The American War of Independence (1775 - 1783) or American Revolutionary War was a conflict between Great Britain and her colonies (whom allied with the Kingdom of France) in North America.
The British victory during the conflict served to establish Great Britain (and eventually the United Kingdom) as the foremost global power. The war put the might of Britain against that of France, Spain, and the Dutch Republics, alongside a few Indian tribes in the Americas.
During the 18th century, the strained relationship between the Crown and her colonies was caused by the ever-changing philosophical and political differences. Protests due to the concept of "no taxation without representation" escalated in the colonies after the Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by the British Parliament under the Prime Minister Lord North. These protests all led up to the famed Boston Tea Party. In response to this, the British Parliament under Lord North's administration passed the Intolerable Acts of 1774, which were punitive measures against the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Following this, the colonists made their first attempts at self-government, establishing a shadow government to challenge the authority of the Crown's officials represented in the colonies. Other colonies followed suit and established their own governmental committees, which eventually seized power for the American cause under the name of the Continental Congress.
British troops in detail, entering Concord, by Amos Doolittle, 1775
Conflicts arose between the colonists and the British garrison stationed in the Americas. The Crown's initial attempts to remove the armament of the Massachusetts militia in Concord led to open combat on 19 April 1775 at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first military engagement in the events that were known as the American War of Independence. The militia's forces proceeded to besiege Boston, which forced a temporary British evacuation in March of 1776. The stand-in American government, the Continental Congress, appointed former British Colonel George Washington to command the Continental Army against the Crown's forces in the Americas. At the same time, an American attempt to cause insurrection in Quebec to allow them to invade failed. Two months after the British evacuation of Boston, the Americans convened the Second Continental Congress and issued a declaration of their independence to George III on 4 July 1776. General Sir William Howe launched the first British counter-offensive of the war when he re-captured New York City, leaving American morale in tatters.