The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era

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The Center for Presidential History welcomes Former CPH Postdoctoral Fellow Cecily Zander (Texas Woman’s University) to speak on her recent book The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era.

In The Army under Fire, Zander explores anti-militarism during the Civil War era, focusing on the political debates over the size and use of America’s armed forces that occurred as the nation was immersed in brutal internecine warfare. Zander examines how America’s prominent politicians interacted with the military and how they often failed to understand the value of the regular soldier, often to the detriment of the war effort.

Approaching politics through the lens of the army, Zander details flourishing anti-militarism during the era and how it shaped the dominant Republican Party as it took hold of power during a period of unprecedented crisis. Many Republicans called for the war to be waged aggressively, yet held the army required to do so in great suspicion. Ideological politicians often hindered the effectiveness of the military, and the inability of Republicans to trust the armed forces hampered reconstruction efforts and any attempt to reform the failing bureaucracy overseeing Native American affairs in the West.

Through her book, Zander covers all of this and more as she offers a new and insightful perspective on the Civil War that serves as a fine addition to that period’s scholarship.

Cecily Zander is an Assistant Professor of History at Texas Woman’s University and a historian of the American Civil War era and the American West.