Portal:American Revolutionary War

War and the military Military of  Ancient Rome  Australia Bangladesh Canada Germany  Greece Pakistan Turkey United Kingdom (British Army Royal Air Force Royal Navy) United States ( Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force Coast Guard) … Military history of  Africa France the Ottoman Empire …… American Civil War American Revolutionary War Cold War Crusades Italian Wars Napoleonic Wars War of 1812 World War I World War II …… Battleships Biological warfare Submarine Tank Weapons of mass destruction …… NATO  Terrorism The American Revolutionary War began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies on the North American continent, and ended in a global war between several European great powers. The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution and intellectual American Enlightenment, whereby the colonists rejected the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them without representation. In 1775, revolutionaries gained control of each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up an alliance called the Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. Petitions to the king to intervene with the parliament on their behalf resulted in Congress being declared traitors and the states in rebellion the following year. The Americans responded by formally declaring their independence as a new nation, the United States of America, claiming sovereignty and rejecting any allegiance to the British monarchy. In 1777 the Continentals captured a British army, leading to France entering the war on the side of the Americans in early 1778, and evening the military strength with Britain. Spain and the Dutch Republic – French allies – also went to war with Britain over the next two years. Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities, but control of the countryside (where 90% of the population lived) largely eluded them due to their relatively small land army. French involvement proved decisive, with a French naval victory in the Chesapeake leading to the surrender of a second British army at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west. More about American Revolutionary War... The Battle of Nassau (March 3–4, 1776) was a naval action and amphibious assault by American forces against the British port of Nassau in the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence). It is considered the first cruise and one of the first engagements of the newly established Continental Navy and the Continental Marines, the progenitors of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The action was also the Marines' first amphibious landing. Departing from Cape Henlopen, Delaware, on February 17, 1776, the fleet arrived in the Bahamas on March 1, with the objective of seizing gunpowder and munitions that were known to be stored there. Two days later the marines went ashore and seized Fort Montagu at the eastern end of the Nassau harbor, but did not advance to the town, where the gunpowder was stored. That night, Nassau's governor had most of the gunpowder loaded aboard ships that then sailed for St. Augustine. On March 4, the colonial marines advanced and took control of the poorly-defended town. The colonial forces remained at Nassau for two weeks, and took away all the remaining gunpowder and munitions they could. Featured articles 1 Featured lists 1 A-Class articles 1 The moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, 16 January 1780 by Francis Holman, painted in 1780 shows the Santo Domingo exploding, with Rodney's flagship Benedict Arnold V (January 14, 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740] – June 14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War who first fought for the American Continental Army but switched sides to the British Empire in 1780. He distinguished himself early in the war through acts of cunning and bravery. His many successful actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, successful defensive and delaying tactics while losing the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut (after which he was promoted to Major General), and the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that effectively ended his combat career for several years. In spite of his success, Arnold was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress while other general officers took credit for his many accomplishments. Charges of corruption were brought by political adversaries, and Congress investigated his accounts, finding he owed it money after he had spent much of his own money on the war effort. Frustrated, bitter, and strongly opposed to the new American alliance with France, Arnold decided to change sides in 1779. In July 1780, he sought and obtained command of West Point in order to surrender it to the British. Arnold's scheme was exposed when American forces captured British Major John André carrying papers that revealed the plot. Upon learning of André's capture, Benedict Arnold escaped down the Hudson River to the British sloop-of-war Vulture, narrowly avoiding capture by the forces of General Washington, who was arriving the same day to inspect West Point and to meet and dine with Arnold. Arnold received a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army, and led British forces at Blanford, Virginia, and Groton, Connecticut, before the war effectively came to an end with the Siege of Yorktown. In the winter of 1782, Arnold moved to London with his second wife, Margaret "Peggy" Shippen Arnold. He was well received by King George III and the Tories but frowned upon by the Whigs. In 1787, he entered into mercantile business with his sons Richard and Henry in Saint John, New Brunswick, but returned to London to settle permanently in 1791, where he died ten years later. The Romney breaking up in 1804 HMS Romney was a 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1762, the Romney spent most of her early career in North American waters, serving on the Newfoundland station, often as the flagship of the commander-in-chief. The ship was involved in the tensions of the American Revolution when she was sent to support the Boston commissioners enforcing the Townshend Acts in 1768. Her actions involved impressing local sailors, confiscating the merchant ship Liberty (a vessel belonging to John Hancock), and providing a refuge for the unpopular commissioners when rioting broke out after the seizure. She was active in the American War of Independence, serving in European waters from 1779. She assisted in the defense of the British Isles against a planned Franco-Spanish invasion, assisted in the capture of a Spanish frigate, and participated in the inconclusive 1781 Battle of Porto Praya. She later served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned forty years, finally breaking up after running aground off the Dutch coast in 1804. Template:/box-header From the American Revolutionary War task force of the Military history WikiProject: Attention needed ...to referencing and citation  • ...to coverage and accuracy  • ...to structure  • ...to grammar  • ...to supporting materials  Cleanup needed   Add an article here! Requested articles  East Indies campaign • Central American campaigns • Quebec in the American Revolution • Maritime provinces in the American Revolution Expansion needed   many existing "<State> in/during the American Revolution" articles Images needed   Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of the American Revolutionary War Merging needed   Add an article here! Citations needed   Battle of Monmouth • Battles in {{Campaignbox American Revolutionary War: Gulf Coast}} Translation needed  Add an article here! 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