So, I am wondering if the British teach that the Revolutionary War was fought against a great military power in the USA or was it a war against a bunch of people who were pissed off because they just wanted to be left alone.
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We were fighting wars with the French on two different fronts: Europe and America. OK, there were some locals involved, too!
French troops didn't join the Colonists until 1778. So my question is was this how it was taught to the Brits as formal education/political narrative. Colonists had been fighting since 1775 which would be only locals.
I don't think I learnt much history at all at school. I have never understood how history teachers could make something so boring. We kept learning about the Romans and the Battle of Hastings. Most of the history I now know I picked up after I left school. It was never one of my main school subjects.
However, the French were involved in the American Revolutionary war prior to 1778. Just like the current military action in Ukraine where the US is fighting a proxy war against the Russians in 1776 the French started helping the Americans to attack their old enemy.
Keter, the Marquis de La Fayette was at the battles of Brandywine, Rhode Island and Yorktown, for instance. Lafayette square is named after him.
Yes, the French provided support in the form of weapons and gun powder, but no soldiers joined the Colonist until 1778. The Revolutionary army consisted of militia members turned soldier after the war had begun up until 1778. The militia was not trained groups but rather farmers and laborers.