The Compleat Victory, Kevin Weddle
The Compleat Victory, Kevin Weddle
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The Compleat Victory
Saratoga and the American Revolution

Author: Kevin Weddle

Narrator: Paul Heitsch

Unabridged: 18 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/30/2021

Synopsis

In the late summer and fall of 1777, after two years of indecisive fighting on both sides, the outcome of the American War of Independence hung in the balance. Having successfully expelled the Americans from Canada in 1776, the British were determined to end the rebellion the following year and devised what they believed a war-winning strategy, sending General John Burgoyne south to rout the Americans and take Albany. When British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga with unexpected ease in July of 1777, it looked as if it was a matter of time before they would break the rebellion in the North. Less than three and a half months later, however, a combination of the Continental Army and Militia forces forced Burgoyne to surrender his entire army. The American victory stunned the world and changed the course of the war.

In the end, British plans were undone by a combination of distance, geography, logistics, and an underestimation of American leadership and fighting ability. The outcome forced the British to rethink their strategy, inflamed public opinion in England against the war, boosted Patriot morale, and led directly to the Franco-American alliance. Weddle unravels the web of contingencies and the play of personalities that ultimately led to what one American general called "the Compleat Victory."

About Kevin Weddle

Kevin J. Weddle is a professor of military theory and strategy at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A West Point graduate, he served in the US Army for twenty-eight years on active duty in command and staff positions in the United States and overseas, including Operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom, before retiring as a colonel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Urey on February 14, 2021

The Compleat Victory is a masterpiece of military history – an immersion into the single most important battle of the American Revolution – the battle that altered the very scope of the conflict from a relatively localized colonial rebellion to a world war. Weddle is thoroughly versed in the subject......more

Goodreads review by Grouchy on May 05, 2021

So, so good. A solid look at the Saratoga Campaign as a true campaign encompassing the entire Northern Theater. Well written with solid analysis and excellent historiography. Highly recommended.......more

Goodreads review by David on March 30, 2021

Military history as studies of strategy never went away despite the historiographical impact of Keegan’s combat oriented Face of Battle. The revolutionary battles don’t get as much attention as those in America’s subsequent wars but they probably should, not least because they also affected European......more

Goodreads review by Joe on March 08, 2024

Along with Gettysburg and the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Saratoga was the most consequential victory of America's armed forces. There are a number of wonderful histories of this battle, not the least of which is Richard Ketchum's engrossing account, which I highly recommend. But this book br......more

Goodreads review by Lloyd on May 30, 2022

This is an excellent history of the Saratoga Campaign in 1777. This was the campaign by the British that invaded the newly declared independent American Colonies from Canada. The British used the Lake Champlain and Hudson River route from Canada in an attempt to split off the New England Colonies fr......more

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