Military History and Strategy Questions Question

Two factors were the most important in limiting warfare during Frederick the Great's time: the considerable amount of time it took to train soldiers and the constraints imposed by supply. When Frederick stepped up to the Prussian throne in 1740, the infantry weapons of that time were neither accurate nor lethal at ranges beyond one hundred meters. Consequently, infantry units were trained to maneuver and fire in mass formations, creating "killing zones" within the one hundred meters in front of the battle lines. As a result of these tactics, combat in the Eighteenth Century was very deadly to the participants and commanders sought to outmaneuver enemy armies rather than lose large numbers of veteran troops in combat. This required disciplined armies which were skilled in drill. Frederick was one of the first European leaders to implement a uniform system of drill throughout his army and he emphasized drill to such an extent that Prussian units could deploy from column to line more quickly than others. Such methods required long training periods, more than two years in the Prussian army. Such an investment in training further discouraged commanders from committing armies to costly battles (Duffy 10-12; Jones 269-70; Keegan 344-45; Palmer 93-94; Weigley, The Age of Battles 170).

Additionally, armies of that period relied upon magazines of supplies in fortified cities, delivered to them through large baggage trains.

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it was fighting a basically defensive war. While this strategy was more vigorous than the approach of the early Union generals, it was also costly, and the Confederacy could ill-afford high casualties. Lee and Jackson became the masters of maneuver, as they worked hard to divide and envelop the Union armies they faced. This was also an attribute of the Union general who eventually led the Union forces to victory, Ulysses Grant. Grant's Vicksburg campaign was an illustration of how an offensive campaign could surround and cut off an enemy force while avoiding heavy casualties (Weigley, "American Strategy" 421-31). Once he took command of all the Union forces, however, Grant realized that overall victory required the destruction of the Confederacy's ability to wage war. This meant that the Confederate Army had to be worn down by casualties and the Confederate population worn down by physical destruction. Grant did not believe that the Confederate Army could be destroyed in a single large battle; rather, he fought a series of costly engagements which never resulted in an overwhelming Union victory. In doing so, he so wore down Lee's army that Lee was eventually forced to surrender; the Army of Northern Virginia by that time
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Approximate Word count = 3923
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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