Who helped us win the Revolutionary War?

Q.I want to know what factors helped the Continental Army win the war against a country as powerful as England?
Tiffany, NJ

A.Historians have devoted entire careers to that question. And some of them have spent quite a lot of those careers arguing with one another about the answer. While there remains plenty of debate concerning their relative importance, most historians consider these to be among the most important contributing factors:

Arguably the single most important of Benjamin Franklin's many contributions to his nation was securing a French alliance during the revolution. Without the financial and military assistance provided by France, the colonists would certainly have fared much worse against the mighty British empire.
Ironically, this was one of the key factors that caused the revolution in the first place. Britain had acquired a massive debt fighting the French and Indian War. It attempted to pay down that debt by taxing colonists through the Stamp Act, generating far more resentment than revenue. When hostilities first erupted, the crown did not anticipate that the war would drag on as long as it did (nor cost them so much). The ever-growing expenses of the war piled on top on an already enormous mountain of debt that Britain could no longer afford.
At the time of the revolution, there was no internet, no telephone, not even a telegraph. Sending even a simple message from England to North America took several weeks at a minimum. Transporting troops, munitions and supplies presented even more difficulties. Washington, his officers, troops, supplies and reinforcements were all within a few days travel from one another. King George was on the other side of the world.
Many of the British soldiers had never set foot in North America prior to fighting war there. The colonists were fighting in their own back yards. While British officers were well-trained and often had plenty of direct battlefield experience, that experience was primarily acquired in the fields of Europe. Military tactics that were effective in that environment were disastrous in America. Some military historians place particular emphasis on the colonists use of guerilla warfare, with individuals and small squads initiating hit-and-run attacks on the enemy, instead of marching out in huge, orderly, easily targetable columns like good European gentlemen. To what degree this specific tactical shortcoming contributed to British defeat is a matter of debate, but the colonists' familiarity with the territory and adoption of tactics appropriate to that territory was certainly a significant factor.
In some sense, the Americans had already won the public relations war before a single shot was fired. Many intellectuals throughout Europe, including England, felt that the colonists' rebellion was the embodiment of Enlightenment ideals. And while it's a misconception that the colonists were united in a spirit of revolutionary fervor (many colonists remained loyal to the crown), British public support for the war was even more tepid. They were already deep in debt and digging deeper, fighting on the other side of the globe against an opponent with powerful allies and which, many within their own country believed, was in the right. After Cornwallis' defeat at Yorktown, Britain's military was not crushed. It could have continued fighting. But it was simply not worth it.

During the American Revolution, the American colonies faced the significant challenge of conducting international diplomacy and seeking the international support it needed to fight against the British. The single most important diplomatic success of the colonists during the War for Independence was the critical link they forged with France. Representatives of the French and American governments signed the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce on February 6, 1778.

American colonists hoped for possible French aid in their struggle against British forces. The Continental Congress established the Secret Committee of Correspondence to publicize the American cause in Europe. Committee member Benjamin Franklin wrote to contacts in France with encouraging accounts of colonial resistance. The French had suffered a defeat by the British during the Seven Years’ War and had lost North American territory under the 1763 Treaty of Paris. As the French and the British continued to vie for power in the 1770s, French officials saw an opportunity in the rebellion of Britain’s North American colonies to take advantage of British troubles. Through secret agents, the French Government began to provide clandestine assistance to the United States, much of which they channeled through American trader Silas Deane.

As the members of the Continental Congress considered declaring independence, they also discussed the possibility and necessity of foreign alliances, and assigned a committee to draft a Model Treaty to serve as guide for this work. After Congress formally declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, it dispatched a group of several commissioners led by Benjamin Franklin to negotiate an alliance with France. When news of the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent British evacuation of Boston reached France, French Foreign Minister Comte de Vergennes decided in favor of an alliance. However, once news of General George Washington’s defeats in New York reached Europe in August of 1776, Vergennes wavered, questioning the wisdom of committing to a full alliance.

Benjamin Franklin’s popularity in France bolstered French support for the American cause. The French public viewed Franklin as a representative of republican simplicity and honesty, an image Franklin cultivated. A rage for all things Franklin and American swept France, assisting American diplomats and Vergennes in pushing for an alliance. In the meantime, Vergennes agreed to provide the United States with a secret loan.

Despite the loan and discussions of a full alliance, French assistance to the new United States was limited at the outset. Throughout 1777, Vergennes delayed as he conducted negotiations with the Spanish Government, which was wary of U.S. independence and also wanted assurances that Spain would regain territories if it went to war against the British.

Vergennes finally decided in favor of an alliance when news of the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga reached him in December 1777. Vergennes, having heard rumors of secret British peace offers to Franklin, decided not to wait for Spanish support and offered the United States an official French alliance. On February 6, 1778, Benjamin Franklin and the other two commissioners, Arthur Lee and Silas Deane, signed a Treaty of Alliance and a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France. The Treaty of Alliance contained the provisions the U.S. commissioners had originally requested, but also included a clause forbidding either country to make a separate peace with Britain, as well as a secret clause allowing for Spain, or other European powers, to enter into the alliance. Spain officially entered the war on June 21, 1779. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce promoted trade between the United States and France and recognized the United States as an independent nation.

Between 1778 and 1782 the French provided supplies, arms and ammunition, uniforms, and, most importantly, troops and naval support to the beleaguered Continental Army. The French navy transported reinforcements, fought off a British fleet, and protected Washington’s forces in Virginia. French assistance was crucial in securing the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

With the consent of Vergennes, U.S. commissioners entered negotiations with Britain to end the war, and reached a preliminary agreement in 1782. Franklin informed Vergennes of the agreement and also asked for an additional loan. Vergennes did lodge a complaint on this instance, but also granted the requested loan despite French financial troubles. Vergennes and Franklin successfully presented a united front despite British attempts to drive a wedge between the allies during their separate peace negotiations. The United States, Spain, and France formally ended the war with Britain with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Although European powers considered their treaty obligations abrogated by the French Revolution, the United States considered it to be in effect despite President Washington’s policy of neutrality in the war between Britain and France. The Citizen Genêt Affair erupted partially because of clauses contained in the alliance treaty that violated the neutrality policy. The Treaty of Paris also remained technically in effect during the undeclared Quasi-War with France, and was formally ended by the Convention of 1800 which also terminated the Quasi-War.

General George Washington led the American army to victory during the Revolutionary War.

Despite having little practical experience in managing large, conventional armies, Washington proved to be a capable and resilient leader of the American military forces during the Revolutionary War. While he lost more battles than he won, Washington employed a winning strategy that included victories at the Battle of Trenton in 1776 and Yorktown in 1781.

By looking at Washington’s own words we can find many clues as to why he supported the patriots during the Revolutionary War.

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George Washington began questioning slavery during the Revolutionary War, while he led the colonies’ battle for independence from Great Britain.

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George Washington’s bold crossing of the Delaware River was part of his attack on the Hessian forces at Trenton.

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