Overview Of The Second Half Of Grand Design By Donal Stoker

The second half of Grand Design by Donal Stoker continues on with Stoker’s analysis of the war. He seemingly continues his support and provides evidence of the Union’s strategic thinking and analysis before battles. Stoker continues his top down approach of the war that he clearly states in the beginning of the book, which at times can cause some aggression states when analyzing the strategic components of this war. Its interesting and entertaining at points which makes the reader question if some statements are true when Stoker does not provide citations. Stoker’s top down approach also seemed to tarnish some of his analysis of the war because the leadership of the Civil War was not always a hierarchal state of command. A great battlefield

The reason why the Union ultimately won the Civil War was because the Union and its leaders, despite Stoker’s harsh criticisms, considered strategy way more than the Confederacy did. Stoker points out that at the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln began to consider how he was going to win. Despite more of Stoker’s very harsh criticisms at the very end of the book on Lincoln’s strategic ability outside of politics. The Union’s best leaders Lincoln, McClellan, Sherman and Grant considered the “ways and means”, much more than the confederacy to get the final “end” result the wished for, which was to win the war. The strongest point Stoker makes was his argument that if Lincoln had kept McClellan in place, his strategic thinking at the end of the summer in 1961 could have won the Union the war a lot sooner than it did. Utilizing McClellan’s complex strategic approach for several offenses and forcing the larger grand Union army at the heart of the Confederacy command. Lincoln could have won the war a lot sooner then essentially waiting for commanding generals Grant and Sherman to advance the Union’s strategy once