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Lädt ... The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire (The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History) (2013)von Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy
   Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch.  bread2u | May 15, 2024 |   From the syllabus: O’Shaughnessy offers a red-team analysis of the strategic environment built around the perspectives of key British personalities and decision-makers. The assigned chapters cover General William Howe; Admiral Richard Howe’ and First Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich. SDWets | Sep 6, 2023 | This is the story of the American Revolution written from the British perspective. It is told in a mix of minibiographies of the key people involved on the British side. It is separated into major periods. Part 1 covers the “view from London,” focused on King George III and Lord North. In Part 2, we learn about the victory and defeat in the northern colonies, with minibiographies of brothers Richard and William Howe, John Burgoyne, and Lord George Germain. Part 3 documents the battles that took place in the southern colonies. It highlights the actions of Sir Henry Clinton and Charles, Earl Cornwallis. In this section, these two go back and forth over who should “get the blame” for the loss. Part 4 moves into the other parts of the Americas, primarily in the Caribbean, and the British victories over France and Spain. In this section the minibiographies are concentrated on Sir George Rodney and The Earl of Sandwich. This book discusses a number of factors that enabled the American colonies to gain independence. The British overestimated the strength of their own Navy in comparison to the French, who were allied with the Americans. They also scattered their forces by sending a portion to the Caribbean, which reduced those available to continue to fight on the continent. I am not going to try to list all the factors, but the author provides an in-depth analysis. Most of my previous reading about the American Revolution has been told from an American perspective, and I found it quite interesting to view the war through a British lens. The history is the same, but the emphasis is different. I learned a great deal about the British leaders and participants, which are generally only discussed at a higher level in American-centric histories. This book is very detailed (perhaps overly detailed in places), but overall, it is definitely worth reading for those interested in the American Revolutionary period. (  ) Castlelass | Jan 24, 2023 | ) Shrike58 | Oct 29, 2019 |  ) NLytle | Aug 8, 2013 |
 Focusing on the major players in the drama, Mr. O'Shaughnessy explores the reasons for the loss of the 13 North American colonies, the biggest British disaster since the fall of England's French empire in the 15th century. His account is based on an extensive reading of the vast literature and of many original sources. The Men Who Lost America keeps the whole picture firmly in view: Britain, North America, the Caribbean, the balance-of-power politics on the Continent—all affected by the colonial rebellion. Mr. O'Shaughnessy shows that many of the British military commanders, contrary to the popular idea of them as effete and bumbling aristocrats, were capable men, such as John Burgoyne, William Howe and Henry Clinton, all of whom had been appointed on the basis of merit rather than patronage or seniority. . . . As for the political leaders in London, Lord George Germain, the British secretary of state for the colonies, was a brilliant organizer who ensured that Britain had regained control of the sea by the end of the war. Even the hapless Lord North was a good parliamentary manager, making him seemingly indispensable to King George III. . . . Mr. O'Shaughnessy's approach has many advantages, though a few disadvantages as well. His biographical sketches turn the war into an absorbing "Rashomon," in which familiar stories are looked at from different angles, with personal experience playing a part. We learn, for example, just how much Germain's robust attitude toward fighting in America was influenced by his traumatic experience in Germany some 15 years earlier, when he was accused of cowardice at the Battle of Minden during the Seven Years' War. Even so, the book's successive chapters—arranged around individuals rather than themes or events—often overlap (the opening chapter on George III, for example, anticipates a lot of what is later said about Lord North), and sometimes they aren't fully explicable without reference to the details of later narratives. Gehört zu VerlagsreihenAuszeichnungen
"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"-- Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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 Google Books — Lädt ...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)973.3History and Geography North America United States Revolution and confederation (1775-89)Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt: (4.19)
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* Missteps
* Misunderstandings
* Distrust
* Conflicting goals
* Limited resources spread too thin over multiple conflicts across the globe
* Excessively long supply line. Great Britain didn’t receive the local support that they expected.
Blunders weren’t only on the British side.
Compare with the children’s book: [b:King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution|2190306|King George What Was His Problem? Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution|Steve Sheinkin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317792179l/2190306._SX50_.jpg|2196025] (