Respectable Army: The Military Origins Research Proposal

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However, these poor, landless and mercenary men, despite the fact they worked for hire still frequently exhibited selfless behavior for their fellow soldiers in the face of adversity, such as at Valley Forge.

One of the most unique aspects of this book is its methodology. It attempts to integrate evidence about battles, armaments, military technology and the history of the early army into the greater social and political history of the revolution. However, it is not merely an analysis of battles and tactics. It is a truly integrative approach of social and military history. The dual backgrounds of Martin in history and Lender in military strategy enable them to merge what often are competing disciplines, namely the political struggles of why and how a nation goes to war, and the day-to-day struggles in fighting that war. Martin and Lender are also willing to highlight unflattering aspects of the early American army and the revolutionary fight for independence, such as the desertion of the army by many farmers who were more interested in harvesting their crops than ideals of liberty. Washington emerges as one of the heroes of the book, not just for his military genius but his willingness to put aside the ideal of a new nation with no standing army when faced with the realities of battle.

The veracity of Martin and Lender's bracing look at the American evolution was welcomed by many reviewers. However, one reviewer, Lawrence Delbert Cress of the Journal of Southern History, questioned how innovative their theory was, stating that historians never seriously entertained the prospect that an amateur army won the day for the Americans. Cress points out that little new evidence, such as Washington's demand for more aid before the Constitutional Congress, is summoned in the book to justify its thesis -- Washington's demand for a respectable army has long been known by historians and was not a new discovery on the authors' part. Cress also takes issue to the degree to which Lender and Martin stress the cynical motives of all of the revolutionary army, that "land bounties" not a "glorious cause" fueled the revolutionary fight (Cress, the Journal of Southern History, 50. 1, Feb., 1984, p.

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112) the two motivations of money and freedom are not, he argues mutually exclusive as their book suggests. He also believes the authors overstate the class tensions within the army. Cress believes resentment of the professional military had more to do with fears of an expansion of a standing army, not dislike of the poorer, landless men in its ranks. While Cress coolly acknowledges the author's thoroughness, he also implies their analysis is overly Marxist in its orientation. In contrast to Cress, historian Richard K. Showman of the William and Mary Quarterly praises the work for examining the military as a specific social entity, unlike most other histories of the period (Showman, the William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 41. 2, Apr., 1984, pp. 312-314). Another reviewer, Robert E. May praises the volume's usefulness as an introduction to the period although May critiqued Martin and Lender for glorifying the lower-class soldiers, in contrast to their land-owning counterparts (May, the History Teacher, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Feb., 1983), pp. 304-305).

Thus Cress thinks that not enough significance is given to the true, ideological desire for freedom of the lower-class soldiers, May believes that evidence of mutinies throughout the American Revolution suggests that the fervor of both citizens and professional soldier's patriotism often wavered. However, these dissenting reviews speak well, rather than ill of the balanced and comprehensive nature of the work. The book takes on a difficult take -- to unpack the myths that have become American legends, and make far-off history and tactical information seem like a gripping narrative. Yet the authors succeed in taking on this impressive challenge, and cause the reader to admire individuals, like landless mercenary soldiers and Hessian soldiers, long forgotten in the broad brush that….....

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