Daniel Marston, The American Revolution 1774-83 (Osprey, 2023)
Some might argue that the most important event in modern western history was the successful American Revolution fought against the British between 1774 and 1783. And while there were many reasons for the American victory, winning the armed conflict was the central factor. Daniel Marston’s volume in Osprey’s Essential Histories series focuses on that war, which looks familiar to European eyes but somehow different.
Marston leads with an introductory narrative of the events leading to war. He follows that with an analysis of the competing military systems along with military innovations such as mixed infantry and cavalry units and an increase in irregular warfare. Otherwise, the war mostly conformed to orthodox European tactics. Marston highlights British military problems, which were many despite the reputation of their field army, with logistics arguably the greatest issue for a war fought 3,000 miles away. For their part, the Americans started with just militia forces and had to raise an army and train them, but they were operating on home ground, giving them a distinct advantage. Then, when the French entered the war on the American side, they brought an efficient and effective force to bear. That proved decisive.
Marston returns to his narrative with the shot heard round the world at Lexington and the battles that followed in 1775. The author then adopts a broader view of the war, surveying naval and land operations at the strategic level, though again following the chronological narrative with the major battles included and ending at Yorktown. Marston pauses briefly to consider some of the main political, social, and economic impacts of the war before examining how the war ended and its global ramifications.
This is a well-structured military history that sketches out the main lines of the narrative of the Revolution while moving smoothly between the different theatres of war. That isn’t easy given the different nature of the war between the northern region and the South. Marston also succeeds admirably in placing the war in the global context, particularly highlighting the problems the French created for the British across its empire. As ever, Osprey supports Marston with excellent graphics, maps, and illustrations. This is a useful introduction to the American Revolution for military and general history readers.
