ABSTRACT
The American Civil War is perhaps the most studied of the wars fought by the United States, and it retains a secure hold on both scholarly interest and the popular imagination. This chapter explores military, naval, and diplomatic leadership in a broader, larger sense in terms of what leaders faced in waging war and negotiating settlements. In assessing military leadership during the Civil War, one must first consider the challenges both sides faced in framing and implementing a successful military strategy. For the Confederates, victory was predicated upon survival, putting up a determined defense of the Confederate homeland, and promoting northern war-weariness while sustaining Confederate morale, in part by considering the possibility of offensive operations and even invasions of enemy territory. Finally, most people overlook the degree to which Civil War diplomacy was directly related to issues of military strategy. In pursuit of independence, Confederate diplomats sought the support of Great Britain and France.
