The war for America : 1775-1783 / Piers Mackesy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mackesy, Piers, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.

United States.

Great Britain--History--1760-1789.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxvi, 565 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln ; London : University of Nebraska Press, [1993]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The events of the American Revolution signified by Lexington, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Saratoga, and Yorktown are familiar to American readers. Far less familiar is the fact that, for the British, the American colonies were only one front in a world war. England was also pitted against France and Spain. Not always in command of the seas and threatened with invasion, England tried grimly for eight years to subdue its rebellious colonies; to hold Canada, the West Indies, India, and Gibraltar; and to divide its European enemies. In this vivid history Piers Mackesy views the American Revolution from the standpoint of the British government and the British military leaders as they attempted to execute an overseas war of great complexity. Their tactical response to the American Revolution is now comprehensible, seen as part of a grand imperial strategy.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Illustrations

Maps

Introduction to the Bison Book Edition

Preface: The Servants of Kronos

Office-holders in the Cabinet, 1775-83

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: A Government at War

1. And Great Bellona Smiles

2. A War of the Ancien Régime

3. 'John will wallow in preferment

4. The Blueprint of the War Machine

5. The Machine in Motion

6. 'One Great Director'

PART ONE: THE CITADELS OF REBELLION 1775-7

1. Lord Dartmouth's War

1. The Watching Enemy

2. The Rebels

3. Conscience and Policy

4. The Decision to Fight

5. Damming the Flood

6. A Winter Offensive

II. The Coming of Germain

1. The Third Secretary

2. A Man with a Past

3. The First Weeks in Office

4. The Strategy of Reconquest

III. The Great Concentration

1. The Timetable

2. Shipping the Supplies

3. A Bid for Decision

IV. The Arrested Offensive

1. These Noble Heroes

2. The Winter at Quebec and Boston

3. The Concentration off New York

4. The Clearing of New York

5. The Arrested Offensive

6. Gains and Losses: The Failure of the Blockade

V. The Planning of Saratoga

1. A Need for Victory

2. Germain and the Generals

3. Howe's Plans of Campaign

4. The Plan for Canada

5. Supplies and Reinforcements

PART TWO: THE WORLD WAR 1778

VI. Philadelphia and Saratoga

1. Howe and Burgoyne

2. Delays in the South

3. The Campaign of Philadelphia

4. The Advance from Canada

5. The Fatal Decision

6. The Last Scenes on the Hudson

7. Conclusion

VII. The Morrow of Saratoga

1. Resignation of the Commanders-in-Chief

2. A Distracted Leader

3. A Strategic Re-appraisal.

4. The Breach with France

VIII. The Naval Mobilisation

1. Sandwich and the Admiralty

2. The Peacetime Fleet

3. The State of Readiness

4. Mobilisation

IX. War Plans and Preparations

1. Lord Amherst

2. The Redeployment

3. The Peace Commission

X. The Command of the Seas

1. The French Initiative

2. The British Riposte

3. Byron sails for America

4. Keppel and the Channel Fleet

5. The Campaign in the Channel

XI. Crisis in America

1. Sir Henry Clinton

2. The Evacuation of Philadelphia

3. The Crisis Weathered

4. Failure of a Mission

5. A Provisioning Crisis

XII. The Southern Offensives

1. The West Indian Theatre

2. St Lucia

3. The Reconquest of Georgia

PART THREE: THE BOURBON ALLIANCE 1778-9

XIII. The Cracks in the Foundations

1. The Keppel Affair

2. Generals and Admirals

3. The Disintegration of North

XIV. The Strategy of 1779

1. The Autumn Deployment

2. A Fresh Start in America

3. Erosion of the Plan

4. In the Teeth of Spain

XV. The Western Atlantic: the Design Miscarries

l. The Rebel Colonies

2. The Loss of Maritime Command

3. Disintegration of the Western Theatres

XVI. The Defence of England

1. The Invasion Plan

2. The British Fleet

3. Suspense in the Channel

4. The Plymouth Panic

5. The End of the Affair

PART FOUR: THE EDGE OF THE KNIFE 1779-80

XVII. Towards the Caribbean

1. Lord North and the People

2. A Case for Boldness

3. The Rodney Expedition

4. Pressure on Spain

XVIII. The Loss of the Initiative

1. Admiral Rodney

2. The Relief of Gibraltar

3. Loss of the Initiative

4. Rodney in the Leeward Islands

5. The Jamaican Sphere.

XIX. Gain and Loss in America

1. Clinton and the King's Peace

2. Cornwallis in the Carolinas

3. The French Established

4. Treason among the Rebels

XX. The Home Front, 1780

1. The Command of the Channel Fleet

2. The Channel Operations

3. Repulse of the Opposition

PART FIVE: CATASTROPHE 1780-1

XXI. The Shadows Gather

1. The Strain on Resources

2. The South Sea Enterprise

3. The Gathering Storm

4. The End of the Initiative

5. Two Sides of the Hill

XXII. The Defence of the East Atlantic

1. Gibraltar and the Cape

2. The Cost of Gibraltar

3. The Defence of Trade

4. Return of the Combined Fleet

XXIII. 'Cornwallis led a country dance'

1. Germain and Clinton

2. Bankruptcy of the Southern Offensive

3. The March to Yorktown

XXIV. The Anatomy of Disaster

1. Clinton and Washington

2. Rodney and de Grasse

3. The Fight for the Chesapeake

4. The World Turned Upside Down

5. Conclusion

PART SIX: AN EMPIRE SALVAGED

XXV. Saving the Ship

1. The News of Yorktown

2. The Loss of Minorca

3. The Work of Salvage

4. The Reinforcement Race

XXVI. The Ship Afloat

1. Rodney Away

2. The Race is Won

3. Victory

4. The Anatomy of Victory

XXVII. The End of the Ministry

1. The Departure of Germain

2. The Fall of the Ministry

XXVIII. The New Brooms

1. The Sack of the Fortress

2. The Order of Withdrawal

3. The Fleet in Home Waters

4. The Third Relief of Gibraltar

5. The Comptroller Compares

XXIX. The Sky Suspended

1. The Last Autumn

2. Final Operations in the Western Atlantic

3. Hyder and Suffren

4. The Last Battles

Conclusion

1. The Peace

2. Reflections on a Lost War.

3. The Aftermath

4. The Fates of Men

Appendix: The British Army

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Originally published: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1964.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [528]-535) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780803284043

0803284047

9780803283466

0803283466

9780585347219

0585347212