LYCOS RETRIEVER 
United States Army: Civil War
built 304 days ago
Responding to the success of its fortifications during the War of 1812, the United States soon developed an expanded system of modern, casemated, masonry fortifications to provide the first line of land defense against the threat of attack from European powers. While Congress reduced the size of the country's infantry and artillery forces after the war, it retained the increased number of officers that it had authorized for the Corps of Engineers in 1812. Pleas from several secretaries of war for more engineers to work on fortifications led Congress to double the size of the Corps again in 1838. The fortifications, which the Army engineers built on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and after 1848 on the Pacific coast, securely defended the nation until the second half of the 19th century when the development of rifled artillery ended the earlier impregnability of the massive structures.
Source:
The failure to man and train the Army of the United States (AUS) in the 1930s reflected two major problems. The first was the lack of equipment modernization, which the war department and combat arms commanders recognized; equipment shortages (and the growing obsolescence of the WW I weapons) meant that much of the army could not be combat-ready for at least two years. One option was to limit investment in new weapons like tanks; another was to develop prototypes of new weapons (like the 105 mm howitzer and the M-1 semi-automatic rifle) but not field them. The army pursued better mobility, especially for its service and supply units, through comprehensive motorization, but the willy-nilly purchase of trucks and cars made automotive maintenance difficult and costly, which made Congress unhappy.
Source:
World War II started in 1939 but the United States did not join until 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On the European front, US Army troops made up large portions of the forces that captured North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, and on D-Day, the resulting liberation of Europe and defeat of Germany, the millions of US Army troops played a central role. In the Pacific, millions of Army soldiers participated in the "island hopping" campaign that wrested the Pacific islands from Japanese control. Following Axis Powers surrender in August/September 1945, US troops were deployed to Japan and Germany to occupy the two nations.
Source:
As About Face was becoming a best seller, he returned to the United States to marry Eilhys England, his one great love, who became his business and writing partner. He became a powerful voice for military reform. From 1990 to 1996, as Newsweek Magazine's Contributing editor for defense, he covered the first Gulf War as well as peacekeeping battles in Somalia, the Balkans, Korea and Haiti. He captured this experience in Hazardous Duty, a volume of war dispatches. Among his many awards as a journalist was the George Washington Honor Medal for excellence in communications. He ... wrote a novel, Price of Honor, about the snares of Vietnam, Somalia and the Military Industrial Complex.
Source:
The Civil War (1861-1865) was the most costly war for the United States. After most states in the South seceded to form the Confederate States of America, CSA troops opened fire on the US fort Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, starting the war. For the first two years Confederate forces solidly defeated the US Army, but after the decisive Battle of Gettysburg combined with superior industrial might and numbers, Union troops fought a brutal campaign through Confederate territory and the war ended with a Confederate surrender at Appomatox Courthouse in April 1865. Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South.[5]
Source:
[AP] The United States will create a team of experts to defuse cluster bombs and other explosives that pose a threat to civilians after the end of a conflict. The announcement came as governments are meeting at the United Nations office in Geneva this week to find ways of reducing the impact of cluster bombs on civilians.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Civil War