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How The British Could Have Crushed The American Revolution In 1776
And why they didn’t
The American Revolution lasted eight long years. The conflict ended up being far longer and costlier than anyone had first imagined. In the early days of the uprising, there were many in America who simply wanted the British to negotiate in good faith and give them the concessions they so desperately wanted. Similarly, the British believed that the ragtag militias and unprofessional soldiers fielded by the colonists could never stand up to the might of their professional Redcoats. No one expected the war to last the better part of the decade, and few people imagined that the Americans were capable of securing absolute independence.
The two main reasons why the war managed to drag on for so long were George Washington’s strategy of refusing to engage in large battles against superior British forces and the British’s inability to capitalize on their overwhelming advantages. These two things can best be seen during the Long Island Campaign in 1776. It was here that the British passed up perhaps their best chance to trap and destroy the Continental Army long before they were forged into a professional force capable of thwarting British aims.
The American Continental Congress officially declared its independence from the British Empire on July 4th, 1776…
