Hybrid Warfare Dilemmas in the Middle Colonies during the American Revolution

Abstract

The hybrid war in the Middle Colonies during the American Revolution from 1776-1778 produced three dilemmas that the British could not solve, leading to American victory and independence. First, when the British spread out to provide local security across a wide area, the smaller formations became vulnerable to the enemy regular force. Next, when the British concentrated to fight the enemy regular force, it exposed the population and exposed the army to infiltration and attacks from enemy irregular forces. Finally, when the British focused on defeating both forces simultaneously, they lacked the resources to do so in either case. Understanding the creation of a hybrid threat is important to the US Army because it expects to face hybrid threats in the future. The environment that produced the hybrid war, the creation of the dilemmas, and how the British Army attempted to solve these dilemmas highlight the complexity of hybrid warfare and provide insight into understanding, generating, and solving dilemmas in future wars.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 25, 2017
Accession Number
AD1039768

Entities

People

  • William Ii C. Murray

Organizations

  • School of Advanced Military Studies

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • American Revolution
  • Central Europe
  • Civil War
  • Delaware River
  • Governments
  • Hybrid Threats
  • Hybrid Warfare
  • Insurgency
  • Local Governments
  • New England
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North America
  • Revolutions
  • Security
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.