Civil-Military Relations on the Frontier and Beyond, 1865-1917

Charles A. Byler

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2006
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313043109
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Civilian control of the military is one of the cornerstones on which America is built, extending back even before the founding of the nation. In this volume, Byler examines the development of civil-military relations from the end of the Civil War until the start of the First World War, looking at what happened and why. During this period, an initially small, poorly funded, and often unpopular military continued its traditional subordination to civilian authority despite the dissatisfaction of many of its leaders. This volume explores why this was the case. It then demonstrates that even after the military achieved victory over Spain and began to rule overseas colonial possessions, giving it new prestige and influence, the experience of the previous decades ensured that the traditional principle of civilian control remained strong.

Significant tensions developed between civilian and military leaders as the small and poorly-funded military was sent on missions in the Reconstruction South and the Indian West, into overseas wars against the Spanish and the Filipino nationalists, and on interventions in the Caribbean and Central America. Nonetheless, officers continued to obey civilian authorities because of a developing professional ethos that emphasized the tradition of subordination to civilian leaders and the disengagement of the military from politics. Even as the military gained the size, strength, and prestige to challenge civilian control, it did not do so directly. Instead, it became adept at working within civilian institutions, forming alliances with leaders inside and outside government to shape the policies it wanted.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Illustrations
• Series Foreword
• Preface
• Chronology of Important Events
• 1 Americans Look at Their Military, 1865–1917
• 2 Congress, Popular Opinion, and the Making of Military Policy
• 3 The Military Experience, 1865–1917
• 4 “An Animated Machine”: Military Subordination to Civil Authority
• 5 Civil-Military Relations and the Campaign for Military Reform
• 6 Military Disaffection and Challenges to Civil Authority
• Documents
• Notes
• Bibliographical Essay
• Index
• 1. “The Regular Army O!”
• 2. “Grant's Last Outrage in Louisiana”
• 3. USS Baltimore in dry-dock at Mare Island Navy Yard, 1890s
• 4. “The New Indian War”
• 5. President Theodore Roosevelt addresses the crew of the USS Connecticut, 1909
• 6. Crew members of the USS Boston, 1888
• 7. Officers of the Seventh Cavalry Regiment, 1891
• 8. The Chicago Strikes—United States Cavalry in the Stock-YardsŽ
• 9. President William McKinley and Admiral George Dewey, 1899
• 10. General Leonard Wood
• 11. Plenty Horses and soldiers at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, 1891
• 12. General Nelson A. Miles at Tampa, Florida, 1898