On the tangent about what the world would have been like had the British retained control of the colonies too much is being said about retaining control militarily with a hostile population. The UK's best shot at retaining the colonies would have been if the faction in Parliament that wanted to grant representation to the colonies had won. Who knows what would have happened in the long run had that happened, but if we'd (the colonies) been granted full participation in the United Kingdom's government the American Revolution would not have happened in 1776.