Cribtop -> RE: OT: Blame for the Battle of Gettysburg (3/22/2012 7:32:27 PM)
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I believe that both Alfred and CR are correct. Lee wasn't perfect, but his strongpoint was tactics. Also, neither Lee nor anyone else had an idea how to win strategically, but in part this is because the strategic situation facing the South was fraught with possibly insurmountable challenges. IMHO, in the end the South failed when Sherman and Grant ignored the conventional operational wisdom (we suffered a set piece tactical reverse and must withdraw) and began to use their numbers and logistical advantages to either serially outflank the CSA forces (Sherman) or pound them relentlessly without much regard for casualties (Grant). In the end, this is how they burned my family's house. [:D] It is also, IMHO, the beginnings of later US approaches to war (and even over-engineering, but that's another story) through the end of WWII - we have more material and we will use it. Interestingly, after WWII the US went with a more "Germanic" quality of force approach, in part because of the massive size of the Red Army. Lee was what he was, a brilliant Napoleonic tactician who didn't realize that modern technology didn't always favor Napoleonic tactics. IMHO the vilification of Lee is an example of magnification of his shortcomings through what I call the "thesis effect" of history, in which grad students and later professors are drawn by various institutional factors to write theses that challenge the existing academic status quo, which for some time held forth that Lee was a god. He couldn't solve the South's strategic dilemmas, but then I'm not sure anyone could have, at least by military means. PS - despite it all, the South still had a chance because Texas seceded. [:D]
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