Somewhat inspired by the nearby poll, could America have won the war without Washington? Who would be good candidates for an American victory otherwise? Charles Lee?
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Maybe, but I doubt if they would have managed without the military help of the French and support of the Dutch and Spanish?
the colonists could still have won the war, but I wonder what the future of the Presidency would have been like without Washington... he's the one who refused to be king and set the two-term limit idea. Would the other generals in the war have done the same?
This. There was a lot of latent military talent among the Americans (Greene was clearly a superior tactician to Washington, for example). It seems likely that the emergencies of war would have inevitably called up the talented warriors among the Americans. But when the guns fell silent, would whomever had become the commander-in-chief have the strength of character to do was Washington did and which others (Caesar, Cromwell, Bonaparte, to name but three) noticeably failed to do.
the colonists could still have won the war, but I wonder what the future of the Presidency would have been like without Washington... he's the one who refused to be king and set the two-term limit idea. Would the other generals in the war have done the same?
When people say Washington was mediocre what does that mean? That he couldn't pick which battles to fight as a strategist, or that he didn't zig and zag on the battlefield as well as others?
I wouldn't condemn Washington as a mediocre General because his plans were complex and he wasn't a cut above other generals when moving troops around the battlefield. He did take command of the 'Army of New England' and forge it into the Continental Army, that's got to count for a lot in my book.
Washington wasn't an amazing general. He was adequate and there were plenty who could have done better then him. His real skill was that h managed to keep the army together and unified.
As said, the US didn't need Napoleon or Gustavus Adolphus. So long as the US doesn't lose, the British can't win, and eventually some combination of foreign intervention, war-weariness and domestic politics will force the British to give up..