What was the direct cause of the American War of Independence?

American War of Independence (1775- 1783)

Occurrence time: 1775 ~ 1783.

Location: North American battlefield

From 1775 to 1783, 13 colonies in British North America rebelled against British colonial rule and fought for national independence. Also known as the North American War of Independence or the American Revolution.

/kloc-In the middle of the 0/8th century, with the development of capitalist economy in North American colonies and the enhancement of American national consciousness, the contradiction between Britain and North American colonies became increasingly fierce. Especially after the Seven-Year War, in order to make up for the war losses, Britain intensified its exploitation and oppression of the colonial people, thus making the colonial struggle against Britain develop from economic and political struggle to armed struggle. 1September 774 to 121October, the colonies except Georgia held their first continental congress in Philadelphia and decided to unite against Britain. After the meeting, the colonies began to prepare for the uprising, train the militia and store arms. 1On April 9, 775, the British troops stationed in Boston were ordered to go to Concord to inspect the arms of the colonial militia. On their way back and forth, they were ambushed by militia near Lexington, losing 286 people. The battle of Lexington started the war. On may 10, representatives of the north American colonies held the second continental congress in Philadelphia. 14 in June, they decided to set up a continental army and appointed G. Washington as commander-in-chief the next day.

At the beginning of the war, the strength of the two sides was very different. Britain was the most powerful colonial empire at that time, with developed industry and a world-class navy; There are more than 30,000 British troops stationed in North America, which are well-equipped and well-trained, and are based in Canada. However, the troops are far from home, unfamiliar with local conditions, and it is difficult to supplement manpower and material resources; There are differences in war guidance within the ruling group, and there is no unified command. The population of North American colonies is only 3 million, of which about 500 thousand are pro-British "royalists"; The regular army has just been formed and its strength is insufficient. It is mainly supplemented by part-time militia and short-term volunteers, with backward equipment and lack of training. Colony localism is serious, and the leadership of continental congress is weak; But this is a just war, fighting for independence and freedom, supported by revolutionary people and international progressive forces, and we can use the internal contradictions of Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries to win foreign aid. This war is roughly divided into two stages.

In the first stage (1775 ~ 1778), the main battlefield was in the north, and the British army took the initiative. The overall strategy of the British army is to control the east coast of North America with the navy, and at the same time, the army will enter from the north and south directions of Canada and new york respectively, and get through the front lines of lake champlain and Hudson Valley, thus isolating the New England colony that is the most determined to Britain, and then carve up other colonies one by one. The colonial power is weak, and basically the policy of avoiding decisive battle, preserving strength, destroying the enemy with a camera and winning foreign aid is adopted. 1In May, 775, the colonial militia took the initiative to attack, successively captured Fort Condroga, Krone poynter and other places, and besieged Boston. On June 17, T. Gage, the governor of Massachusetts and commander-in-chief of the British army, sent 2,200 troops to attack Bunker Hill and brid Hill, the militia positions that besieged Boston. The militia fought bravely and repelled the British attack twice. Although they gave up their positions because of running out of ammunition, they achieved the result of destroying thousands of enemies for the first time. In order to arouse Canada's anti-British sentiment, the US military split up and attacked Canada in two ways. 165438+ 10, R. Montgomery led the left army to capture Montreal, and then joined the right army led by B. Arnold in the lower reaches of the St. Lawrence River. At the end of February, about 1000 American troops braved the snowstorm to attack Quebec and lost. Since then, the US military has besieged Quebec and contained some British troops. It was not until May of the following year that the British sent more reinforcements that the US troops retreated. 1in March, 776, the British army was forced to withdraw from Boston after being besieged 1 1 month. On July 4th, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which officially declared the independence of the colony. At the end of August, W Howe (following Gage as commander-in-chief of the British army) led 32,000 British troops to attack new york with the cooperation of the naval fleet. Washington commanded19,000 men to split up and fight positional warfare. Under the strong attack of the British army, they lost ground and suffered heavy losses. In June 65438 +065438+10, he led about 5000 people to retreat to New Jersey. The British pursued the American troops to the Delaware River and then entered the camp for the winter. Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Eve when the British army was not looking, raided the British army in Trenton, captured nearly a thousand people, and defeated the British army again in Princeton on June 3, 65438. The battle between Trenton and Princeton boosted the morale of the American army, which was frustrated one after another. 1In the summer of 777, in order to cut off the connection between New England and other states, the British army decided to March north and south to open the lake champlain-Hudson Valley: all the way from the south bank of Lake Ontario to the east of Mohawk, and was defeated by the American army on the way; On the other hand, more than 7,000 people led by J. Bourgau went south along Hunan, champlain, in an attempt to join forces with the Third Road British troops stationed in new york under Howe's command in Albany. However, Hao did not go north as planned, but led 1.8 million troops south, and captured Philadelphia, the seat of the continental congress, on September 26th. Bourgau was besieged by 65438+2000 American troops and guerrillas in Saratoga (present-day skyler) because of his adventure alone. June 65438+10/October 65438+July, more than 5000 people surrendered. The battle of Saratoga became a turning point in the war, prompting France to declare war on Britain in March 1778. The American War of Independence developed into an international war. After Washington led his troops back to Wali Foch, he trained them in winter under the auspices of volunteers and Prussian officer B Stoibn, which improved their combat effectiveness. On June 1778, the British army abandoned Philadelphia and retreated to new york. Since then, the war in the north has entered a stalemate.

