Monday, October 28, 2013

War Mobilization: The Myth and the Reality

I see many parallels between the US Civil War and World War I in terms of the idea of war versus the actuality of a total war.  In both cases, the vast majority of all parties involved saw the war as something that would be violent but quick, and swift and final.  No one could have predicted how complex the war would become.

....or could they?  Consider some of the problems that both the Union and the Confederacy faced when mobilizing for the early stages of war.  How prepared were they for actual conflict?  Consider the myth and actuality of First Bull Run--why was it anticipated as a sporting event but then experienced as a bloodbath?

10 comments:

  1. I don't think anyone could predict exactly how the war was going to be, but based on the knowledge and resources that the North and South had, you could most likely predict some things that could happen. The Union and the Confederacy did face problems when mobilizing for the early stages of war. The South was poor, as we saw in the movie, and they didn't have important things like shoes and socks. This was a problem because they were unable to walk on hard terrains without something to protect them. Even though the Confederates were poor, they still knew the roads they were traveling on. The North, however, did not know where they were going as well as the South did, because they were fighting in places like Virginia, which is obviously down south. Both sides weren't really prepared for actual conflict at first because they were so concerned with their individual problems that they had when mobilizing.

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  2. I agree with Tina that no one can predict exactly how a war is going to go, or even have a good estimate. War is never something you go into with 100% assurity of something. Niether side of the war was prepared, the south knew the terrain, but the north had better soliders and organization. Both sides thought that te war would be quick and that they would have a quick victory, but that is not at all what ended up happening. The war went form what was supposed to be a 6 months victory to lasting around 4 years, purley because no one had any idea of how it was going to play out, when they thought that they did.

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  3. Well both the confederates and the union believed this war was going to be quick and easy. They both did not really have a plan they just thought that they both would not need one. But very quickly they realized that it is not the war they both thought was going to happen. So they both did not come up with a long term plan. But the battle of Bull Run was basically the first battle where the north and the south finally stood face to face and they were both underestimating there opponent. Both of them were over confident and were not expecting such a war.

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  4. Clearly spirits were high when entering the war, the South was fighting its independence and the North was fighting for the Union. However, neither side was ready for war when it happened. On one hand the South was lacking resources such as money or industry to make sure that they had the supplies to fight in the war, making them less prepared. Also, because of this fact the Confederacy had to turn down 200,000 people willing to fight in the war because of lack of resources. The North did have the provisions but and people but lacked the drive for war and not have a properly trained army. Because of the huge number of volunteers they were forced to hire inexperienced people to lead, causing a lack in ability. This however, did happen to both sides since when the Battle of Bull run happened, s complete chaos occurred, neither side followed regulations.

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  5. Certainly a war is complex. For a war to occur, it needs a long conflict "foundation" and a spark to light off the dynamites. For example, the American Union and confederacy had been having conflict on slavery also the difference on economics since the early 19th century. A war can solve problems occasionally. I think civil war did solve the problems of America but war should still be the last choice for any country. Speaking about the mispredicting of civil war, America was just a little boy fighting in its first war. Of course, they thought it was an amusement, under estimate its length. Also, mobilizing wasn't easy for both sides. From the movie Glory, I see the soldiers were not ready to kill a man at all but I guess it was the same way for both north and south. However, the south had advantage on South terrain and the north had a better organized army. This is also why they thought they would have their victory quickly.

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  6. As everyone said, both sides predicted a very short war (like 6 months long) but it finally lasted over 4 years. That was due to the overconfidence that both the Union and the Confederacy had and we could say that at the beginning, they saw the war as a "game". Despite that, the mobilization of the armies was very fast and efficient as states the document and I believe that was due basically because most of the soldiers were volunteers... but that was not all they needed. The South had the advantage that they knew the territory where they were fighting but their army was not organized since they did not have many funds because of their economy based on slavery and their lack of industry. The Union army, though, had a better economy and a better organization and they were much richer (they had a really good and developed industry). But they did not take advantage of it since both armies were unprepared and untrained in a military sense, at least at the beginning of the war. The best example to illustrate that, in fact is the First Bull Run which was supposed to be a sporting event and led into a "bloodbath" because everyone went crazy as it was the first time that the armies confronted each other face to face. It is very painful because a bunch of deaths could have been avoided by training and preparing much more the troops before going to a battle.

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  7. It seemed like the North was expecting a quick war, while the Southern leaders realized that it was not going to be such an expedient one. For example, Northerners flocked to the first battle at Bull Run as people might watch a foot ball game today, expecting to see an easy Union victory. On the other hand, the Southern Secretary of the Navy saw the long war ahead and prepared by building a fleet of ironclad ships to compete with the North's naval superiority. Although the soldiers on either side believed that they would be 'home by Christmas" as they said before World War 1, the Southern leaders had much more realistic expectations of the war.

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  8. Of course with any war there are going to be some problems in the beginning for both sides. I think that both the north and the south were a bit over confident because they thought that the overall war was going to be quick, because at one point the New York times thought that the war would be over in 60 days. If they had known that the civil war would have been a long hard war then I think that in the beginning stages they would have tried to be more prepared. When it came to mobilizing, it was very hard to get a bunch of men to all follow the same directions because they did not have an organized system at first which is what lead to the very chaotic event of the battle at Bull Run. Both armies became disorganized, and the formation/ structure of the people collapsed which is why it was unsuccessful.

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  9. Of course, everyone thought and hoped the war would end quickly. However, once it actually started I don't believe either sections, North or South, could accurately predict how long the war would last. People had once thought of the war as a game and they would go to watch the soldiers do battle as if it were a sporting event. After witnessing the carnage and bloodshed, people started realizing the war would last much longer.

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  10. In both wars they thought that the war would be over swiftly and a victor would be crowned because they believed so heavily in themselves and so little in their opponents. Once war was initiated they ended being hit with the necessary measures of total war. It wasn't just the people in the army that were physically fighting the war involved anymore. It pulled in everyone. Kids, women, and had a lasting effect on the work force. Everyone had to do something to pitch in to the war effort.
    From an objective perspective both sides entered the war prematurely. The north didn't have the right moral although they did have the advantage of industry. The south on the other hand didn't have a centralized government. No one to look to and remind them of their fight. No symbol to fight for. Small things like flags and a name help but it's hard when you have an inferior population count and a vast majority of what you have in man power lives in the middle of nowhere as a farmer. The north was left with the pre standing american government thus didn't have to go through as much trouble. Although this is seen as an advantage it could've had a negative effect as well. If the country and the commanders think that everything is fine in their ranks and that moral is right and the soldiers and in the right state of mind then they might over look their need for boosters of moral. Both sides should've taken more time to analyze their recourses and recent economic history before they jumped into war.

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