Brian Holden Reid’s goal in this book, as he states in its introduction, is to place the Civil War in context with two other major conflicts of the mid-19th century, the Crimean War and the wars of German unification. Contrary to many traditional accounts of the warfare of the era, he sees the three as reflecting the evolution of large-scale industrialized warfare during those decades, with the different struggles nevertheless demonstrating commonalities in the impact of new technologies and the changing scale of war.

This is evident beginning with the Crimean War. Fought in the shadow of the Napoleonic wars (the British commander had been Wellington’s secretary), Reid nonetheless demonstrates, in a very British-centric account, that the expedition to the Crimea would have been impossible without the steam-powered ships which sustained the forces. Yet while he challenges the notion of the British military as being “a museum piece”, he does note that the reforms introduced hardly addressed the challenges of the new warfare that commanders like Lord Raglan faced.

Similar limitations emerged at the command level during the Civil War. Reid’s analysis of the conflict dominates the book, taking up three of its five chapters. His analysis if primarily operational and strategic, and it reveals how unready – and in many cases, unadaptable – commanders on both sides were to the new scale of warfare. Grant emerges as the dominant commander, Reid argues, not because of his ability as a field commander (which he sees as inferior to Lee’s), but because of his grasp of “what was important in the higher level of the conduct of war.” In this Reid ranks Grant with Helmuth von Moltke as the first masters of industrialized warfare, as the Prussian general demonstrated similar attributes in his successful pursuit of victory against Denmark (which is only briefly addressed), Austria, and France.

All of this Reid presents with a generous seasoning of his sharp observations which leave little doubt as to his opinion on matters (his assessment of the staff of Austrian general Ludwig Benedek is that they “made for an entertaining dining club” is one of the more amusing among many) and make for a lively text. By comparing the three wars, he demonstrates clearly how industrialization transformed warfare, while his operational narrative shows how slowly commanders adapted to these changes. Heavily illustrated with photographs and maps, it is a quick read, and serves as an excellent introduction to the Civil War while putting it in the context of the evolution of modern warfare. ( )

The Civil War was the bloodiest in America's history, comprising 149 engagements of importance and 2200 skirmishes. The author narrates the history of the war and also describes how such factors as generalship, staff work, organization, intelligence and logistics affect the shape and decisions of the battlefield. He looks at the strengths, and weaknesses of the opposing sides - the North's industrial strength and the South's material shortages, for example - and the effect of new weapons on tactics. He explores the crucial role of the industrial revolution on the course of 19th-century warfare, first in the Crimean War, then in Prussia's wars with Austria and France, and most dramatically in the American Civil War. ( )