American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War
Part of the American Revolution
Clockwise from top left: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis after the siege of Yorktown, Battle of Trenton, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Battle of Long Island, and the Battle of Guilford Court House
Date April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783[i] (8 years, 4 months and 15 days) Ratification effective: May 12, 1784 Location Eastern North America, North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Result American and allied victory Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. Great Britain would not recognize American independence until signing the Treaty of Paris. End of the First British Empire[12] Territorial changes Great Britain cedes generally, all mainland territories east of the Mississippi River, south of the Great Lakes, and north of the Floridas to the United States. Great Britain cedes Tobago and Senegal to France. Great Britain cedes Menorca, West Florida and East Florida to Spain.
Belligerents
Patriots:  Thirteen Colonies (1775) United Colonies (1775–1776) United States (from 1776)[a] List New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia  France Spain  Dutch Republic	Great Britain Loyalists Quebec Nova Scotia West Florida East Florida
Combatants Br. Canadien, Cong. rgts.[b] Br. Canadien mil., Fr. led[c] Native Americans[5] Oneida Tuscarora Catawba Lenape Chickasaw Choctaw Mohican Mi'kmaq[d] Abenaki Cheraw Pedee Lumbee[4]	Combatants [e] [f] German mercenaries/auxiliaries[9][g] Hesse-Kassel Hesse-Hanau Waldeck Brunswick Ansbach Anhalt-Zerbst  Hanover Native Americans[5] Onondaga Mohawk Cayuga Seneca Mi'kmaq[h] Cherokee Odawa Muscogee Susquehannock Shawnee
Commanders and leaders
Peyton Randolph John Hancock Benjamin Franklin George Washington Horatio Gates Nathanael Greene Henry Knox John Sullivan Benedict Arnold [j] George Rogers Clark Lafayette Rochambeau Bernardo de Gálvez full list...	George III Lord North Lord Shelburne Lord George Germain Thomas Gage William Howe Henry Clinton John Burgoyne Charles Cornwallis Benedict Arnold[j] Henry Hamilton Banastre Tarleton full list...
Strength
United States: Army and militia: 40,000 (average)[13][k] Navy: 53 frigates and sloops[15][l] Marines: 2,131 (peak)[17] State navies: 106 ships (total)[18] France: Army: 10,800[m] Navy: 2 fleets;[n] escorts[24] Spain: Army: 12,000[o] Navy: 1 fleet;[p] escorts Native Americans: Unknown	Great Britain: Army: 48,000 (average), most in North America[q] Navy: Task-force fleets & blockading squadrons[r] Loyalist troops: 25,000 (total)[31][s] German troops: 29,875 (total)[32] Native Americans: 13,000[33]
Casualties and losses
United States: 178,800–223,800 total dead 6,800 killed 6,100 wounded 17,000 dead from disease[34] 25,000–70,000 war dead[35] 130,000 dead from smallpox[36] France: 2,112 killed– East Coast[37][t] Spain: 371 killed – W. Florida[39] 4,000 dead – prisoners[40] Native Americans: Unknown	Great Britain: 8,500 killed[41][u] Germans: 7,774 total dead 1,800 killed 4,888 deserted[13] Loyalists: 7,000 total dead 1,700 killed 5,300 dead from disease[42] Native Americans: 500 total dead[36]

The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war. But Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war in the Treaty of Paris two years later, in 1783, in which the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States of America as an independent and sovereign nation.

In 1763, after the British Empire gained dominance in North America following its victory over the French in the Seven Years' War, tensions and disputes began escalating between the British and the Thirteen Colonies, especially following passage of Stamp and Townshend Acts by the British Parliament. The British Army responded by seeking to occupy Boston militarily, leading to the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.

In mid-1774, with tensions escalating even further between the British Army and the colonies, the British Parliament imposed the Intolerable Acts, an attempt to disarm Americans, leading to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the first battles of the Revolutionary War. In June 1775, the Second Continental Congress, including 56 colonial delegates, convened in present-day Independence Hall in the colonial capital of Philadelphia, where they voted to incorporate colonial-based Patriot militias into a central military, the Continental Army, and unanimously appointed Washington its commander-in-chief.

Two months later, in August 1775, the British Parliament declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion. In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress embraced and formalized the war, passing the Lee Resolution on July 2, and, two days later, unanimously adopting the Declaration of Independence, on July 4.

In March 1776, in an early win for the newly-formed Continental Army under Washington's command, following a successful siege of Boston, the Continental Army successfully drove the British Army out of Boston. British commander in chief William Howe responded by launching the New York and New Jersey campaign, which resulted in Howe's capture of New York City in November. Washington responded by clandestinely crossing the Delaware River and winning small but significant victories at Trenton and Princeton.

In the summer of 1777, as Howe was poised to capture Philadelphia, the Continental Congress fled to Baltimore. In October 1777, a separate northern British force under the command of John Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga in an American victory that proved crucial in convincing France and Spain that an independent United States was a viable possibility. France signed a commercial agreement with the rebels, followed by a Treaty of Alliance in February 1778. In 1779, the Sullivan Expedition undertook a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois who were largely allied with the British. Indian raids on the American frontier, however, continued to be a problem. Also, in 1779, Spain allied with France against Great Britain in the Treaty of Aranjuez, though Spain did not formally ally with the Americans.

Howe's replacement Henry Clinton intended to take the war against the Americans into the Southern Colonies. Despite some initial success, British General Cornwallis was besieged by a Franco-American force in Yorktown in September and October 1781. Cornwallis was forced to surrender in October. The British wars with France and Spain continued for another two years, but fighting largely ceased in North America. In the Treaty of Paris, ratified on September 3, 1783, Great Britain acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States, bringing the American Revolutionary War to an end. The Treaties of Versailles resolved Great Britain's conflicts with France and Spain and forced Great Britain to cede Tobago, Senegal, and small territories in India to France, and Menorca, West Florida and East Florida to Spain.^[43][44]

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