Member Review A Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War

chellers

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Williamson Murray & Wayne Wei-Siang Hsieh
Princeton University Press (September 13, 2016)

The Civil War represented a momentous change in the character of war. It combined the projection of military might across a continent on a scale never before seen with an unprecedented mass mobilization of peoples. Yet despite the revolutionizing aspects of the Civil War, its leaders faced the same uncertainties and vagaries of chance that have vexed combatants since the days of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War. A Savage War sheds critical new light on this defining chapter in military history.

In a masterful narrative that propels readers from the first shots fired at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox, Williamson Murray and Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh bring every aspect of the battlefield vividly to life. They show how this new way of waging war was made possible by the powerful historical forces unleashed by the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, yet how the war was far from being simply a story of the triumph of superior machines. Despite the Union's material superiority, a Union victory remained in doubt for most of the war. Murray and Hsieh paint indelible portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and other major figures whose leadership, judgment, and personal character played such decisive roles in the fate of a nation. They also examine how the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Northern Virginia, and the other major armies developed entirely different cultures that influenced the war's outcome.

A military history of breathtaking sweep and scope, A Savage War reveals how the Civil War ushered in the age of modern warfare.

About the Authors
Williamson Murray is professor emeritus of history at Ohio State University. His many books include The Iran-Iraq War. Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh is associate professor of history at the United States Naval Academy. He is the author of West Pointers and the Civil War. They both live in Fairfax, Virginia.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0691169403/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Disclaimer: This post is neither a recommendation nor solicitation by CivilWarTalk or Chellers. It is solely for informational purposes.
 
Murray and Wei-Siang Hsieh have written a very good book. I would get this book and read it, if you can. I was lucky enough to find it at a library.
 
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This certainly sounds like a fascinating book. I will make it the next book I purchase.
One of the things that made this war so devastating was, in my opinion, the wedding of modern arms with Napoleonic tactics. One of the contrasts you see in this war is the comradery between battles (think of the scene in Gods and Generals where the two men meet in the middle of the creek to swap some tobacco for some hot coffee) and then the savagery in battle. This book sounds like a worthy addition to the works about the Civil War.
 
This certainly sounds like a fascinating book. I will make it the next book I purchase.
One of the things that made this war so devastating was, in my opinion, the wedding of modern arms with Napoleonic tactics. One of the contrasts you see in this war is the comradery between battles (think of the scene in Gods and Generals where the two men meet in the middle of the creek to swap some tobacco for some hot coffee) and then the savagery in battle. This book sounds like a worthy addition to the works about the Civil War.

They do touch on that in the book. One of the things I found most interesting is that how around 1863-64 the authors write about how when the armies stopped after a march they would immediately start entrenching, knowing full well what fighting in line of battle would cost.
 
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