The American Strategy: Innovative Strategies In Washington

There were a few things that allowed them to do this, one of them being their numbers. The British had over forty two thousand men, four hundred ships, and lots of training. This army was the largest to ever be sent over seas. These numbers allowed them to control the situation in almost every battle by flanking and surrounding the continental army with men to spare. The British also had thirty two thousand hired German mercenaries, the Hessians, on their side. The Hessians were a highly skilled group of German mercenaries that could fight better than any other army on the planet. Another strength of the British was that they were well supplied. They had constant streams of guns, gunpowder, food, clothing, supplies, and other items coming in from Great Britain. The final strength that the British had was experience and training. The British army had fought on almost every continent and essentially ruled most of the world. They had the most experienced men and the biggest armies. In comparison, the continental army was just a group of ragtag volunteers. Over a long course of the war, the British always held the upper

Washington first plans for a strategic defensive, thereby preserving his army. He avoids battle whenever possible and continues to draw the British into a prolonged war of attrition. It is this continuous maneuvering that gives Washington control of the flow of the War. For no matter where the British Army strikes, or what city they may take, or

Most people did not expect the colonists with their under trained militia to last long against the British superpower. The colonists did just that. In the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of 1200 troops under orders from Artemas Ward, and led by William Prescott was supposed to entrench themselves on the rise on Bunker Hill, but instead misunderstood the instructions and went to Breed’s Hill by mistake. The next morning, the British were shocked to see Americans threatening them. In the 18th century, British military custom urged that the British soldiers attack the American soldiers, even though the Americans were in a superior position. Major General William Howe, leader of the British forces could easily have surrounded the Americans with his ships, but chose to march his troops up the hill; to the Americans. Howe might have believed that the Americans would retreat in the face of a smashing, head-on attack. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how a person looks at it, William Howe was wrong. The Americans stood their ground, dug in their heels, and stood firm. In the first wave, the Americans waited until they were within forty meters, then opened fire. The British force retreated with their wounded for a second wave. The British rushed up yet again. Again they retreated, suffering a great number of casualties. By the time the

The British were over confident and made poor decisions, whereas George Washington carefully thought out his tactics. The colonists used Guerilla Warfare, and militia were quick and often popped out from behind trees to attack. Using this type of warfare was very beneficial to the Colonists, as it did not give the British enough time to shoot the colonists before they were killed. Guerrilla Warfare was known to “weaken the enemy” (McDougal,210). By focusing on winning small battles, in their own land, the colonists were able to keep enough supplies, food and men to eventually win the war. In the battle of Yorktown, “British general Cornwallis set up his base, located on a peninsula” (McDougal, 209), which was a bad move on their part. Washington saw the opportunity and made the smart decision to block the one land entrance, so that the British could no longer get any supplies that they needed. Washington’s plans along with the Colonists motivation were the were the reason they won the

Prior to the historic Battle of Yorktown, General Washington had experienced a number of losses. These battles where along the upper east cost of the colonies in fairly strategically important places, such as New York and Boston. This is partly the reason why the British underestimated the strength and resiliency of the American forces. Additionally, they believed that the Americans would diplomatically end their rebellion, which unintentionally aided the American effort. Up until the Battle of Yorktown, the frustrations by the American forces were building up and a change in tactics was needed. Instead of the conventional combat tactics, General Washington began to use a guerrilla warfare methodology. Consequently, British forces were not expecting nor were accustomed to this type of attack and rapidly became exhausted.

So we can look at General George Washington’s tactics of “engage, retreat and exhaust the enemy”, we can look at significant battles such as Bunker Hill, Fort Ticonderoga, and most certainly the shocking outcome at Saratoga, and we clearly see that Patriot resistance to the British forces in New England and New York

This, however, was no simple task. The British were superior in many aspects, so how exactly did the colonists win the war? Firstly, Britain was extremely overconfident in themselves. They didn’t expect the colonists to put up much of a fight, and though that taking Boston would halt their efforts and end the rebellion. However, once that strategy failed, they were forced to take a new approach and decided to try to isolate Boston and New England by conquering the surrounding colonies including New York. Yet again, the British failed to do this, and during that time, the colonists received help from European countries like France. After defeat they tried one more strategy which was to take the South and use the loyalists who lived there. The colonists then fought them using guerilla tactics, in which they launched small hit and run attacks, and targeted the weak points in the British army. This strategy ultimately led to the colonial victory. Besides just the military tactics used by the rebels, there were some other factors that helped in their victory. Firstly, the British mostly ignored the loyalists who could have been very useful to them in battles. Secondly, although it may not seem like much, the United States generals, including George Washington were good at keeping the soldiers’ morale high, despite even a series of losses. Because of this, the army never gave up until they were victorious. Lastly, because the British were fighting in unfamiliar land which was separated from their home country by an ocean, they were faced with many disadvantages. They also had to hold control of a colony when they overtook it, meaning that some troops would have to be left behind. Overall, even though the British were much better equipped than the Americans, the colonists played to their strengths and Britain’s weakness, which proved to be

