Revolutionary War and Saratoga - Essay Example

One might try to counter such a claim by stating that the British forces have a far superior level of combat training, readiness, and the possession of a professional army. However, it should be remembered by individuals that might espouse such a view that the colonial army, although not in existence for long, has had many years of experience fighting in the French Indian War as well as nearly constant practice in marksmanship and operations within difficult terrain as a function of the way of American life.

2 In this way, although the Continental Army has not long been a formalized group, it is ultimately made up of a very hardened and experienced core that can and will continue to deal powerful and painful blows to the British forces until such a time that they can realize that control over the American colonies is no longer possible. Part 2: One of the most fundamental things that the reader back home should understand about the ongoing war within the colonies is the complete lack of respect and gentlemanly regard that the colonial forces apply in battle.

No better a case can be seen with regard to this than what happened during the two battles that are collectively called the Battle of Saratoga. Whereas the traditional continental way of warfare has typically been for opposing armies to face off and seek to gain the upper hand, the Continental Army employed what can only be described as an organized assassination program that was specifically targeted towards killing any and all officers that could be caught in the crosshairs of the sharpshooters.

Naturally officers of the British Imperial Army can and should expect that they are placing their lives at risk and it is not the intent of this newspaper article to establish that these men are off limits in the scope of warfare; however, what is more important is the fact that the tactics employed by the colonists were to specifically target these men as means of reducing leadership and spreading chaos and disorder through the ranks of our forces. Such a plan ultimately worked; although it is a new low with regard to the way in which the British Army has fought any of its former battles with a civilized group of people.

As a result of such a tactic, the second battle of Saratoga was nearly a foregone conclusion as the level of boldness of the British officers, as well as the overall number of British officers available to lead and direct their men into combat, were lessened. This marked a turning point due to the fact that it was clear that the colonists were willing and able to go to any particular lengths necessary in order to win the conflict. Moreover, the particular tactic that was employed at Saratoga marked a turning point in the way that the colonists chose to fight the British.

Where asymmetrical warfare has been something that these revolutionaries have employed all along, the manner in which they were ultimately willing to engage in a pitched battle where both sides faced off together was tempered by the asymmetrics of employing sharpshooters to specifically target the eyes and ears of the British general.3 As a function of understanding the importance of such a battle, the reader can come to the general conclusion that even if and when the British Army is forced to engage with these rebels upon a battlefield, there is little if any guarantee that they will abide by the