MARSHALL-CORNWALL : Grant as military commander (fülszöveg)
In 1861, when the Civil War began, Ulysses S. Grant was an ill-paid, somewhat drunken, 38 year-old clerk in the township of Galena, Illinois. Four years later, when he received the surrender of the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee at the historic court house of Appomattox, Grant had established himself as one of the great military commanders of all time. How such a transformation, as extraordinary as any in the annals of generalship, came about, is made clear in this masterly book.
The stages in Grant's progress during the War are analysed with an apparent ease and clarity which disguise an absolute grasp of the subject. A West Point training and active service in the Mexican War meant that, less than a year after joining the Union Army, Grant was already in command of the invasion of Tennessee. Thereafter the milestones in his achievement are marked by some of the most memorable names in the War: Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, The Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Petersburg.
General Sir James Marshall-Cornwall's approach is illuminating from several points of view. As a student of the Napoleonic campaigns and as the author of military biographies of Massena and of Napoleon himself, Sir James is able to appraise Grant's achievement not merely in the context of the Civil War, but by comparison with the acknowledged masters of strategy and tactics. As a geographer, Sir James (a Past-President of the Royal Geographical Society) is constantly aware of the terrain over which Grant fought and so of the physical considerations by which he was bound. As a serving officer, at every level, in two World Wars, Sir James shows an awareness — not always shared by arm-chair strategists — of what the command of troops and the presence of a resourceful enemy actually entail. Again, Sir James's personal experience of military leadership enables him to analyse sympathetically Grant's relations both with his superiors and with his subordinates. Finally, during his visits to the U.S., Sir James studied on the spot the battlefields with which he is here concerned.
Ulysses S. Grant, Sir James Marshall-Cornwall believes, was one of the great military commanders of history. Clearly and persuasively this book sets out the grounds on which this conviction is based.
|
|
|
|
| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