When war begin in 1775, it seemed clear that Britain would win. It had a large, well-organized land army, and the Royal Navy had no chance on the sea. Many of the British troops in the Revolutionary War were veterans who had fought in the French and Indian War. On the other hand, the Americans had only a collection of undisciplined militiamen who had never fought before. The American navy was small and no match for the thousand ships in the royal fleet.When George Washington stepped into the people who were fighting against British became a actual army which succeed with George Washington help but it wasn't looking so good so it favored Britain. Nonetheless, the Americans believed that they did have a strong chance of success. They had a lot at stake: unlike the British, they were fighting on their home ground protect their own homes and families. though most Americans had no previous military experience, their militia units were usually close bands of men, often neighbors, who served together in defense of their own homes. They elected their own officers,usually men who did have some military training but who also knew the place well. This native officer division was a great source of strength, and as a result, American confidence was generally higher than enthusiasm

In their first offensives the British captured port cities so that they would be able to supply their forces. While capturing a port may have been beneficial to the British it did not affect the American population with only 5% living in a port city. Eventually the plan that was put into place was the divide and conquer strategy in which they would isolate New England with a Naval Blockade. They would put the most pressure on Massachusetts, hoping that when they fell the rest of New England would fall into line. In the end this plan would never come to fruition, and the British poor strategy cost time and lead to no significant

Revolutionary War Quiz The Revolution War started because the British king, King George III, was treating the colonies very poor, making unjust laws, making the colonists pay taxes for the French and Indian war, sending over soldiers to in force the laws, making the colonists house the British soldiers and the soldiers ate and drank all the colonists had. After awhile of this abuse the colonists had enough of it and they started to revolt against the British by tarring and feathering the tax collectors, making mob, throwing tea overboard British ships, Boston Tea Party, and boycotting British goods. Once the King heard of this he sent more troops and closed down the Boston Harbor and told the colonists they could not trade with the rest of

The reason the Americans were able to win was because they learned how to use different strategy in attacking they learned from the Indians. How they would do surprise attacks instead of just doing it the old fashioned way and standing in front and justy shooting people while they were facing each other. Two of the advantages of Briton was that their soldiers knew how to fight and they had people in Britain supplying them with good guns food and what not. On the other hand people here in America did not have a history in fighting they were more like farmers and also they were just now starting their now country or trying to so they did not really have the money to support their troops. Location took a big role in this, more of the colonist people already knew where everything was or how to get around place to place that was a big advantage for the Continental Army because the British soldiers had no idea where they were going or how the read would be, they were just shipped to the new land to fight for their country. Britain did not think they needed any help because they had the best army and the colonist did not know anything about war so they had a strong allie Franch if they would have not helped us we would not have won against the

The Battle of Long Island was fought between British and American troops during the American Revolution. The battle began on August 27, 1776 and ended on August 29th 1776. the British army was led by General William Howe with an army of nearly 20,000 soldiers. The Americans, with 10,000 soldiers, were led by General George Washington. After successfully capturing boston on march 1776 from the british, george washington had decided to start moving south of new york. As predicted by washington, the next target for the british would be New York City. Washington had tried his best to plan a way to defend the city, however it was difficult since he did not have a strong naval force. The british had an advantage this way. Washington’s battle plan

Both sides in the American war for independence had advantages and disadvantages. The British used the disciplined line formations that were commonplace throughout Europe to great effect, possessed a vast overseas empire, but had many powerful enemies. The American colonists used tactics similar to the native Americans, ambushing before disappearing into the forest and they knew the terrain very well. The Americans also received support from the rivals of the British such as the French and Spanish.

After Howe 's victory at Brandywine, his army camped at Germantown, Pennsylvania. Washington planned a surprise attack against the redcoats at sunrise. He broke the army into four separate columns for battle. The American soldiers marched to Germantown by two roads, with General Sullivan to the right and General Greene to the left. Washington, along with General Wayne, joined Sulliven and caused the British to fall back.

The militias were the first to grasp the importance of firing from concealed locations and then retreating to take up new positions in which to fire from, at Lexington and Concord. A chapter discussing the American “Art of War” and its champion General Charles Lee and its protagonist General George Washington (the personal relationship between Lee and Washington would deteriorate early in the way over the issue of the militia’s use). Lee found that hit and run tactics were very effective and noticed their impact had upon British mentality. American militias fighting in this style would allow the British to roam amongst the countryside, but the psychological effect on the British proved to be tremendous as an early form of insurgent warfare. On the other hand Washington disagreed with the militia style of warfare and believed America could not afford to allow the British to run at will in the countryside. He preferred the European style of fighting, where soldiers fought side by side. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, the militia proved capable of fighting in the European style, by fighting from prepared positions of earthworks and trenches. This laid the foundation for the Continental