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“Battles Were Not Fought In Lines”: Nationalism, Industrialism and Progressivism in the American Military Discourse, 1865-1918

Torkelsen, Leif Alfred, Torkelsen

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History.
Although notably modest in size compared to its European counterparts, the United States Army was still acutely aware of the technological and tactical developments occurring overseas in the decades prior to the First World War. Nonetheless, in the years 1914-17, US military planners were stubbornly reluctant to accept the extraordinary innovations then taking place on the battlefields of Europe. Worse still, when the United States finally did enter the war, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France resisted adopting the techniques and tactics of their allies, developed in battle at such great cost. Instead, the U.S. Army’s Field Service Regulations clung to a vision of lines of riflemen, advancing in open order, overcoming all resistance with controlled rifle fire followed-up with the bayonet. Trained in such outmoded and linear tactics (“open warfare”, as Pershing called it), the American troops fighting in France needlessly suffered heavy losses. This, despite the fact that the American army possessed a modern general staff, numerous service schools and journals, military attaches and observers the world over. The reasons for this failure lay in the development of the military discourse developed by the U.S. Army in the decades prior to World War One. This discourse did not develop, as Samuel Huntington would have it, in the splendid cultural isolation of the western frontier. Rather, it evolved very much in the spirit of the times, embracing the cultural cross-currents of nationalism, industrialism, and progressivism. The result was that the U.S. Army filtered information about warfare abroad in such a way as to maintain its adherence to outdated tactical doctrine. This was further exacerbated by an increasingly centralized and technocratic approach to warfare that limited the army’s ability to adapt to change. In effect, the U.S. Army adopted the institutional architecture of modernity, not to improve its ability to wage war, but to symbolize its commitment to modernity as conceived within the broader national discourse. In order to provide an accurate portrayal of the U.S. Army’s military discourse, I will rely heavily on the articles and books published by military officers in their debates over tactics, weapons, and strategy. This approach gives the historian a more intimate look at what the officer corps was actually thinking. The generation after the Civil War witnessed numerous service journals come into being. Importantly, these journals were all independent of the War Department. All were private associations relying on subscriptions, membership dues, and limited advertising. As such, they enabled officers of all ranks to air their views with a minimum of official interference. Indeed, younger officers often tried to make their mark in a service plagued by glacial promotion through their writings. More importantly, government funds were provided to purchase and distribute copies of the various journals to the numerous military outposts on the frontier. These journals were not just read by a privileged few, but they were widely available.
Geoffrey Parker, Dr. (Advisor)
Nathan Rosenstein, Dr. (Committee Member)
Bruno Cabanes, Dr. (Committee Member)
312 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Torkelsen, Torkelsen, L. A. (2018). “Battles Were Not Fought In Lines”: Nationalism, Industrialism and Progressivism in the American Military Discourse, 1865-1918 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525625249871525

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Torkelsen, Torkelsen, Leif. “Battles Were Not Fought In Lines”: Nationalism, Industrialism and Progressivism in the American Military Discourse, 1865-1918. 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525625249871525.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Torkelsen, Torkelsen, Leif. "“Battles Were Not Fought In Lines”: Nationalism, Industrialism and Progressivism in the American Military Discourse, 1865-1918." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525625249871525

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)