OUTCOME OF WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

This essay and supporting research addresses the question --is it more insightful to suggest that the patriots won the War of Independence (1775-1781) or the British lost it? There is considerable merit to the argument that political and military blunders by the British played a major role in determining the outcome of the Revolutionary War. These consisted of errors in the formulation and central direction of the strategy for conducting the war and its execution and failures in command, tactics, and logistics. Above all, the British failed to mount in the early stages of the war the kind of determined war effort which could have won it before the patriots could have mobilized and trained an effective army. On the other hand, such an either-or proposition is an oversimplification which neglects the importance of (1) the success achieved by the patriots, in the face of extraordinary adversity, to survive long enough to win a war of attrition and in carrying out George Washington's sound defensive strategy; and (2) French arms, financial and naval assistance to the Americans which proved to be a decisive factor in the achievement of American independence.

According to Seymour, after 1760, "the British army and navy had been allowed to decline." In early 1775, Great Britain had only 48,647 regular troops worldwide, including 8,850 in America. Its American forces would be r

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e first two years of the war "dithered between concessions and suppression and tended to prefer the latter. When it was shown not to be working, and force had to be applied, it should have been in strength." Robson said that "North wanted as little war as possible and to keep expenses down." 1777-1778 Stokesbury commented that by the end of 1776, "the Patriot cause might be burning low, but it was still alight." Thomas Paine said that "these are the times that try men's soul." The Continental Army was, according to Countryman, "as usual, in a state of near dissolution." The fighting in 1777 further revealed the respective strengths and weaknesses of the Patriot and British approaches to fighting the war. Eighteenth century European armies did not fight major battles during the winter. Because of logistical difficulties in supplying their forces during bad weather and custom, they went into winter quarters. Washington broke that taboo by his successful surprise raid on the British-hired Hessian mercenaries at Trenton in December 1776, which he followed up by defeating at Princeton in January 1777 a detachment of General Charles Cornwallis. The operations of the British throughout the war were disrupted, and British offi
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Approximate Word count = 2174
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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