Overview

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. 18 b/w photos, 9 b/w ills

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9781912866250

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...highly persuasive in making that case that the Civil War's role in reshaping the British Army to meet the challenges of the next century, though limited in scope, remains greatly underestimated in both popular and professional historical writing....contains more than enough intellectual heft to force us to freshly question many traditional interpretations related to the matter. This book is very highly recommended reading for all students of the American Civil War as well as those concerned with the half-century of British Army development that preceded its involvement in the Great War. --Civil War Books and Authors

...highly persuasive in making that case that the Civil War's role in reshaping the British Army to meet the challenges of the next century, though limited in scope, remains greatly underestimated in both popular and professional historical writing....contains more than enough intellectual heft to force us to freshly question many traditional interpretations related to the matter. This book is very highly recommended reading for all students of the American Civil War as well as those concerned with the half-century of British Army development that preceded its involvement in the Great War. -- Civil War Books and Authors

Author Information

Michael Somerville graduated with a First Class degree in History from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. Alongside a professional career as an Information Technology Consultant, much of his spare time has been spent reading and researching military history. His particular areas of interest are the American Civil War and nineteenth century European wars; the First World War; the Balkans; and naval history. In August 2017 he was awarded a doctorate by the University of Buckingham for his thesis on the influence of the Civil War on the Victorian British Army. He is a trustee of the American Civil War Round Table UK, for which he has produced a number of presentations and articles. He lives in Wimbledon, London, with his wife Gillian who fortunately shares his love of American history and war cemeteries.

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