Page 316 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

revolution—united states 1617

When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils, of a wise
woman selling herbs, or even a very remarkable man who had a mother, then I think we are on the
track of a lost novelist, a suppressed poet…indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote
so many poems without signing them, was often a woman. • Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

institutions of local government provided a measure of increased British efforts to control the colonies from
social mobility for many. Because a number of capitalist 1763 onward, efforts largely designed to expand rev-
powers, including Britain, France, the United States, and enues for the British treasury. New taxes and regulations
Japan, briefly entered the conflict on the side of the on colonial economic activity infuriated many colonists,
Whites, the Communists could present themselves as accustomed to their own semi-independent colonial leg-
patriotic defenders against foreign intervention.The Russ- islatures and considerable commercial latitude. Patriotic
ian Revolution had brought to power a Communist societies formed, and leaders began to invoke Enlighten-
party—the Bolsheviks—which now proceeded to con- ment ideas about liberty and about popular control over
struct the world’s first socialist society. government. (The Enlightenment was a philosophic
movement of the eighteenth century marked by a rejec-
Robert W. Strayer
tion of traditional social, religious, and political ideas and
See also Communism and Socialism; Lenin, Vladimir; an emphasis on rationalism.) Specific issues, such as the
Marx, Karl; Revolutions, Communist; Stalin, Joseph indebtedness of many southern planters to British banks,
played a role as well.The patriotic Continental Congress
assembled and began discussing independence in 1774.
Further Reading Outright clashes between armed militia groups and
Acton, E. (1990). Rethinking the Russian Revolution. London: Edward British soldiers began in Massachusetts in 1775. George
Arnold.
Bonnell,V. (1983). Roots of rebellion:Worker parties and organizations in Washington was named commander in the summer of
St. Petersburg and Moscow, 1900–1914. Berkeley and Los Angeles: that year.
University of California Press.
Figes, O. (1997). A people’s tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891– Perhaps one-third of the colonists actively supported
1924. New York: Penguin Putnam. the ensuing struggle for independence, whereas another
Fitzpatrick, S. (1982). The Russian Revolution, 1917–1932. Oxford, UK: large minority preferred loyalty to the Crown. (Many
Oxford University Press.
Lincoln,W. B. (1986). Passage through Armageddon:The Russians in war Loyalists—also called “Tories”—fled to Canada and were
and revolution, 1914–1918. New York: Simon & Schuster. stripped of their property.) Partisans included Virginia
Pipes, R. (1990). The Russian Revolution. New York: Random House.
Read, C. (1996). From tsar to Soviets: The Russian people and their rev- planters and New England political radicals, who agreed
olution, 1917–1921. New York: Oxford University Press. on Britain as a common enemy but disagreed about
Rogger, H. (1983). Russia in the age of modernization and revolution, social change. A number of farmers, in what was still a
1881–1917. London: Longman.
Suny, R., & Adams,A. (1990). The Russian Revolution and Bolshevik vic- largely agricultural society, participated in the struggle, as
tory:Visions and revisions. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath. did some African-Americans; the first colonist killed in
White, J. D. (2001). Lenin: The practice and theory of revolution. New
York: Palgrave. the struggle was, in fact, an African-American sailor.The
colonies declared independence in 1776.
Fighting occurred in both North and South, with
British troops, bolstered by German mercenaries, often
holding the upper hand. Britain was hampered by cau-
Revolution— tious tactics but also by frequent overconfidence against
the amateur colonial forces. The colonists had numbers
United States on their side—although the actual number of combatants

was small, with rarely more than fifteen thousand in the
he American Revolution took place between 1775 colonists’ ranks at any given time. Many militiamen were
Tand 1783 and pitted colonists of the thirteen British part-time and ill trained, and funding was also a problem.
colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America France, and to a lesser degree Spain and the Netherlands,
against Great Britain. The revolution was triggered by provided funds and weapons and direct military support