Rise+of+the+British+Empire+-+The+Revolutionary+War

**The Revolutionary War [1775 - 1783]:**
 Ø ** British in favour of winning ** 
 * British had a large and well-organized army
 * American navy was small and no match for the thousand ships in the Royal Navy
 * Many of the British troops were veterans who had fought in the French and Indian War
 * Americans had only a handful of militiamen, most of whom had never fought before
 * Thus, George Washington trained the “Continental Army” into a professional fighting force, but still the British were immense compared to them

  Ø ** America’s landscape and location gave the US an advantage ** > 
 * North American terrain was unusually rugged, and British troops were not used to this:
 * 1) //New England was rocky and cold in winter//
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">//South was boggy and humid in the summer//
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">//The Western front was thick because of muddy roads and thick forests//
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">American cities were spread out, so the British had difficulty transporting men and supplies
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">American troops were used to the terrain and had little trouble
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Since England and the United States were far away, Britain spent a great deal of effort transporting soldiers and supplies back and forth

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 12, 0);"> Ø<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** The Battle of Saratoga’s effects ** > > > > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">In 1777, the Battle of Saratoga was a turning point for the Americans
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">France to pledge its support for the US (Franco-American Alliance of 1778), due to the Americans’ great win at Saratoga
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">In 1778, Spain also assisted the Americans, since they wanted to drive out Britain from North America
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Thus, Britain was fighting on 3 different sides; however, this worsened when the Netherlands entered the war against Britain in 1780

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 12, 0);"> Ø<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ** Britain’s morale collapsed ** > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">In England, support for the war was low
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">In Parliament, many Whigs (group of British politicians representing the interests of religious rebels, industrialists, and others who wanted reform) accused the war as unjust
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Eight years of the party’s whinging, along with the Royal Army's failure to win a decisive victory, fatigued the British people and cause

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(255, 12, 0);"> Ø<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> **Surrender in Yorktown** > > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);"> Greatly assisted by France, the Americans held off the British until 1781, when the Americans blockaded a large military base in Yorktown, Virginia
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);"> The British, weary of the war, decided to negotiate peace

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(255, 12, 0);"> Ø<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> **The Peace of Paris** > >
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">The war ended in September 1783
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Britain, the US, France, and Spain accepted the Peace of Paris
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">The treaty granted most of western lands to the Americans and recognized the United States as an independent country

1 - "American Revolution." // Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]//. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
 * References**

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