Germans in the American Revolution

Ethnic Germans served on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. Many supported the Loyalist cause and served as allies of Great Britain, whose King George III was also the Elector of Hanover. Other Germans came to assist the rebelling American patriots, but most of the Germans who were patriots were colonists.

During the American Revolution, there were many German-speaking states loosely unified under the Holy Roman Empire. Many of these states were officially Lutheran, making them traditional allies of other Protestant nations, such as the Kingdom of Great Britain, whose king, George III, was also the Prince-elector of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire. King George III came from an ethnic German family and was the first of the British royal House of Hanover to speak English as his first language. Great Britain formed strong German alliances during the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 and during the Seven Years' War had combined forces with Frederick the Great of Prussia to form a coalition that functioned as one Army. When the British colonies in America rebelled a decade later, several German-speaking states contracted soldiers to the British Army. Although the leasing of soldiers to a foreign power was controversial to some Europeans, the people of these continental states generally took great pride in their soldiers' service in the war. In some instances, ethnic Germans even enlisted directly into British units, such as the 60th Regiment of Foot.

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