Alternate History
What if the Americans Had Lost the Revolutionary War?
A hard look at a plausible divergent future
In 1782, the British House of Commons voted to cease ongoing hostilities in North America in regards to the ongoing rebellion there. After seven years of hard fighting, stretched supplies, and a weary empire with pressing global issues the British decided to cut their losses and let the Americans retain their hard-fought freedom. But what if they hadn’t? What if instead of voting to end the war in America, the British had voted to continue the fight?
What if the Americans had lost?
The situation in 1782
By all accounts, 1782 was a bad year for the United Kingdom. They were embroiled around the world in a myriad of divergent conflicts that had the empire stretched to its limits. The war in America was going badly, concessions were being made to Ireland, they were fighting the French, the Dutch, and the Spanish in various locations around the globe, and a hurricane sank a fleet off the coast of Newfoundland. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder they decided to tap out of the war of independence raging in North America.
Let us imagine instead, that they decide losing their large and developed colonies in North…
