The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history and a defining moment of the nineteenth century. In this concise and authoritative volume, Brian Holden Reid -- a leading expert on the subject -- reveals how industrialization and emerging methods of mass production gave birth to a new age of warfare, most dramatically represented in the unprecedented destruction and mass casualties of the American Civil War.
<ul>
<li>Detailed, chronological history of the strategic and operational dimensions of both the Northern and Southern campaigns </li> <li>Strengths and weaknesses of the opposing sides </li> <li>Fresh perspectives on the war's global context</li> <li>Culmination of the war, peace negotiations, and their ramifications for the future</li>
</ul>

The Civil War and the Wars of the Nineteenth Century (Smithsonian History of Warfare)

History

Reid, Brian Holden

Americas

Harper-perennial

Military planners, theoreticians, and practitioners present 17 essays insisting on the continuing importance of the Central Region of Germany in NATO's defense policy, though it is no longer a border. Among the considerations are the overall strategies of NATO and the (former) Soviet Union, nuclear

Military Strategy in a Changing Europe: Towards the 21st Century

Science & Math

Technology

Potomac Books Inc.

General Robert E Lee, handsome, immaculately attired and dignified, quickly emerged as one of the great heroes of the American Civil War. This is rather surprising for, as Brian Holden Reid points out in his lucid new study, Lee was the most successful general to command troops against the armies of the United States before General Vo Nguyen Giap in Vietnam. 
Lee's reputation as a peerless commander was greatly embroidered by writers after 1865 who were dedicated to the Lost Cause and presented a sentimental picture of the Old South with Lee as its finest product. His character and achievements in the Civil War were presented as a validation of the Confederate cause. It is important for historians to come to terms with this legacy. Professor Holden Reid briskly surveys the forms that the Lee legend took after his death in 1870 and discusses the reasons behind the way it crystallized as it did. As a non-American he brings a fresh, detached eye to this process. 
Holden Reid argues that Lee's qualities as a general do not require any exaggeration or embellishment. Lee's short period of field command, just under three years, was marked by imagination, decisiveness, stamina, and a determination to win the Civil War rather than just avoid losing it. Holden Reid defends Lee stoutly against later critics who have argued that his offensive strategy was self-defeating. He believes that it was the only realistic course offered to the Confederacy to win its independence. 
He acknowledges though that all great commanders have their faults. Lee exhibited occasional overconfidence, underestimated his enemy, and failed to develop his staff in any modern sense. The result is an authoritative and balanced assessment of a great American commander

Robert E. Lee: Icon For A Nation

Weidenfeld Nicolson Ltd

Brian Holden Reid Reid explores Major-General J.F.C. Fuller's formative experiences, showing how his early life, his service in the Boer War and in India, and his friendships with many alienated intellectuals, including Aleister Crowley, combined to shape his mental outlook and, eventually, his study of the phenomenon of war.

J.F.C. Fuller: Military thinker

Military

St.Martin's Press

Brian Holden Reid now considers afresh the military thought of Major-General J.F.C.Fuller - a pioneer of tank warfare and one of the most important military thinkers of the twentieth century. With a wealth of documentation, much of it previously untapped, Dr Reid explores Fuller's formative experiences, showing how his early life, his service in the Boer War and in India, and his friendships with many alienated intellectuals, including the notorious Aleister Crowley, combined to shape his mental outlook and, eventually, his study of the phenomenon of war.

JFC Fuller: Military Thinker (Studies in Military and Strategic History)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

This impressive volume - one of the most eagerly awaited additions to a famous series - treats with appropriate amplitude and authority the origins of one of the most terrible conflicts of modern times. The American Civil War was the bloodiest war of the nineteenth century. In its mingling of ideology and self-interest, and in the destructiveness of its weaponry, the extent of its casualties, the degree to which resources on both sides had to be mobilised for the war effort, and, not least, in the way the realities of warfare were brought home - literally - into the drawing rooms and parlours of the American people and far beyond, it can claim not only to prefigure modern warfare but itself to be the first distinctively modern war. Why did it happen? Was it an avoidable tragedy precipitated by irresponsible demagogues, or a necessary refining fire for a divided nation? To what extent was slavery the central issue, or was it a front for less principled passions and rivalries? How far did those who presided over the countdown to violence foresee the outcome, and the scale and horror of what would ensue? Brian Holden Reid sets out to answer these and other questions in his survey of the events preceding the outbreak of war in 1861, and of the vast literature to which they have since given rise.

