West Pointers and the Civil War: The Old Army in War and Peace (Civil War America)

Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh

ISBN 10: 0807832782 / ISBN 13: 9780807832783

Edité par The University of North Carolina Press November 2009, 2009

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N° de réf. du vendeur 719

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: West Pointers and the Civil War: The Old Army in War and Peace (Civil War America)
• Éditeur: The University of North Carolina Press November 2009
• Date de parution: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0807832782
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780807832783
• Reliure: Hardcover
• État de l'article: Used - Good
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • History::Civil War

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

This book discusses the transformation from militia to professional standing army. Most Civil War generals were graduates of West Point, and many of them helped transform the U.S. Army from what was little better than an armed mob that performed poorly during the War of 1812 into the competent fighting force that won the Mexican War. Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh offers an insightful and original portrait of the American army from 1814 to the end of the Civil War. Hsieh demonstrates how the ""old army"" transformed itself into a professional military force after 1814, and, more important, how 'old army' methods profoundly shaped the conduct of the Civil War. The dominance of both armies by West Point - trained generals prevented either side from gaining a marked superiority in military competence. Moreover, the long, grinding war, with heavy casualties on both sides, had unforeseen political implications - for instance, the war's great length strengthened the hand of the abolitionists, which would not have been the case if the North had won a quick and decisive victory. In this first book to show how the antebellum U.S. Army, and especially West Point graduates, affected the course of the Civil War, Hsieh makes a unique and important contribution to the history of America's greatest cataclysm.

À propos de l'auteur

Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh is assistant professor of history at the United States Naval Academy and has served with the U.S. State Department on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Iraq.