![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Alternate History Gripes II: Confederate Victory.
Let's get one thing straight, shall we? Slavery in the US model was feudalism at its finest. Feudalism is de-centralized and incapable of fighting modernity, as the Crimean War had proven not so long prior. The Confederate slave system was even worse. Like most such systems it was quite repressive, it relied on the naked power of the slaveowner to exploit the slaves.
Now, this system was going to go up against the power of the United States, which had never lost a war prior to that, and which had survived worse defeats from the Indian tribes at that time than the Confederate Army would ever deliver during the War of the 1860s. So.....that's not enough, the CSA will always beat the USA with General Lee in charge. Except that General Lee led a much smaller army that took much higher casualties against a foe that could put more guns and men on the field at all times. You cannot win such a war on that terms.
Then there's the utter handwaving of the fact that 1/3 the Southern population will be for obvious reasons anti-Confederate (the blacks). And there will be in most scenarios a sizeable Unionist population, unless the North manages to get all the slave states as one bloc, which would be virtually the only scenario, and requires a radically different USA.
Yes, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia beat much larger armies. The truth is that it wasn't the CS Armies that beat the US ones, it was the US ones that beat themselves. The moment Lee faced a competent Union general his "Charge at all times" mentality went down in bloody defeat as it was going to.
In short, like with World War II, any scenario vaguely recognizable will still see the Union win, just in different fashions to actual history. Which have their own fascinating scenarios. Imagine a Civil War without emancipation......:eek:
Now, this system was going to go up against the power of the United States, which had never lost a war prior to that, and which had survived worse defeats from the Indian tribes at that time than the Confederate Army would ever deliver during the War of the 1860s. So.....that's not enough, the CSA will always beat the USA with General Lee in charge. Except that General Lee led a much smaller army that took much higher casualties against a foe that could put more guns and men on the field at all times. You cannot win such a war on that terms.
Then there's the utter handwaving of the fact that 1/3 the Southern population will be for obvious reasons anti-Confederate (the blacks). And there will be in most scenarios a sizeable Unionist population, unless the North manages to get all the slave states as one bloc, which would be virtually the only scenario, and requires a radically different USA.
Yes, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia beat much larger armies. The truth is that it wasn't the CS Armies that beat the US ones, it was the US ones that beat themselves. The moment Lee faced a competent Union general his "Charge at all times" mentality went down in bloody defeat as it was going to.
In short, like with World War II, any scenario vaguely recognizable will still see the Union win, just in different fashions to actual history. Which have their own fascinating scenarios. Imagine a Civil War without emancipation......:eek:
bitchy