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Greenhill's Alternate Decisions
Dixie Victorious: An Alternate History of the Civil War
This fascinating “what if” book will have you pondering how easily history could have been swayed differently.Ever wondered what would have happened if the Confederates had won the Civil War? This book not only says that it could have happened, but it also goes into detail to show you just how easily it could have—you’re in for a shock! Written by military historian Peter G. Tsouras, Dixie Victorious examines a number of convincing scenarios, real battles, actions, and characters, and reveals how choices or minor incidents could have set in motion an entirely new train of events. This fascinating “what if” book will have you pondering how easily his-tory could have been swayed differently.
399 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 24, 2019
Charles van Buren
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
4.0 out of 5 stars
Essays not short stories
February 23, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
Some reviewers obviously do not understand what they are reviewing. THIS IS ALTERNATE HISTORY. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, NOT WHAT WAS. Where the essays deviate from history as you remember it are deliberate explorations of possibilities, not errors of fact.
If you are looking for a book of war stories, this isn't it. The offerings are in the form of essays. One would think that it would be difficult to tackle this topic and produce boredom but some of the authors manage it. However, some of the entries are quite good. Some of the alternate possibilities are more believable than others. The essay on what could have happened in the Red River Campaign is one of the livelier more interesting offerings. The Union failure could certainly have been more disastrous than it really was. On several occasions it came within a hair"s breadth of ignominious defeat and catastrophe. In actual history, the venal war profiteer Admiral David Porter came very close to losing his entire fleet. In this book's essay, he gets what he deserved. Some of the essays are quite clearly feel good stories.
Recommended for those with a serious interest in the topic. Not so much for those looking for good stories. Much better than Tsouras' abysmal GETTYSBURG: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY.
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
4.0 out of 5 stars
Essays not short stories
February 23, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
Some reviewers obviously do not understand what they are reviewing. THIS IS ALTERNATE HISTORY. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, NOT WHAT WAS. Where the essays deviate from history as you remember it are deliberate explorations of possibilities, not errors of fact.
If you are looking for a book of war stories, this isn't it. The offerings are in the form of essays. One would think that it would be difficult to tackle this topic and produce boredom but some of the authors manage it. However, some of the entries are quite good. Some of the alternate possibilities are more believable than others. The essay on what could have happened in the Red River Campaign is one of the livelier more interesting offerings. The Union failure could certainly have been more disastrous than it really was. On several occasions it came within a hair"s breadth of ignominious defeat and catastrophe. In actual history, the venal war profiteer Admiral David Porter came very close to losing his entire fleet. In this book's essay, he gets what he deserved. Some of the essays are quite clearly feel good stories.
Recommended for those with a serious interest in the topic. Not so much for those looking for good stories. Much better than Tsouras' abysmal GETTYSBURG: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY.
June 1, 2017
Much better stories than others in the series with most seemingly plausible, from Prince Albert dieing in a riding accident so that he isn't alive to mollify cabinet during the Trent affair or McCllenan winning the election of 1864 and the Peace Democrats ending the war. Quick light diversionary reading.
November 26, 2013
Peter Tsouras has assembled a formidable group of contributors for "Dixie Victorious," his anthology of counter-factual scenarios describing how the South could have won the Civil War. Each individual chapter/scenario is well-researched and well-written, and often the ideas are imaginative. The book also manages to explore how the Confederacy could have won the war without lionizing the South, an important distinction for works of this kind.
Even so, the book is a mixed bag in terms of the quality of its alternate histories. Chapters 1 and 2 are an excellent contrast and example (SPOILER ALERT!). In the first chapter, Andrew Uffindell describes just how the British and French might have become involved in the Civil War by making two small, plausible changes: 1) Prince Albert, who played an important role in moderating the British response to the Trent Affair, is killed in a carriage accident prior to that international incident (and the accident in question actually happened); 2) The Trent Affair itself turned violent and ugly, and some British sailors were killed as a result. Most of the story that follows is plausible, accurately detailed, imaginative (I especially like the ultimate fate of George Armstrong Custer), and logical. You can argue with some of the details, but not the thesis.
On the other hand, Wade G. Dudley's second chapter on how the South could have won the war if it banked everything on building a Navy is bad alternate history, violating most of the important rules for constructing a counter-factual scenario. None of the changes involved are small or plausible: his chapter requires CSA Secretary of the Navy to advocate major changes of policy that he did not imagine in real history, and to persuade President Davis, the Confederate Congress and the Confederate governors (the latter he forgot about completely) that he was right and get their full support. That is a major, implausible change to start with, on the scale of Lyndon Johnson deciding to withdraw from Vietnam.
