American Revolutionary War

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Revolutionary War" redirects here. For other uses, see Revolutionary War (disambiguation).

This article is about military actions only. For political and social developments, including the origins and aftermath of the war, see American Revolution.

American Revolutionary War
Clockwise from top left: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis after the Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Trenton, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Battle of Long Island, Battle of Guilford Court House
Date April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783[5] (8 years, 4 months and 15 days) Ratification effective: May 12, 1784 Location Eastern North America, Caribbean Sea, Indian subcontinent,[6] Central America, Europe,[7] Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean Result Peace of Paris American independence recognized by Great Britain End of the First British Empire Iroquois Confederacy shattered Territorial changes Great Britain cedes area east of Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to the United States Great Britain cedes East Florida, West Florida and Minorca to Spain Great Britain cedes Tobago and Senegal to France Dutch Republic cedes Negapatnam to Great Britain
Belligerents
Thirteen Colonies (before 1776) United States (after 1776) Vermont (from 1777) France (from 1778) Spain (from 1779)  Netherlands[1] Mysore[2] Native Americans[3]	Great Britain Quebec Loyalists German auxiliaries[show] Native Americans[4] Iroquois Confederacy
Commanders and leaders
George Washington Nathanael Greene Horatio Gates Esek Hopkins Marquis de Lafayette Comte de Rochambeau Comte de Grasse  ...full list	Sir William Howe Thomas Gage Sir Guy Carleton Sir Henry Clinton Lord Cornwallis  John Burgoyne  Richard Howe Wilhelm Knyphausen Baron Riedesel  ...full list
Strength
United States: 40,000 (Average)[8] 5,000 Continental Navy sailors (at height in 1779)[9] no ships of the line 53 other ships (active at some point during the war)[9] Allies: 36,000 French (in America) 63,000 French and Spanish (at Gibraltar) 146 ships of the line (active 1782)[10] Native Allies: Unknown	Great Britain: Army: 48,000 (average, North America only)[11] 7,500 (at Gibraltar) Navy: 94 ships of the line (active 1782)[10] 171,000 Sailors[12] Loyalist forces: 19,000 (total number that served)[13] German auxiliaries: 30,000 (total number that served)[14] Native Allies: 13,000[15]
Casualties and losses
United States: 6,824 killed in battle 25,000–70,000 dead from all causes[8][16] Overall casualties up to 50,000[17] France: 10,000 battle deaths (75% at sea) Spain: 5,000 killed Netherlands: 500 killed[18]	Great Britain: 4,000 army troops killed in battle (North America only) 27,000 army troops died of disease (North America)[8][19] 1,243 navy killed in battle, 42,000 deserted, 18,500 died from disease (1776–1780)[20] At least 51,000 dead from all causes Germans: 1,800 killed in battle 4,888 deserted 7,774 dead from all causes[8]

[show] v t e American Revolutionary War Campaigns and theaters

The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also referred to as the American War of Independence^[21] and as the Revolutionary War in the United States, was an armed conflict between Great Britain and those thirteen of its North American colonies which after the onset of the war declared independence as the United States of America.^{[N 1][22]}
From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the royal authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Patriot protests escalated into boycotts. On December 16, 1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. The British government retaliated by closing the port of Boston and enacting punitive measures against Massachusetts, including the dissolution of its charter and the prohibition of its traditional, democratic town meetings. Named the "Coercive Acts" by Parliament, these measures became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a shadow government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees and conventions that effectively seized power.^[23]
British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775). Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776. The Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. (Later he was appointed as commander-in-chief of the newly formed Continental Army, as well as coordinating state militia units.) Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec and raise rebellion against the British Crown there decisively failed. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4.^[24]
Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City. Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, restoring American confidence. In 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a separate campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777.
The British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. France and Spain had covertly provided the colonists with weapons, ammunition, and other supplies since April 1776; in 1778 France formally entered the war, signing a military alliance that recognized the independence of the United States. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South. British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina (May 1780). British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, but too few came forward. In 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780.
In 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at King's Mountain (October 1780) and Cowpens (January 1781), Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route. A joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington,^[25] laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, and some 8,000 soldiers were taken prisoner.^[26]
Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand. In early 1782 they voted to end all offensive operations in North America, but the British war against France and Spain continued, with the British decisively defeating both during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. In addition Britain inflicted several naval defeats upon the French, most decisively in the Battle of the Saintes in the Caribbean in April 1782. On September 3, 1783, the combatants signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the war. Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by present-day Canada to the north, by Florida to the south, and by the Mississippi River to the west.
While French involvement proved decisive for the cause of American independence,^[27] France made only minor territorial gains, and incurred massive financial debts. Spain acquired Britain's Florida colonies and the island of Minorca, but failed in its primary aim of recovering Gibraltar. The Dutch lost on all counts, and had to cede some territory to the British.^[28][29]