by Frank Venables This short study of Chancellorsville is one of a series of "phased historical case studies in problem solving and decision making" which concentrate on various "turning points" in diplomatic and military history. Although most of the topics covered seem rather peripheral to wargaming they do provide useful background information while the emphasis on the reader considering and making the decisions for himself is after all what wargames are really about. Although only claiming to be a "non-specialist" study, the one devoted to Chancellorsville succeeds, by careful selecting the relevant information, in showing how the opposing generals came to make the decisions they did and how the battle developed accordingly. The only time the method breaks down is when Hooker's reaction to the destruction of his left flank is dismissed in half dozen lines, justifiably since he does not seem to have actually come to any decision, though the moral that events tend to occur in the absence of decisions is not explicitly drawn. For the expert the essay is obviously too elementary but it has not been designed with him in mind. As an introduction to the period, as an incentive to read more about it and as an insight into a different way of looking at past events both it and the series are to be welcomed, especially as a bibliography is given of the more salient books on the subject. Obtainable at 65P from Academic and Business Monographs Ltd., 6 Broderick Road, London S.W.17. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 152 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1974 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com