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Tactics During The Revolutionary War Essay, Research Paper

Eric Heppen

Period 7

AP American History

February 1,2000

The American Tactics of the

Revolutionary War

Biography and Footnotes_________

Research___________

Critical Analysis___________

Historical Interpretation___________

Technical ___________

Content___________

Originality___________

Style of writing___________

Prove thesis ___________

Eric HeppenAmerican History Term Paper

December 13, 1999Period 7

The American Tactics of the Revolutionary War

Most of Europe thought that the British with their immense amount of capital, soldiers and supplies would beat the American resistance in the American revolutionary war without much of an effort. However the Patriots realized, from their earliest difficulties, to capitalize on the enemy?s weaknesses. Guerrilla warfare and a strategy that emanated from the ability to manipulate events to their own benefit enabled the Americans to defeat the ostensibly more powerful British.

The Americans suffered great abuse from their mother country. The British laid upon the Americans heavy taxes between the years 1764 to the middle of 1776. They created such taxes in the Sugar Act, Townshend Act, Tea Act, the Intolerable Acts and many other acts. These acts over the course of the years destroyed much of the faith that Americans had in the British government. The greater portion of the population thought the British were inadequate rulers and that they could do a much better job in ruling themselves . The Americans were tired of the Quartering Act which let British troops be housed in their own homes. They didn?t enjoy housing British troops so that their families could be spied upon or have their children raped. The least the Americans thought they deserved was the right to have a representation in Parliament and the right to settle the land over the Appalachian Mountains . If the farmers could have more land to work on, the Americans could have a surplus of food to ship to other countries creating a better economy for the American people.

Over the course of about twenty-five years the Americans sent over 500 bills to the British House Of Trade trying to repeal the economic acts that Britain laid down upon them . The Americans also tried to convince the British to let them have the ability to trade with other countries. If the British would have allowed this the common people of American would have been doing better economically; the percent of poor people would have been lowered greatly and the average income would have gone up a great deal . The reason it would have gone up so much is that Britain controlled the prices of products. The British decided how much they would buy a product for from the Americans and charge them two or three times as much to buy it back. All the American people really wanted was to be treated properly. As Thomas Paine said in Common Sense the British treated the Americans like an abusive mother would treat her child.

Due to the economic hardships the Americans suffered they knew that they were going to face many problems in the war. The Americans knew that the British had a larger supply of men ranging from more experienced

generals to more soldiers . The British had such a surplus of income from all of their colonies that they were able hire and supply mercenaries from Germany to come and fight in America. They had a stronger navy and a lot more artillery than the Americans had. The Americans faced many other disadvantages such as lack of guns, ammunition, food, clothing, and most of all they were heavily outnumbered by men . The British had most advantages except for three main things. The first of all the British had a harder time setting up their supply line because they were so far away from any major base . Their main head quarters was on Long Island. The British had a difficult time setting up a supply line outside of New York and New Jersey to feed, clothe, and keep in contact with their men.

The second disadvantage was that the American generals knew the land and terrain where they were fighting a lot better then the British generals did . The American Generals knew how to deal with certain weather issues and turned it to their advantage. The Americans could plan out strategies based on land and terrain rather than sheer numbers, which is how the British tried to deal with the patriots.

The third and probably one of the most important British disadvantages that they faced was that the Patriots had more desire to win. The soldiers knew that they were defending their land, their families, and they were protecting their desires. The British soldiers were fighting for what most of them considered to be nothing. Most of the British soldiers were tired of fighting in America and wanted to go home and see their families or create and have a family.

The Americans at the beginning of the war tried a certain style of warfare known as Jomini warfare . The two enemies would decide when to have a battle and attack each other. The two enemies would charge at each other, shoot and hope that the basic strategy that was planned at the beginning would hold out. Much less strategy was used and involved in a battle such as this . The only problem with this style of warfare for the Americans was that in certain battles the British sometimes outnumbered them four to one .

One such battle that proved that the Americans could not beat the British using European warfare was in the Battle of Brandywine. Washington was trying to keep the British from overtaking Philadelphia and at least give the Continental Congress time to leave Philadelphia before they were attacked . Washington with a force of 11,000 men thought he could take on General Howe . Howe

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