Was it possible for the British to have won the American War

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Not have this twit as a general and it was in the bag.

>>1845874
Give them a few token MPs

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>>1845874
They could have killed all of the Masonic families in England when they had the chance. Without George Washington and Ben Franklin's masonic connections in France, the Americans would have had no funding and no competent generals.

>>1845884
That's not Cornwallis

>>1845912
srlsy

Representation anyone?

hurr fucking durr

>>1845874
The Brits were defeated because they weren't fighting brown people with sticks and arrows.

>>1845874

It's complicated.

Outright occupation of the American colonies is impractical, it covers an enormous amount of territory, and trying to have enough soldiers to watch everything would bankrupt the Empire.

Which means that even if they win all the battles, and they would go on to win most of them, it's hard to directly use said victories to crush the revolt except insofar as their effects on morale and support.

Honestly, what they would have needed to do is bleed money and popular will from the Patriot cause, but you didn't really have much of a theory in counterinsurgency or non-total war; and I'm not aware of much that could be used to track what the Patriot breaking point would have been.


Probably the best bet would have been to do what Howe seemed to be doing; occupy the largest cities, wait, and hope this thing burns itself out. But I'm not sure that would have been enough, if it doesn't burn itself out, you're in trouble.

>>1845874
Give them representation.

>>1845912
The only correct answer.

it was so fucking simple.

>>1848841
this

why didn't the british just give them some fucking MP's

>>1846025
Cornwallis wasn't that bad, he was mainly following Clinton's orders. Burgoyne on the other hand threw a walk in the park war.

>>1848845
Tories were butthurt

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>>1845874
>tfw American but my family was mostly still in Britain at that time so I actually lost the war

>>1848841
>>1845912

Correct, most of the revolutionaries were keen on remaining part of the empire. and many early revolutionary flags had the flag of the union embedded in them. look at the state flag of Hawaii for a general idea of what they looked like.

>>1846707
In addition to making war, and absolute sovereignty unfeasible and undesirable. An occupation of the major cities, industry and population centers, mixed with as most people figure a certain level of representation and autonomy.

Something that could have been interesting was breaking down the states into smaller regions controlled through autonomous Lords. Though this is before ethnic nationalism took off, but it's something I would do; divide these regions by the ethnic/religious group and try to play them off against one another. Treat the Germans in Pennsylvania gently, let them have representation and other protection, etc. If successful they could become a counterbalance to Philadelphia. Try to do the same with the Dutch in East Jersey and New York, maybe the same with the French and the entirety of New England. Divide and conquer

>>1848882
Cornwallis was an idiot who kept on refraining from pursuing opportunities on the mistaken idea that he could compromise with the rebels. If he were in charge of the war effort in the entire theatre and had more authority bestowed upon him then I'd be more sympathetic to him. I suppose I'm less sympathetic towards Cornwallis than Burgoyne as the latter failed in his own duties according to his own capabilities, while Cornwallis kept trying to overreach his own responsibilities instead of shutting up and doing his job.

>>1848845
because at the time in britain itself less than 5% of the population was enfranchised, there was also a severe glass ceiling for upper class colonials trying to enter business or government in britain, even if they were well bred and had an oxford education they were still considered inferior. I'm not sure if that played a direct role though.

>>1845874
If they had kept france and spain and the netherlands out of it somehow the revolution would have failed

>>1848845
Because it sets a bad precedant and the american colonies didnt pay proper taxes

>>1845912
>>1846686
>>1848841
>>1848844
>>1848845
You seem to forget that the american revolutionaries didnt actually want representation, the wanted independence. Representation for one thing comes with the same sort of taxes Brits paid back in the homeland which americans universally did not want to pay