What was the Continental Army like?I've mostly heard that they lost most battles but won because they just didn't give up.
They were like Austrian during Napoleonic war.
>>18520260I mean they barely fought. The largest battle of the revolutionary war had like 100 KIA
They had some crushing defeats (Long Island, Camden, Charleston) a lot of inconclusive draws, and a couple of big wins that bagged entire British armies (Saratoga, Yorktown) That’s good enough for a win by revolutionary forces against an empire based an ocean away. And yeah, the French and Spanish helped in the latter half of the war.
>>18520416Bunker hill alone had over 1k kia.
>>18520568138 dead for the yanks and 226 dead for the British.
>>18520260They “won” because Britain was preoccupied with France
>>18520260You should read Joseph Plumb Martin's memoirs
>>18520590Later do again in 1812 (US have conflict with France in 1798-1800)
>>18520386saar?
>>18521637>saarNo, but your Founding Fathers worshiped them.
>>18521637DO. NOT. REDEEM.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ralf0yL1Tfw
>>18520260Their defeats were basically pyrrhic victories for the Brits and their wins were bigger and more decisive. Especially in the South once Washington appointed Nathanael Greene as the Southern commander and he proceeded to dance all over Cornwallis and push him into an inescapable situation at Yorktown. Greene "lost" a bunch of battles but those losses are pretty pointless when his army was still intact and the British kept having to give up their positions and eventually abandon the Carolinas because their "victories" were sapping all their morale.
>>18522041Cornwallis was a good commander but he was always faced with manpower shortages which ment he couldnt outlast Washington
>>18520260They did lose more battles than they won, but I guess the important thing is that the battles they did win where much more important. The British did have some good ones though, like their invasion of New York which was the largest battle of the war, crushing defeat for the Patriots and Washington had to run away all the way to Valley Forge. I think thats what makes the story even more amazing. The Continental Army was a rag tag and mediocre military force. They were undersupplied, undertrained, undisciplined, their officers were meh at best, Washington himself was a second-rate Colonel from the Virginia Militia (never in the actual British Army) and they got their asses kicked pretty much all the time. Even the Continental Congress was fucked up and couldnt even pay the soldiers who were on the verge of a mutiny. It sounds like a cliche movie, but the one thing they did have was heart. They never gave up and ended up winning in the end. Also, common misconception is that they embraced guerilla warfare tactics. Some officers like Francis Marion or Thomas Sumter in the southern theater did this, but this was with militia forces. Washington rejected this though and fought regular battles of the time period.
>>18522091seems like such a murky time, imagine if video existed then.
They only won because of the French
>The British army was professional and well-trained, but the officer corps was underwhelming and the troops were trained to fight in northwestern Europe, not the rugged frontier country of the American colonies. Communications took weeks to cross the Atlantic and orders were often outdated by the time they reached the armies. London was limited in the amount of military resources they could use in the war--troops had to be left behind to watch restive Ireland and the Royal Navy could not remove too many ships from home waters lest the French take advantage to invade England.
>>18522117The war was from 1775-1783. The French troops didnt arrive in America until the summer of 1780. This is a massive cope.>defeated British at Lexington and Concord>took over Fort Ticonderoga >kicked the British out during the Siege of Boston>Crossing the Delaware and battles of Princeton and Trenton>cucking the British advance at the battle of Saratoga Theres also the southern theater>hillbilly militia catching the british with their pants down at King Mountain>routing the British at Cowpenspic related, its General John Burgoyon surrendering his 6,000 men to the Americans after their defeat at The Battle of Saratoga. French werent going to bet on a losing horse and America knew this which is why they had to prove they that had a chance.
>>18522121forgot pic
>>18522041Despite a disastrous defeat at White Plains, Washington escaped with his army and Lord Howe, too comfy and cozy in New York City, couldn't be bothered to chase after him.
>>18522125Washington wrote in December that he believed the end was imminent, but Howe instead went into winter quarters. He spent the entire spring and most of the summer of 1777 idling and did not resume active campaigning until it was nearly August. The Continental Army was again defeated at Brandywine after which Howe took Philadelphia on September 26, but again Washington escaped with his army.It seemed that Howe never really had the killer instinct to chase Washington down and destroy him, and the British defeat at Saratoga in a few more weeks effectively drew France into the war. That was also a poor decision as Burgoyne marched his army through wilderness areas of upstate NY which cost him significant manpower.
>>18522134The invasion of the South proved to be a bigger blunder, for Southerners had thus far been mostly Loyalists but General Nathaniel Green avoided direct battles and instead waged guerrilla warfare. The British quickly angered the locals through their requisitioning of food and homes. In the end, the entry of France and Spain in the war sealed London's fate as they now had to defend multiple fronts around the globe.
