Gautam wrote:
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.
Militarily the Union came very close to winning the war in June of 1862. Had it not been for the timidity of McClellan and abysmal intelligence, Richmond might have been taken at that time.
Whether or not the Union won the Civil War, the institution of slavery in the South was living on borrowed time, IMO.
-- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
