Why did the US win the Revolution?

OK I was getting into a discussion yesterday about the American Revolution the other day with a person from the UK and why he believed the US won the Revolution. So I was wondering what do you think?

This is why I feel that the US won the revolution
1. British Commanders didn't take this as a real war. (yes their Generals could win battles but not come up with any real way to crush the Continental Army)
2. French and Spanish involvement on the American side ($, Guns, Navy, and troops)
3. The war was fought on US soil so the Continental Army had the advantage well the British were fighting 3,000 miles away from home.
4. The British were to far spread a cross the World. (they did have other colonies around the world)
5. The Continental Army didn't need to win big battles all they needed to do was keep the war going in till Great Britian got tired of the war (On the other hand Great Britian needed to crush the Continental Army and Capture the Continental Congress)

Those 5 reasons are pretty much universally accepted as the reasons we won the war. Did the guy from the UK believe in different reasons?

According to Horrible Histories it was because George Washington was a cheater. According to Ancient Aliens it was because George Washington was visited by some kinda ET and gave him and his men the courage to fight on.

He did believe in some of the reasons above but he was saying that its because Wahington was being a cowared and wouldn't fight face to face and that it was the French that pretty much completly won the Revoultion for the US. How I got into talking to him is that I was watching a video on youtube from the movie the Patriot I wrote a comment on the video and than we got into a conversation about this.

The Patriot is a shitty movie, although I do like the battles.

No shit Washington didn't want to fight face-to-face, HE WOULD HAVE LOST. Any time he did go head-to-head with the British, HE LOST. His ONLY option to survive and still fight the British was to fight unconventionally.

Apparently, it was also a very historical incorrect movie...

I think it was a mix of Foreign Backing and War-weariness on the British side.

Britain hadn't had to fight an insurgency before, so they used assholish tactics that weren't assholish enough to actually stifle the support that the colonists could give to the Continental Army.

They learned their lesson and would use considerably harsher tactics in India, the Middle East, and South Africa later on.

On top of all that, which is good stuff, the colonies could only support small armies. The logistics worked out in the Americans' favor. The British Armies had to be small, thus similar in size to the Americans. The British also had terrible PR. Only about a third(or less) of the Americans supported the revolutionary cause, about a fifth supported Britain, and the rest were apathetic.

I like the Patriot but not for historical accuracy mosty because of the battles. I completly agree with you Washington did what he needed to do which was to fight unconventionally.

Do all of you agree that French won the war for the Americans, if you think they did explain why. If you don't agree with this explain why.
I want to hear your opinions on this.

France did not win the war for us. They helped us quite a bit, but they were not the most important factor in our victory.

The French didn't win the war all alone, as well as the US didn't win the war all alone, both did their part, the French could stand up to Britain in Europe, but not alone in North America.

I don't think they won the war completly for America, but don't get me wrong thank god the helped us. Their greatest help was giving us guns and the help of the Navy because the US Navy was made of 13 ships but on land the continental army did most of the fighting (still thank france of the troops). The French really only started land operations in 1780 with 6,000 soldiers led by Rochambeau but they would be very important at the battle at yorktown in 1781. The French did a great job of helping spread British forces by attacking the West Indies

Well he seems obviously to full of British pride to admit that Washington was doing the right thing and not being a coward. He did not fight a major battle because the US would have gotten their asses handed to them. I think the French played a major strategic role in the war. However, I do not think the British could have subdued the revolution using the tactics they were using, and it probably would have taken longer (maybe 5-10 years) before we would win the war.

Yes that is very true Friedrich Von Stuben played a very important role in trianing the continental army to fight the British at valley forge in the winter of 1777-1778.

Even though He was a fraud, We still respected and admired him, He really shaped up our army.

Yes he was he wasen't a baron and he never got pass the rank of Captain in the Prussian Army but in the end it dosen't matter.

I think a better question is, what if the US lost the revolutionary war?