Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
In his preface, Hattaway (Why the South Lost the Civil War, How the North Won) notes that his goal was to focus on "certain military aspects of the American Civil War and to relate them more broadly to technological and managerial realities." He succeeds admirably, providing the reader with a clear, succinct background of changes in military strategy and armament proceeding from the Napoleonic wars, the Second Seminole War, the Mexican War and the Crimean War before dealing with the Civil War. Well organized and well-written, the parts and chapters move through those years with primary attention to each battle's strategic process and outcome while stressing the importance of technological developments and resultant changes in operational strategy. For example, the gradual adoption of entrenchment defense was necessitated by the longer range and accuracy of new rifles. Despite Hattaway's welcome brevity, the text offers asides that may surprise even seasoned Civil War buffs. For example, in his discussion of Gettysburg, he discusses General Richard S. Ewell's mental state: "Ewell may even have had severe mental problems... legends persist that he sometimes hallucinated that he was a bird; for hours at a time he would sit in his tent softly chirping." Throughout his text, Hattaway traces the growth of military professionalism and concludes that wars are inevitable and that only a professional military can prepare for them effectively. Illustrations not seen by PW. History Book Club selection. (May)
Library Journal
Hattaway (Why the South Lost the Civil War, Univ. of Georgia, 1991) distills his immense knowledge of war and society into this compact volume. Here readers can sample recent scholarly thinking about the war and the ways management and technology decided the character and outcome of the conflict, all spiced by pithy sketches of major figures. Hattaway reckons that professionalism counted the most in the successful organization and conduct of wartime affairs, though an "amateur" like Lincoln could emerge as a great war leader. Hattaway also looks at the Indian wars, the Mexican War, the Crimean War, teaching at West Point, and political leadershipall to give a long view and a comparative perspective rare in such a short history. Only the hurried narrative and a sometimes quirky bibliography will keep readers from appreciating the complexity and subtlety of Hattaway's many insightful suggestions. A fine introduction to a huge subject.Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Kirkus Reviews
A succinct, clear, useful review of the battles and campaigns of the Civil War, and of the strategies that shaped them.
Hattaway (History/Univ. of Missouri, Kansas City; How the North Won, 1982, etc.) is particularly concerned with the ways in which the war spurred an extraordinary range of developments in military technology (from repeating rifles to armored vessels) and with the often haphazard ways in which both sides struggled to adapt old military theories to new conditions and to the American landscape (most of the war's major battles were fought in terrain that obscured visibility, in conditions unknown to the European strategists much studied by both sides). Hovering over many of the war's bloodiest battles, he suggests, were recollections of the Mexican war in the 1840s, when direct assaults on enemy positions carried the day. Commanders on both sides repeatedly, disastrously, attempted to replicate those successes. Also shaping the nature of Civil War battles was the absence of a large professional officer corps. The outcome of the war, Hattaway suggests, is in part the history of commanders learning how to fight in a new way, to utilize technology, and to wage war on a far broader scale. While the conflict's most influential battles are judiciously, if swiftly, described, Hattaway repeatedly returns the narrative to this question of the evolution of strategy. His portraits of Grant and Lee, the war's most influential strategists, are terse, often critical, and convincing.
Those looking for detailed studies of individual battles should turn elsewhere. (Hattaway provides very helpful annotated bibliographies of the best work on the war.) Those searching for a clear, persuasive introduction to the way in which battle shaped new strategies and a new idea of war could find no better or more compelling guide.
From the Publisher
"There is no other one-volume history of the Civil War that is so up-to-date in its author's mastery of current scholarship on the war, that so succinctly yet completely summarizes the military history of the war. . . . Anything Herman Hattaway says on the Civil War has to be taken seriously."— Russell Weigley
"A perceptive, well-crafted account—the best clear, brief military history of the Civil War available. Good focus on themes of technology, strategy, tactics, and leadership with an emphasis on the West Point contribution. Wonderfully clear and concise accounts of campaigns and battles that never seem stale. Like all Hattaway's work it is characterized by great scholarship with a kind of charming quirkiness."—George Rable
