The Killer Angels is an award-winning novel that was written by Michael Shaara in the year 1974. The novel revolves around a four-day battle at Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The book is centered on June 30, 1963; this was the time that both the Union and Confederacy were preparing for battle in the town of Gettysburg (Shaara, 2010) . The battle started on 1st to 4th July 1963. The book starts with Harrison a Longstreet’s spy who gathers information about the federal soldiers their movements and the positioning of the soldiers. The novel is very interesting in that it narrates the story from the two general’s perspectives, the two generals from the two opposing sides. On the Confederacy side, there are two generals that are James Longstreet and Robert Lee. On the union side, there is General John Buford and general Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Shaara, 2010) . The author narrates the story of the Gettysburg; it is said that the battle is the biggest battle in North America's history to date. The author also tries to establish the motives behind the attacks that made friends to pick up arms and fight each other.
The aim of the author in writing this book was to bring the significance of the Gettysburg battle in the civil war. The author depicts the accurate events that happened in the four-day battle of Gettysburg.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
At the beginning of the book, the author dedicates a letter to his readers stating that he only used primary sources in the writing of the book and that he made very few alterations but most of the book is based on facts and actual events that took place. His main aim in writing the book was to bring the momentous parts of the American history to life (Shaara, 2010) . The author is not based on any side of the fighting parties he portrays their sides equally as it happened and he goes an extra step to show the real causes of the civil war. In order to stay neutral all through the novel he uses a spy named Harrison that was hired by General Longstreet, his main work was to monitor the actions of the Union forces (Shaara, 2010) . Through the spy, we can see both sides without any bias. It can be argued that the author was very motivated to bring to light the unbiased truth about the war, what caused the war, and finally how the war is significant to the American history.
The genius military strategy that was used by the Confederate army is credited to the two generals James Longstreet and Robert E. Lee's. The two generals are very significant all through the book. The two generals trust each other, and they are both concerned about each other’s safety. The two generals have their own opinions about the war and how they think the war should be fought. Lee has some excellent tactical skills that can help them win the war, but he has some conventional policies that do not go hand in hand with Longstreet’s Futurist policies. General Lee is more of a defensive guy he issues orders and commands from a defensive position. The author depicts General Lee as a very wise man who knows that his career is coming to an end (Shaara, 2010) . Lee acts as the alpha male with very conventional ideas about war. However, he appreciates generals Longstreet innovative ideas and tactics. The soldiers look up to General Lee, he inspires all the soldiers even the wounded soldiers do beg to be returned to the front lines. His presence in the battlefields is a morale booster for the soldiers. However, general lee was overconfident about his soldiers that he failed to know their strengths and might lead to great disasters at the Pickett Charge. I believe that the overconfidence on the soldier’s part by Lee was the leading course of all the disasters that feel on his troops.
The Confederate Generals had two strategies to fight the union forces the downside is that the two generals were in conflicts with each other over which strategy to use (Shaara, 2010) . The conflict between the two generals Lee and Longstreet was whether to use an offensive or a defensive strategy. General Longstreet was a defensive strategy while General Lee was an offensive strategy. Longstreet was a very bright general he realized the only way to win the war was by using modern strategies he realized that they had to embrace new technologies like long-range artillery and automatic weapons that would beach front lines, he also realized that old war strategies are no longer effective. Longstreet says that his defensive method is very effective and he gives an example of a soldier hiding in the trees can shoot and kill three people charging towards him easily. He further claims that by using that strategy 1000 soldiers can kill over 3000 soldiers who are charging towards them. He further claims that if the defender is aided by artillery, he can kill even more enemies. Longstreet convinces general lee that fighting from a defensive position is the way to go and win the battle. He argues General Lee move his army to the south-east of Gettysburg. By doing so, the Confederate army will be between the Union army and the capital city that is Washington D.C. this move will provoke the union army into attacking the Confederates, and if the Confederate army is situated in a defensive position they will easily destroy the Union army. The author portrays Longstreet as a very intelligent general who thinks four steps ahead of his time.
The biggest mistake that General Lee did believe that he could destroy the union army even if they were situated in a fortified high ground, by simply situating his Confederate army in the right location. General Lee fought for two days battling the left and right flanks of the Union army, and he finally tried to break through the center with Pickett’s charge, he strongly believed that he would cut the union army into two and finish off the confused lot. He overlooked the union's heavy artillery situated on the high grounds of the battlefield (Shaara, 2010) . The pickets charge was the most pivotal event of war this is because it was so significant on many levels that it is remembered to date. From that, even no such combat has ever been seen it was the last of its kind. From that day onwards no armies have ever tried to charge its enemies across the battlefield. Such fighting strategies ended as new technologies like advanced artillery, and improved rifles came along. This day's militaries do not fight in lose ranges as they did in the civil war, armies have turned into more dangerous and clever tactics like chemical warfare laser-guided missiles, nuclear weapons among many others. Pickets plan marked the end of an era.
In conclusion, the novel is an eye-opener . It shows the reader how warfare has evolved from fighting at short ranges to fighting from across continents. Since the book is based on a true story, it gives the reader insights on how the lives of the soldiers and how hard it was to be a soldier those days.
References
Shaara, M. (2010). The killer angels: The classic novel of the Civil War (Vol. 2). New York: Ballantine Books.
