<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> <P> Motivation was a major asset . The Patriots wanted to win; over 200,000 fought in the war; 25,000 died . The British expected the Loyalists to do much of the fighting, but they did much less than expected . The British also hired German mercenaries to do much of their fighting . </P> <P> At the onset of the war, the Americans had no major international allies . Battles such as the Battle of Bennington, the Battles of Saratoga and even defeats such as the Battle of Germantown proved decisive in gaining the attention and support of powerful European nations such as France and Spain, who moved from covertly supplying the Americans with weapons and supplies, to overtly supporting them militarily, moving the war to a global stage . </P>

Where did most of the revolutionary war take place