The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, and Field Command

It has long been suggested that the Civil War was so bloody because the technology had outpaced the tactics. This is true and this book examines the other half of the story: how the technology was shaped by the Civil War and what its consequences were after the war. In the wake of the Civil War the U.S army became a behomoth especially when it came to engineering and Total War. Although it would be another generation before this would be seen on the battlefields of Cuba, this book is a very interesting examination of this aspect of the Civil War's affects on the Armed Forces. Seth J. Frantzman

While author Edward Hagerman agrees with the questionable assumption that the rifled musket transformed warfare by strengthening the defense, he takes a broad view to explain why Civil War combat degraded into trench warfare. Hagerman stresses Mahan's doctrine of using field fortifications in one area in order to allow maneuver elsewhere on the battlefield. Lower population density than Europe meant that Napoleonic logistics assumptions were completely inadequate. Making frequent mention of an army's wagons per 1,000 men, as well as the distance it could march from its railhead, the author shows how wide ranging maneuver was impractical, forcing all commanders, but Lee in particular, to confront his adversary directly. The author also states that American ideology prevented staff development, which combined with generally poor use of signals and the telegraph, helped lead to indecisive combat. As a result of all these factors, Civil War combat was indecisive, and trench warfare was the inevitable result. Minimal mention is made of the failure of Civil War armies to make combined use of infantry with cavalry. This could be explained by the author's conclusion, without discussing weapons in any meaningful way, that the rifle musket was a significant improvement over smoothbores. The book is strongest on the Army of the Potomac, and some of the author's conclusions are questionable, but the book is full of thought provoking insight and is well worth reading. It is an invaluable addition to our understanding of the war. Unfortunately, a conclusion, which could have made his thoughts more clear, is not given, and the book ends abruptly. Although it is well written, the book may not appeal to beginning Civil War buffs.