what were the three biggest mistakes that british political and military leaders made between 1775 and 1783!?!?!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>History> American Revolution History class help!!!?Question: American Revolution History class help!!!!? what were the three biggest mistakes that british political and military leaders made between 1775 and 1783!?!?!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: 1) raising taxes 2) no respect to the colonists 3) taking advantage of powerWww@QuestionHome@Com The US war of Independence, 1775-1783!. Quite how anyone could ignore this great British military defeat is beyond my comprehension!. For several centauries before this conflict, the great Atlantic European powers (Britain, France, Holland, Spain and Portugal) had fought for control of shipping rights and territory in the New World!. New York (originally New Amsterdam) was now a centre of British power in the Americas in terms of trade!. When American rebels in Boston rose up against excessive British taxes during 1775 (now known as the Boston tea party) they could hardly have expected that within a year an independent American congress would have been formed and declared its independence from the British state!. The British moved quickly to crush this threat, but several great thinkers and writers (amongst them Thomas Paine) inspired the rebels with an overwhelming sense that their cause was one of freedom and liberty!. The American rebel army had many defeats in the early days of the war and had to adopt tactics which might now be seen as akin to guerrilla warfare (I'd love to say that they used terrorist tactics!. Just to annoy Americans of course, but I wont)!. The great American victories often came by outmanoeuvring the British forces and luring them into un-winnable situations!. The longer the war drew on, the less of a stomach for a fight the British public had!. Even though many of the troops fighting on the British side were German mercenaries the commanders were all from the British officer class!. After the great US victory at Yorktown the French openly declared their support for the fledgling USA!. This was the turning point of the war, international recognition and French aid as well as the British public lacking the stomach for another war with France meant that the British were placed in an un-winnable situation!. This is, of course, very ironic in the light of the current deterioration in international relations between the USA and France!. Britain lost control of its colonies on the east coast of the Americas and was defeated by France (again) in international politics!. Given the vast natural resources available to America and the power that the USA now holds, the British lost one of its most valuable assets in 1783 when it officially recognised the existence of the USA in the treaty of Paris!. Www@QuestionHome@Com |