What If Britain Won The American Revolution?

what if the british won the american revolution oh boy time to get some america in here america today the united states of america is a federal republic of 50 states and it is the fourth largest country in the world in area after russia canada and china but unlike a country such as china that is largely made up of incorporated indigenous peoples the united states has a diversity to a great degree that comes from an immense and sustained global immigration over the centuries probably no other country has a wider racial ethnic or cultural range than does the united states it is the world's greatest economic power in terms of gross domestic product and historically has been among the world's highest ranking countries in terms of gdp per capita with less than five percent of the world's population the united states produces about one-fifth of the world's economic output i mean the sheer size of the us economy makes it the most important single factor in global trade its exports represent more than one tenth of the entire world total the united states also influences the economy of the rest of the world because it has a significant source of investment capital just as direct investment primarily by the british was a major factor in the 19th century u.s economic growth so too does direct investment abroad by u.s firms play a major factor in the economic well-being of canada mexico china and many other countries in latin america europe and asia but along with this economy the us armed forces are considered the world's most powerful military the military budget of the united states was 693 billion dollars in 2019 the highest in the world by far in 2018 that accounted for 36 percent of the world's defensive expenditures the us armed forces has significant capabilities in both defense and power projection due to its large budget resulting in advanced and powerful technologies which enables a widespread deployment of force around the world including around 800 military bases outside of the us itself with this it's not an understatement to say that the united states is the most powerful country on earth at least for the time being but it wasn't always that way what is today the united states began merely as a collection of 13 different colonies on the north american continent by the british empire who would rise up in rebellion in the latter half of the 18th century and win independence from a foe that was deemed to be the world's foremost power it was a result that not many expected and at many different points could have gone quite differently so then of course the question becomes what if it had what if the british empire had actually beaten the americans during the american revolution what would the world look like well in order to understand this scenario we have to go back and look at the history that led up to the point in our timeline as well as the two sides to give a little bit of background by the year 1700 the colonists probably numbered around 250 000 in america and they were increasing at a rate that had seldom been equaled in the history of western nations approximately doubling almost every generation this came from many factors including immigration early marriages the economic value of children in an agricultural society and the relatively high level of health sped this growth yet despite the immense value of the colonies for centuries the british rule in direct interference with colonial management was light largely leaving the colonies to govern themselves and create their own government institutions until 1760 parliament passed only around 100 statutes all relating to the colonies and most of these dealt with military and economic matters rather than directly interfering in the daily lives of colonists but this would change following the seven years war or as it's known in america the french and indian war which began in 1756 and ended in 1763. britain's victory over france and this great war for the empire had been won but at a very great cost the british government's expenditures which had amounted to nearly 6.5 million pounds annually before the war rose to about 14.5 million annually during the war and as a result the burden of taxation in england was probably the highest in the country's history much of it borne by the politically influential landed classes what followed this conflict was more than a decade of growing estrangement between the british crown and a large and influential segment of its north american colonies that was caused by british attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs and recoup the losses that it had incurred defending its colonies from the french after all in the eyes of the british should these colonies not pay for their own defense that had long been shouldered by the british mainland and its taxpayers the answer from the majority of colonists was no the reports that reached london from the colonies in the fall of 1774 and the following winter were not encouraging as the danger of war approached a number of colonists chose to align themselves with britain joining the relatively few who had earlier supported the mother country but these loyalists as they were called were in the minority and they were quite unable to check the patriots as those who opposed british policy were called following the example of massachusetts the patriots everywhere began to turn the lower houses of their legislatures into revolutionary bodies they organized committees of safety they dealt harshly with aggressive loyalists they sent protests to london and they elected delegates to the first continental congress which met at philadelphia in the fall of 1774. these growing tensions prompted the british monarch to declare massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion and ordered that the american patriots be disarmed a british unit left boston common and marched on nearby lexington to capture rebel leaders samuel adams and john hancock as well as their cache of weapons and ammunition a prearranged signal from a light on the steeple of old north church one if by land to if by sea as the old adage goes alerted paul revere and william dawes to ride towards lexington and concord and spread the alarm that the british soldiers were in fact on their way minutemen first engaged the british in an open combat on april 19th 1775 on lexington green where the shot heard around the world was then fired and approximately two months later colonists fortified bunker hill in charlestown during the assault by british forces the continental army soldiers were steadied with the order do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes and a lack of ammunition ultimately