How the Colonists Defeated the British
             In 1770s to the 1780s the thirteen original colonies with loosely formed militias managed to defeat one of the greatest empires in history, the British Empire. How were they able to do this? I will examine the elements that resulted in America gaining independence from Britain against all odds.
             There are several factors that enabled the colonists to achieve independence from England. I think the deciding factor was the help that the colonist got from the French and Admiral De Grasse toward the end of the war. I don't think that the colonists would have been as successful or possibly successful at all with out the help of their French allies. But the French help came near the end of the war and the colonists had defeated the British in many battles that the French had no part in. One of the reasons that they were successful was their knowledge of the terrain and their incorporation of that knowledge in their fighting style. The colonists were heavily outnumbered and they knew this. If they had fought in battles using the traditional line method they surely would have been defeated. But their advantage was that they knew the land they knew that they could trap their enemy and use the features of the terrain against the British. Then they could fight them while they were unprepared with a more guerrilla warfare style that the British weren't used to. Another factor that helped the colonists was the fact that the British were far from home. It took weeks to ship troops, supplies and news to England from America. The British troops were pretty much stuck with what they had and in an unfamiliar place. The last reason the colonists were so successful is "give me liberty or give me death!" The colonists were defending their homes and their way of life. The British had nothing to lose, but the colonists had everything to lose.
             The colonists had less troops, less...