George Washington: An Excellent General? - Research Paper

Introduction

A General is a four-star officer rank that is in command of a nation's army. It is the second-highest rank just below the General of the Army rank (5-Star General). George Washington served as a General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army between 1775 -1783. I will attempt to review his eight years of service, finally, be able to tell if he was indeed an excellent general as many perceive him. Despite being one of the Founding fathers of the United States, George Washington did not live up to the standards of an excellent general. While he was successful in various wars, his tactics were poorly planned and, in most cases, led to the loss of lives.

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George Washington worked as a surveyor in his early years with great skill sets in Mathematics. While he had no military experience, he was called to fight in the French and Indian War. With troops barely trained and with a lack of food, ammunition, and necessary supplies like uniforms and shoes, George led the groups to victory, where he was coined as a war hero leading the group to a successful retreat. From his actions in the battle at Fort Duquesne, George took the mantle from the wounded and near death general, and instead of pursuing the fight, they were ambushed and forced to surrender the frontier. Before the American Revolution, George did not have great strength and the tactics needed on the battlefield. The only topping that added to his military experience was the Virginia regiment, where he commanded not more than 2000 men. His actions of charisma and command instincts with an outstanding physical presence inspired the inexperienced officers to continue fighting. He had only learned command principles from regular British officers that he had matched with and army manuals he had read previously.

The first engagement of George Washington's as a General was after promotion to full colonelcy after executing the cautious surprise attack in Virginia. Though the army set their Fort on the Great Meadows Fort, it just took a day's fight, and they were subdued and disarmed by the French enemy and sent back home with honors of War. The Fort lay on waterlogged creek bottom and covered by forest on the three sides, making it hard for an escape. For an excellent general, the position set for camp should be barricaded and safe, not just on a meadow plain, as implemented by Washington. George Washington was also reckless on his duties, on a number of occasions; he signed documents without even reading the contents. For instance, he unknowingly signed a document authorizing the assassination of a French officer (Pacholl & Keith 2019).

Washington gained a lot of support from foreign sympathizers with the American cause; therefore, they received a lot of recruits flocking his camp. He commanded about 8000 men and woke up in the night just leaving his fire still deceptively burning and flanking the British regiments, a good strategy that nevertheless led to the death of about 500 men, then Washington ran away to barricade to a strong position at Morristown, New Jersey (Graff & Nevis 2020).

Another notable event that makes me say that Washington was not a good General was the treachery of Charles Lee. Lee gave an order of retreat when the assault was too vigorous, Washington hurried forward and denounced him and restored a line of defense instead of a line of attack as it was supposed to be the shrewd strategic plan at that time -insubordination. He undermined Lee's authority at that time before the officers. His self-reliance and determination were misplaced in the battlefield, where it was a matter of strategy rather than sheer adamancy and reckless exposure of his person.

Washington, as a General, hanged deserters and flogged others heavily. He was ambitious for rank and honor with strident vigor and always complained when things did not go as planned. He requested favor to the British commander in North America; when denied, he was very disappointed why his assertions for regular commissioning were denied.

Benjamin Franklin states the following about Washington," an American planter, who had never seen Europe, was chosen to command our troops and continued the whole War this man sent home, five of your best Generals, baffled, their heads bare of laurels and disgraced " (Ten Facts About George Washington And The Revolutionary War n.d). Washington could only manage to keep together the struggling colonial army. Given the cowardly, untrained, and drunkards as soldiers, all he had to do was to give them a sense of direction and motivation rather than strategize any military technique.

Generals are ranked high, hence expected to stay peculiar from other normal ranked officers. Washington did not live up to the standards of General. He lived with his men in the same tents, and there was no vertical respect to higher ranks, just horizontal respect rendered to him.

George Washington lacked strategy in all his missions. For instance, the crossing of rivers such as Delaware made the troops plunge into the water, and crossing in the night made them susceptible to frostbite. He even commanded his men to cross frozen turfs. Washington expected the men to be fearless and machines even without motivation like wages and good clothing. As a soldier, you had to be as tough as a nail to survive.

Washington always wanted to be a gentleman and fashioned himself in that character. This meant that lower officers took advantage often in the light of George Washington attempting to maintain a positive image. George Washington also never trusted anyone, a trait that led him to lose even his closes allies. He always worked around the clock to find traitors in the troops and execute them. This served as an example to troop members to promote full loyalty. George Washington therefore, used fear to control the troops, a trait that disqualifies him from the list of good generals

Despite his leadership skills and war tactics, Washington was successful in various wars. Washington's success in War was attributed to allied support. He relied on the external support, and with his insisting nature, he nagged for support from French commanders.

George Washington cannot be regarded as a good general but rather an excellent manager. This can be evident in his lack of tactics both on the battlefield and in the council of War, where he presented contradicting ideas. He was more of a manager and followed protocols to the latter. He befriended the lieutenant generals with vast experience since he was just a tobacco farmer with a surveying job. He never felt the need for strategic retreating even when necessary. Factors like the monetary load that George brought to the table just meant that he would advance in the ranking. He supported a great deal of the army progress and rewarded genuine talent, including the purchasing of strong boats and financing army needs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, he was a terrible tactician but an excellent manager and strategized quickly to lengths of losing a battle at the extent of winning the main war with aid from French. George Washington only had to use available resources to his advantage while maintaining a high self-image and attractive political image (Martin, & Kirby 2018). It goes without saying that he was a diplomatic individual with a high affinity to following of protocol and set of predetermined procedures. Strategy beats tactics; logistics beats strategy and tactics while logistics with a dash of strategy wins wars or campaigns. With his vast money, George was able to win the war but lacked the necessary qualities of a great general.

Works Cited

Graff Henry and Allan Nevis. "George Washington - The Trenton-Princeton Campaign". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Washington/The-Trenton-Princeton-campaign#accordion-article-history.

Martin, James Kirby. "The Strategy of Victory: How General George Washington Won the American Revolution." The Historian 80.4 (2018): 802.

Pacholl, Keith. "Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 127.1 (2019): 69.

"Ten Facts About George Washington And The Revolutionary War". George Washington's Mount Vernon, 2020, https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-revolutionary-war/ten-facts-about-the-revolutionary-war/.