Military Models

[atlantis]

The confederacy in standing up a Military from scratch had 4 Models to copy.
1 US model.
2 British model
3 French model
4 Swiss model
Which army organization would have best utilized the resources available to the confederacy.
The senior Generals of the confederacy and Davis being west point educated were well informed of the first 3 and had a lesser understanding of the Swiss model.
Some of the Austrian and Prussian officers who came to the confederacy could have informed Davis and War dept on their countries Army organization, if you want to include the Austrian and Prussian models.

 

[Cavalier]

Not that wasn't lessons to be learned from the European military establishments, but if I was Davis I would have stuck to the U.S model. It would have been the one most familiar to the majority of officers, professional or militia. I wouldn't think there was a lot of time available for experimenting with unfamiliar organizations or procedures, but that's just an opinion.

I was wondering why you included the Swiss?

John

 

[7thWisconsin]

President Davis had been United States Secretary of War and had commanded during the Mexican War. The major Confederate commanders had been UNited States officers before the War. Regimental, battery and brigade structures were virtually carbon copies of the United States army. The fighting forces of the Confederacy were copied from the United States military. They didn´t really stand an army up from scratch - the bones were already there from the US military and were fleshed out after secession.

 

[atlantis]

Not that wasn't lessons to be learned from the European military establishments, but if I was Davis I would have stuck to the U.S model. It would have been the one most familiar to the majority of officers, professional or militia. I wouldn't think there was a lot of time available for experimenting with unfamiliar organizations or procedures, but that's just an opinion.

I was wondering why you included the Swiss?

John

The Swiss is a strong citizen/soldier type model and America at that time had an aversion to large standing army.

 

[Cavalier]

@atlantis I get ya. Thanks.

John