Chapter 53. Defensive War and Naive Diplomacy
- Age of limited warfare
- corresponding European period to American colonial era
- restraints of war made them less destructive and decisive
- The games of war
- battles took place on large, open fields
- customary rules for formations obeyed
- forces set up like chess pieces at opening of battle
- violations
- sneak attacks
- irregular warfare
- unexpected and unheralded tactics
- Stratification of war
- task of warriors
- functions were as separate from teh common man as those of cleric or barrister
- ranks usually drawn from aristocracy
- military engagements
- away from populace
- rules neatly and scrupulously followed
- Indians' differing view of war
- struck without warning
- omnipresent
- nightly terror in the remote areas
- continued their threat into late 19th century
- threats of invasion of European powers
- garrison house
- common dwelling and refuge during Indian raids
- whole community huddled together here in times of danger
- Indian summer
- absence of Indian threat in winter
- unexpected warm weather in fall prolonged Indian threat
- colonial warfare
- all men were soldiers since all lived on the "battlefield"
- backwoods no place for squeamish
- boys' pastimes early prepared them for defense
- institution for the citizenry
- defense of the hearth against omnipresent and merciless enemy
- European wars barely intelligible
- no military games played here
- improvement of the rifle
- myth of the omnipresent American marksman
- potent psychological warfare
- tactics unnerved rigidly trained (British) professional army
- need for an armed citizenry
- food-gathering
- self-defense
- omnipresent threat of war
- skirmishing type of warfare
- scattered encounters by small groups and individuals acting on their own
- professional soldier's mass drill, precision, and discipline were useless
- militia system development in New England
- every able-bodied man was to be armed
- no uniform
- unprofessional practice of electing own officers
- informality between officers and men
- weakened force in combat
- reminded soldiers they were fighting for themselves
- desertion was common when service became inconvenient
- adopted to slaveholding society in South
- dispersed military function into entire white community
- military leadership fell upon the civilian leaders of community ("Kentucky Colonels")
- America relied on armed citizenry rather than professional army
- dissolving distinctions and monopoly of European life
- minute men
- myth of a constantly prepared citizenry
- explains why Americans are so eager to lay down their arms once the conflict has ended
- desire for a quick return to peace
- lacked communications suitable for war
- no central command
- forces fell into decay after war
- America thought of military defense in the most direct and simplest terms
- no men marching off to battle
- man standing with neighbors defending his village from attack
- coastal defense
- remote areas refused to assist
- fully manned guardships from England carried out this task
- inter-colony cooperation
- practically nil
- Virginia sent scouts north to check movements of hostile French and Indians but never asked immediately threatened New York or New England if they needed assistance
- most communities offered excuses of why each dared not or could not send militia outside its borders
- French and Indian war
- pervasive localism prevent British from being able to combine colonial troops
- colonies contributed as little as possible
- colonists feared sending their young men into a regular army where they might be sent to distant places
- War of Independence
- clash of how, where and when men should fight
- problems of particularist feelings plagued them here as they did during French and Indian war
- Lord Loudoun
- attempted to control and centralize American military actively starting in 1756
- the more he learned about the colonial troops, the less he relied on them
- with his professional soldier's eye, he saw much that horrified him
- life of provincial militiaman
- free and easy compared to regulars
- no punishment
- came and went as they pleased
- problems that plagued Loudoun, plagued Washington
- series of wars from New England to middle colonies to the South
- small army made more effective and dispersed militia more effective
- impossible to overcome local pride
- did what he could to harness the men in a common cause
- All American armies competed against each other for men, officers, rank, and glory
- short-term enlistments
- sometimes as little as three months
- fear of professional standing army
- assumption that army would be superfluous after the war was over
- men went home just as they were learning their duties
- numerous defeats can be explained by transient character of army
- Washington's handicaps
- unreliability of men
- lack of discipline
- hastily gathered military ranks
- large-scale planning impossible
- commonplace desertions
- how and why did America win the war?
- despite bleak story so far, there were numerous acts of heroism, courage, and sacrifice
- unorthodox imagination of amateur American generals contrasting sharply with rigidity of British professionals
- British simply gave up -- very likely
- in first four years of Revolution, the 4 largest towns (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston) had fallen to British and become occupied
- no jugular to cut
- American center was everywhere and no where
- crucial aid of French
- at end of war, troops quickly dispersed
- story of actual administration of army
- dismal and discreditable
- almost unprecedented in annals of war
- American tradition of turning military success into political career was born
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