Saturday, March 21, 2009

Could the British Have Won the American Revolution?

Is it possible that Great Britain could have won the American Revolution? Britain, after all, had most of the advantages. Why did they lose? And if Britain could have won, how? How should Britain have handled her rebellious American colonies?

Two recommended articles for you to read...

"England's Vietnam: The American Revolution" by Richard Ketchum (American Heritage, June 1971)

"Why Did the British Lose the American Revolution?" by yours truly (American Revolution Blog)

And check out...


2 comments:

marc rothenberg said...

Certainly! Much of the time the American Continentals were on the defensive, and had it not been for quite a bit of good fortune on their part and bad generalship and political hubris on the part of the British, things might not have turned out as they did. Luck certainly played its part too. In David McCullough's excellent book, "1776", he recounts how fog and favorable winds probably saved Washington's army from annihilation at the battle of Brooklyn. There were other examples too, throughout the long years of campaigning, right up to the end when Washington managed to slip away from the New York area undetected and march to Yorktown for the penultimate battle that ended the conflict. We could also point to the years prior to actual hostilities breaking out, when the British politicians and king were always 1 step behind what it would have taken to placate the colonists. They stubbornly held onto their actions and edicts until forced through circumstances to abandon them. A little more foresight might have seen them through rough periods and avoided the revolution altogether (at least for the moment).

Unknown said...

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Susana
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