page_title: Military history of the United States
section_title: War of Independence (1775–1783)
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the United States / War of Independence (1775–1783)
caption_attribution_description: Storming of redoubt#10 during the Siege of Yorktown.
context_page_description: The military history of the United States spans a period of over two centuries. During those years, the United States evolved from a newly formed nation fighting Great Britain for independence, through the monumental American Civil War and, after collaborating in triumph with the Allies during World War II, to world superpower from the late 20th century to present.
  The Continental Congress in 1775 established the Continental Army, Continental Navy, and Continental Marines and named General George Washington its commander. This newly formed military, fighting alongside French soldiers and sailors managed to triumph over the British during the war and lead to independence via the Treaty of Paris. The new Constitution in 1789 made the president the commander in chief, with authority for the Congress to levy taxes, create laws, and declare war.
  As of 2019, the United States Armed Forces consists of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Space Force, all under the command of the Department of Defense, and the Coast Guard, which is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security.
context_section_description: Ongoing political tensions between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies reached a crisis in 1774 when the British placed the province of Massachusetts under martial law after the Patriots protested taxes they regarded as a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. When shooting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, militia units from across New England rushed to Boston and bottled up the British in the city. The Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly created Continental Army, which was augmented throughout the war by colonial militia. In addition to the Army, Congress also created the Continental Navy and Continental Marines. He drove the British out of Boston but in late summer 1776 they returned to New York and nearly captured Washington's army. Meanwhile, the revolutionaries expelled British officials from the 13 states, and declared themselves an independent nation on 4 July 1776.
  The British, for their part, lacked both a unified command and a clear strategy for winning. With the use of the Royal Navy, the British were able to capture coastal cities, but control of the countryside eluded them. A British sortie from Canada in 1777 ended with the disastrous surrender of a British army at Saratoga. With the coming in 1777 of General von Steuben, the training and discipline along Prussian lines began, and the Continental Army began to evolve into a modern force. France and Spain then entered the war against Great Britain as Allies of the US, ending its naval advantage and escalating the conflict into a world war. The Netherlands later joined France, and the British were outnumbered on land and sea in a world war, as they had no major allies apart from Indian tribes, Loyalists and Hessians.
  A shift in focus to the southern American states in 1779 resulted in a string of victories for the British, but General Nathanael Greene engaged in guerrilla warfare and prevented them from making strategic headway. The main British army was surrounded by Washington's American and French forces at Yorktown in 1781, as the French fleet blocked a rescue by the Royal Navy. The British then sued for peace.
caption: The Siege of Yorktown was the decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War. The battle was the last major land engagement in the war, with the British Army's defeat at Yorktown prompting the British to negotiate an end to the conflict.
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