How can you say that the Revolutionary War was lost by the British rather than won by the Americans?

The statement that "the revolutionary war was lost by the
British rather than won by the Americans" unjustifiable belittles the efforts,
sacrifices and the determination of the American people in a hard fought war lasting 8
years.

It is agreed that British were a formidable
adversaries, very difficult to defeat. But that is all the more reason for giving
greater rather than less credit to the American People. It is important to note that the
American war of independence was fought on American land, impacting the common American
people. For the British people the war produced no such personal hardships for the
common people as it did for the Americans.

There are hardly
any wars in the world where every one from a side is vanquished before the other party
is considered victorious. A warring party become victorious when the other party is
routed and retreats, or decides that holds no prospects of victory, or the costs of
further war are not worth the victory, and in response asks for
peace.

The surrender on October 19, 1781, of more than 8000
men representing more than a fourth of British forces in North America, represented the
start of British defeat. After this the British were not able to offer any major fight,
though the war continued for two more years. Fearing that continuation of this war might
cause more damage than just loss of their colonies in 13 warring states of USA, British
initiated peace talks in 1782, which finally led to signing of the Treaty of Paris on
September 3, 1783.