His description of the development of a major naval industrial center in New Orleans in less than a year is implausible, even with the help imported machine goods, because we know how long it took the Confederacy to undertake projects of equal or lesser size elsewhere. His scenario of building the Virginia plus two fictional ironclads in Norfolk would require the diversion of most or all of the output of the Tredegar Ironworks, with potentially devastating consequences elsewhere, but Dudley ignores this very obvious and salient fact (although he does gloss over that Tredegar was not initially tooled to make the necessary plate armor). Finally, it assumes that Lincoln would still allow McClellan to go forward with the Peninsular Campaign, or that the cautious-to-a-fault McClellan himself would even want to in the face of well-established Confederate efforts to build a powerful Navy. Dudley's scenario is therefore plagued by not one major, implausible change to make it work. It has four of them!
About 1/3 of the scenarios in "Dixie Victorious" are of the Dudley model: they fall into the realm of entertaining, but ultimately uninstructive fantasy. While fun to read, they are not at all useful in showing how the Confederacy could have won the war, and are therefore not good examples of alternate history. If you read "Dixie Victorious," I recommend buying Roger Ransom's "The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been" alongside it. That book is more in the vein of Uffindell's work than Dudley's, and will serve as a useful counterpoise to some of the flights of fancy found in Tsouras's anthology.
It is those flights of fancy that earned this book a three-star rating. It is above average, and it is certainly entertaining. However, some of the arguments made in the book are deeply flawed.
Even so, the book is a mixed bag in terms of the quality of its alternate histories. Chapters 1 and 2 are an excellent contrast and example (SPOILER ALERT!). In the first chapter, Andrew Uffindell describes just how the British and French might have become involved in the Civil War by making two small, plausible changes: 1) Prince Albert, who played an important role in moderating the British response to the Trent Affair, is killed in a carriage accident prior to that international incident (and the accident in question actually happened); 2) The Trent Affair itself turned violent and ugly, and some British sailors were killed as a result. Most of the story that follows is plausible, accurately detailed, imaginative (I especially like the ultimate fate of George Armstrong Custer), and logical. You can argue with some of the details, but not the thesis.
On the other hand, Wade G. Dudley's second chapter on how the South could have won the war if it banked everything on building a Navy is bad alternate history, violating most of the important rules for constructing a counter-factual scenario. None of the changes involved are small or plausible: his chapter requires CSA Secretary of the Navy to advocate major changes of policy that he did not imagine in real history, and to persuade President Davis, the Confederate Congress and the Confederate governors (the latter he forgot about completely) that he was right and get their full support. That is a major, implausible change to start with, on the scale of Lyndon Johnson deciding to withdraw from Vietnam.
His description of the development of a major naval industrial center in New Orleans in less than a year is implausible, even with the help imported machine goods, because we know how long it took the Confederacy to undertake projects of equal or lesser size elsewhere. His scenario of building the Virginia plus two fictional ironclads in Norfolk would require the diversion of most or all of the output of the Tredegar Ironworks, with potentially devastating consequences elsewhere, but Dudley ignores this very obvious and salient fact (although he does gloss over that Tredegar was not initially tooled to make the necessary plate armor). Finally, it assumes that Lincoln would still allow McClellan to go forward with the Peninsular Campaign, or that the cautious-to-a-fault McClellan himself would even want to in the face of well-established Confederate efforts to build a powerful Navy. Dudley's scenario is therefore plagued by not one major, implausible change to make it work. It has four of them!
About 1/3 of the scenarios in "Dixie Victorious" are of the Dudley model: they fall into the realm of entertaining, but ultimately uninstructive fantasy. While fun to read, they are not at all useful in showing how the Confederacy could have won the war, and are therefore not good examples of alternate history. If you read "Dixie Victorious," I recommend buying Roger Ransom's "The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been" alongside it. That book is more in the vein of Uffindell's work than Dudley's, and will serve as a useful counterpoise to some of the flights of fancy found in Tsouras's anthology.
It is those flights of fancy that earned this book a three-star rating. It is above average, and it is certainly entertaining. However, some of the arguments made in the book are deeply flawed.
