The American Revolution? Now how did the US Citizens manage to kick the butts of the

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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The American Revolution?
Now how did the US Citizens manage to kick the butts of the worlds best Military machine?
Merchants, clerks, farm boys, tradespeople, workers.
 

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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The American Revolution?
Now how did the US Citizens manage to kick the butts of the worlds best Military machine?
Merchants, clerks, farm boys, tradespeople, workers.
wearing bright red and following orders instead of adapting to the environment is not really good strategy for going up against desperate people.
 

taxslave

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Nov 25, 2008
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Seems to me that jolly olde england was involved in a pissing match with one of its neighbours at the time and a bunch of castoffs half a world away just were not that high up the priority list.
 

BaalsTears

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Jan 25, 2011
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The American Revolution?
Now how did the US Citizens manage to kick the butts of the worlds best Military machine?
Merchants, clerks, farm boys, tradespeople, workers.

Britain's loss of the American colonies was inevitable. If the loss hadn't occurred during the American Revolution it would have lost the American colonies at a subsequent time. The historian Barbara Tuchman had a good chapter on the foolishness of British policy in America in her book The March of Folly. Besides, many Brits were sympathetic to the American cause either out of notions of natural law or due to shared ideals like the Masonic Order.

Yes correct- Did not the same happen in Indonesia?

If you are referring to Indonesian incursions into Malaya the answer is yes. The British scared the Indonesians by taking the battle to Indonesian territory.
 

Goober

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Britain's loss of the American colonies was inevitable. If the loss hadn't occurred during the American Revolution it would have lost the American colonies at a subsequent time. The historian Barbara Tuchman had a good chapter on the foolishness of British policy in America in her book The March of Folly. Besides, many Brits were sympathetic to the American cause either out of notions of natural law or due to shared ideals like the Masonic Order.



If you are referring to Indonesian incursions into Malaya the answer is yes. The British scared the Indonesians by taking the battle to Indonesian territory.

No, I was referring to the Communists
The ghosts of communism past in Indonesia - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
 

damngrumpy

Executive Branch Member
Mar 16, 2005
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There were a number of problems related to the time of history they were in.
Communications getting more troops in time. The speed with which things
were changing on the ground.
In addition the British were oppressive and the King was a nut case literally
Britain had spread out its forces around the world (sound familiar) and the
people were ready for major change.
The British also didn't take the rebels seriously and that was their biggest problem.
 

EagleSmack

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Feb 16, 2005
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Guerrilla warfare. A standing army has never won in a guerrilla war.

And you may want to pick up a book on the American Revolution if you think it was a guerrilla war.

Perhaps the Battle of Lexington and Concord... with the British retreat back to Boston from Concord having aspects of guerrilla warfare is supportive of what you say but that was hardly how the war was fought in its entirety.

Iraq is another.
 

Spade

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Nov 18, 2008
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Empires often lose wars to barbarians on the fringes. The price of Empire is perpetual war; the US is a modern case in point.