Question

Compare American and British advantages and disadvantages during the revolutionary war.

Answer 1

Americans - Advantages

They were able to fight on their own ground which helped them to know the areas. 

They had a widespread acquaintance with firearms. 

They had better or superior rifles with more range and accuracy than the British. 

They had experience from the French and Indian War which helped to know what they were coming into and what mistakes they made last time. 


British - Advantages 

They were well trained, equipped, and had exact orders in which they followed very closely. 

They had the best navy which protected the coastlines and supply lines. 

They had co - operation Loyalists and Indians to help them fight. 

They had enough money to hire foreign troops from Germany also known as Hessians. 


Americans - Disadvantages 

Their army lacked training and discipline (they were taken from their homes handed a gun and were told to kill without much training in the field. 

Many men deserted the army because they were allowed to leave whenever and when times got hard, men died, or they just didn't want to fight anymore they would flee to their homes.

Shortages of ammo, food, clothing, and medicine also made men flee and people die of starvation or weather.  

Loyalists because they made up 1/3 of the population which meant less men to help fight. 

They lacked a real navy which hurt them because they had no way to defend the coastlines if they didn't have a real navy. 


British - Disadvantages 

They had a long distance from home which made soldiers less effective due to lack of sleep, home sickness, exhaustion, etc. 

They never adapted their fighting style which hurt them.

They did not use Loyalists to their advantage and many times the British did not use them effectively. 

They believed they could just run Americans over without any problem, this underestimation caused them to be unprepared and lose many men in some cases. 

They used smoothbore muskets which took longer to load than the American guns so by the time they could get their gun loaded they would be shot.