Why did the British lose the American Revolution?

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Yeasmin

Sabina Yeasmin
October 21, 2008
History of The Americas

“Why did the  British lose the American Revolution?”

        It began with “the shot heard around the world,” at the battles of Lexington and Concord on the fated April 19, 2008. The war raged on until the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783 which was immediately followed by the mass British troops leaving America (Brinkley, 1995). Britain had once been the world’s greatest empire since Rome (Ketchum, 7). It had the best army, navy, and geography to fend itself from other empires. Britain was mistaken when they already decided the winner, had failed to see the truth of the geography, and had several failed strategies, and because of theses many mistakes British lost the war of the American Revolution.

        The first mistake they made was that the British had already decided that they would win. King George III actually thought that it was just a rebellion, and was “determined to teach colonials a lesson (Ketchum, 1971).” “Many English authorities continued to believe that what was happening in America was a limited, local conflict” and so British forces “were simply just attempting to quell pockets of rebellion (Brinkley,1995).” Also the British political and military circles had a general agreement that the war would be quickly and easily. “Shall we be told that [the Americans] can resist the powerful efforts of this nation?” rhetorically asked one of the King’s men in Commons (Ketchum, 1971). Even Howe, sent to fight  in 1776 as the leader of 32,000, thought that he could “awe them [Americans] into submission (Brinkley,1995).”

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        Another mistake they made, was about the geography. The British were aliens in strange land. First of all 3,000 thousand miles lay between the Americans and Britain so sending resources was a hassle. A lot of time passed between getting more supplies from homeland, even though they may need those supplies immediately. Sometimes the ships carrying the supplies could crash and sink at sea. Because of  the long travel time and also the crashing and sinking of ships, about eleven percent of the troops sent to America to fight, had died. The American wilderness was unfamiliar to the British troops. ...

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