Because Civil War–era military and political leaders did not themselves possess well-articulated concepts of strategy in contrast to, say, American military planning in the 20th century and beyond, historians have tended to focus more on what Civil War military leaders actually did in moving and fighting their armies. While the leaders of both combatants obviously conceived of military activities as serving some sort of larger plan or purpose, how to move beyond such a vague generalization remains a vexatious problem for historians. The challenge of linking theory with practice looms over the question of military strategy during the Civil War. Strategy: Definitions, Theory, and Practice Lee chose the plausible strategy of striking directly at Northern public opinion with aggressive operations waged by his own Army of Northern Virginia, but the final failure of the Confederate war effort raises fair questions about whether the Confederacy should have paid more attention to its western theater. In the case of the Confederacy, secessionist leaders faced the challenge of prioritizing different theaters in the face of their material inferiority to the Union. Grant until the end of the war to complete all these tasks. In the case of the Union, however, victory would require not only a more sophisticated conception of strategy that superseded Jomini and coordinated military operations in geographically disconnected fronts but also the practical implementation of such ideas through well-selected subordinate commanders. They also shared a general adherence to the straightforward strategic ideas of Antoine-Henri de Jomini, who emphasized the importance of concentrating one’s own military forces in opposition to dispersed opponents. Despite the absence of a robust and well-articulated conception of strategy, American military and political leaders during the Civil War had an intuitive sense of how military operations should be coordinated with larger political ends.
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