in the end forced the colonists to withdraw and resulted in any british victory but this was a victory that had cost much blood for very little gained as war broke out the governments of each colony formally declared their independence congress voted to ratify the declaration of independence on july 4th 1776. as the war continued the continental army experienced challenges and hardships as well as a number of notable victories after several defeats in new york general washington led the army across the icy delaware river on christmas night 1776 to attack trenton this victory would inspire new and much-needed confidence in the continental army that they would use the following winter when they made camp at valley forge although the army faced severe hardships during the winter encampment they did become an effective fighting force through the training that they received under the skillful direction of baron friedrich von steuben at the end of the horrific winter france would sign an alliance to aid the united states both monetarily and militarily the british would evacuate philadelphia in june of 1778. now early in the war the british controlled charleston and savannah they had hoped that a strong number of loyalists in the south would rally to the crown and help maintain control despite losing at the battle of camden the continental army waged a successful guerrilla war against the british in georgia as well as the carolinas patriot victories at the battles of king's mountain and cowpens led by nathaniel greene and the swamp fox francis marion would keep loyalists from joining the british forces and this forced general cornwallis to move north into north carolina and finally virginia in 1780 a 5 500 man french expeditionary force under comp de roshamble would land at newport rhode island washington devised a plan to feign an attack on new york which would enable roshambo to join forces with the continental army the combined forces would join with troops commanded by the marquis de lafayette and attack cornwallis at yorktown virginia cornwallis had maneuvered his forces into the tidewater region expecting to be evacuated by the british navy but that evacuation did not happen because comte grasses naval forces had defeated the british fleet that was sent for relief during the battle of the chesapeake washington then led his combined forces in laying siege to yorktown in late september of 1781. the surrender of cornwallis and his army in october of that year would then convince the british government to negotiate an end to the war and recognize america's independence the treaty of paris was signed on september 3rd 1783 which marked the end of the revolutionary war these are the events in our timeline as recorded but war itself is a very messy thing and there are any number of factors that could occur in a conflict that would result in a different outcome so to answer what would happen if the british won the american revolution we first have to ask how do they win in the first place you see there are many different possible answers to this as it was well assumed by britain and many of the european powers that the war would be won by the brits after all just compare the two forces you see a major weakness that the continental army had was manpower they were always short of qualified and capable men general george washington routinely had no more than 20 000 troops at any one time or place it seemed that each time the soldiers made progress as a military unit they would pick up their muskets and go home to tend to their farms during harvest season or planting season and so despite learning to bond as a group and handle their muskets better these frequent interruptions made it very difficult to develop any kind of consistency very few americans were trained well enough to survive in battle many could shoot well enough from behind protection such as a tree or a wall or a brush but when they were faced with a wall of well-disciplined and well-prepared british soldiers most colonists would likely turn and run aside from a shortage of men the army also experienced shortage of supplies guns were scarce and gunpowder even more so in fact at one point benjamin franklin had suggested that it would be wise to arm the soldiers with bows arrows hatchets and knives as these were things that could be secured at one point there was even talk of creating a pike regiment food shortages forced many to simply leave the force altogether like food uniforms and adequate clothing were just as rare in winter months one could easily track the continental army by bloody footprints that were left in the snow these shortages infuriated washington and he complained extensively to the continental congress to properly feed clothe and arm the men but this proved to be useless it wasn't necessarily congress's fault after all i mean the articles of confederation which was the government that was created during the revolution it lacked any kind of power to raise money since the federal government could not tax the new states and often what they then resorted to was simply printing money which created rapid inflation despite their weaknesses there were still strengths that the americans could rely on one such strength was the patriotism of their people and belief in a cause you see many colonists willingly gave their lives to defend what they perceived as their liberty their homes children families and friends without this support without this idealism the american war effort would have crumbled in simply a few months in addition they had a much greater knowledge of the land and outside help was there in fact france motivated by a hatred of the english would provide roughly 85 to 90 percent of america's gun powder in the war's first two years the british on the other hand numbered around 30 to 50 000 regular soldiers each well-equipped and disciplined in the standard european fighting style in addition to this british forces were also supplemented with the purchase of 30 000 hessian mercenaries to further weaken the colonists british governors and the colonies were able to lure away many african-americans by offering them freedom and even their own land in exchange for service to the british army since britain's army had been around for hundreds of years its troops were well trained they excelled in large battles and they had far more experience than their american counterparts the british also had plenty of resources compared to washington's miserable army british soldiers rarely lacked food weapons uniforms or for that matter gunpowder but even with their great advantages war in the colonies presented britain with many problems first the distance between britain and america presented