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Much has been written in the past two centuries about George Washington the statesman and "father of his country." Less often discussed is Washington's military career, including his exploits as a young officer and his performance as the Revolutionary War commander in chief. Now, in a revealing work of historical biography, Edward Lengel has written the definitive account of George Washington the soldier. Based largely on Washington's personal papers, this engrossing book paints a vivid, factual portrait of a man to whom lore and legend so tenaciously cling. To Lengel, Washington was the imperfect commander. Washington possessed no great tactical ingenuity, and his acknowledged "brilliance in retreat" only demonstrates the role luck plays in the fortunes of all great men. He was not an enlisted man's leader; he made a point of never mingling with his troops. He was not an especially creative military thinker; he fought largely by the book. He was not a professional, but a citizen soldier, who, at a time when warfare demanded that armies maneuver efficiently in precise formation, had little practical training handling men in combat. Yet despite his flaws, Washington was a remarkable figure, a true man of the moment, a leader who possessed a clear strategic, national, and continental vision, and who inspired complete loyalty from his fellow revolutionaries, officers, and enlisted men. America could never have won freedom without him. A trained surveyor, Washington mastered topography and used his superior knowledge of battlegrounds to maximum effect. He appreciated the importance of good allies in times of crisis and understood well the benefits of coordination of ground and naval forces. Like the American nation itself, he was a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts, a remarkable everyman whose acts determined the course of history. Lengel argues that Washington's excellence was in his completeness, in how he united the military, political, and personal skills necessary to lead a nation in war and peace.… (mais)
"Washington's gift of courage coincided with remarkable luck... No better example exists of the old maxim that to be good, a commander only has to be better than his opponent."
Even that may be overstating Washington's military abilities: he fought Howe, Clinton and Cornwallis to something less than a stalemate in New Jersey, Howe having complacently both failed to round up the Americans on Manhattan and left Burgoyne to his fate in upstate New York instead of combining their forces to cut the US in two. He kept the Continental Army in being while seeking to proactively attack, and through harsh winter camps, long enough for French supplies, troops and ships to come through. With a little luck for de Grasse's fleet off the Chesapeake, that was enough to win the victory at Yorktown which ruined Parliament's confidence in the war. Washington's early experiences of war only really schooled him in what not to do, he learnt on the job and from books instead of in a smoothly functional army, and Trenton was his own success in spite of the failure of several elements of his plans. His reputation survived attack while others' heads rolled, not entirely fairly, but in the end his best was just about good enough. ( )
This was an interesting narrative about George Washington and the quality of his generalship from his days fighting in the French and Indian War until he said farewell to his command at the conclusion of the War of Independence.
Lengel covers all the main important aspects of the war, and reasonably critiques Washington's performance in the important battles and campaigns. I don't think there are many big surprises in the book. The discussion of Washington as tactically aggressive, sometimes to the point of rashness, while being strategically cautious, was useful and interesting.
My one criticism is that a deeper analysis at the end of the book would be stronger than the analysis that seems to be parceled out at the end of chapters. ( )
A great narrative about the military role George Washington played throughout his life. I suppose one might be able to interpret a number of different styles of leadership from the evidence of his multiple commands. However, at the end of the day, his perseverance through admittedly diffucult days during the Revolutionary War, saw the colonist through to victory (albeit with a little help from the French!) A great story, which also tackles Washington's early years working with the British against the French. A good primer overall on Washington's military exploits. ( )
Much has been written in the past two centuries about George Washington the statesman and "father of his country." Less often discussed is Washington's military career, including his exploits as a young officer and his performance as the Revolutionary War commander in chief. Now, in a revealing work of historical biography, Edward Lengel has written the definitive account of George Washington the soldier. Based largely on Washington's personal papers, this engrossing book paints a vivid, factual portrait of a man to whom lore and legend so tenaciously cling. To Lengel, Washington was the imperfect commander. Washington possessed no great tactical ingenuity, and his acknowledged "brilliance in retreat" only demonstrates the role luck plays in the fortunes of all great men. He was not an enlisted man's leader; he made a point of never mingling with his troops. He was not an especially creative military thinker; he fought largely by the book. He was not a professional, but a citizen soldier, who, at a time when warfare demanded that armies maneuver efficiently in precise formation, had little practical training handling men in combat. Yet despite his flaws, Washington was a remarkable figure, a true man of the moment, a leader who possessed a clear strategic, national, and continental vision, and who inspired complete loyalty from his fellow revolutionaries, officers, and enlisted men. America could never have won freedom without him. A trained surveyor, Washington mastered topography and used his superior knowledge of battlegrounds to maximum effect. He appreciated the importance of good allies in times of crisis and understood well the benefits of coordination of ground and naval forces. Like the American nation itself, he was a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts, a remarkable everyman whose acts determined the course of history. Lengel argues that Washington's excellence was in his completeness, in how he united the military, political, and personal skills necessary to lead a nation in war and peace.
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Even that may be overstating Washington's military abilities: he fought Howe, Clinton and Cornwallis to something less than a stalemate in New Jersey, Howe having complacently both failed to round up the Americans on Manhattan and left Burgoyne to his fate in upstate New York instead of combining their forces to cut the US in two. He kept the Continental Army in being while seeking to proactively attack, and through harsh winter camps, long enough for French supplies, troops and ships to come through. With a little luck for de Grasse's fleet off the Chesapeake, that was enough to win the victory at Yorktown which ruined Parliament's confidence in the war. Washington's early experiences of war only really schooled him in what not to do, he learnt on the job and from books instead of in a smoothly functional army, and Trenton was his own success in spite of the failure of several elements of his plans. His reputation survived attack while others' heads rolled, not entirely fairly, but in the end his best was just about good enough. (