Reddit reviews Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution

Oh a time for my 300 level American Revolution class knowledge to shine!

I would say it was more of a colonial victory and depending on how you look at it a French loss.

The British Navy was stretched very thin around the world protecting its colonial assets and trade routes. In the colonies the Navy was tasked with helping to capture and hold major ports, keeping smugglers from bringing goods in and out of the colonies, and protecting trade vessels from privateers. So in that regard yes they had the upper hand, but the Navy was doing that in many parts of the Empire and it was spread pretty thin when the French joined.

In regards to what I mean as a colonial victory I think that Washington knew that the only way to win independence was to keep an army in the field until the French joined. The war cost the British crown a lot of money and it also cost British merchants a lot of money, the American colonies were Britain's best market for goods. Keeping an army in the field wasn't easy for Washington by any means, he had little financial support and recruiting was hard when men felt like he was merely running away. However, he achieved his goals and was right.

As far as what I mean by a French loss, once the French entered the war on the side of the colonists the war became a world war. Britain had already lost a lot of money in the previous years of the war and did not want to risk losing other colonial assets, especially to their rivals the French. Britain's focus on the American colonies had a significant drop in order to protect their Empire. And once the British gave up in North America they were able to focus on the French and defeat them. If you look at the long term consequences of the French joining the war from their perspective you can see how it led to their money problems, the French Revolution, Napoleon, and losing the Louisiana territory.

And that's a very simplified reason of why I think it was a French loss and American victory.

If you have any interest on American privateers and the effect that they had on British shipping and their Navy check out Patriot Pirates by Robbert H. Patton.

http://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Pirates-Vintage-Robert-Patton/dp/0307390551

I'll see if I can't find some other sources to put down for all of this, but I haven't read anything on this in about a year so it might take a minute to remember the books I read.

This book is a spectacular look at some of the motivations. There were a lot of forces and motivations for the war and many people had their own angles. There were some people who made a lot of money during the revolutionary war and did some really shady things.


https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Pirates-Privateer-American-Revolution/dp/0307390551

If you liked that then you should read this one. It is about how American privateers played a huge role in the Revolution and kept pissing everyone off and how the French were just sort of like "pirates? what pirates?" All the while harboring American raiding ships in the Caribbean.

It starts out a bit slow but if you stick with it then you will probably find it fascinating.