Daniel Marston BA MA (McGill) DPhil (Oxon.) FRHistS holds a Professorship in Military Studies and is also the Principal of the Military and Defence Studies Program at the Australian Command & Staff College in Canberra. He previously held the Ike Skelton Distinguished Chair of the Art of War at the US Army Command and General Staff College and was a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he has been working with the USA, USMC, and British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2006.

Dr Chris McNab is an author and editor. He has published over 40 books, including America's Elite: US Special Forces from the Revolution to the Present Day (2013), Twentieth Century Small Arms (2001), Gunfighters -The Outlaws and their weapons (2005, contributing editor), and The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War (2000). He is the co-author of Tools of Violence (2008) and has recently completed Deadly Force (2009), both for Osprey. Chris has also contributed to The Times on the war in Iraq.

There are UK sites dedicated to American revolutionary figures including Benjamin Franklin's House in London, and the National Army Museum has an online exhibition on the conflict.

IntroductionPART 1 BIRTH OF A NATIONChapter 1 Sparks of Revolution
Explanation of the root causes of the American Revolution, and the outbreak of hostilities in battles such as Concord, Bunker Hill and Lexington.

Chapter 2 Washington Takes Over, 1775-77
George Washington takes charge of the Continental Army in June 1775. The rebels are driven back under brutal British offensives against New York and Philadelphia, but the British also suffer in Canada under Burgoyne.

Chapter 3 International War, 1778-80
The war goes international as France and Spain side with the Americans; others soon come on board the revolutionary cause. The war intensifies into a major conventional conflict on land and at sea, with both sides experiencing victory and defeat.

Chapter 4 The British Defeat, 1781-83
The British capacity to prosecute a war so far from home is steadily ground down by major battles and by the growing American expertise in irregular warfare. At Yorktown in the autumn of 1781, the British suffer a final defeat­ that forces them to the treaty table.

PART 2 ARMIES AND NAVIESChapter 5 American land forces
A detailed study of the diverse American land forces, from regular cavalry and line infantry to irregular scouts and light infantry, looking at how they evolved from militia to war-winning army.

Chapter 6 British land forces
This chapter explores the life of the great British 'redcoat', plus the many other regular and specialist elements of the British Army, and looks at how they coped with the experience of combat and survival in the North American theatre.

Chapter 7 The French, Spanish and American-allied forces
Foreign forces made a critical contribution to the campaigns of the American Revolution. This chapter looks at the other major forces in the war, and the types of soldier they deployed.

Chapter 8 Rival navies
This chapter assesses the warships and crews of the British, French and American navies, examining how they operated in both coastal waters and in blue-water contexts.

Bibliography and Further Reading
Index