--- Bryon Daly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Is that will what you mean, or was Lincoln critical > on a strategic/tactical > level? > > -bryon
Oh no. You realize that you've made a critical mistake here, right Bryon? I can blabber on this topic for _hours_. People have been known to bleed at the ears and beg for mercy... In the very short run, my answer would be "all of the above". Well, not tactical, but definitely at a political and strategic level (although I don't really separate those two). Very, very briefly (and tell me if you really want to hear more about this)...the two best books on the topic (of which I am aware) are _Lincoln and his Generals_ and _Supreme Command_. Both are excellent, and worth reading just for general interest's sake. In summary, both conclude that Lincoln's strategic insight (that is, his understanding of the ways in which force could be used for _political_ ends) was critical to Northern success in the war, and without it the North's defeat would have been almost certain. One of my professors in college believed that Lincoln was arguably the greatest strategic thinker _of all time_. I am not capable of such an assessment, but am unaware of any historical leader whom I would consider even his equal, much less his superior. Critically, Lincoln understood better than anyone - far better than his generals: 1. The fundamental strategic calculus of the war (that the North could win simply by fighting and continuing to fight until the Southern armies were ground away, that Chancellorsville, Lee's greatest victory, was in fact a Southern defeat due to that "terrible arithmetic") 2. That the political unity of the North was key to victory, and that only a high level of political skill and manipulation could maintain it (thus his famous answer to abolitionists who told him that if he abolished slavery he would have God on his side "I would like to have God, but I must have Kentucky.") and his willingness to appoint political generals, etc. in order to maintain Union support 3. His understanding that the war could only be won through an offensive posture (his exasperated response to Meade after Gettysburg, when Meade declared that the enemy has been expelled from "our soil" and Lincoln replied, in essence, "Don't you understand? It is _all our soil_.") All of that just for starters. There's much more. It's a fascinating topic that I have only begun to scratch the surface of, and every President and Defense Secretary (in my opinion) should be required to study it before taking office in order to understand how democracies must conduct warfare. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
