Template talk:Campaignbox Demonstration on the Rapidan River

Military history: North America / United States / American Civil War Template‑class

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One Battle Campaign?

A little history on the origins of these Campaign templates is in order. They originally all came from following this list from the Civil War Sites Advisory Committee at the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program, and as you can see, there are many on the list that have only one battle. It may be counter-intuitive, but a campaignbox with just one battle in it actually imparts value. It's important to understand what a Military campaign is and is not. It is not merely a list of battles. To over simplify, a campaign is strategic while a battle is tactical. A campaign can cover thousands of miles with zero, one, or few battles fought. It could be argued that the most successful campaign would achieve its goals with not a single battle fought and zero casualties on either side – but with the strategic aims of its planner fulfilled. These campaign lists were developed as they were for a reason, by professional historians, and changing them to be grouped, for example, geographically with other battles that are part of a different campaign, loses context and conflates campaigns which may have been carried out in different years and planned by different commanders. And having a campaignbox, even one with only one battle, also gives a consistent appearance on every battle article that is part of the WP:MILHIST project. I believe that's part of the WP:MILHIST style guide, but I'm not 100% certain. A campaignbox with one battle still imparts information of the CWSAC campaign name (for example Template:Campaignbox Jackson's Operations Against the B&O Railroad) and also gives a starting point for an article on the campaign itself as in Streight's Raid and for adding minor battles and skirmishes not rated by the CWSAC such as Template:Campaignbox Mine Run Campaign where the minor engagement Battle of Charlestown was added at some point by an editor to join the CWSAC rated Battle of Mine Run. Mojoworker (talk) 19:30, 2 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]