Thread by @pptsapper

Teachable moment time

1) this meme presupposes that history is only about battles. It isn't. It also encompasses ideologies, social norms, etc. Only talking about battles in the Civil War without discussing cause & effect is like saying you like cake for the frosting. Incomplete

https://twitter.com/ketchup_lt/status/1445012033712365569

2) while soldiers of the era were polite to each other in correspondence after the war, they stopped being so once the causes of the war came up.
angrystaffofficer.com/2021/06/20/we-…

3) This meme also presupposes that the conflict that we refer to as the American Civil War was merely that time between 1861-65. In fact, armed conflict began over slavery in the 1850s in KS and continued thru Reconstruction in the 1870s, & even beyond

In many ways, we are still dealing with the fallout of the war with unresolved issues surrounding racial equality & voting rights. Reductionist memes like this pander to the old trope of military history as "guns and trumpets" rather than the field as an all-encompassing branch.

Seeking to only focus on the tactical or operational aspect is false history. Lincoln's shift towards emancipation and Davis's refusal to consider it were both strategic decisions that directly impacted the outcome of the war. The former led to reshaping the Constitution

Indeed, American military history's myopia with the tactical has dire consequences when it comes to developing generations of leaders who can think strategically. It has become the norm to find tactical solutions to strategic problems, precisely because of reductionism

In short, watch out for misinformation that attempts to reduce military conflicts to merely battles and tactics. It's probably obscuring more complex truths that we need to come to terms with.