Why did the British lose the American Revolutionary War?

Question

I'm evaluating the current war with Iraq in the context of the American Revolution.

Answer 1

There were plenty of reasons. One was that the British were horrified that colonists fought in the winter. Gentleman don't. Another was that the colonists employed guerilla tactics. Hiding behind rocks, stome walls, ambushes. The British used line tactics and fought in colomuns because this provided the largest amount of concentrated firepower.
Finally...supply lines were difficult to maintain. Despite the seizure of key ports like Boston it was an expensive venture on King George's part to send more and more troops and supplies to the colonies. Especially with all sorts of domestic unrest of their own going on at home and in other colonies.
It actually became a matter of not being cost effective more than a win/lose type situation.

Answer 2

Iraq war has few similarities to the Revolutionary war. However, that is not the question. A couple of the reasons that we were able to win the war:

Distance - It was very difficult to big the might of the British Empire to bear on the US due to the distance between them

French - The British were at war with the British which both drew the British forces to other battlefields and then they help blockade strategic ports (Yorktown).

Answer 3

They had there hands full with the french and couldn't assign enough troops to destroy the revolutionaries. It was also recognized that the American population was for the rebels and thus it would be pointless to fight on especially when you're busy taking on the french navy and army all over the world.

Answer 4

Only one right answer so far. We won because France came into the war on our side. The French treasury forked out a fortune to support the war. French officers and nobles, such as the Marquis de Lafayette, proved invaluable to General Washington. Finally, the French fleet was able to bottle the British up and force their surrender.

Answer 5

Simply, wrong tactic and loosing the battle of the heart.
The British thought fighting in regular battles (which they won mostly) but did not have a response to the "Indian" way of fighting of the settlers (now we would say guerrilla tactics).
They did not have much support of the local inhabitants.
But they even lost the initiative on the coasts (imagine the Royal Navy outrunned by the French Navy, unbelievable) so that they did not even have a secure logistic line to the UK.
In some way, it resembles the problem in Iraq (except the logistic problem).

Answer 6

Well, that's not really a great comparison. A closer (albeit, not perfect) example would be Chechnya fighting off Russia.

But, on the whole, British lost for several reasons, not the least of which was that the Americans were much more motivated to win than the British (those who were there fighting, anyway) to win.

The British underestimated the Americans and made some poor strategic decisions that helped the Americans win militarily.

Answer 7

I would like to see America taking on Europe(Napoleon)
The British also took on the settlers who were the French,Spanish,English,Scottish,Irish,Germans etc.
The British were WAY over stretched

Answer 8

Long supply lines, attempting to fight a war on too many fronts

Answer 9

Hope this helps!

Answer 10

Brittan in a weakened condition could have been invaded by France.