We American’s have some historical periods and events that are iconic around the world. Our Cowboy lore is iconic for being unique in the world as Europe, and many nations in Asia and the Middle East were well built out and conquered time and again centuries before our Cowboy period. There is a reason for the passion with those Spaghetti Westerns.
I’ve always thought the the US Civil War was the iconic war following the Napoleonic Wars.
Napoleon engaged in total war and reshaped it irreversibly. Following that, warfare did not change appreciably until the US Civil War.
Imagine living in Europe and reading about the accuracy and range of our Parrot Rifles when the rest of the world was still using Napoleons for artillery cannons. Imagine reading about troops using the Henry repeating rifle that fired 14 rounds in succession. Imagine reading about the turreted battleship Monitor. Imagine reading about troops speeding around the USA on locomotive trains.
I have to believe that the world’s people were fascinated by the martial developments that occurred during the US Civil War, and followed it extensively. Let alone the historical implications of the fracturing of the world’s foremost Republic.
Europe was still mainly ruled by Monarchs in Europe and in Britain. Queen Victoria was the ruler of Britain, not a mere figurehead. Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew was Emperor of France. Isabella was Queen of Spain, Wilhelm was King of Prussia, and Alexander was Czar of Russia.
I think the world was very much spellbound by the civil war going on in the USA at the time. It revolutionized war, beginning with Napoleonic tactics and ending in trench warfare seen through WWI.
I’m not surprised that there are be US Civil War enthusiasts in any country, let alone Europe. The US civil war was very iconic of the 19th Century. The USA was ascendant and the world was just getting a glimpse of things to come.
True, but it surprises me that Germans would not use the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 for reenactments. Battles on the scale of Civil War ones, some bigger. Innovations such as the needle rifle and the chassepot changed warfare. The 1866 Battle of Sadowa saw the Prussian army with breech loaders against an Austrian one with muzzle loaders. All the major powers in Europe fought a major war within a ten year period of the Civil War. It surprises me that they look to our history when there is plenty to reenact in their own, without any political baggage.
At the same time in the 19th century, with the interlocking families ruling Europe, Hegel’s Dialectic Materialism, as presented in Marx’s and Engel’s Communists Manifesto, began to gain support. In keeping with this article, it was also spawned at the University of Berlin. Has anyone ever made a connection between the appeal of Marxism and the fascination with America of that period?