Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism - eviltoast
  • GBU_28@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago
    1. No one actually thinks the depicted crossing happened that way, with the top officer of the army leading the charge in a rowboat. My choice of the word dramatized implied it is fictional in it’s specifics. Hell that’s not even the Delaware depicted.

    2. Washington was not a “war hero” per se, and indeed had some big losses. But to suggest his military career was “mostly huge flops” is silly. He is roundly regarded as a highly successful general and strategist with an acknowledged average tactical record. On the balance there’s no way you can call him a flop general.

    There are really good books on this topic that strongly investigate his career and are not fluff/charity pieces.

    • Madison420@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      His plans were mostly flops often succeeding dispite himself and only through lower officers with actual competency. Re: the whiskey rebellion to see how badly Washington can fuck things up when left to his own devices.

      Von stuben is a hero and largely responsible for Washingtons success and American victory generally.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        You really need to read more about him. His “genius” was not in battlefield command but in intelligence, recruiting, long game provisioning and politics. You say successes by lower officers, I and many historians and even Washington’s notes say “working as intended”. The whole thing was a slow burn with which he knew he was trading cash and political capital for time. He just had to keep the team together, continue to bring in stud officers who actually were battlefield geniuses and so on.

        He rope a doped Britain, even using his own reputation as collateral in the game.

        • Madison420@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          Simply because I disagree with you doesn’t mean I am uneducated on the matter sir, that’s a fanciful argument to make in itself.

          Good president, very charismatic and indeed a good political strategist. However a dogshit military leader which is my sole point.

          • GBU_28@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            That’s just not supported by the historical academic community. Very educated folks have cut his career apart nearly day by day.

            He had some big failures and faults but the final accounting is that on the balance, he was a great general, just not exactly in some of the ways we imagine generals of his era.

            • Madison420@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              9 months ago

              It is, perhaps not by your preferred academic but it certainly is and you know that, why be disingenuous.

              That accounting is dispite him weighing successful actions he was involved in vs loses, they’re not weighing him personally but when they do they all say he was dogshit militarily. He at times picked the right people and moved them forward and yet you also have people he outright fucked to secure his political influence at the cost of the nation and human life. Think old Benny boy.