In the second stage (1779 ~ 1783), the main battlefield was in the south. H. Clinton, the new commander-in-chief of the British army, took advantage of the fact that there were many "loyal ministers" in the south and he was close to the British West Indies, and moved his main force to the south in an attempt to control the southern States first, and then echoed with new york, a stronghold in the north, to contain the north. With the cooperation of the French army and navy, the U.S. military attempted to control the strategic coastal areas, and at the same time vigorously launched guerrilla warfare, consuming the enemy's effective strength in order to win the final victory. 1at the end of 778, the British army captured Savannah, the capital of Georgia, and began to launch a powerful offensive in the south. In September of the following year, the United States and France besieged Savannah with heavy casualties. 1in the spring of 780, Clinton commanded 14000 British troops to surround Charleston from land and sea, forcing the commander of the southern American army, B. Lincoln, to lead more than 5,000 people to surrender and seize 4 warships, 300 guns and other equipment. On May 29th, the British army defeated the American army again in Howcreek, Wechs, South Carolina. On June 8th, Clinton led some British troops back to new york, leaving more than 7,000 British troops led by C. cornwallis to defend large areas in the south with the cooperation of "loyalists". On August 16, the British army defeated the main force of the southern American army under the command of H. Gates in Camden, South Carolina. In February, 65438+, the Continental Congress appointed N Green as the commander of the American army in the south. Green divided his troops into two roads (one led by D Morgan and the other led by himself) for guerrilla warfare. In Virginia, Marquis lafayette, a young aristocrat of the French Volunteers, led an army to contain the British army commanded by the rebel Arnold. 178 1 year 1 month 17, Morgan defeated the British in Cowpens, South Carolina. On March 15, the British army fought with the American army in guildford, North Carolina, with heavy casualties and was forced to retreat to the coastal areas. In August, Cornwallis focused on Yorktown, Virginia Peninsula. Washington commanded16,000 more than American and French allied forces (including more than 7,000 French troops commanded by Count Rosambo), surrounded Yorktown with the cooperation of the French fleet led by Count Glass, and forced the British to surrender in June 19. The siege of Yorktown led to the collapse of the British cabinet and prompted peace talks between the two sides. The new British government reached an armistice agreement with the United States on1782+065438+1October 30th. 1On September 3, 783, the two sides signed the Paris Peace Treaty, and Britain was forced to recognize American independence.

The American War of Independence is a typical example of a war in which the weak prevail over the strong, and it won the support and support of people at home and abroad (about 7,000 international volunteers participated in the War of Independence). The broad masses of soldiers and civilians fought bravely and played a decisive role in the victory of the war. During the war, the United States implemented a flexible foreign policy and used international contradictions to obtain assistance from France, Spain and the Netherlands. The US military is flexible in strategy and tactics. It adopts the combat style of combining regular warfare with guerrilla warfare, abandons the traditional linear combat formation, and adopts open formation combat according to the topography, regardless of the gains and losses of a city and a place, with the focus on destroying the enemy's effective strength. The victory of the War of Independence paved the way for the development of American capitalism and had a great influence on the French Revolution and the Latin American national liberation movement.

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