The Grand Strategy the imaginative plan to divide the rebellious American colonies ended in disaster. On October 17 1777 General Sir John Burgoyne alone unaided and stranded in the American wilderness capitulated with his army at Saratoga in upper New York State. It was the âturning pointâ of the Revolution which culminated four years later in the British surrender at Yorktown. Creasy wrote of Saratoga: âNor can any military event be said to have exercised more important influence upon the future fortunes of mankindââ Who blundered? For nearly two centuries Lord George Germain the âmaladroitâ minister has been blamed together with the Commander-in-Chief Sir William Howe; but Burgoyne âGentleman Johnnyâ as his affectionate troops called him has largely escaped criticism. Only in the late 1960s had a full assessment become possible by the publication of all the correspondence that passed between these men. Originally published in 1971 from his study of these letters and by his visit to the campaign area author Rupert Furneaux questions this long accepted view. The British disaster resulted he says not because anyone particularly blundered or from any âpigeon-holedâ despatch but rather because no one bargained that thousands of ordinary American citizens would rally to bar Burgoyneâs path. Experienced frontier-fighters and skilled marksmen they mowed down the closely-ranked Redcoats and the German mercenaries who had all been trained for European battles. Saratoga heralded a new age of warfare which Europeans took another hundred years to learn. It was also far more than a British defeat; it was an American victory the decisive battle whereby they won the right to run their own lives without interference from Europe â and with incalculable consequences. . Language: English