<P> Upon the entry of France and Spain into the conflict, the British were forced to severely limit the number of troops and warships that they sent to North America in order to defend other key territories and the British mainland . As a result, King George III abandoned any hope of subduing America militarily while he had a European war to contend with . The small size of Britain's army left them unable to concentrate their resources primarily in one theater as they had done in the Seven Years' War, leaving them at a critical disadvantage . The British were compelled to disperse troops from the Americas to Europe and the East Indies, and these forces were unable to assist one other as a result, precariously exposing them to defeat . In North America, the immediate strategic focus of the French, Spanish, and British shifted to Jamaica, whose sugar exports were more valuable to the British than the economy of the Thirteen Colonies combined . </P> <P> Following the end of the war, Britain had lost some of her most populous colonies . However, the economic effects of the loss were negligible in the long - term, and she became a global superpower just 32 years after the end of the conflict . </P> <P> The Americans began the war with significant disadvantages compared to the British . They had no national government, no national army or navy, no financial system, no banks, no established credit, and no functioning government departments, such as a treasury . The Congress tried to handle administrative affairs through legislative committees, which proved inefficient . The state governments were themselves brand new and officials had no administrative experience . In peacetime the colonies relied heavily on ocean travel and shipping, but that was now shut down by the British blockade and the Americans had to rely on slow overland travel . </P> <P> However, the Americans had multiple advantages that in the long run outweighed the initial disadvantages they faced . The Americans had a large prosperous population that depended not on imports but on local production for food and most supplies, while the British were mostly shipped in from across the ocean . The British faced a vast territory far larger than Britain or France, located at a far distance from home ports . Most of the Americans lived on farms distant from the seaports--the British could capture any port but that did not give them control over the hinterland . They were on their home ground, had a smoothly functioning, well organized system of local and state governments, newspapers and printers, and internal lines of communications . They had a long - established system of local militia, previously used to combat the French and Native Americans, with companies and an officer corps that could form the basis of local militias, and provide a training ground for the national army created by Congress . </P>

By the end of the american revolutionary war england was also at war with