independent nation status of the United States of America, thus its mission failed. The French then entered the war by recognizing The United States of America as an independent nation, undercutting the British offer for self-rule. Soon after, Spain entered the war in 1779, followed by Holland in 1782, each eager to see the British fail. The result was the defeat of the British Military and the birth of the independent United States of
Mrs. Buice
APUSH- Period 3
30 September 2014
Intro
With all of the circumstances weighed, one can see that the outcome of the American Revolutionary War of 1776 inevitably tilted toward victory for the colonists. The British brought an experienced Army to bear on the Colonists; however, fighting a war across the Atlantic Ocean required supplying the army by way of the sea, a great logistical disadvantage. The Colonists, by contrast were fighting in their own backyards, and had a well-coordinated system of supply routes that made it easy to support their smaller and constantly moving army, no matter where they fought. The sheer size of the Colonial geography made it impossible for the British army to occupy and control. Although …show more content…
Even if the British had worked out solutions for their supply lines, to conquer a country requires an occupying force to control each territory once won. The British had insufficient forces to provide such an occupying force. The British army rarely ventured far from the main port cities, most of which they controlled. When the British attempted military actions far from the safety of an occupied port, the results were often in favor of the colonists. The decentralized nature of the colonial government turned out to be an inadvertent advantage: being without a central point of control, the colonies did not have a single capital to capture from which to pressure the country into surrender. The colonial population, dispersed in the countryside, were largely unaffected by the British capture of key port cities. The geographic disadvantage for the British also deprived them of a resource that could possibly have tilted the outcome of the war if properly exploited, a 50,000-man strong loyalist movement within the Colonies. The loyalists, dispersed among the rest of the population, are targets for harassment and are tarred and feathered, or otherwise neutralized by the Colonists. This severely weakens their effectiveness by the time the British made an effort to exploit them in …show more content…
This colonial victory was a turning point in the revolution. In an effort to stave off the French recognition of the United States as an independent nation, British Prime Minister, Lord North, called on parliament to repeal immediately the Tea Act (a trigger for the start of the war) and the Massachusetts Government Act. He then immediately dispatched The Carlisle Peace Commission to negotiate a settlement with the United States. The commission had broad power to negotiate a settlement with the United States that included self-governance of the type first proposed by Thomas Pownal (the basis for the eventual British Commonwealth Status). The commission failed partly because the US had already declared independence from Great Britain. The commission’s authority fell short of the ability to recognize the newly declared independent nation status of the United States of America, thus its mission failed. The French then entered the war by recognizing The United States of America as an independent nation, undercutting the British offer for self-rule. Soon after, Spain entered the war in 1779, followed by Holland in 1782, each eager to see the British fail. The result was the defeat of the British Military and the birth of the independent United States of