British Southern Campaign in the Revolutionary War: Implications for Contemporary Counter Insurgency

摘要

The British effort in the Southern Campaign (1780-1782) of the Revolutionary War failed because of flawed national strategy and a failure to focus sufficient elements of national power against a background of competing global threats. In the American colonies, military power in isolation was ineffectively substituted for diplomatic, political, and economic effort. The operations in the Carolinas took place because no other strategic options were available given the basic and faulty strategic assumptions. Although there isn't a direct comparison between the 18th century British Army and today's U.S. Army, there are a number of parallels. The U.S.-led coalition counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq has marked similarities to the failed Southern Campaign. Training to fight a symmetrical opponent in a conventional conflict is not the best preparation for fighting an overseas counterinsurgency campaign in an alien environment.