Gettysburg has long been considered the greatest battle ever fought by America.?

Question

Do you agree with this? If not what was the greatest battle ever fought by the Americans. Please include the Battle Name and war it was fought in.

Answer 1

Hi Willie,

Gettysburg was indeed the greatest battle on different levels. It was (and still is) the largest land battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere -- but it was also the most important as well.

Had the North lost this battle, General Lee would have had a totally unimpeded route to the major cities of the Northeast, as well as Washington DC. While accepting that anything could have happened, it nevertheless provided Lee with an opportunity to knock out the Union in one swift blow.

Regardless of the fact that Meade failed to capitalize on his victory by pursuing Lee. It was still an absolutely decisive victory.

Answer 2

Before this question can even be tackled, you have to define your terms. What exactly makes a battle "great"? Victory? Heroism? High casualty rates? Impact on history?

You can also argue over what constitutes a "battle". For example, can D-Day be considered to be one battle?

Personally, I think all battles suck. No sane person would actively want to be in one. However, some battles do have tremendous historical significance, and if that's what makes a battle "great", then Gettysburg is quite likely the greatest. As far as America is concerned, Gettysburg was the pivotal battle of the civil war, and the civil war probably shaped our nation more than any other (except the revolutionary war). If the south had won the civil war, U.S. history would have changed much more than if the Germans had won one of the world wars.

In terms of impact on U.S. history, the only war that can contend with the civil war is the revolutionary war, and the revolutionary war really didn't have a clear knock-down, drag-out, winner-take-all battle that would rival Gettysburg.

In sum: Yeah, I'd agree that Gettysburg was the greatest battle fought by America, in terms of impact on U.S. history. If you're looking at impact on world history, then I'd have to take a much more serious look at the two world wars, but the really decisive battles of the world wars weren't really fought by Americans. WWII was decided more on the eastern front than on the western one.