The American RevolutionStuff Happened · War
War · 1775–1783

The American
Revolution

Eight years that turned thirteen quarreling colonies into a nation, and split those same colonies against themselves. It began as a fight over taxes and the rights of British subjects, became a war for independence, and was all along a civil war: neighbor against neighbor, families divided, a small power that won only once the other empires of the world joined in.

Washington Crossing the Delaware · Emanuel Leutze, 1851 · public domain
The war storySoon

Six chapters, 1775 to 1783

The whole war as one through-line: the shot at Lexington, the near-collapse around New York, the turn at Saratoga, the war that went global and then went south, and the trap at Yorktown. The connective tissue between the causes and the battles.

6 chapters that connect 22 battles and 13 chapters off the battlefield.
01OutbreakA standoff became a shooting war, a siege, an invasion, and a rebellion declared.177502The War for the NorthThe Declaration, the New York disaster, and the ten days that kept the cause alive.177603Two ArmiesTwo British armies, two separate wars, and the surrender that bought a navy.177704A World WarThe war goes global, goes south, and nearly dies at home; the hero turns traitor.177805The Southern Turn & YorktownGreene loses every battle and wins the map, and five strands meet at a tobacco port.178006The PeaceTwo years of waiting, leaving, and almost breaking, ended by a commission handed back.1782
Part of the American warsEvery war the country has fought