--- Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Let me focus things down to one question. According > to Gautam, one of our > resident Civil War buffs, the consensus among > historians is that the > victory by the North in the Civil War was very > fortuitous. It was not > inevitable. Are you arguing that they are wrong? > Are you arguing that he > misquoted them? > > While the consensus of historians can be wrong, it > should at least be taken > seriously. > > Dan M.
Dan, just to be fair, not fortuitous, but not inevitable either. I think most (but not all) historians think that Northern victory was likely, given its resource advantage. I don't, actually, I think it was actually very unlikely, and I think that opinion is more common the more you're focused on the military, as opposed to the social, dynamics of the conflict. My old professor, William Gienapp, was pretty much where I was on the issue, thinking that it was a very, very near run thing indeed. Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