>>18522134The British islands in the Caribbean were more profitable than the colonies, and while there was no danger of American forces taking those, it was very likely that the French could seize them.
>>18522120the colonies were hard to fight in, poor roads, lots of wilderness, and more extreme weather than in Europe. the British armies often struggled to obtain food as most had to be shipped from the home country, but it was often spoiled by the time it got there and the colonies lacked sufficient food supplies to feed large armies.
>>18522150Philadelphia resident Phineas Pemberton kept a weather log for December 1776 which shows mostly seasonable temperatures for the time of year with most daytime highs in the 40s for the first half of the month and 30s for the second half. A freezing spell struck from the 20th to 23rd and the Delaware froze over; when Washington crossed the river on Christmas, the ice was starting to melt.
>>18522150Any place colder than Zone 9 can get winter weather even if the South is not comparable to Minnesota.
>>18522159in the Roman republic it was typical to use the winter months to take off from campaigning and tend to political affairs
>>18522091I mean at the end of the day, while hit and run was effective at breaking British moral, territory did hVe to be captured or reclaimed so the combo ended up working well.
>>18522150>and more extreme weather than in EuropeNW Europe would be as bad in the winter months, not because it gets so cold but it's raining constantly which is absolutely miserable and the sun is setting at 4:00 PM up there. I grant you European summer weather is milder than in the US.
>>18522177the Battle of the Bulge happened in the coldest winter in Western Europe since the previous century
The Continental Army was a hybrid force composed of somewhat trained Regulars and barely trained militia. They were poorly equipped and had terrible morale, but they had the home field advantage and Washington had the raw charisma to hold the entire ramshackle army and government together. The Continental Army survived long enough against the greatest army in the world to draw France into the conflict and decisively defeat the British in the southern theatre.
>>18520590don't forget Spain, they occupied Florida during the war if I recall correctly
>>18522173even with 21st century logistics the Ukraine war have fighting mostly stop in wintertime
>>18520260America wouldn’t exist without Spain conquering Florida and France invading from the north as well as French navies raiding British colonies around the world. France got cucked though, by America because France wanted Canada back but ungrateful Americans peace’d out with British because the British would rather America exist while keeping Canada instead of losing both America and Canada.
>>18522180>>18522173Nothing do with Revolutionary war (British Civil War)
>>18522166i forgot just how mild California is. almost no part of the state outside the Sierras gets anything resembling winter weather.
>>18522883 Yorktown was an assault on a fortified position, none of the artisans in the continental army had any idea how to break in,But General Rochembeau and his French Regulars were quite experienced in this type of combat. With the French Navy anchored off the coast of Yorktown, which prevented the British troops from evacuating via sea by the British Navy. This insured the surrender of British General Cornwallis’s forces
>>18523166It's why you can always spot a Californian transplant in my state (of which there are many): they always wear heavy warm clothes if it drops below 60 degrees. No native son of my state wears a coat unless its below 50 and raining.
>>18524019I can't speak for those retards but I'm a California native and I love cold weather. I'm still wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt even if it's lower 50s and raining (rare but it does happen)
>>18522166you can get occasional freezes and snow flurries in the Florida Panhandle.
>>18524026even in Southern California you can get cold snaps and hale storms but that's more like a once every other year kind of thing
Richard Nixon was born during a very rare SoCal freezing snap that ruined his father's lemon orchard.
>>18520590Why quotation marks? That's called winning, the Americans strategy, which diplomacy was a part of, obviously worked out as intended.
>>18522166This is a modern map too, the world was generally colder in the 1700s
>>18522883>ungrateful Americans peace’d out with BritishThe treaty was literally signed in Paris, the French didn't get "cucked" by anyone they simply lacked the means to demand Canada because the British Navy was getting its shit together by then and they knew it. Also they preferred defending their sugar colonies, again, over retaking Canada.
>>18522166in the Civil War, still, even in the Deep South campaign season was suspended in wintertime. the Vicksburg campaign during the winter of 1862-63 was pretty miserable, it just rained continuously.
>>18524050lol nah are you stupid? Spain and France had the upper hand and the britbongs were in the process of losing their Indian colonies so much so they had to reconquer them again after the war. France was cucked by America and definitely betrayed that is why France and America fought about a decade later. France should’ve just pressed on they were going to lose the monarchy anyway.
>>18522234>greatest army in the worldThe greatest army on the world was on the American side
Lot of finagling with congress and the states for basic supplies (nobody wanted to pay for it)
>>18522120The war was never popular in Britain and it was really unpopular by its third year.
