WHY DID THE AMERICANS TRIUMPH IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE?.
The Americans triumphed in the war for Independence due to a number of reasons, which when combined, could only lead to one solution, that of victory for the Americans. As Hugh Brogan says, "There was no middle ground for the Americans: for them it was either victory or total submission." The reasons are far and wide reaching and include a number of failures by the British. The British failed to use the loyalist Americans who numbered up to a third of the population, they withheld some of their best troops from the conflict and suffered major communication problems. The role of George Washington as commander-in-chief was an important factor in the success of the Continental Army and the final reason for American success lies in the support it received from other nations and in particular from France.
The American Revolution divided the American people in three ways. There were those who wanted a new political order and wanted to be free from the British, there were those who were loyal to Britain and those who had not decided who to side with or did not care which way the conflict went. The revolutionaries called those loyal to Britain "Tories, royalists or the King's men." The British did not make enough use of what could have been up to a third of the American population who supported them. A large number of these loyalists could be found close to the East Coast and they were from different backgrounds including shopkeepers, farmers and professional people. The British failed to make enough use of these loyalists from the very start of the conflict and they waited until the war was well under way before organising them for military service. One of the main reasons for this was that Britain expected the war to be a short one and did not see the point in organising and t!.
raining people who would not be needed. Many other possible loyalists were lost to the British cause due to the actions and behaviour of some of the British troops who treated some of the American civilian population with contempt.