Kyiv’s Choice

Note –It’s now six essays in a row about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  It’s not that there isn’t important things happening in the US – the Supreme Court upheld Pennsylvania’s and North Carolina’s redistricting plans yesterday – among other things.  And I’ll get back to “Our America” soon.  But the drama of Ukraine – and the risk it raises for the world, is too great to ignore.

Eighth Grade History

If you remember Eighth Grade History, you remember the Civil War.  It was usually the best part of the Social Studies year, sometime in the middle of winter, when a good history teacher could intrigue a class with the pathos of battle between brothers.  You might even remember the original battle cries: “Onto Richmond” and “Onto Washington”.  Both armies aimed at their opponent’s capitals, hoping to capture them and quickly end the war.

The list of battles “on the road” to the capitals is long: First and Second Bull Run, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and the others in the long and bloody campaign of the summer of 1864.  Both sides were convinced that capturing, and ultimately destroying the other’s capital would end the war.  Both sides committed huge resources to defending Washington and Richmond.  And, in the end, they were right.  The fall of Richmond marked the final chapter in the end of the Confederate cause.  It was only weeks before the entire War was over.

Lee’s Decision

At the end of the War, the leading Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, made a strategic decision.  He was faced with three choices.  The first was a final, all-out battle with hugely superior Union forces, one that would result in the annihilation of what remained of his Army of Virginia.  He could find no value in that choice – a final battle to the death would only result in total destruction.  There was no “up-side” for his forces, or the Confederacy.

The second choice was brought to him by his junior officers – dissolve the army.  The Army of Virginia could not escape the Union Army of the Potomac, but small groups of men without heavy equipment could evade the Union patrols, and escape to the western mountains.  There, they could continue an insurgency, carrying on the Confederate cause through what today we would call guerrilla warfare.

Lee recognized that this kind of warfare would continue for generations.  And he saw that it did not further the ideals of the secessionists, who argued a “legal” theory to leave the Union.  Insurgency would be the opposite of what the founders of the Confederacy intended.  Their “plantation society” with its “peculiar institution” could not exist through insurrection.  The “Cause” would not be furthered by it. 

So he took the third choice, surrender of his forces to the Union.  General Grant offered him a generous surrender agreement, allowing his men rations and the freedom to go home.  Lee’s Army wasn’t the last in the field for the Confederacy, but it set the precedent for what the other Generals would do.  Within two months, Johnson in North Carolina, Kirby-Smith in New Orleans and Chief Stand Watie in Oklahoma surrendered and the Civil War was over.

Kyiv

There are few strategic military targets in Kyiv, just three million citizens in the capital of Ukraine.  But the symbolism of the Russian attack on Kyiv is clear.  Take the city, and take the “heart” of the Ukrainian resistance.  While Kyiv stands independent, Ukraine remains unconquered, still a sovereign nation standing tall against the vaunted Russian forces.  Once Kyiv falls, the war will become an insurgency, a guerilla war of ambush and dissolve.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is not in the same position as Robert E. Lee.  There is value in holding Kyiv.  The longer he can maintain a government there, the “worse” the Russians look to the rest of the world.  NATO and the United Nations has united against Putin and the Russians, something that might not have happened if Kyiv fell in the first few days.  

And every time a Russian artillery shell or missile or bomb falls on the millions of civilians in Kyiv, Russia isolates itself even more from the world.  Unlike Lee’s choice, the ultimate destruction of Kyiv does have meaning, if it happens.  It becomes the rallying cry for Ukrainian resistance as that resistance turns to the insurgency that Lee denied.  And it becomes the symbol that will continue to make Russia a pariah to the world. 

Lighting the Torch

So President Zelenskyy revealed his position today, sitting in his office in the Presidential Palace in Kyiv.  He is symbolically “giving the finger” to the Russians.  Just as Kyiv still stands, in spite of the massive amounts of Russian troops and tanks and planes, so does Zelenskyy.   He is challenging them, forcing them to destroy the entire city in order to “conquer” it.  Don’t be surprised if the two hundred and seventy-eight year old Palace, ironically built for a Russian empress, is flattened soon.

There will be no “cavalry” riding over the hill to save Ukraine.  With the ugliness of total warfare, Russia will destroy Kyiv (and symbolically Ukraine) building by building.  Trapped in the city will be millions of non-combatants, civilians, many of whom will be killed.  And the sacrifice of the city and the people will serve as a torch light for the Ukrainian resistance to follow.  Whatever happens to Kyiv, or Zelenskyy; Russia has already lost their war of conquest.  The people of Ukraine will never forget, and never cease to fight.  

Will the world will still stand with them?

Ukraine Crisis

Author: Marty Dahlman

I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.