"THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE" WAS MERELY A SIDESHOW IN A BIGGER WAR

The so-called "American War of Independence" is often presented as a one-on-one struggle between American colonialists and a "tyrannical English" king." This is a totally inaccurate and ahistorical framing of the actual facts and was obviously created later to provide America with a foundation myth. 

In reality, the struggle in North America was more like a small proxy war by France seeking revenge against Britain for earlier defeats. It then became rolled up in the much larger Anglo-French War of 1778-1783, a war that raged across three continents and several seas, and involved several other powers. It was a successor to the Seven Years War and a precursor to the Napoleonic Wars, both of which also had minor American involvement.