Easy to win when you get there first with the most. The best strategist are the one who draw out the inevitable loss so as to cost the enemy the most in terms of lives and treasure. I said Lee was a great strategist; if he had continued the war of attrition he envisioned, the North would have given up. By invading the North and pressing for victory at Gettysburg, his tactical mistakes probably cost the South its liberty.
Jackson was actually ten times the strategist Lee was, but Lee/Longstreet wouldn't listen to him.
It's more a case of "they wouldn't have lost", that's what Jackson knew was important/angled for, but was ignored by the "geniuses"
I dunno. After Chancellorsville, Lee’s army was in as good a position as they were for the entire war. (Though there is some merit to Longstreet’s assertion that the army could ill afford many more battles as costly.) A few days later Jackson was dead and not giving advice to anyone.
1a. Eisenhower
I will sort of agree with Patton in the role of tactician. I don't think of Eisenhower as a strategist. He was the consumate logistician. As they say in War College, amatuers study tactics, dilettantes study strategy and professionals study logistics. In modern combat, the general that can command the greatest weight of shot on th enemy is likely to prevail. That means having the best Air Force.
Lack of will. Decisive victory means unconditional surrender, like Japan. Which means the unrestricted use of force to drive the enemy to surrender. "Conflicts" don't generate that degree of moral certitude. Wars do. Them or us; victory of death. The expenditure of natural treasure and blood should be based on that kind of certainty. Not just the advancement of "interests". WW II was the last time the nation had that. And airpower was applied in full measure to obtain absolute dominance over evil.
We are a soft, feckless nation now. We couldn't muster even a fraction of the national will we exhibited in WW2. The idea of something as basic as a draft would be met with widespread riots. Not to mention the rationing, taxes and price controls that were put in place in the 40s.
B-52, you’re a great American but like Belichick after Tom Brady left, Lee was far less effective after the loss of Stonewall Jackson. Jackson was superior to Lee and deserves top 10. Lee made his mark during a series of campaigns against inferior sad sack Union commanders. Too many times, Lee’s orders were ambiguous, vague and / or verbal.
"Unconditional Surrender" in WW II was a political blunder that then had to be followed through on, not any kind of national leadership genius.
