In what ways did geography help the American win the Revolutionary War?

Answer 1

Geography helped the American colonists in a number of ways, all the more so as they recognized that they mainly needed to DEFEND the land they already held. Britains task of subduing and occupying territory was much more daunting.

Some ways of the basic ways geography played a role

1) Difficult and unfamiliar TERRAIN -- rocky and cold in New England, buggy and humid in the South, impassable forests and mountain in the West.

2) DISTANCE - Britain had to send and supply troops across an ocean, and to try to move them quickly from one theater of the war to another (an increasing problem after France and Spain joined the Americans)

3) DIFFUSION of population -- Britain could not simply conquer a few key cities and thereby win. In fact, they took control of the major cities (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston) at various points, and rather easily, but it did them little good.

4) Sheer SIZE of the colonial territory (related to distance) -- how to fight yet leave sufficient forces to occupy/control territory once it was won?

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/revolution/section7.rhtml


Looking at a some specific instances:

1) Early in the war the British troops fully occupied Boston, but as a result they were 'boxed in' on a peninsula. When the colonists were able to bring canons in, the British were forced to evaculate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War#Massachusetts

2) New York/New Jersey - Washington made the early almost fatal mistake of seeking to attack the British... then realized that playing defense-- keeping on the move with an occasional key win (on his own terms) -- was more likely to eventually wear out the British

3) Hudson Valley -- a KEY to the war, up to the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 (the great turning point), was preventing the British "three-pronged attack" meant to cut New England off from the other colonies. Because of narrow points with high bluffs in the passage up the Hudson (esp. near West Point), the colonial army was able to successfully garrison this region with a smaller number of forces and thwart British efforts.

See: "The American Revolution in the Hudson Valley, The Battle for the Continent That Won The War"
http://www.hvnet.com/Itineraries/I03.htm

4) South - Nathanel Greene NEVER won a tactical victory, but by swift movement and taking advantage of geography, he was able to keep the British from gaining any strategic advantage.... right up to Yorktown.
http://theamericanrevolution.org/ipeople/ngreene.asp

Answer 2

Revolutionary War Geography

Answer 3

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In what ways did geography help the American win the Revolutionary War?

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Knowong the country helped them immensly. Also, having George Washington who knew the are well and the mountainside helped. The geography can be seen evident when the French blocked the British from retreating in the final battle of the Revolution.

Answer 6

The British were used to fighting in open terrain. The wooded terrain of the northeast and the swamps of the south were foreign to them. They could not employ the tactics they knew so well.

Answer 7

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They were familiar with the territory and were able to use the landscape to their advantage.

Answer 8

I think I can answer this one. The american indian were the best fighters and the colonists learned from this. The english while being a damn good army had not had any need to adapt to this new way of fighting. Using environment and landscape to defeat a opposing force. They used old roman ways of thinking. so they got beat.