This definitive scholarly reference on the American Revolution—written by acclaimed researchers and military experts from around the world—covers the causes, course, and consequences of the war and the political, social, and military origins of the nation. The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History is the new standard academic reference for investigating how the United States was created by force of arms—and how that revolution reverberated through the nation's subsequent development. Presenting the work of hundreds of distinguished international scholars and independent historians (including many from Britain and France), the encyclopedia ranges from the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 to the ratification of the Constitution in 1789. Its impeccably researched entries address the full spectrum of military, political, and cultural matters crucial to understanding the causes and course of the war—including unprecedented coverage of military life and tactics as well as vivid portraits of the Revolution's participants (men and women; soldiers and civilians; patriots and loyalists; the British, French, and American militaries; German mercenaries; Native Americans; and African Americans, both free and slave). The result is a cornerstone reference on the war and the context in which it emerged—one that supplants all other works of its kind in portraying the traumatic and triumphant birth of a nation.