Reference no: EM132678966

Was American success in achieving independence due more to strategic skill of George Washington or to the operational and strategic mistakes of the British?

George Washington is classified as one of the elite strategist in American history; some might even conclude that his strategic skill was the deciding factor in the American Revolutionary War, so why isn't his concepts studied in modern time like Clausewitz or Sun Tzu? His accomplishments and unproven strategy that he implemented during the war was well beyond the traditional 18th-century tactics and led to America's independence. The development of the war on outpost strategy and the attack at Trenton was not a strategically planned event; it was "stroke of desperation to renew recruiting". (The American Way of War, 4) So can we classify his findings as a strategic skill? I concur that this event did uncover a tactical advantage over the British that led to their defeat, but he lost six out of the nine battles he fought against the British. This leaves some doubt in his strategic skills having a greater than 50% failure rate in the battles. He overcame these shortfalls by shifting his tactics from a Clausewitz mindset to a more Sun Tsu towards the end of the war. He utilized the desperation of the British and diminishing resources to be able to fight on his terms, but all these advantages were brought on by very little of his own doing.