On the Road to Total War: The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification, 1861-1871 (review)

Abstract

142CIVIL WAR HISTORY focused so as to not lose their morality to the demands of the conflict; when soldiers accepted killing they had to reconcile it with their religious beliefs. Combat inspired even the nonreligious soldiers to get religion. There is nothing novel in the assertion that the experience of combat taught soldiers how to deal with it. But Hess has added to the scholarship in this area by casting the Union soldier not as a victim ofcircumstance, but as a victor over its horrors. His analysis is rich with insight, and the chorus of quotes illustrates how and why soldiers turned the combat experience into something spiritual. He does a good job in describing the complexity of emotion and reality of the combat experience from the trenches. He articulates well the broad-based attitude regarding not only how the soldiers endured combat but also why they continued to fight for the cause. Though this work is certainly not the last word on the subject, Hess has presented a point ofdeparture for scholars and students seeking to know about this aspect of war. Stephen D. Engle Florida Atlantic University On the Road to Total War: The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification, i86i-i8yi. Edited by Stig Forster and Jorg Nagler. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. xii, 705. $84.95.) Stig Foerster and Joerg Nagler have put together a fine collection of essays authored by some ofthe brightest international scholars of military history. Divided into six topics, the thirty-two essays explore basic historiographical and comparative issues: the role of nationalism, leadership, and war in defining total war; mobilization and warfare; the home front; the reality of war; and society's collective memory of such wars. Space here does not allow me to do the work justice. But some essays do outshine others. Mark Neely Jr.'s previously published "Was the Civil War a Total War?" (Civi/ War History 37. 1 , 1 99 1 ) is a logical first essay that searches for a definition of what constitutes total war. Neely finds that the American Civil War did not break down the distinctions between combatants and noncombatants , nor did it cause the governments to call for centralized planning and massive economic mobilization. More than a few scholars in the volume strongly disagree with Neely's conclusions . The opposition can be summed up best by Edward Hagerman's (à la Clausewitz) view that total war is a dynamic process that moves "toward totality " and away from limitation (141), something which Mark Grimsley aptly demonstrates in his recent work, The Hard Hand ofWar: Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865 (1995). Unfortunately, he is conspicuously absent from the list of essay authors. The second key essay, by the esteemed Carl N. Degler, deftly crafts the boundaries that make the two wars comparative. His conclusion is provocative, al- BOOK REVIEWS143 though not surprising. Both countries were in the process of nation-making. Ultimately, the American Civil War and the German Wars forged "new" nations. Other essays of note include Richard E. Berringer's work on Confederate identity and the will to fight; Herman Hattaway's exploration ofCivilWararmies; James M. McPherson's treatise on the Civil War as a total war; and Phillip Paludan's foray into Northern propaganda and public opinion. Equally interesting is Stig Forster's effort on Prussian military leadership and Gerd Krumeich's piece on the "people's war in Germany and France from 1871 to 1914. Moreover , Manfred Messerschmidt's lucid analysis of reform within the Prussian Army prior to the Wars of Unification and Jay Luvaas's insightful work on the influence of the German Wars on late nineteenth-century U.S. Army reform demonstrate the need for further comparative efforts on modern military systems and cultures. In short, this book deserves space on the shelf of every student of war. It is not the definitive answer to the nagging question of what constitutes total war, but it does set the framework forthe discussion. Perhaps Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan answered the query of what constitutes total war succinctly when advising Otto Von Bismarck on the German course of action during the Wars of Unification...