The Origins of the American Civil War (Origins of Modern Wars)

Longman Pub. Group

The Origins of the American Civil War (Origins Of Modern Wars)

The American Civil War (1861-65) was the bloodiest war of the nineteenth century and its impact continues to be felt today. It, and its origins have been studied more intensively than any other period in American history, yet it remains profoundly controversial. Brian Holden Reid's formidable volume is a major contribution to this ongoing historical debate. Based on a wealth of primary research, it examines every aspect of the origins of the conflict and addresses key questions such as was it an avoidable tragedy, or a necessary catharsis for a divided nation? How far was slavery the central issue? Why should the conflict have errupted into violence and why did it not escalate into world war?

Routledge

One of the most impressive monuments to an American military hero is found in Richmond, Virginia. Weighing twelve tons and standing almost sixty-two feet high, this great marble statue depicts Gen. Robert E. Lee on horseback. It projects an air of defiance as well as celebration, implying that, despite the tragic outcome of the Civil War for the South, this general was not defeated. By the time this monumental icon was unveiled in 1890, twenty years after Lee's death, the apotheosis of the great Confederate leader's life and career was well underway. He came to symbolize the great lost cause–the unfulfilled, idealized achievements that were central to the romanticized imagery that quickly enveloped the Old South after the war.In this in-depth examination of the career of Gen. Robert E. Lee, noted historian Brian Holden Reid looks beyond the legend to arrive at an objective assessment of the man and his military career. Holden Reid argues that Lee's qualities as a general do not require any exaggeration or embellishment. Tracing the military campaigns of the Civil War, he shows that Lee's short period of field command, just under three years, was marked by imagination, decisiveness, stamina, and a determination to win the war against the better-equipped union army, rather than just avoid losing it. Some historians have criticized Lee's offensive strategy as an error that became ultimately self-defeating. By contrast, Holden Reid asserts that it was the only realistic way for the Confederacy to win its independence. Nonetheless, he acknowledges that Lee exhibited occasional overconfidence, sometimes underestimated his enemy, and failed to develop his staff in any modern sense.As a British historian, Holden Reid brings a fresh, detached eye to his evaluation of Gen. Lee, and in the end he presents an authoritative and balanced assessment of a great American commander.Marked by clarity of style and filled with fascinating historical details, this new reconsideration of a legendary southern general will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of Civil War enthusiasts as well as students and scholars of American history and military history.

Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Prometheus

In 1861, when the Confederate States of America seceded from the Union and Civil War broke out between the North and the South, few people had much idea of the scale, intensity, and duration of the conflict they were about to enter. Politicians, generals, and common folk on both sides blithely assumed that the conflict would be over quickly and were naively convinced of the superiority of the leadership and the forces at their disposal. Three years later, after many horrendous battles and huge loss of life, the tragic realities of this war had begun to sink in. Stalemate had led to great frustration and suggested a protracted conflict with no end in sight. In this successor volume to his acclaimed Origins of the American Civil War (1996), Civil War historian Brian Holden Reid examines in depth the operational military history during the first three years of America's Civil War. In particular, he focuses on generalship, command decisions, strategy, and tactics, as well as the experiences of ordinary soldiers. Besides lack of experience among generals, Holden Reid reveals that for the first few years of the war there was considerable indecisiveness in the North, a hesitancy to punish the South, and a fruitless hope that the Confederacy would agree to some form of reconciliation. He highlights certain important political and social developments during the course of the war that had an effect on Union soldiers and shows how their views became a catalyst in hardening the attitudes in the North toward the South.This important analysis makes a major contribution to Civil War military history within the larger context of a turbulent political and social climate. It will be followed by another work covering the final eighteen months of the conflict.

America's Civil War: The Operational Battlefield, 1861-1863

The British Army and the Operational Level of War

Engineering & Transportation

Mackenzie, JJG

Engineering

Tri-Service Press

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Books by Reid, Brian Holden