European Influences at the Genesis of the Continental Army and the United States Armed Services in the Late Eighteenth to Early Nineteenth Centuries

The Second Congress established the Continental Army, the first national fighting force, in the European style, to encounter Britain in the American Revolutionary War. The army was inspired by its British opponent and affected by its French counterpart and allies. All these influences were demonstrated in several attempts that Congress and the commanding officers made to create a professional army, and how the army was shaped over time. The lack of most war essentials obligated the Americans to seek any possible way to handle these struggles. Without a central government, the revolutionaries formed themselves as a team and used private networks to gain what they wanted for the army. In the first phase of the war the Americans adopted the practices of the British army. The Continental regiments were organized after the British model, the officers used British reading lists to educate themselves, and when they were faced with a shortage of men, they persuaded other ethnicities and races to enlist, like the British had done. The approaches worked, but did not completely solve the problems. The American envoys, therefore, were present in Paris to plead with the King of France for assistance, and later on the army was aided with money, supplies, fleet, and military technicians. French officers and their allies thus participated in most of the Continental units and helped to improve the army’s performance and other war aspects. They also supported the thought of establishing the first American military school. The thesis explores the influences of eighteen-century European warfare on the Continental Army, which was pushed to grow as a credible and honourable force. It analyzes how the army was based on European military tradition, and how it was sculpted by war-resource deficiencies. In doing so, it bolsters understanding of the first American army, which combined European culture with an American way of fighting.