Despite how quickly trains could deliver men to the front, however, Wolmar maintains that the rails favored defensive warfare more than the offensive. The incorporation of railroads allowed for intense strategic planning: the Schlieffen Plan, Germany's strategy for a quick resolution to the Great War, was essentially a train timetable. Despite a reputation for feeding his troops off the land, his initial push was fueled by a rail-fed stockpile. Or, take Sherman's famed march to the sea, for instance, his bloody chevauchée from Atlanta to the southeast coast of Georgia. Rail lines made projecting and sustaining a force in the field far easier - as they did early in Crimea, allowing Britain to sustain a siege halfway across the world.
Engines of war grimoire professional#
Invading armies relied on raiding hostile territory to supply themselves, and as professional armies were rare, generally consisting of private subjects whose labor was needed back at home. Battles were comparatively much smaller, and more seasonal. Wars between ancient empires - the Roman and Carthaginian, for instance - might last decades, but these lengthy conflicts did not tax their nations they way they do now for most of the 20th century. Mankind has waged war against itself since human history began, but not until the industrial age did he do it on so terrible a scale. The most important aspect of the railroads to war, of course, is logistics - the transport of men and material to the battle, including food, ammunition, and forage. Who knew, for instance, the role of railroads in the Arab revolt from Ottoman rule? Although the American Civil War and the Great War feature most prominently, Wolmar also dwells on the Boer and Russo-Japanese wars, and includes many minor episodes which are fascinating. In Engines of War, veteran railway historian Christian Wolmar addresses how trains transformed war, allowing for greater conflicts to be sustained over a wider front, and often serving as the locus of conflicts themselves. It was Napoleon who observed the importance of supplies the military, and well he should know, for the nigh-twenty years of wars he raged on the European continent were the last major conflict prior to the advent of rails. In Engines of War, veteran railway historian Christian Wolmar addresses how trains transformed war, allowing for greater conflicts to be sustained over a wider front, and often servin An army marches on its stomach, but for a hundred years it rode to victory only on the rails.
Engines of war grimoire generator#
Wars began to be fought across wider fronts and over longer timescales, with far deadlier consequences.įrom armored engines with their swiveling guns to track sabotage by way of dynamite, railway lines constructed across frozen Siberian lakes and a Boer war ambush involving Winston Churchill, Engines of War shows how the railways - a fantastic generator of wealth in peacetime - became a weapon of war exploited to the full by governments across the world.moreĪn army marches on its stomach, but for a hundred years it rode to victory only on the rails. He shows that the 'iron road' not only made armies far more mobile, but also greatly increased the scale and power of available weaponry. In Engines of War, renowned expert Christian Wolmar tells the story of that transformation, examining all the engagements in which railways played a part from the Crimean War and American Civil War through both world wars, the Korean War, and the Cold War with its mysterious missile trains. But with the birth of the railroad in the early 1830s, the way wars were fought would change forever. In Engines of War, renowned expert Christian Wolmar tells the story of that transformation, examining all the engagem Before the nineteenth century, armies had to rely on slow and unreliable methods of transportation to move soldiers and equipment during times of conflict. Before the nineteenth century, armies had to rely on slow and unreliable methods of transportation to move soldiers and equipment during times of conflict.
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