9. The American Revolution ended with the first reduction of British Empire territory.
The American Revolution removed the thirteen North American colonies from the British Empire, but it also ensured that Great Britain would become the first global superpower. France was left bankrupt from the war, and was soon torn by a revolution of its own. The British colonies in the Caribbean remained lucrative sources of income to British traders, and Canada and its furs and timber remained another source of wealth for the empire. Great Britain had, by the end of the American Revolution, consolidated its power in India, and its ships had expanded the British influence in the Pacific, including the newly explored continent of Australia.
