The Civil War

What strategy should Robert E. Lee have adopted in order to win the war?

Immediate and unconditional surrender

When so as far as the Confederates did with the Union army, heretofore within the lines of duty. Completely disregarded for that and not for the them and those.

Texas wouldn't have been an ally

By the time of Lincoln's election, there was a considerable amount of Americans who wanted the sue the Confederates for peace

Not attack Gettysburg like an autist

Going for Washington instead of Philadelphia maybe?

The Hannibalian strategy. He was in roughly the same position. Crush them with superior tactics in battle in a spectacular fashion, then try to peel off support. In this case I guess you won't be detaching allies so much as persuading the north it's not worth their trouble to pursue the war.

Trouble is, he did this. In the end he got crushed by superior manpower and production capacity. Same as Hannibal. I don't think there was an actual winning strategy.

This. His strategy WAS the winning strategy: invade the North, defeat them, and take Washington. Problem was, it was basically impossible. Even the bad Generals the Union had at the time were good enough to hold Lee off with their numerical superiority. Lee was able to win victories sure, but mostly because he was bold while the Union generals were, essentially, scared of losing and timid.

>t.I never studied the civil war and I have no idea what I'm talking about

Fight a defensive war and bleed the union dry.

Turn Quantrill loose on Pennsylvania

Honestly Lee did all he could besides possibly arming Blacks, which good luck with that.

Dipolomacy could have saved the South. Napoleon III growing a pair and intervening without British aid like he wanted would have been a great help.

>develop trench fortifications in the east and dare them to take Richmond
>not lose the west like a retard

Basically force the north to bleed for every inch of southern soil, take no northern invasion so you're appeals to be left alone have more standing and support from northern politicians and international community

The West was lost before Lee was even in command.

Joining the Union Army rather than the Confederate Army.

>be blockaded and die
lol

He did the best he could. Of course he had fuckups like Gettysburg but all Generals made mistakes. The problem was the lack of southern manpower meant they could never compete with the north for 5+ years. desu the war should've been a lot shorter if the union did shit the bed in the early years.

If the south were to win they'd have to take drastic measures. Personally, I'd start freeing hundred of thousands of slaves (starting with those owned by unionists) under the condition that they had to migrate to D.C., Cincy, or Philly. Thus forcing the union to deal with a massive refugee problem and race riots until they'd open diplomatic talks with the CSA.

It wasn't possible. The truly decisive fighting was in the Western theater of the war. There were Confederate state capitals falling in by 1862. Once the MS and TN river valleys were Union controlled, it was over.

Robert E. Lee did adopt the best strategy: hit hard and soon and force peace before the union could bring its resources to bear on it.
He merely could not see it through.

Or you'd give the Union a fresh pool of willing soldiers to draw upon.

ok, only send the old, lame, women, and children. Also the union could never fully utilize the blacks correctly anyways.

Change his mind before ordering Pickett's charge.

That's literally it. If he hadn't made that critical mistake, we'd have an independent Dixie today

Oh well. Marsh Robert had to be aggressive to win. It was bound to catch up with him

Even if they had won at Gettysburg, Lee's army would have been in an extremely precarious position to say the least.

They would still have been in foreign country, low on food and ammunition, depleted ranks from days of fighting, fighting an enemy that outnumbered them and had home-field advantage.

It was not a matter of troop numbers

It was a matter of Northern morale.

If the Army of Northern Virginia had prevailed, the Federals would have sued for peace within months

Get the Confederacy to abolish slavery so that it would be politically viable for the British to join the ware.

UK wrecks the Union Blockade. Invades through Canada.

Though Russia would have gotten involved as the Tsar at the time was a fan of Lincoln.

even if he won at Gettysburg, Vicksburg will fall on the same day meaning the union now has complete control of the Mississippi and can strike anywhere they please, which makes Sherman's march to the sea inevitable. He invaded the north instead of attempting to break the siege.

>UK wrecks the Union Blockade
I'd like to see a comparison of naval strength figures

the CSA didn't have the economy to win. wars are competitions of economies. strategy, tactics, training, equipment, etc is just seeking value.

The Germans in ww2 used the blitz because their economy forced them. the USA had twice the GNP and spent twice as much. the soviets spent a lot less with a much smaller GNP. though they were aided by USA's economy, and sending a lot of people with a lot of cheap equipment. This also explains the German fixation on Wunderwaffen.

>I'm an irredeemable glue huffing moron
Lmao

King Cotton works or the Northerners piss the wrong person off and the UK gets involved.

Obeyed his lawful orders to join the union army.

Nappy III intervening in Mexico AND America? Seems like a hard deal to pull off.

Literally every state lists slavery as the reason for leaving the union, why would they abolish it?

>Article I Section 9(4)
No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.

>foreigners didn't get involved because of slavery

The UK didn't get involved because it wasn't in their immediate interests. They had been hoping to mediate a peaceful secession initially. Liberals like Baron Dalberg were massive Dixieboos and would regularly champion them on the floor of parliament.

>not order Picket's Charge

If Lee were idle and defensive, the Union would've been able to outlast the Confederates with their superior manpower. Maybe the Union would have even cut off possible escape points, making retreat impossible.

That being said, how could the CSA have won the battle?

Assuming we're talking military strategy only:
Don't invade the North the second time.
Instead, send Longstreet's corp to the West earlier to help Bragg to push Union out of Tennessee or at least protect Georgia.
Prepare strong defenses all over Northen Virginia.
Fight off Union invasions from a strong defensive position over and over again, until Democrats are elected in 1864.

Basically, he was too aggressive for the limited resources that were available to him.

Short of an incredible turn of events, winning the battle decisively was not possible on that ground with those men.

> how could the CSA have won the battle?
By taking the heights on the first day before the northern reinforcements had arrived. In this case, the rest of union army would have had to retreat, making it a relatively small and insignificant battle. There was no way to win the battle after they missed that chance.

>ultimate generals

>if you surrender you win the war
Canada wasn't a thing yet

>bleed dry an enemy with more manpower, more food production, more industrial capacity, a stronger navy, and superior technology

Join the Union Army.