The northern, southern, and naval theaters of the war converged in 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia. In early September, French naval forces defeated a British fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, cutting off Cornwallis's supplies and transport. Washington hurriedly moved his troops from New York, and a combined Franco-American force of 17,000 men commenced the siege of Yorktown in early October. Cornwallis's position quickly became untenable, and he surrendered his army on October 19, 1781.
The surrender at Yorktown was not the end of the war: the British still had 30,000 troops in North America and still occupied New York, Charleston, and Savannah. Both sides continued to plan upcoming operations, and fighting continued on the western front, in the south, and at sea.
Approximately 1,200 Germans were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accident. About 16,000 of the remaining German troops returned home, but roughly 5,500 remained in the United States after the war for various reasons, many eventually becoming American citizens. No reliable statistics exist for the number of casualties among other groups, including Loyalists, British regulars, American Indians, French and Spanish troops, and civilians.
In London, however, political support for the war plummeted after Yorktown, causing Prime Minister Lord North to resign soon afterwards. In April 1782, the British House of Commons voted to end the war in America. Preliminary peace articles were signed in Paris on November 30, 1782, though the formal end of the war did not occur until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, and the United States Congress ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784. The last British troops left New York City on November 25, 1783.
Great Britain negotiated the Paris peace treaty without consulting her Indian allies and ceded all American Indian territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States. Full of resentment, Native Americans reluctantly confirmed these land cessions with the United States in a series of treaties, but the fighting would be renewed in conflicts along the frontier in the coming years, the largest being the Northwest Indian War.
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. The war took place during a massive North American smallpox epidemic, which probably killed more than 130,000 people. Historian Joseph Ellis suggests that Washington's decision to have his troops inoculated may have been the commander-in-chief's most important strategic decision.
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.[22]
About 171,000 seamen served for the British during the war; about 25 to 50 percent of them had been pressed into service. About 1,240 were killed in battle, while 18,500 died from disease. The greatest killer was scurvy, a disease known at the time to be easily preventable by issuing lemon juice to sailors, a step not taken by the Admiralty because of what historian Piers Mackesy characterized as "administrative apathy". About 42,000 British seamen deserted during the war.
2006-11-05 11:25:44
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answer #1
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answered by Dimples 6
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basically it ended because England gave up.
England was using their military to punish and frighten the American colony into stopping the rebellion. the American people rallied together and built their own army, and basically kicked the English forces out of their towns. after seven years of war, England pretty much got fed up with the occupation and left the Americans alone.
also, the French, who hated the English, had joined the war and were sending reinforcements. England didn't want to get tangled up with them because they had too many other things going on to fight a major war.
2006-11-05 11:26:43
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answer #2
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answered by cirque de lune 6
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large question! enable me furnish you with the lowdown. The structure that we at present have became written after the modern warfare ended. The modern warfare resulted in 1781 even as british forces surrendered at Yorktown in October. The Articles of Confederation, the first, yet failed attempt at a structure were proposed in 1877 in the course of the warfare and ratified in March of 1781 in basic terms months till now the British renounce at Yorktown and the ceasing of important strive against operations in North us of a. The Articles of Confederation failed for one of those motives and in 1787 a clean constitutional convention became referred to as. In 1788 the ultimate state, new hampshire, ratified the structure and it went into result an finished seven years after the modern warfare ended! The year after George Washington became elected president. go George! So surely, to respond to your question, the reason the structure we've on the instantaneous became ratified so long after the modern warfare is because the Articles of Confederation were in result, yet not doing so nicely, and some states even drafted there own constitutions in this time because of how undesirable the Articles of Confederation were. also, the warfare attempt became underway and key leaders were occupied in different organisation, so it became both risky, and not in any respect quite a concern to visit at least one position and draft a structure because the warfare attempt took priority. does that answer your question? next time do your own homework! haha. And vote for my answer because the suitable!
2016-11-28 19:49:26
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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