Vandiver's Argumentative Essay

In the article There was no Offensive-Defensive Confederate Strategy Donald Stroker wanted to prove that Vandiver, a celebrated historian and professor was wrong about the strategy used in the Confederacy during the civil war. Stroker brought up points such as “The biggest problem is Vandiver’s first words: “His strategy was the offensive-defensive.” At no point does Vandiver present any evidence that Davis ever decided to prosecute such a strategy.” (Stroker, pg. 8) Stroker had jumped from explaining how the offensive-defensive could have possibly been a strategy in the Confederacy, to proving how it was not an option, and how there was no evidence to show that it was an option. The article Guerrilla Warfare, Democracy, and the Fate of the

3) Sutherland stayed on the same topic of guerrilla warfare for the majority of the article, and when he did change topics to democracy or the fate of the Confederacy he transitioned smoothly and did not make any extreme jumps in topics. Daniel Sutherland wrote Guerrilla Warfare, Democracy, and the Fate of the Confederacy using more evidence, explanations, and more effective structuring to prove his points more thoroughly than Donald Stroker had used as he had tried to prove Vandiver wrong in his article There was no Offensive-Defensive Confederate Strategy even though Stroker had brought up some very well thought out, and well written points of evidence which proved that he was correct in his belief in the Confederate

Throughout the article it is repeated many times that there is a difference between tactical military action, and strategy, which is why Vandiver had stated that the Confederacy had used the offensive-defensive strategy. “Not understanding the difference, Vandiver took Davis’s tactical reference and then stretched it to cover the strategic realm. Moreover, Vandiver noted that Davis used this term in reference to the Seven Days contest, reinforcing the point that Davis referred to tactical military action on the part of the Confederacy, not strategic.” (Stroker, pg. 6) In the article Stroker did say that the Confederacy did practice a small section of the Offensive-Defensive spectrum in Richmond in the summer of 1812, for the sat and waited so that they could later counterattack (Stroker, pg. 7), but what I gathered from the article, this was the only time that this strategy was used, so it can not be really considered a Confederate strategy. Vandiver had stated that the offensive-defensive strategy would fit extremely well to the southern conditions at the time with their many shortages, and few advantages that the Confederacy had (Vandiver, 44), but Stroker had disagreed with almost everything that Vandiver had said, and replied by saying that there