How Did the Brits Ever Rule the World?

History nerd answer…

The English had a world beater Navy. A proper Navy was and continues to be a deciding factor in times when diplomacy shits the bed.

England had a well supplied and disciplined set of foot armies. Many of the UK troops were seasoned fighters and they extensively practiced with their bayonets and basic infantry formation drills to maximize the effectiveness of their muskets, which were smooth bore arms and came with built in limitations. Many Patriots had the Kentucky Long Rifle, it had a spiraled barrel for long range accuracy and a fairly heavy round.

The English wisely used their expanding empire to fund and gear up their forces to continue expansion.

However, the English were wholly unprepared for the lunatics up there in Boston. Talk about kicking a wasp nest, Boston got real hot real quick and once Saratoga was settled the mighty English were in survival mode.

General Cornwallis makes a defensive position with thousands of French and Patriot ground troops in three directions with the shore to his back and three dozen French warships patrolling the sea…Cornwallis wisely called it quits, he probably saved a lot of lives, the jig was up.

Cornwallis really screwed up!
Still, if you read a bunch of history you can see how the Brits were running the joint for a few hundred years. Shipping is a big deal👍

They had advanced technology in a lot of cases, were united and tended to dominate countries where the people were very divided and therefore easily beaten.

And they had a very powerful navy that could stay at sea for longer periods because they applied copper to the hulls.

Naval Power.

The Spanish Armada was an enormous 130-ship naval fleet dispatched by Spain in 1588 as part of a planned invasion of England. Following years of hostilities between Spain and England, King Philip II of Spain assembled the flotilla in the hope of removing Protestant Queen Elizabeth I from the throne and restoring the Roman Catholic faith in England. Spain’s “Invincible Armada” set sail that May, but it was outfoxed by the English, then battered by storms while limping back to Spain with at least a third of its ships sunk or damaged. The defeat of the Spanish Armada led to a surge of national pride in England and was one of the most significant chapters of the Anglo-Spanish War.

When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

The nations, not so blest as thee,
Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall;
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
More dreadful, from each foreign stroke;
As the loud blast that tears the skies,
Serves but to root thy native oak.
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame:
All their attempts to bend thee down,
Will but arouse thy generous flame;
But work their woe, and thy renown.
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

To thee belongs the rural reign;
Thy cities shall with commerce shine:
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

The Muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coast repair;
Blest Isle! With matchless beauty crown'd,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."