The Revolutionary War

Military historian Jeremy Black follows his engagement with the American Civil War (St. Augustine's Press, 2025) with a review of the Revolutionary War in North America and the strategic asymmetry it presents. This was a key episode for global affairs and formative for the United States, but also fascinating for military history as a whole. Black's earlier treatment of this war (1991) remains operational, but he thought it "necessary to revisit the subject and reconsider not only the specifics of assessment, but also the more general ways of analyzing and presenting the struggle."

     Black's rendering of the war is accurate, well researched, and successfully hits his target without undue speculation. Identifying all the factors at play is one of Black's strengths, as is his sober restraint in applying hindsight while evaluating leadership and campaigns throughout. His field of vision is expansive and refers to the global theatre when offering any kind of final statements––for example, in his claim that the Revolution was largely lost long after the conclusion of battles, and that Canada in British hands underlined the failure of revolutionary efforts and the embodiment of continued threats.

      The Revolutionary War is a masterful treatment of an historical event and also the very nature of revolutionary warfare. Black is a fair-handed assessor of 'American' interests and strategic politics, and likewise observant in explaining that Britain was not entirely bested by the revolution even in losing the war. His discussion of the aftermath is as critical as his illustration of the beginning of hostilities, as in his chapter dedicated to "heritages, lessons, and retrospectives." Black is one of the most important and prolific historians of his generation, a writer whose concise and thorough manner renders readers in the United States a refreshing service of understanding their history more deeply.

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