•  

    I will present 3 or more reasons, citing textual evidence that answer the essential question, “How did the Patriots defeat the strongest nation in the world i.e. “Great Britain”, in the American Revolutionary War?”, and close with how it relates to today.

     

    First, the Patriots used innovation to improve weapons that were superior to the British Army.  According to the documentary, The Story of US, it states, “Frontiersmen from the backcountry of Kentucky developed a long barrel rifle that shot out bullets in a spirally motion, thus allowing the bullets to go 200 yards, twice as far as the British’s rifles”.  The spirally motion of the bullet is called rifling.  Inside the long barrel you will see an arrangement of grooves in a spiral pattern that, when the bullet is fired, cause the bullet to spiral out of the barrel.  This spiraling is an innovation to how a projectile is moved through the air.  For example, someone sets the ball in motion in the air by pushing the ball compared to throwing the ball, so it has a continuous rotation.  Try pushing a football in the air versus throwing the football with a spiral.  The spiral motion will carry the football much farther with much more accuracy than if one just pushed the football.  This same technique is true with the bullets shot by the Patriots in the American Revolutionary War.  The Patriots could shoot twice as far with far more deadly accuracy than anything the British Army had available.  This proved valuable to the sharpshooters who could not be seen or hit from the British but were able to take out British officers.  Without the high – ranking officers the British were disorganized in battle and had to retreat more often and took heavier casualties.

     

    Second, George Washington knew he would need allies to defeat the British.  According to the documentary, The Story of US, it states, “George Washington made allies with the French”.  Benjamin Franklin was the American ambassador to France, and his job was to convince the French that America was worth joining forces against Britain.  The Continental Army needed a victory before the French would commit.  At the Battle of Saratoga, the Patriots forced the army of General Burgoyne to surrender.  This American victory convinced the French that the Americans could win, and France committed her forces from that point on.  Now France did not join because they believed in American Independence for independence sake, for they be did not support the idea of a Republic where the people rule the government.  Oh contraire, France had an Oligarchy under a Monarchy and joined because the British were France’s number one enemy.  France and Britain were the world’s two super - powers of their day, and both wanted to hurt the other in order to help themselves.  The French helped in many ways, but their largest contribution was their Navy, which was equal to the British, sealed the fate of the British at Yorktown.  George Washington’s Continental Army had the British boxed in by land and the French boxed them in from the sea.  The British had no place to go but to surrender.  The surrender at Yorktown by General Cornwallis, basically ended the ability of the British to wage war in America.

     

     

    Third, George Washington developed a spy network.  According to the documentary, The Story of US, it states, “George Washington had a multi – faceted spy network that was kept top – secret until very recently”.  In the American Colonies, the people had a higher literacy rate than the people in Great Britain.  This is largely due to the Protestant faith where regularly reading the King James Bible was the norm.  The first book that the colonist had was the Bible.  Children were taught early about it and it was the source of their learning how to read/write and become critical thinkers.  Since it was written at a high level the people spoke/wrote good English.  George Washington knew the people read each day and he just needed to get the word out with a recent innovation.  Someone under his command had developed invisible ink, something so top - secret that it stayed top – secret until fairly - recently.  He developed a network of getting the war strategies/movements to and from his officers.  It would start as secret carriers who looked like average folks.  When stopped by the British they saw blank papers, with nothing to read they were soon back on their way.  These messengers would bury the message in a box in the ground.  Next, women hanging up laundry to dry would hang the laundry in a special way when there was a secret message buried in the ground.  This would signal another carrier to dig up the box, from there it would reach the commanding officer/s or reach George Washington.  The British never figured this spy network out and it allowed the Continental Army/Patriots to know what George Washington was planning and for George Washington to be informed as to what was going on along the whole east coast, thus helping the Patriots to outmaneuver the British and help win the war.

     

    In conclusion, the Patriots defeated the British Army during the Revolutionary War with the help from three significant fronts.  The development of the long barrel rifle with the rifling effect shooting the bullets in a spiral pattern allowing greater distance and accuracy, thus dealing significantly more damage than the British counter parts.  Also having France as an ally with a powerful fleet checked the British advantage by sea, thus giving Washington only the land to worry about.  Finally, with a well - developed spy network that the British never broke, gave George Washington superior messaging up and down the east coast to his troops in battle. These three strategic areas of superiority gave George Washington the momentum to defeat the greatest superpower the world had ever seen up to that point.  Remember Great Britain is the only Empire that spread all over the world and the sun never set on its areas.  Also, America is the only country to ever win its independence from Great Britain by defeating her in war.  This relates to today, because the United States played a significant role in ending both WWI and especially WWII.  After WWII, the United States took the lead in negotiations, and where the French punished the Germans after WWI, the Americans helped rebuild Europe and especially Germany and Japan.  Both countries have been ever thankful, and allies ever since.  The lesson, after you win the war, be charitable as victors, helping the country in their rebuilding.  Charity has built friendships that lasts and continue to this very day.