The American Revolution was a complex conflict that was at once a colonial war of liberation, a civil war between loyal and rebel Americans, and a renewal of the struggle for global supremacy between England and France. Many people on both sides of the Atlantic questioned whether the colonists would actually prove willing to fight for their independence, particularly against such an apparently superior foe. The answer to that question was yes, but that struggle created more than just an independent United States. It caused dislocations and shifts in the balance of power within the American population that would have significant consequences in determining the shape of the new nation.