The War of Independence, 1777-1778 (American Revolution, #5)
Back to the American Revolution! We’ve left the series with the American comeback after the Revolution’s near-destruction in the New York campaign of 1776. This time, we’re going to look at the campaigns of 1777, the momentous political shift which they produced, and the altered strategic situation – as always, with board games.
You can read all posts in this series here:
“Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!”
The War of Independence: 1775-1776
The War of Independence: 1776-1777
The War of Independence: 1777-1778
Philadelphia and Saratoga
For 1777, the British did not only plan one, but two operations. Commander-in-chief William Howe was to strike at Philadelphia, the capital of the United States, defended by George Washington and the Continental Army. John Burgoyne, the second-in-command in Canada, was to march south from there, take Albany, and thus cut off New England from the rest of the rebellious colonies. That might have been a terrible double bind for the Patriot cause. Yet there was hardly any communication, let alone cooperation, between Howe and Burgoyne. The latter had a similar pattern of interaction with his nominal commander Guy Carleton in Canada. Thus, the two operations remained strictly separated.
Howe sailed to Maryland with his forces, landed close to the Continental Army, and assailed Washington’s defensive positions at Brandywine on September 11, 1777. Washington was forced to retreat, and Howe could enter Philadelphia. As the Continental Congress had left the city, its loss was more psychological than strategic, which may sound familiar to players of Washington’s War: Congress is dispersed in the game when a British army enters Philadelphia. That prevents the American player from spreading their political influence in the colonies for the rest of the year (and lets the British player choose initiative in the next year). Yet as most important spots fill up quickly, the damage to the American player is limited if Congress is dispersed in 1777 or later.
Washington, for one, was not impressed with the loss of Philadelphia. His army remained in the field and engaged the British in a night attack at Germantown, Pennsylvania (Oct 4, 1777). While the Americans were eventually repelled, the battle showed their unaffected fighting spirit. William Howe resigned as commander-in-chief. He would be replaced by Henry Clinton in spring 1778.
In the meantime, Burgoyne’s force had made slow progress from Canada. Much like the advances of the French in the last colonial war in North America, Burgoyne’s approach had been hindered by the forbidding terrain of the upper New York wilderness – and by the American forces’, commanded by Philip Schuyler and Horatio Gates, ability to exploit it. Their constant harassment of his road-building activities brought the advance of the heavily armed British force to a crawl, expending the British supplies. Eventually, Burgoyne realized that he could not make it back to winter quarters. He attempted to break out from the screen of American troops around his army, but was repelled in the battles at Saratoga (Sep 19 and Oct 7, 1777). Burgoyne surrendered to Gates on Oct 17 – a stunning setback for the British, and America’s greatest triumph so far.
Foreign Intervention
An American mission under Benjamin Franklin had been at work in Paris since late 1776 to win foreign support for the Revolution. Franklin approached diplomacy with the innocence of the righteous, finding no problem with being spied on as long as his own conduct was honorable. Thus, Edward Bancroft, a secretary in the American delegation who worked as a double agent for Britain had an easy time in passing so many secret documents that it was an embarrassment for British intelligence. The British government grew so disconcerted about what they thought to be close coordination between American and French policy that they resolved not to commit fully to the American theater if war with France seemed imminent. The French, on the other hand, could not believe that Franklin was not leaking purposely, and thus suspected him of secret negotiations with Britain – which they wanted to forestall by a firm agreement with the United States. Thus, Franklin’s laxness became an asset for American diplomacy.
In late 1777, the time was ripe: The tenacity of Germantown and the triumph of Saratoga convinced the French government that the American insurgents could truly shift the balance of power in America. France’s time to pay the British back for the catastrophic defeat in the French and Indian War had come.
Franklin was thus able to conclude two agreements with France – the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance (both signed Feb 6, 1778). France became the first country to recognize the United States’ statehood, and to enter formal relations with the new country. France declared war on Britain on Jun 13, 1778, to assist the American campaigns on the North American mainland and to conquer one or the other rich sugar island in the Caribbean from Britain. Other old foes of Britain saw their chance to get a piece of the plunder as well: Spain joined the war in 1779 (mostly hoping to regain Gibraltar), the Dutch Republic in 1780 (as Britain was aggrieved by Dutch trade with the United States).
The New Strategic Situation
The French intervention marked the most dramatic shift of the war. The British efforts of the first three years – putting down the rebellion as a purely internal affair – had decisively failed. British manpower was now split between North America, the Caribbean, and the British Isles themselves (to deter, and if necessary, combat a French invasion). America, on the other hand, had gained diplomatic recognition, potential military support on the ground, and the support of the second-most powerful navy. The war would enter a new stage…
…as it does in Revolutionary War board games when the French Intervention occurs, yet in profoundly different ways. In the two-player Washington’s War, the American player will want the French to enter the war as soon as possible to gain access to some more positive card events, to the French fleet which gives local naval superiority, and to the French expeditionary army under the Comte de Rochambeau which, as a professional army, is not subject to the usual American winter attrition and thus will give the Americans a second effective fighting force in addition to Washington’s Continental Army.
However, for all the American desire to ally with France as soon as possible, French intervention happens relatively rarely. The Americans can only hasten it by winning battles (each victory advancing the marker on the French Intervention Track by 1, and once by another 2, should the battle be particularly decisive). As the Americans will lose almost all battles (their game is one of maneuver and delay, not of blunt force), it is almost impossible to reach the end of the French Intervention Track (space 9) by battles alone. The main contribution to advancing the marker will have to come from event cards (whose most powerful specimen is, of course, Benjamin Franklin).
If and when Franklin and the remaining cards will be drawn is up to Lady Luck. A prudent American player will hope for French intervention, but be ready to fight for independence by themselves – a fully realistic prospect. Washington’s War thus argues that French intervention was not decisive for the success of the American Revolution.
Liberty or Death sets out from a different perspective: The French are a playable faction (besides British, Patriots, and Indians) and can decide when to conclude the alliance with the Patriots and enter the war. Before that, they are only able to give indirect support to the Patriot cause and advance their own war preparation. They need to reach a certain level of preparedness in their land and naval forces (aided by the attrition of the British troops) before they can intervene, though. As they can only prepare for war with a Special Activity, the French might often approach the Patriots if they are behind them in eligibility order to save the Special Activity for France for mutual benefit.
Liberty or Death’s treatment of French interventions differs from Washington’s War’s in another key aspect as well: It is almost assured that the French will at some point intervene, as that is a pre-condition for French victory – the French cannot hope to re-shape the balance of power in North America to their liking if they don’t have a foot in the door!
As the strategic situation shifted, so did British strategy. Their campaigns in New England and the mid-Atlantic colonies had evidently failed. The new commander-in-chief Clinton, aware of his limited forces, tried a new tack in an area allegedly ripe with loyal British subjects – the American south. That, however, is a story for the next post in this series.
Games Referenced
Washington’s War (Mark Herman, GMT Games)
1775: Rebellion (Beau Beckett/Jeph Stahl, GMT Games)
Liberty or Death (Harold Buchanan, GMT Games)
Further Reading
Allison, Robert J.: The American Revolution. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, New York City, NY 2015 is exactly what it says on the tin.
Higginbotham, Don: The War of American Independence. Military Policies, Attitudes, and Practice, 1763-1789, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN 1977 covers not only the campaigns, but also the political, social, and economic dimensions behind them.