Strengths+and+Weaknesses+of+the+Colonial+Army

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Colonial Army- American Revolution Emilee Harris and Sydney Williams The American Revolution was a war between the Colonial army and the British army. They were fighting for independence and both had strengths and both had weaknesses. The Colonial army had more weaknesses, but they pulled through and won. One of the strengths that the army had was that they had an alliance with France, so France would be on their side if and when they needed them. Another is that they had militiamen who would hide in the forest and distract British soldiers. This gave them time to make an attack. Also, when we had failed at some of our attacks, Washington figured out what the strengths and weaknesses of both armies. That gave the Colonial Army an advantage over the British. We also had the Guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare is a style of battle that allows the soldiers to remain hidden while in battle. British troops were taught to fight facing their enemy in an open field lined side by side. The change in warfare style allowed the colonists a better chance at surviving as well as surprise the British. Another was that even though the American Navy was small, it was very strong. Many in England believed that the rebellion could be overcome by naval force alone. One of the weaknesses was that Washington was unable to develop a stable plan. The plans were random and all over the place. Even the plans that were successful never stayed successful. This meaning they had to keep coming up with plans that no one knew how effective they would be. Another was that our army lacked weapons, food, and basic supplies. They had tremendous difficulty raising enough funds to purchase the things they needed. There were very few uniforms for all the Colonial soldiers. So when the uniforms got ripped up, they had to wear whatever they could find. Also, hunger was a typical thing on the camps because they didn’t have a lot of money. Even though the colonial army had more weaknesses than strengths, the strengths overshadowed the weaknesses and they won. They had greater strengths and that was a great advantage over the British.



Works Cited "guerrilla warfare." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Dec. 2009 . //The American Revolution: First// N.p., 27 Apr. 2001. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. //U.S.// //History Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium// Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia, 2008. Web. 3 Dec. 2009. Wilbur, C. Keith. //The Revolutionary Soldier 1775-1783//. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993. N. pag. Print.