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In retrospect, it seems likely that no amount of officer genius could have won the Civil War for the South, but without it, they would have been completely crus
by davvolun 8y ago
In retrospect, it seems likely that no amount of officer genius could have won the Civil War for the South, but without it, they would have been completely crushed.
Perhaps the entirety of the European continent (or most of the world re: Germany) fighting back meant the war was essentially unwinnable no matter what, but perhaps the successes they did have were due to the process they used.
- pvg 8y agoRight, but if we're going to wank poetic about the success of Auftragstaktik it's worth remembering that throwing people at the problem was repeatedly and conclusively even more successful. Should we draw deep business practice conclusions from either of those? The whole thing seems a bit silly.
- azernik 8y agoSuccess is based on many factors, and if you're evaluating military cultures and command styles you have to control for those variables. In individual battles or campaigns with equal forces and materiel, German and Napoleonic and Israeli tactics have been very successful, it's just not enough to outweight any disparity in forces. I do agree that trying to draw business practice conclusions from the very different military setting. This includes the quote of the OP.
- davvolun 8y ago> wank poetic Stealing that. (Assuming you didn't actually mean "wax poetic"?)