Could the British have defeated the American Revolution?

They could have won the war itself by doing what the French and Spanish hoped they would do i.e. committing their forces in greater numbers to the North American theatre leaving their Caribbean possessions vulnerable to attack. read more

As Joseph Wang notes below, there were several occasions on which the colonists could have been defeated. But these would have been military defeats. By the time the Revolution actually came, a distinct American identity and distinct American economic interests were already firmly embedded. read more

With a little more aggressiveness the British could have defeated Washington's army pretty early in the war. Their reluctance to push forward when they had the advantage allowed Washington to repeatedly escape with his army intact. read more

British cartoons on Britain's defeat in the war, 1782. The rattlesnake as a symbol of the American colonies originated with Benjamin Franklin's Join or Die cartoon of 1754 that depicted a fragmented snake unable to defend itself against an enemy. read more

The Battle of Trenton, Princeton, Guilford Courthouse, Cowpens, and Yorktown were all American successes due to the inability of the British Army to supply their army. Cornwallis had stretched his supply lines so thin that anything less than a total victory against Nathanael Greene meant the end of his surge. read more