An Army for Empire: The United States Army in the Spanish-American War - Hardcover

Cosmas, Graham A.

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9780826201072: An Army for Empire: The United States Army in the Spanish-American War

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826201075 ISBN 13: 9780826201072

Publisher: University of Missouri Press, 1971

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This volume is the standard accurate modern account of the organization, administration, and strategic direction of the United States Army in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Popular history has traditionally laid the responsibility for the spectacular blunders of the Spanish-American War on those military and civilian officials who controlled the War Department.
But this fully documented study of all aspects of the Army administration shows quite a different picture. Cosmas, in an almost day-by-day account of both the Army and the war, makes clear the factors that invited many of its disasters. The Congressional penury of the 1890s, the political conflict in Congress between state militia advocates and the Administration, the frequent shifts of strategy forced on the Army by President William McKinley's changes in diplomacy - all contributed to the peculiarly amateur quality of the land forces that went ashore in Cuba. The Puerto Rico and Philippine campaigns, which were prosecuted later and under better circumstances, were more efficiently conducted but less newsworthy.
An Army for Empire is a complete and authoritative history that moves with ease from the decisions that shaped strategy to the tactical actions before Santiago. Cosmas successfully brings into one story the diplomacy, internal politics, and military strategy of the Army at war in 1898. He shows how the war ultimately led to critical reforms and to a role for the United States Army that shaped twentieth-century history.

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From the Back Cover:

This fully documented study presents the organization and administration of the Spanish-American War army and the responses of the War Department to the conflict of 1898 and the challenges of overseas empire. In a clear and concise manner, Cosmas puts forth factors that invited many of the war's disasters. The Congressional penury of the 1890s, the political conflict in Congress, changes in President William McKinley's military strategy and goals, which placed frequent shifting demands upon the army - all contributed to sending inexperienced land forces ashore in Cuba. This account reconstructs the War Department's story of the war and traces the course of the department's effort to organize and equip an army and then deploy it to secure objectives of national policy. Cosmas analyzes each major decision concerning these matters: how and why it was made and the results it produced.

About the Author:

Graham A. Cosmas is head of the General Histories Branch of the U.S. Army Center of Military History.

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