Military and Political Aspects of the Revolution - PowerPoint Presentation

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Military and Political Aspects of the Revolution

Level 1Slide2

Vocabulary

Turncoat: a traitorLoyalist: someone who was loyal to the King

Terrain

: landforms

Guerrilla warfare

: a type of military action using small mobile irregular forces to carry out surprise attacks against hostile regular forces

Enlist

: to join the military

Hessian

: hired mercenary used by Britain from the area of what is now GermanySlide3

Essential Questions

What was the military course of the Revolutionary War?What role did leadership, commitment, and luck play in the American victory over the British?Slide4

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Washington’s leadership

George Washington was made commander and chief of the Continental Army

Video Clip

http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us/videos/george-washington?m=518971d79ac04

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Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South:

Lexington, Concord

and the Battle of Bunker Hill

British sent troops to get military supplies that the colonial militia was storing.

Paul Revere

and an outnumbered amount of minutemen were waiting at Lexington on April 19

th

.

British killed 5 colonists

British moved onto Concord and retreated to Boston

June 17 British beat the colonists in the

Battle of Bunker Hill

(Breed’s Hill)Slide6

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South: Trenton

Trenton, NJ on the Delaware River

American troops outnumbered the Hessians

Washington and 3 regiments crossed the Delaware River on Dec. 25 in a surprise attack

American victorySlide7

Washington crossing the Delaware RiverSlide8

Battle in the Streets of TrentonSlide9

General Washington leading the Attack on TrentonSlide10

The surrender to General George Washington of the dying Hessian commander, Colonel Rahl, at the Battle of TrentonSlide11

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South: Battle of Saratoga

The British Plan:

End the war in 1777

General John Burgoyne was to march troops from Montreal down the Hudson River

General St. Leger take troops from Lake Ontario to the Hudson River

General Howe was to march from NYC

What went wrong?

St. Leger’s troops retreated to Canada

Howe took his troops to Philadelphia following Washington

Burgoyne’s army reached Saratoga and were surrounded by the troops led by General Gates and was forced to surrender

Effects:

Turning point in the war

Convinced French to enter the war as an ally to the United States.

Video

Clip

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history/videos/battle-of-saratoga-turns-the-tide-of-the-american-revolution

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General Burgoyne surrenders to General GatesSlide13

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South: Battle of Saratoga

Benedict Arnold: Colonial General who won at Lake Champlain and Fort Ticonderoga.

Hero of the Battle of Saratoga

Turncoat who joined the British

Plan:

give his own keys to West Point to Britain's Major John Andre.

Andre was captured and hanged.

Arnold escaped and commanded British troops later in the war. Slide14

Strategies of the Principal Military

Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South

General Washington at the Battle of Monmouth

Battle of Monmouth- draw

Britain won the battles of

Savannah

Atlanta

CharlestonSlide15

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South: Yorktown 1781

General Cornwallis took his troops to VA on the coast so that the British could support him between the York and James River

Washington moved from NYC with 7,000 troops

VA troops under Lafayette and 3,000 French regulars moved into VA

Cornwallis couldn’t retreat inland

Admiral de Grasse and his French fleet arrived and brought more troops and prevented the British navy from helping Cornwallis with reinforcements, supplies or escape by the sea.

Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781Slide16

Role of the Loyalists

Colonists of Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island did not join the Revolution

Refuge for Loyalists: about 40,000 loyalists went North (Canada) due to being chased out, fined, jailed and even from the threat of being killed

Staging ground for attacks on New York’s patriots as in the Battle of SaratogaSlide17

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Geography

importance of various physical features

Colonist knew the territory

3,000 miles away from Britain so it was hard to supply them with enough military power to occupy key cities after they were won

Colonists were defending their own towns, homes and families

Terrain: rocky and cold in New England, buggy and humid in the South, impassable forests and mountain in the WestSlide18

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Allocation of Resources and Advantages

Britain

Financial

Trained and disciplined troops

Control of the Seas

Colonies

Superior officers

Aid and money, supplies, troops and naval support from France

Defending their own homes and knew terrain

Marquis de LafayetteSlide19

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Disadvantages

Britain

Hard to supply troops

Large area to fight in

Adjusting to guerilla-type warfare

Fighting other enemies like France, Holland, and Spain

Cutting off flow of aid from their allies

Colonies

Lack of central government authority

No sound financial system

No power to tax

Tories supporting the British

Raise and maintain the Continental ArmySlide20

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Foreign aid

Baron Von Steuben

French sent Naval Power, troops and money

Lafayette of France

Von Steuben of Prussia: trained troops at Valley Forge

Kosciusko and Pulaski of PolandSlide21

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Role of Women, African Americans and Native American Indians

Margaret Corbin: manned artillery during the attack on Fort Washington when her husband died. She took his place and performed his duties. In 1779 the Congress awarded her a pension for her heroism.

Molly Pitcher: (possibly a myth) she brought water to soldiers on the battlefield

Nancy Hart: (possibly a myth) patriot who killed British soldiers in her cabin in Georgia.

Lydia Darragh: warned the colonists that the British were planning an attack at Whitemarsh, PA

Peter Salem: African American slave who gained his freedom after he enlisted in the Continental Army. He fought at Concord and then in Bunker Hill where it is thought that he may have killed the first British soldier who happened to be a Major.

Joseph Brant: Mohawk chief who rallied and led other Native Americans to join the British cause.

Molly PitcherSlide22

Margaret CorbinSlide23

Nancy HartSlide24

Lydia DarraghSlide25

Peter Salem

Here, Peter Salem helps Thomas Grosvenor conduct a fighting retreat when the British overran the American fort.Slide26

Joseph BrantSlide27

The Outcome of the War Influenced by Many Factors

Haphazard occurrences of events: the Human Factor

Battle of Trenton: caught the Hessians off guard. Rahl didn’t build defenses, even though told to, and ignored reports that the Americans were coming.

Battle of Saratoga: failed British attack on Albany because St. Leger was defeated at Fort Stanwix and General Howe didn’t follow General Burgoyne's request for troops from NYC. Led to the American win at Saratoga.

Battle of Yorktown: Cornwallis was defeated because he refused to send troops to New York as ordered by Sir Henry Clinton.

Benedict Arnold's decision to join the British.

St. Leger

CornwallisSlide28

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Clash between colonial authority and Second Continental Congress

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Continental Congress had no given legal authority to govern but it still

appointed ambassadors

signed treaties

raised armies

appointed generals

obtained loans from Europe

issued paper money

disbursed funds

It had no right to

levy taxes

had to request money, supplies, and troops from colonial states

Colonial states often ignored the requestsSlide29

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Clash between colonial authority and Second Continental Congress

Delegates did not have power to pass the Declaration of Independence

Virginia Convention wanted its delegates to propose a the declaration of independence, the formation of foreign alliances, and a confederation of the states.

delegates had to get approval from their own colonial governments to accept the Declaration of IndependenceSlide30

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Clash Between Colonial Authority and Second Continental Congress

Treaty of Paris:

Continental Congress didn’t want a separate peace with Britain because the agreement with France stated that the US would fight Britain until France stopped.

John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin signed a treaty anyway in Sept. of 1782.

Individual States ignored Federal recommendations to restore confiscated Loyalist property and they:

took Loyalist property for "unpaid debts"

kept laws against payment of debts to British creditorsSlide31

Essential Questions

What was the military course of the Revolutionary War?What role did leadership, commitment, and luck play in the American victory over the British?