During the early period of the American Revolution, the British and Colonial Armies were forced to adopt two different approaches to attempt to gain victory because of changes in foreign affairs. Washington and his generals were incapable on their own, and with their extended supply lines, resorted to a defensive strategy (Nardo, D. 2008). The British, with a massive supply system behind them, needed no foreign aid and desired to end the war quickly. The Battle of Saratoga turned around the international view on the American Revolution and consequently the tides of the war.
The Americans' absence of steady supplies and foreign backing constrained them to a cautious start of the war. From clothes to cannons to food, the colonies were needing in supplies because of its past of Mercantilism. England had prohibited production lines in their colonies for over 10 years in fear of competition such manufacturing institutions would create against themselves (Nardo, D. 2008). The colonies provided the raw materials for British factories to create the finished products and spread throughout the world for their own profit. This absence of means by which to create military supplies drove the American strengths to attack British powers. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold drove colonial strengths to Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point to dwarf the British. They also wanted to capture their cannons, utilized later to get the British out of the port of Boston. In 1775, the colonials remained in Breed's Hill against the British troops staying there to keep the colonists in accordance with the Intolerable Acts (Nardo, D. 2008). Indeed, even with the raised favorable position and the arrogant British enduring tremendous misfortunes, the colonial armed force came up short on ammo and was compelled to escape the hill. This absence of supplies and delicate reliance on fragile supply lines rendered the colonial military not able to stand against the British.