a problem for timely shipments sending troops and supplies was naturally going to be very slow since it had to travel by boat all across the atlantic and this form of travel was very expensive important messages that needed to be relayed immediately would often face the same difficulties as news of battles would arrive in england much longer after they had occurred which in turn would make planning very difficult secondly king george was never really able to convince the british public to support the war many british citizens questioned why they needed to fight the americans in the first place they asked was it worth the money and should we really be risking our lives unlike american patriotism that saw thousands of troops enlisting to serve their country for little to no pay at different points very few british soldiers openly volunteered to fight the americans thus the longer the war dragged on the more tiresome the british public became with the war personally it was exhausting to have loved ones so far away financially the british became angry about the war's heavy costs and third being in a faraway foreign land presented a problem to the british generals were generally unsure of the strategic locations soldiers who hadn't spent time in the colonies were unaware of what the layout of a town was simple things like hills valleys and coves in the american landscape really just seemed like foreign obstacles to the british most soldiers who had fought there had never before set foot in the colonies before the war began and so it is by this logic and a war of attrition that the british were at a disadvantage but in the beginning they held an overwhelming advantage the longer the fight went on the more unpopular the war would become and the more local resistance would grow effectively it was going to be britain's vietnam so to stop this from happening what did they do well the battle for new york in 1776 gave england an excellent opportunity for decisive victory you see france at that point had not yet allied with the americans washington and most of his lieutenants were just amateurs the ten thousand strong continental army soldiers could not have been more green on long island in new york city and in upper manhattan on harlem heights general william howe had trapped much of the american army and might have administered a fatal blow after the decisive battle of long island in which 20 percent of washington's force was knocked out in comparison to only a few hundred british casualties cornered in the hills of harlem even washington would admit that if how attacked the continental army would be cut off and faced with the choice of fighting its way out under every disadvantage or being starved into submission but the excessively cautious how at that time was very slow to act ultimately which allowed washington to merely slip away by ferry without losing a single man and so in our new timeline how does not disregard the protests of his officers who that day had called for an assault on the entrenched american positions instead a full-scale assault is launched catching the americans with their back to the water now from an entrenched position american forces are going to be able to inflict heavier casualties but with limited ammunition and low morale after such a decisive battle and as a result of that the americans begin to surrender as their positions are overrun in one fell swoop the entire continental army is captured along with george washington and many of the senior military officials which would bring us to the staten island peace conference now in our timeline the staten island peace conference was a brief informal diplomatic conference that was held between representatives of the british crown and the north american colonies in the hopes that it would bring a rapid end to the fledgling american revolution the conference took place on september 11 1776 a few days after the british had captured long island and less than three months after the formal american declaration of independence the participants in this was british admiral lord richard howe along with some members of the second continental congress including john adams benjamin franklin and edward rutledge you see upon being placed in command of the british land forces and the colonies lord howe had sought authority in order to resolve the conflict peacefully however his power to negotiate was by design extremely limited by the insistence of lord george germain since they believed that it might be possible to end the dispute without any further violence the howe brothers had insisted on being granted diplomatic powers in addition to their military roles and at first king george iii reluctantly agreed to grant house limited powers but it was lord george germain that took a hard-line stance against it insisting for the house to not be given any powers that might be seen as giving in to the colonial demands for relief from taxation without representation or the so-called intolerable acts and as a consequence the howls were granted the ability only to issue pardons and amnesties but to not make any substantial concessions the americans insisted on recognition of their recently declared independence which howe was simply unable to grant after only three hours the delegates retired and the british resumed their military campaign to control new york city now though the story was going to be different as the continental army was captured along with most senior military officials and the british had the strong upper hand perhaps in our new timeline hau actually managed to keep some of his limited negotiation power while the fighting was a decisive victory for the british it still was a bloody fight and howe had no wish to drag out the conflict longer than it had to be a truce is called and negotiations begin the result of which is more than likely far more lenient than one would expect from a rebellion though king george iii had promised to hang the traitorous leaders of the rebellion pardons are issued instead with a longer lasting peace being the primary goal but that's not to say that all's forgiven mind you in order to keep the formerly rebellious people happy concessions would have had to have been made though known rebel leaders that had attacked loyalists may have had their lands stripped and turned over to loyalist citizens as just average soldiers would have been forgiven and the burdeson taxes that had kicked off the rebellion in the first place would have been potentially rethought in addition to that you'd have an expanded american presence in parliament overseas in london which would be put into place in order to allow the americans to have the representation that they desired and