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Module II - Sea Power, joint and Combined Operations, and ...

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Modules Module II - Sea Power, joint and Combined Operations, and Irregular Warfare - The American War for IndependenceH

Module II - Sea Power, joint and Combined Operations, and Irregular Warfare - The American War for Independence

Module II: Sea Power, Joint and Combined Operations, and Irregular Warfare: The American War for Independence

A. Description

At dawn on 29 June, 1776, five days before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, the largest European maritime expedition in history thus far arrived outside of New York City to enable the British Empire to regain control of its rebellious colonies in North America. As the sun rose, citizens of New York gaped in awe as one ship after another appeared over the horizon. The greatest military power of the age had sent 10 ships of the line, 20 frigates, 40 other fighting vessels, 100 troop transports, 10,000 seamen, 23,000 British soldiers, and 10,000 Hessians to crush organized resistance in New York in a massive Joint operation. Another 500 auxiliary ships were strung out across the Atlantic behind the armada to tend to every logistical need. Within a month, much of New York would be burned to the ground, with thousands of refugees from the British fleeing Manhattan and Long Island for the interior. The recently constituted Continental Army under General George Washington, with only 10,000 Continental soldiers and 9,000 militia men, was outflanked and forced into hasty retreat. The new general was able to avoid complete envelopment and total destruction of his army only by slipping across the Hudson into New Jersey in an emergency evacuation that, ironically, anticipated the later British evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

Suffering from massive desertions, worn out by forced marches, and often without food, shoes, or shelter, Washington’s fleeing army was reduced to no more than 3,000 men by December, 1776, with many of the remaining soldiers’ enlistments due to expire at the end of the month. All hope seemed lost as organized resistance in the Middle States was about to collapse. British victory appeared complete and decisive. The British

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Module II - Sea Power, joint and Combined Operations, and ...

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“shock and awe” campaign, led by two brothers, Admiral Lord Richard and General Sir William Howe, had spectacular operational success initially, but surprisingly failed to achieve the British political objective of restoring obedience to the Crown. This case explores why the British failed and the Americans, the weaker power by any conventional standard, achieved their independence in a protracted revolutionary war that foreshadows many of the insurgencies against occupation forces of the modern era.

The American War for Independence is of historical interest to American military officers because the conflict of 1775-1783 brought their country and its military into being. It is of strategic interest because it provides an opportunity to study three different types of war at once. It was a war within a war within a war: an irregular or partisan war for the allegiance of the American people; a conventional war between the Continental Army under George Washington and a British army exploiting its advantages in Joint operations whenever possible; and a global maritime conflict among great powers that was fought in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the West Indies, the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and off the coast of North America. The War for American Independence is of operational interest because its decisive battle, the Joint and Combined operation of French and American forces at Yorktown, compels us to investigate the circumstances and conditions under which such campaigns are most likely to yield their desired strategic results.

A revolutionary war involves a struggle for the political allegiance of a group of people. That defining characteristic links the American War of the eighteenth century to more recent insurgencies. Nonetheless, the “liberal-republican” political ideology of the Patriots fighting for independence was quite different from that of more recent revolutions. It proved a major cultural obstacle to British efforts to understand the motivations of their enemy and a significant asset for revolutionary leaders seeking to sustain and expand their political base.

The Patriots relied on a mix of conventional and unconventional military operations. Patriot leaders weighed the conventional and unconventional differently, however. Washington preferred the conventional while General Nathanael Greene’s Southern Campaign supplies a classic example of strategically effective operations mixing regular and irregular forces. The imperative to win popular political support and the triangular nature of the struggle were very much the same as in more recent revolutionary conflicts. Students are often surprised that American support for the revolution was not unanimous, especially at the beginning of the conflict. Insurgents had to earn such support and deny it to the enemy, which sought to do the same to them. Hence, the conflict requires an examination of how insurgents and counter-insurgents fight to sustain the loyalty of followers, win the support of neutrals and the undecided, and marginalize the influence of adversaries.

This case also invites an effort to understand the impact of foreign intervention in an ongoing war. When France and Spain intervened against Britain, the coalition against the British gave a major material and morale boost to the Americans and threatened Britain’s global empire. The British had to reassess their strategic priorities, as the