Essay On American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary war (1775-1800C.E) is considered to be amongst the defining wars in the history of the world. In this war, the colonies of North America fought for independence from their British rulers. This resulted in the creation of United States, a country which after its formation played a major role in the affairs of the world. Moreover, the Revolutionary war, was the first to be declared the “Colonial war of liberation” as well as the “people’s war” as per Stephen Conway, in the twentieth century . Furthermore, this war is considered to be the “longest armed conflict” in the history of the United States, after the Vietnam War. Thus, the question arises: how were the Americans able to defeat the militarily superior British? In order to answer this we must look at the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. Although, British strength was, that they were a superpower, their overconfidence and underestimation of the Americans played a role in their defeat, furthermore factors; monetary incentive to join the revolution, African American’s enlistment in the army, militia, French alliance, political mobilization, guerrilla warfare and American motivation towards fighting for independence, were factors that were of great advantage to the Americans, which played a key role in their victory.
The British during this period of time were known to be the leading superpower in world affairs, which can be considered as their greatest strength. Prior to the American Revolution, they were victorious in wars such as the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1768) these established them as the greatest military power in the world and a force to be reckoned with. Thus, when...

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...rs. Moreover, the British underestimated the Americans, perhaps if they took the American threat more seriously and planned better, history would be different today. Likewise the induction of African Americans gave the American army a new dimension. Militia and guerrilla warfare contributed greatly to the American revolutionary attempts, the British were unable to counter these tactics and hence faced great losses. French alliance with America is also a crucial reason regarding why Britain lost. Additionally, political mobilization resulted in unifying the public in support of one cause, which had never happened before in the colonies history. Furthermore, the war meant more to the Americans since they were fighting for their land, their homes and their liberty as compared to the British. Thus, due to all of these factors the Americans prevailed over the British.