Bull Run to Boer War
How the American Civil War Changed the British Army
Series : Wolverhampton Military Studies #32
Author : Michael Somerville
Print Editions
Paperback
£29.95 £23.96 Including FREE UK delivery
Despatched within 3-5 working days
Details
General - Pages : 384 | Images : 18 b/w photos, 9 b/w ills
Paperback - Date of Publication : 15th November 2019 | Size : 234mm x 156mm | ISBN : 9781912866250 | Helion Book Code : HEL1116
The American Civil War is often said to have predicted the way in which later wars such as the Boer War and the First World War would be fought. As a result, the British Army has been criticised for not heeding its lessons, a view that can be traced back to the 1930s. This book challenges that long-held view, and demonstrates that the responses to the lessons of the war in the British Army were more complex, better informed, and of higher quality, than normally depicted. Key to this new interpretation is that it takes a nineteenth century perspective rather than pre-supposing what the British should have seen based upon hindsight from the South African veldt or the Western Front trenches. It demonstrates that strategists and policy-makers reacted to the changes in the nature of warfare suggested by American experience, looks at how officers in the cavalry, infantry, artillery and engineers applied their observations in America to the technical and tactical issues of the day, and even examines the war’s influence on the development of aeronautics. In studying how the Civil War changed the Late Victorian British Army, the book provides insight into its learning process, and concludes that although sometimes flawed, its study of the American Civil War meant that it was better prepared for the wars of the twentieth century than previously acknowledged.
"Bull Run to Boer War makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the way in which the British Army viewed the experience of the American Civil War, the employment of some of those lessons on the many colonial battlefields it was engaged on, and the impact the war had on British tactical development to meet a future European war, including the development of the mounted rifles concept so unique amongst European mounted forces. It is essential reading for those wishing to understand this period of the British Army's development." Chris Roberts
"This objective study places the impact of the Civil War upon the British Empire in a new perspective." Civil War News
"Readers will enjoy and appreciate Somerville's detailed analysis of the effects of the effects of our Civil War on the British Army." On Point: The Journal of Army History
"Bull Run to Boer War is a stimulating and significant contribution to military-historical scholarship. It will aid both students and British army/American Civil War buffs, and will presumably long continue a standard work on its subject." Soldiers of the Queen Issue 181
"...is engaging history, analysis and writing in one package. Michael Somerville delivers with a scholarly, yet readable book that worthwhile reading for students of the British Army and the American Civil War alike." ARGunners.com
"This books deserves its place within the pantheon of British Army revisionist history. It is a great and enjoyable read from start to finish." Britain at War Magazine, Feb 2022