On the Road to Total War
The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification, 1861–1871

Essays tracing the roots and development of total industrialized warfare in the United States and Germany.

Stig Förster (Edited by), Jorg Nagler (Edited by)

9780521521192, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 August 2002

720 pages, 5 b/w illus. 1 map 4 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 4 cm, 1.04 kg

"This seven-hundred-page volume is a fascinating,...collection of papers...." Peter Bergmann, Jrnl of American History

On the Road to Total War attempts to trace the roots and development of total industrialised warfare, a concept which terrorises citizens and soldiers alike. Mass mobilisation of people and resources and the growth of nationalism led to this totalisation of war in nineteenth-century industrialised nations. In this collection of essays, international scholars focus on the social, political, economic, and cultural impact of the American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification.

1. Introduction Stig Forster and Jörg Nagler
Part I. Basic Questions: 2. Was the Civil War a Total War? Mark E. Neely Jr
3. The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification: the problem of comparison Carl Degler
Part II. Nationalism, Leadership, and War: 4. Confederate identity and the will to fight Richard E. Beringer
5. Unionism and Abolition: political mobilization in the North Hans L. Trefousse
6. The Prussian triangle of leadership in the face of people's war: a reassessment of the conflict between Bismarck and Moltke, 1870–71 Stig Forster
7. Union generalship, political leadership, and Total War strategy Edward Hagerman
Part III. Mobilization and Warfare: 8. The Civil War armies: creation, mobilization, and development Herman M. Hattaway
9. African-Americans and the mobilization for the Civil War Joseph T. Glatthaar
10. The Civil War economy: a modern view Stanley L. Engerman and J. Matthew Gallman
11. Industry and warfare in Prussia Ulrich Wengenroth
12. The Prussian army from reform to war Manfred Messerschmidt
13. French mobilization in 1870 William Serman
14. From limited war to Total War in America James M. McPherson
15. Remarks on the preconditions to waging war in Prussia-Germany, 1866–1871 Wilhelm Deist
Part IV. The Home Front: 16. Loyalty and dissent: the home front in the American Civil War Jorg Nagler
17. 'The better angels of our nature': Lincoln, propaganda, and public opinion in the North during the Civil War Philip S. Paludan
18. The permanence of internal war: the Prussian state and its opponents, 1870–71 Alf Ludtke
19. French public opinion in 1870–71 and the emergence of Total War Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau
20. Women and war in the Confederacy Donna Rebecca D. Krug
21. German patriotic women's work in war and peacetime, 1864–1890 Jean H. Quataert
Part V. The Reality of War: 22. Tactics, trenches, and men in the Civil War Earl J. Hess
23. Daily life at the front and the concept of Total War Thomas Rohkramer
24. At the nihilist edge: reflections on guerrilla warfare during the American Civil War Michael Fellman
25. The wars against Paris Robert Tombs
26. 'Our prison system, supposing we had any': the Confederate and Union prison systems Reid Mitchell
27. French prisoners of war in Germany, 1870–71 Manfred Botzenhart
Part VI. The Legacy: 28. The influence of the German Wars of Unification upon the United States Jay Luvaas
29. From Civil War to world power: perceptions and realities, 1865–1914 Richard N. Current
30. The myth of Gambetta and the 'people's war' in Germany and France, 1871–1914 Gerd Krumeich
31. War memorials: a legacy of Total War? Annette Becker
Conclusions: 32. The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification: some parting shots Roger Chickering
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], History of the Americas [HBJK]