What do Great Britain history textbooks say about the American Revolutionary war?

Question

I've seen American textbooks address this issue, but I'm curious to how different England's perspective on the issue was.

Answer 1

Probably not enough. After all, we won and they lost. I doubt if they're very proud of that fact.

Answer 2

The war was only part of the ongoing War between France and the British Empire that had been going for years.

The French blockaded the east coast of the 13 American Colonies and prevented the British landing men and supplies.

In the war of attrition that followed, there could only be one winner.

Answer 3

We don't study the American Revolutionary War. The earliest American history we study (at secondary school - your high school - without taking a degree in American history) is the 20th Century, as it's part of International Relations. We study it because the Wall Street Crash and such events have an international impact. We also study them in the wars, as we study the wars anyway.

Our history focuses on European history, as it's the longest,after the Middle East's and central Africa's, and most interesting.

Answer 4

Although it is touched upon, in terms of revolutions we deal in greater detail with those that had a larger effect on the history of our country and Europe - such as our own (the Civil War) and that of the French - plus you have to remember that Britain has a vast amount of history to cover and in the grand scheme of it the Revolutionary War is only a minor incident within, especially during that time period. The War of 1812 is barely mentioned, despite it being far more successful for the British than the earlier conflict.

What we do learn are the basics, the points of view and political elements of both sides, the major players, the trade, the actual tax amounts levied and the eventual triggers that set it in motion as well as those who were really doing the fighting on behalf of the Crown.

It is entirely left to the student to make their own decision on who was "right" or "wrong", taking into account the political and social mores of the time.

Answer 5

It's a sad fact that in British schools today virtually no British history is taught at all.  Kids are taught a lot about the n***s, but virtually nothing else.

Answer 6

As far as I am aware, it is seen as a proxy war. It wasn't between Britain and America but rather France and Britain. So it were French that won. If it wasn't for French there wouldn't have been USA.  

Answer 7

I'm not sure, but I would guess that they give more attention to the wider international war involving France, Spain, and Holland. The largest battle of the war was the Siege of Gibraltar, which lasted three years. American history textbooks don't even mention it.