The other obstacle to American officers’ learning useful lessons from the experience was that the United States won. In his Elements of Military Art and Science, Halleck approvingly quoted a critical observer who noted that there are three kinds of generals: martinets, who know “only the mechanical part of their trade”; self-proclaimed “practical men,” who have “no other or better guide than their own experience”; and theorists, who by “study and reflection” have mastered the principles that can be adapted to new circumstances. But winning does not tend to stimulate “study and reflection.”
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