Jeremy Black, "The Revolutionary War" (St. Augustine's Press, 2026)

Feb 1, 2026

Jeremy Black, prolific military historian and Professor Emeritus at Exeter, revisits the Revolutionary War with fresh research. He contrasts Continental insurgency with conventional British strategy. Topics include intelligence gaps across the empire, why key campaigns like Canada and Yorktown unfolded as they did, the global impact of French and Spanish intervention, and the war’s civil dimensions and aftermath.

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INSIGHT

Rewriting From Fresh Research

Jeremy Black revisited his 1991 book and rewrote the subject from scratch after new research and lectures.
He sought a fresh overall interpretation rather than a mere update or added chapter.

INSIGHT

Limited Understanding Across The Empire

Black emphasizes limited mutual understanding across the empire between London and colonial regions.
He links this to the inherent difficulties of governing a trans-oceanic empire.

INSIGHT

Burke’s Conciliation Was Politically Hard

Black argues conciliation (à la Burke) might have avoided civil war but was hard politically.
He frames Burke's proposal as an iteration of earlier compromises like after the Glorious Revolution.

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Military historian Jeremy Black follows his engagement with the American Civil War (St. Augustine's Press, 2025) with a review of the Revolutionary War in North America and the strategic asymmetry it presents. This was a key episode for global affairs and formative for the United States, but also fascinating for military history as a whole. Black's earlier treatment of this war (1991) remains operational, but he thought it "necessary to revisit the subject and reconsider not only the specifics of assessment, but also the more general ways of analyzing and presenting the struggle."

Black's rendering of the war is accurate, well researched, and successfully hits his target without undue speculation. Identifying all the factors at play is one of Black's strengths, as is his sober restraint in applying hindsight while evaluating leadership and campaigns throughout. His field of vision is expansive and refers to the global theatre when offering any kind of final statements--for example, in his claim that the Revolution was largely lost long after the conclusion of battles, and that Canada in British hands underlined the failure of revolutionary efforts and the embodiment of continued threats.

The Revolutionary War (St. Augustine's Press, 2026) is a masterful treatment of an historical event and also the very nature of revolutionary warfare. Black is a fair-handed assessor of 'American' interests and strategic politics, and likewise observant in explaining that Britain was not entirely bested by the revolution even in losing the war. His discussion of the aftermath is as critical as his illustration of the beginning of hostilities, as in his chapter dedicated to "heritages, lessons, and retrospectives." Black is one of the most important and prolific historians of his generation, a writer whose concise and thorough manner renders readers in the United States a refreshing service of understanding their history more deeply.

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