American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War
Part of the Atlantic Revolutions

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, and the Battle of Guilford Court House
DateApril 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783[11]
(8 years, 4 months and 15 days)
Ratification effective: May 12, 1784
Location
Result US and allied victory
Full results
Territorial
changes
Belligerents

Co-belligerents


Combatants

  • Br. Canadien, Cong. rgts.[a]
  • Br. Canadien mil., Fr. led[b]

Treaty belligerents

Commanders and leaders


Strength
Casualties and losses
  • United States:
    • 6,800 killed
    • 6,100 wounded
    • 17,000 dead from disease[34]
    • 25–70,000 war dead[35]
    • 130,000 dead from smallpox[36]
  • France:
  • Spain:
    • 371 killed– W. Florida[39]
    • 4,000 dead – prisoners[40]
  • Native Americans: Unknown
  • Great Britain:
  • Germans:
    • 7,774 total dead
    • 1,800 killed
    • 4,888 deserted[13]
  • Loyalists:
    • 7,000 total dead
    • 1,700 killed
    • 5,300 dead from disease[42]
  • Native Americans

The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a military conflict that was part of the broader American Revolution, where American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army.

During the war, American Patriot forces had the support of France and Spain, while the British and Loyalist forces hired Hessian soldiers from Germany for assistance. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which resulted in Great Britain ultimately recognizing the independence and sovereignty of the United States.

The American colonies were established by royal charter in the 17th and 18th centuries. After the British Empire gained dominance in North America with victory over the French in the Seven Years' War in 1763, tensions and disputes arose between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies over a variety of issues, including the Stamp and Townshend Acts. The resulting British military occupation led to the Boston Massacre in 1770, which strengthened American Patriots' desire for independence from Britain. Among further tensions, the British Parliament imposed the Intolerable Acts in mid-1774. A British attempt to disarm the Americans and the resulting Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 ignited the war. In June, the Second Continental Congress formalized Patriot militias into the Continental Army and appointed Washington its commander-in-chief. The British Parliament declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion in August 1775. The stakes of the war were formalized with passage of the Lee Resolution by the Congress in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776, and the unanimous ratification of the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4, 1776.

After a successful siege, Washington's forces drove the British Army out of Boston in March 1776, and British commander in chief William Howe responded by launching the New York and New Jersey campaign. Howe captured New York City in November. Washington responded by clandestinely crossing the Delaware River and winning small but significant victories at Trenton and Princeton, which restored Patriot confidence. In the summer of 1777, as Howe was poised to capture Philadelphia, the Continental Congress fled to Baltimore. In October 1777, a separate northern British force under the command of John Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga in an American victory that proved crucial in convincing France and Spain that an independent United States was a viable possibility. After Saratoga, France signed a commercial agreement with the rebels, followed by a Treaty of Alliance in February 1778. In 1779, Spain also allied with France against Britain in the Treaty of Aranjuez, though Spain did not formally ally with the Americans.

Howe's replacement Henry Clinton intended to take the war against the Americans into the south. Despite some initial success, British general Cornwallis was besieged by a Franco-American force in Yorktown in September and October 1781. Cornwallis was forced to surrender in October. The British wars with France and Spain continued for another two years, but fighting largely ceased in America. In April 1782, the North ministry was replaced by a new British government, which accepted American independence and began negotiating the Treaty of Paris, ratified on September 3, 1783. Britain acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America, bringing the American Revolutionary War to an end. The Treaties of Versailles resolved Britain's conflicts with France and Spain and forced Great Britain to cede Tobago, Senegal, and small territories in India to France, and Menorca, West Florida and East Florida to Spain.[43][44]

  1. ^ Smith 1907, p. 86
  2. ^ Everest 1977, p. 38
  3. ^ Seineke 1981, p. 36, fn
  4. ^ Tortora, Daniel J. (February 4, 2015). "Indian Patriots from Eastern Massachusetts: Six Perspectives". Journal of the American Revolution.
  5. ^ a b Bell 2015, Essay
  6. ^ Axelrod 2014, p. 66
  7. ^ Eelking 1893, p. 66
  8. ^ "Duchy of Brunswick until 1918 (Germany)". www.crwflags.com. Flags of the World. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Atwood 2002, pp. 1, 23
  10. ^ Lowell 1884, pp. 14–15
  11. ^ A cease-fire in America was proclaimed by Congress on April 11, 1783, under a cease-fire agreement between Great Britain and France on January 20, 1783. The final peace treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, and ratified on January 14, 1784, in the U.S., with final ratification exchanged in Europe on May 12, 1784. Hostilities in India continued until July 1783.
  12. ^ Simms 2009, pp. 615–618
  13. ^ a b Duncan, L. 1931, p. 371
  14. ^ Lanning 2009, pp. 195–196
  15. ^ a b Greene & Pole 2008, p. 328
  16. ^ U.S. Merchant Marine 2012, "Privateers and Mariners"
  17. ^ Simmons 2003
  18. ^ Paullin 1906, pp. 315–316
  19. ^ Keiley 1912, "Rochambeau"
  20. ^ "Rochambeau", Dictionary of American Biography
  21. ^ a b c Beerman 1979, p. 181
  22. ^ Britannica 1911, "C. H. Estaing"
  23. ^ "F. J. P. de Grasse", Encyclopædia Britannica
  24. ^ Dull 1987, p. 110
  25. ^ Gayarré 1867, pp. 125–126
  26. ^ Beerman 1979, pp. 177–179
  27. ^ Rinaldi, "British Army 1775–1783"
  28. ^ Chartrand 2006, p. 63
  29. ^ a b Winfield 2007
  30. ^ Mackesy 1993 [1964], pp. 6, 176
  31. ^ Savas & Dameron 2006, p. xli
  32. ^ Knesebeck 2017 [1845], p. 9
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference Greene p. 393 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ Burrows 2008a, "Patriots or Terrorists"
  35. ^ Peckham (ed.) 1974
  36. ^ a b c Clodfelter 2017, pp. 133–134
  37. ^ Rignault 2004, pp. 20, 53
  38. ^ Clodfelter 2017, pp. 75, 135
  39. ^ Otfinoski 2008, p. 16
  40. ^ Archuleta 2006, p. 69
  41. ^ Clodfelter 2017, p. 134
  42. ^ Burrows 2008b, Forgotten Patriots
  43. ^ Lawrence S. Kaplan, "The Treaty of Paris, 1783: A Historiographical Challenge", International History Review, Sept 1983, Vol. 5 Issue 3, pp 431–442
  44. ^ Wallace 2015, "American Revolution"


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