"The loss of America was a stunning and unexpected defeat for the powerful British Empire. Common wisdom has held that incompetent military commanders and political leaders in Britain must have been to blame, but were they? This intriguing book makes a different argument. Weaving together the personal stories of ten prominent men who directed the British dimension of the war, historian Andrew O'Shaughnessy dispels the incompetence myth and uncovers the real reasons that rebellious colonials were able to achieve their ...
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"The loss of America was a stunning and unexpected defeat for the powerful British Empire. Common wisdom has held that incompetent military commanders and political leaders in Britain must have been to blame, but were they? This intriguing book makes a different argument. Weaving together the personal stories of ten prominent men who directed the British dimension of the war, historian Andrew O'Shaughnessy dispels the incompetence myth and uncovers the real reasons that rebellious colonials were able to achieve their surprising victory. In interlinked biographical chapters, the author follows the course of the war from the perspectives of King George III, Prime Minister Lord North, military leaders including General Burgoyne, the Earl of Sandwich, and others who, for the most part, led ably and even brilliantly. Victories were frequent, and in fact the British conquered every American city at some stage of the Revolutionary War. Yet roiling political complexities at home, combined with the fervency of the fighting Americans, proved fatal to the British war effort. The book concludes with a penetrating assessment of the years after Yorktown, when the British achieved victories against the French and Spanish, thereby keeping intact what remained of the British Empire"--
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Seller's Description:
Fair. Acceptable-This is a significantly damaged book. It should be considered a reading copy only. Please order this book only if you are interested in the content and not the condition. May be ex-library. PAPERBACK Standard-sized.
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Acceptable. Paperback 100% of proceeds go to charity! Acceptable reading copy with obvious signs of use, wear, and/or cosmetic issues. Item is complete and remains readable despite notable condition issues.
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Very Good. Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
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Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Oversized.
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Fine in very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 466 p. Contains: Illustrations, black & white, Maps. Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History (Hardcover).
We were lucky that our Civil War was geography based. Now imagine Democrats and Republicans start to fight a real war. Democrats are mostly in the big cities and Republicans in fly-over country.
This is what the British commanders faced. I can beat the rebels in NYC but they just flee to the wilds of Pennsylvania.
Now back to the imaginary Civil War. What will your political agenda be to bring Democrats and Republicans back together? What will your military strategy be to defeat (pick your side)? That is what this book shows the British faced. Then they finally just went home.
