How Americans Won the Revolutionary War? Research Paper

The American War for Independence is the key event in the American history because of its significance for the nation’s development and for forming the nation’s identity. The victory of the American colonists in the conflict with the British Empire is also significant because the Revolutionary War was won in spite of the British obvious military superiority. From this point, a lot of researchers are inclined to focus on the causes of the colonists’ victory as the example of the people’s struggle for their liberty and rights as an independent nation.

Thus, the Revolutionary War resulted in the victory of the American colonists because the experienced British army was defeated with the help of the new military techniques, approaches, and strategies, the Americans had the territory advantage, and the help of the French military and officers was significant to oppose the British attacks.

The American colonies took considerable risks while planning the rebellion against the British rule because the British military was famous for its equipment, for the usage of the most successful strategies, and for the experience of officers. Moreover, the Royal Navy was the most developed and influential navy in Europe.

On the contrary, the American colonies did no have the single army. The colonists fought in the first battles basing on the united army formed with the help of the colonies’ militia, and the Continental Army was created in order to fight for the interests of the Americans as the nation (Henretta and Brody). From this point, the opposition of the American colonists could be perceived as the insignificant conflict in which the British military could win the obvious victory.

Nevertheless, the American colonists achieved the major goal of their revolution and ended the rule of the British Empire in the colonies. The British army was defeated, and historians determine several significant aspects to explain this phenomenon.

The first important aspect is the fact that the British army could not orient successfully at the territories of the American colonies. Thus, the colonists had the advantage of knowing the landscape. The figure of George Washington is necessary to be discussed with references to the questions of the colonists’ advantages and strategies.

Knowing the colonies’ landscape well, Washington and officers could develop the effective plans of attacking the British military, and they chose the most advantageous positions to set their forces. As a result, the advantage of home-field contributed to the effective realization of Washington’s strategies (Dziennik). From this perspective, the next important feature of the American military is the non-traditional approach to fighting.

The power of the British army was in the traditional approach to planning strategies and developing battles. In contrast, Washington focused on the unexpected approach to fighting, making the enemy be confused with the American army’s strategy. The lack of the military experience became insignificant because of the new methods to develop the war actions.

The risks taken by Washington in realization of the definite war operations resulted in the British army’s losses because of the operations’ unexpectedness. Furthermore, the strategies used by the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War determined the main aspects of the military history of the Americans.

Thus, Knott pays attention to the fact that “it is a military history that explains, in turn, some of the distinctive features of American, French, and British political cultures immediately after that revolutionary war” (Knott 20). The military history is important for the development of any nation, and it is especially important when the history of the country is associated with the struggle of the nation for independence.

One more advantage of the colonists which is stated by many researchers was the French support of the American army and the help of the French officers in developing the strategies. The French army was the well-known enemy of the British military in many war conflicts.

Thus, the French officers knew the particular features of the British officers’ approaches (Knott 22). The first victories assured the American colonists in the fact that the right direction was chosen to achieve the nation’s independence. The American colonists’ patriotism and the enormous desire to achieve the independence were the decisive aspects to encourage soldiers to continue their fight.

According to Knott, “approved or disapproved by the future conservative, the changes effected by this war encompassed notions of liberty and authority, patriotism and the nation, representation and the role of the ‘people’ in politics” (Knott 19). The American War for Independence played the significant role in the further development of the country as the union of the colonies.

The American colonists won the Revolutionary War because it was the war for independence and against the discriminative laws imposed by the British Empire.

The American colonists saw the real goal of their fight, and the Continental Army’s officers did not fear to take risks and use the new approaches to defeat the enemy. The superiority of the British military became mythical when the British soldiers had to fight at the unfamiliar territories, and the home-field advantage along with the French support contributed to the victory of the American colonists.

Works Cited

Dziennik, Matthew. “Through an Imperial Prism: Land, Liberty, and Highland Loyalism in the War of American Independence”. Journal of British Studies 50.2 (2011): 332-358. Print.

Henretta, James, and David Brody. America: A Concise History, Volume I: To 1877. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.

Knott, Sarah. “Sensibility and the American War for Independence”. American Historical Review 109.1 (2004): 19-40. Print.