Engineering Victory: How Technology Won the Civil War - Paperback
by Thomas F. Army (Author)
Superior engineering skills among Union soldiers helped ensure victory in the Civil War.
Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering--not superior military strategy or industrial advantage--as the critical determining factor in the war's outcome.
Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage.
By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers' education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war's outcome.
Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering--not superior military strategy or industrial advantage--as the critical determining factor in the war's outcome.
Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage.
By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers' education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war's outcome.
Highly recommended.--Choice
A thoughtful treatise on an important subject related to war, culture, and society, Engineering Victory is highly recommended reading.--Civil War Books and Authors
Army's description of Union Army engineers and their accomplishments is certainly thorough and impressive. He relates numerous examples of how the effective use of engineers led to victory while an ineffective application led to defeat.--The Michigan Historical Review
An interesting and thought-provoking study of military engineering in the Civil War with which students of the war, logistics, and technology will have to reckon.--Civil War Book Review
--Michael C. C. Adams, Northern Kentucky University, author of Living Hell: The Dark Side of the Civil War "Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era"Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering--not superior military strategy or industrial advantage--as the critical determining factor in the war's outcome.
Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage.
By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers' education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war's outcome.
"Highly recommended."--Choice
"A thoughtful treatise on an important subject related to war, culture, and society, Engineering Victory is highly recommended reading."--Civil War Books and Authors
"Army's description of Union Army engineers and their accomplishments is certainly thorough and impressive. He relates numerous examples of how the effective use of engineers led to victory while an ineffective application led to defeat."--The Michigan Historical Review
"An interesting and thought-provoking study of military engineering in the Civil War with which students of the war, logistics, and technology will have to reckon."--Civil War Book Review
Thomas F. Army, Jr., is an adjunct assistant professor of history at Quinebaug Valley Community College.
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