Happy 4th of July..
- Thread starter SiGh
- Start date
:thumb:
Yea yea public intoxication and crappy fireworks display. I'm staying home.
The total loss of life resulting from the American Revolutionary War is unknown. As was typical in the wars of the era, disease claimed more lives than battle.
Historian Joseph Ellis suggests that Washington's decision to have his troops inoculated against the smallpox epidemic was one of his most important decisions.
An estimated 25,000 American Revolutionaries died during active military service. About 8,000 of these deaths were in battle; the other 17,000 deaths were from disease, including about 8,000 who died while prisoners of war. The number of Revolutionaries seriously wounded or disabled by the war has been estimated from 8,500 to 25,000. The total American military casualty figure was therefore as high as 50,000.
The American Revolutionary War could really be summed up as a civil war fought on foreign soil, as opposing forces were comprised of both nations residents. That said, it is a war that America could not have survived without French assistance. In addition, Britain had significant military disadvantages.
Suppressing a rebellion in America posed problems, since the colonies covered a large area and had not been united before the war, there was no central area of strategic importance.
When the British seized cities such as New York and Philadelphia, the war continued unabated. Furthermore, the large size of the colonies meant that the British lacked the manpower to control them by force. Once any area had been occupied, troops had to be kept there or the Revolutionaries would regain control, and these troops were thus unavailable for further offensive operations. The British had sufficient troops to defeat the Americans on the battlefield but not enough to simultaneously occupy the colonies.
The United States spent $37 million at the national level plus $114 million by the states. This was mostly covered by loans from France and the Netherlands, loans from Americans, and issuance of more and more paper money. The U.S. finally solved its debt problem in the 1790s.
Sources:
Smallpox epidemic: Elizabeth Anne Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82, p. 275.
American dead and wounded: John Shy, A People Numerous and Armed, pp. 249–50.
Higginbotham, p. 298, 306.
Merrill Jensen, The New Nation (1950) p 379
The total loss of life resulting from the American Revolutionary War is unknown. As was typical in the wars of the era, disease claimed more lives than battle.
Historian Joseph Ellis suggests that Washington's decision to have his troops inoculated against the smallpox epidemic was one of his most important decisions.
An estimated 25,000 American Revolutionaries died during active military service. About 8,000 of these deaths were in battle; the other 17,000 deaths were from disease, including about 8,000 who died while prisoners of war. The number of Revolutionaries seriously wounded or disabled by the war has been estimated from 8,500 to 25,000. The total American military casualty figure was therefore as high as 50,000.
The American Revolutionary War could really be summed up as a civil war fought on foreign soil, as opposing forces were comprised of both nations residents. That said, it is a war that America could not have survived without French assistance. In addition, Britain had significant military disadvantages.
Suppressing a rebellion in America posed problems, since the colonies covered a large area and had not been united before the war, there was no central area of strategic importance.
When the British seized cities such as New York and Philadelphia, the war continued unabated. Furthermore, the large size of the colonies meant that the British lacked the manpower to control them by force. Once any area had been occupied, troops had to be kept there or the Revolutionaries would regain control, and these troops were thus unavailable for further offensive operations. The British had sufficient troops to defeat the Americans on the battlefield but not enough to simultaneously occupy the colonies.
The United States spent $37 million at the national level plus $114 million by the states. This was mostly covered by loans from France and the Netherlands, loans from Americans, and issuance of more and more paper money. The U.S. finally solved its debt problem in the 1790s.
Sources:
Smallpox epidemic: Elizabeth Anne Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82, p. 275.
American dead and wounded: John Shy, A People Numerous and Armed, pp. 249–50.
Higginbotham, p. 298, 306.
Merrill Jensen, The New Nation (1950) p 379
