Analysis Of George Washington Spymaster: What Wins A War

What wins a war? By unlocking that formula one can give weight to the actions of a group or individuals. Things that seem insignificant at the time begin to build and accumulate until it has enough power to even build a nation. The American Revolution, starting in 1775, followed the principles that are necessary to win a war. These principles, or formula pieces, include troop and national morale, the winning of key battles, information on the enemy, and the help and investment of foreign powers. Each of these monumental tasks had to be conquered for the United States to become an independent nation freed from the tyranny of the British Monarchy. But how did the rag tag army without trained leaders, munitions and at many times, basic necessities such as food and shoes accomplish this? The answer is spies. Individual men and women, sometimes groups, who risked everything to secretly obtain information for the aid of a new nation, which, if

Although short, it is a diving board leading me to deeper source materials. The main argument of his book is that it wasn’t necessarily spies the won the war, but that American spies were better at their job than their British counterparts, allowing them to win. The book follows a simplistic outline going through each aspect in which the American spies were either more intelligent, better trained, or just plain luckier than the British agents of espionage. It then continues to explain the various techniques used by the spies. Most importantly, it gives the credit to George Washington as a “spymaster” who skillfully organized the entire operation due to his previous experiences dating as far back as the French and Indian War. Allen argues that without General Washington, the spies and rings would have never existed as we know them to have had