The colonies lacked training, skills, and resources. It wasn’t until Saratoga that colonists actually stood a chance against the British. They were able to get Burgoyne to surrender by the size of their army. Saratoga was the turning point in the war because this battle proved to the French that they could have a chance with their help. With this newly gained alliance, the patriot army now had the resources it was in desperate need of. Another diplomatic reason was the recruitment of Friedrich von Steuben by George Washington. Von Steuben was a general from Prussia who was able to whip the men into shape and give them the training and structure that they needed. He was able to direct more organization in camps; and with the help of George Washington, they inoculated the army to smallpox. The last reason is that the British were fighting on foreign soil and didn’t really have any motivation to win the war nor did they think they were going to lose. They were so far away from home and Britain had other relations that they were dealing with, so they weren’t primarily focused on this particular war. The colonists had a lot more to lose than the British, and seeing how much they endured showed how much they wanted their