TY - BOOK AU - O'Shaughnessy,Andrew Jackson TI - The men who lost America: British leadership, the American Revolution, and the fate of the empire T2 - Lewis Walpole series in eighteenth-century culture and history SN - 0300195249 AV - E267 .O75 2013 U1 - 973.3/2 23 PY - 2013/// CY - New Haven PB - Yale University Press KW - Great Britain KW - Army KW - History KW - Revolution, 1775-1783 KW - fast KW - Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 KW - Participation, British KW - HISTORY KW - Europe KW - bisacsh KW - United States KW - Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) KW - BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY KW - Historical KW - Military campaigns KW - Military participation KW - British KW - Politics and government KW - British forces KW - Campaigns KW - 1760-1820 KW - États-Unis KW - Histoire KW - 1775-1783 (Révolution) KW - Forces britanniques KW - Campagnes et batailles KW - Grande-Bretagne KW - Politique et gouvernement KW - Electronic book KW - Electronic books N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; pt. I; The view from London; "The tyrant": George III; The prime minister: Lord North --; pt. II; Victory and defeat in the north (1776-1778); The peace commissioners?: the Howe brothers; "The old gamester": John Burgoyne; "The Achilles of the American war": Lord George Germain --; pt. III; Victory and defeat in the south (1778-1781); "The scapegoat": Sir Henry Clinton; "Bagging the fox": Charles, Earl Cornwallis --; pt. IV; Victory against France and Spain (1782); "Saint George": Sir George Rodney; "Jemmy Twitcher": The Earl of Sandwich N2 - "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"-- UR - https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=592050 ER -