Carlos Young
American History 1 (M/W 1100-1330)
Paper 1
The British Perspective of How They Lost the Revolutionary War
It’s been over 240 plus years since the American Revolution was fought and won in spite of insurmountable odds and debate yet remains concerning whether the American Colonist won the war or did the British Empire lose the war. Sitting at my computer, I pondered whether it was the typical good versus evil portrayal or the proverbial David versus Goliath scenario that made this topic so interesting and compelling to debate. Factions sympathetic to the colonial endeavor passionately suggest that it was the patriotism of the advocates of liberty and their intestinal fortitude that won them their ultimate prize. Contrastingly, those who are loyal to the position of the British and their empirical regime, claim that the new world wasn’t as illustrious as the colonials made it seem, besides the real crown jewel of the Empire was India. Obviously there are shreds of truth in the American perspective, and of course there’s a bit of gamesmanship on the part of the British to save face and preserve their honor. Notwithstanding, I humbly submit this position. The war was in the hands of the British Empire to win, but because of the extreme financial burdens held over from the Seven Years War/French Indian War, coupled with the enormous logistical challenges of keeping and maintaining a fully supplied forces suitable to suppress and eradicate this uprising, compounded by numerous costly strategic miscues and blunders in tactical troop movements and force readiness postures, and their inability to maintain firm a conviction of whether or not they were there to conquer their kinsmen and countrymen or simply dispel their apparent treachery, lead to the embarrassing defeat of the greatest military power the world knew at that time. As the paced hurried frantically for claims and acquisitions in the beautiful lands of the New World, it was apparent that the future of the new continent would be determined by the hands of only a few. Quickly generating their own international animosities amongst themselves, because of the fierce competition among the European Nations’ markets for raw materials, the new founded colonies of North America whether Spanish, French, or English all clashed savagely with brutal reckless abandon. The abundance of the new America seemed to make the settlers just as belligerent and insatiably greedy as their mother countries were. Inevitably, a showdown between contending conquests was imminent. The French as it were, gathered the noble notion to expand and move southward from the Canadian region toward the Great Lakes area, simultaneously the profit driven British Colonials were convinced moving westward toward the same destination would bring them untold fortune. Predictably war ensues and eventually spreads to the hollowed grounds of the homelands, cascading into a defacto world war.1 Although victory in this engagement sided with the British, the price tag in excess of 82 million British Pounds was enormously costly and troublesome.2 The British crown’s financial predicament self-inflicted, because instead of relying on the undisciplined and tightfisted colonials for personnel and finances, the crown poured regiment after regiment of British regulars from England. Obsessed with conquest, the crown ransomed the full resources of the treasury into the contest, while simultaneously and recklessly I might add, mortgaging the future to ensure victory over the French and Spanish. This was a blunder. Indeed the spoils gained were tremendous, but the new, far larger dominion would be more expensive to administrate. Realizing the daunting challenges of empire expansion, reality settled in concerning the money that was spent securing it, especially since the over-whelming majority of it was borrowed. To the chagrin of the British, their national debt doubled during that campaign.
The French