Why the British Lost the War for American Independence

Presented by Dr. Porter Blakemore, University of Mary Washington. This talk will answer the following question: How was the most powerful 18th Century Atlantic maritime power beaten by a group of colonial plantation owners, backwoodsmen and city merchants, who started the conflict with no government, no unity, no army, and no navy? Britain had defeated mighty France in the French and Indian War fifteen years earlier, driving France out of North America in a conflict brilliant in its political management and land and maritime execution. Why could they not repeat such success against the American patriots? Was their defeat the result of British incompetence, American talent, American luck, or a combination of all three? After the lecture, stay for a special 60-minute screening of the PBS documentary series, The American Revolution, by Ken Burns, focusing on the American military during the Revolutionary War.