so the war is concluded but what now well this is where it gets really spicy for the entire world you see because a british victory in the revolution probably would have prevented many of the colonists from settling into what is now the u.s midwest and in the peace treaty that ended the seven years war in 1763 the french had conceded to england control of all the contested lands to the banks of the mississippi river the british government wanted to keep that region wild and unsettled so that it could collect revenues from the lucrative fur trade that the french had developed and they issued a proclamation that year that closed the frontier to settlers and honored native alliances and so with no independence this land remains largely unsettled fostering greater independent growth among native tribes that gradually consolidates in different regions by conquest or treaty in order to form their own nations and speaking of the french the french revolution was largely inspired by the american revolution but without the victory of the rebels with the help of the french there would be no popular sentiment about a similar revolution in france indeed one of the driving factors behind the french revolution was the terrible financial state of france that had put itself deep into debt in order to spite the british by supporting the colonies and so instead of a full-scale populist revolution the french people would instead more than likely push for popular reforms over time gradually which the king would have tentatively granted over time potentially this would turn france into a constitutional monarchy that may well have lasted into the 19th century without the chaos of revolutionary france there would be no napoleon to rise from the ashes and as a result no napoleonic wars either europe would be changed forever in the fact that it didn't change nearly to the same degree that it did after the napoleonic wars instead a new series of skirmishes and proxy wars that had already been ongoing since the 1780s would have continued the french by this logic would have held onto their claims in louisiana but the territory would remain largely empty without napoleon and the united states there was no louisiana purchase instead the french maintained their vacant frontier as a kind of last-ditch effort in order to save face from a continent that they had been completely forced out of which brings us something interesting because you see out west the mexicans would still win their independence from spain in the early years of the 19th century and they would quickly spread into the territory to the north of them without the united states mexico moves into the texas region and the surrounding areas with very little opposition from any european powers no american settlers then means no conflict and mexico would have remained a much larger prosperous country due to their bountiful territory but likely would have seen some hostile wars with natives such as the comanche the british would have maintained control over oregon country in the pacific northwest but along the border instead of something being negotiated with the united states it would instead negotiate a border with mexico the british empire had abolished slavery in 1833 and that still would occur arguably in our timeline maybe potentially a little later with some pushback from southern planters and there would have been grumbles and anger in the southern colonies of north america but due to a large appeasement campaign for southern loyalists following the failed rebellion there would likely have been no armed uprising instead the plantation farmers would have been given concessions money and support similar to those that were given to plantations in the caribbean slavery would have ended in north america in 1833 likely without wholesale bloodshed that had occurred during the us civil war and so in the middle part of the 19th century we see a british empire that is largely the same as it was in our current timeline but now it is significantly bigger it has a well-established industrial and arguably loyal territory on the east coast of north america representation has been expanded in parliament for the americans and now the people see it as they kind of knew britain across the sea and so over time the british would have benefited greatly from these trading ports and industrial centers in america their wealth and influence in the region would have continued largely unchecked throughout the 19th century with an increased trade and resource focus leading to a large population boom as well north america had millions of british citizens in it during the time of the american revolution and they would still be citizens by that point this would have allowed the british to pull from the populous american colonies for military strength when needed similar to how they pulled from australia and india and canada during times of war which brings us to the real question that everyone asks what about war specifically the world wars it's still possible that even in a future like this that there is going to be a world-spanning conflict more than likely that something is gonna break out even if it's not the world war one that we know of our timeline but with no napoleon there is less consolidation in what would become germany over time then it's possible that the austrian empire would take much of southern catholic germany while prussia would take the protestant north and with a much greater presence of germans within the empire this helps to stabilize austria and allows it to hold greater control over hungary and other balkan territories eventually though someone is going to kick off the power keg as for who or how it is hard to say but the result is millions of americans canadians australians etc are brought into the war suffer greatly and after which their respective nations gradually would transform into dominions and members of the commonwealth much as we see today among its current members and with that i'm going to end things here because at this point there are simply too many possibilities that it could spin off to and we don't really know where it's going to end up from there but i really do hope that you enjoyed today's episode and please let me know in the comments down below what it is that you would like to see for the next old history video thank you everyone for supporting me and i'm sorry this took a while to get out i had pneumonia last week so it kind of sucked thanks guys

Channel: stakuyi

Views: 57,238

Keywords: history, nerd, alt history, alternate history, britain, england, revolution, american revolution, what if

Id: ouq9maQeiAs

Length: 26min 32sec (1592 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2022