The American Revolution

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The American Revolution 1775-1783
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On the Eve of the Revolution ?
Britain Americans
Advantages ? ?
Disadvantages ? ?
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Battle Description Significance
   Lexington Concord (April 1775) British commander in Boston dispatches troops to nearby Lexington Concord to seize stores of gun powder and weapons and arrest several rebel instigators such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock.  The soldiers are met at Lexington by a band of colonial minute men.  Shots are fired.  The British continue on to Concord, where they meet heavy resistance.  Colonists fire from behind stone walls and trees.  The British are forced to retreat back to Boston. These were the first two battles of the war.  Although independence would not officially be declared until more than a year later, most historians mark these battles as the beginning of hostilities between the American colonies and Great Britain.
The Shot heard 'round the world
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Loyalist Strongholds
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Washingtons Headaches

• Only 1/3 of the colonists were in favor of a war
  for independence the other third were Loyalists,
  and the final third were neutral.
• State/colony loyalties.
• Congress couldnt tax to raise money for the
  Continental Army.
• Poor training until the arrival of Baron von
  Steuben.

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Exports Imports 1768-1783
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Military Strategies
The Americans
The British

• Attrition the Brits had a long supply line.
• Guerilla tactics fight an insurgent war ? you
  dont have to win a battle, just wear the British
  down
• Make an alliance with one of Britains enemies.

• Break the colonies in half by getting between the
  No. the So.
• Blockade the ports to prevent the flow of goods
  and supplies from an ally.
• Divide and Conquer ? use the Loyalists.

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Phase I The Northern Campaign1775-1776
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Bunker Hill (June, 1775)
The British suffered over 40 casualties.
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Phase II NY PA1777-1778
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New York City in Flames(1776)
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Washington Crossing the Delaware
Painted by Emanuel Leutze, 1851
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Saratoga Turning Point of the War?
A modern-day re-enactment
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Phase III The Southern Strategy 1780-1781
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Britains Southern Strategy

• Britain thought that there were more Loyalists in
  the South.
• Southern resources were more valuable/worth
  preserving.
• The British win a number of small victories, but
  cannot pacify the countryside similar to U. S.
  failures in Vietnam!
• Good US GeneralNathanial Greene

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The Battle of Yorktown (1781)
Count de Rochambeau
AdmiralDe Grasse
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Cornwallis Surrender at Yorktown
The World Turned Upside Down!
Painted by John Trumbull, 1797
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Why did the British Lose???
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North America After theTreaty of Paris, 1783