September 12, 2017
This is not a novel, but rather a collection of ten counter-factual examinations of how the South might have won the American Civil War. Each tale has its own point where the alternative diverged from our timeline. You have the death of Prince Alfred of Great Britian combined with the Trent affair leading to Anglo-French Intervention. Then there is the one where the Confederates managed to out-fight the Monitor and destroy the blockade. Another has Cleburne's proposal to free the blacks to fight in the Confederate Army accepted in 1864. But my favorites were Kirby Smith and General Taylor winning the Red River Valley campaign and freeing the West in time to upset the 1864 election and Early's augmented campaign in the Valley in 1864 beating Sheridan. If you are interested in AH and the ACW, read this volume and decide which you like best.
October 6, 2017
Interesting collection of essays; several show how easily the Civil War could have turned out different (such as the effect of an aggressive Confederate commander like Albert S. Johnston in the Vicksburg Campaign, or the absence of Prince Albert during the Trent affair). On the other hand, some of the alternate history scenarios seem rather implausible. For example, with the two essays on the 1862 Maryland Campaign, I'm not sure the Army of Northern Virginia could have accomplished so much, since so many of its units were at extremely low strength, due to casualties and straggling over the previous two months.
As a minor point, I don't understand the purpose of the fictional footnotes; these could have been used to explain why the author chose a particular sequence of events.
As a minor point, I don't understand the purpose of the fictional footnotes; these could have been used to explain why the author chose a particular sequence of events.
March 22, 2016
Very interesting book with well-written, well-researched and believable scenarios. A must read for anyone interested in the American Civil War.
September 25, 2016
Tourist and his authors provide an interesting set of scenarios for southern victory ranging from Unbelievable to very plausible. It can be pedantic as it reads like history rather than a novel.
March 14, 2020
As usual with these Tsouras anthologies, Dixie Victorious focuses on individual strategic scenarios. This is one of the less realistic Tsouras alt history books, as it requires some major luck for the csa to overcome its huge disadvantages in production, manpower, and tech.
My favorite one had Britain and France ally with the CSA leading to a 21st century Virginia where cricket is the most popular sport and French culture is everywhere.
My favorite one had Britain and France ally with the CSA leading to a 21st century Virginia where cricket is the most popular sport and French culture is everywhere.
June 25, 2018
A collection of scenarios that were thought provoking. Yet, Professional soldiers can be difficult to read. Can at times get bogged down in details. Expectations were higher. It's the kind of book you can pick up every once in awhile when in the mood and one story then set it down till the next time.
July 31, 2021
I love the concept of the book. It was a bit hard to follow, even with the real story being separated.
April 2, 2024
O3/15/24 read decent but had to many leaders dying
February 16, 2025
If you know nothing about the American Civil War, this book is not for you: it assumes that you already have at least some background knowledge. I’ve never lived in the USA, but I happen to have read about this foreign war in the past, so I have some idea of what’s going on here.
Each chapter is written by a different author, and describes a way that the Confederacy might have won the war, in a parallel world with some slight alteration to the history we know. Here’s a summary of the chapters, although my summaries don’t do justice to the detailed research that’s gone into them.
Chapter 1: Prince Albert dies a bit early, and the Trent incident in November 1861 leads to Britain and then France recognizing the Confederacy and declaring war on the USA.
Chapter 2: The Confederacy adopts a more aggressive and ambitious naval policy, and sells cotton abroad to finance it. This is more than a slight alteration to our history.
Chapter 3: In September 1962, Confederate Special Order 191 is deliberately allowed to fall into Union hands, giving McClellan a false idea of Confederate plans, to lead him into a trap. This is an amusing idea.
Chapter 4: Lee is not thrown from his horse at the end of August 1862, gets useful information from captured orders, wins the Battle of Frederick in mid-September, and moves on to occupy York, Pennsylvania. Britain offers mediation to end the conflict.
Chapter 5: Albert Sidney Johnston is seriously wounded at Shiloh, but survives to resume command in 1863 and defeat Grant at Vicksburg.
Chapter 6: In 1863, JEB Stuart is ordered to support the army closely and not to go off adventuring as he’d hoped to do. So Lee is kept much better informed, and defeats Meade in detail, in a series of battles smaller than the Gettysburg in our history.
Chapter 7: Braxton Bragg is seriously wounded at Chickamauga in 1863, and gives Longstreet (who has just arrived) command of the Army of Tennessee. Longstreet improves on Bragg, not performing miracles but doing just well enough to swing the US election to the Democrats.
Chapter 8: In early 1864, Lee intervenes and speaks up in favour of Cleburne’s proposal to recruit slaves into the army with the promise of freedom, and Davis is reluctantly persuaded. This improves Southern manpower and reduces Northern motivation and morale.
Chapter 9: In 1864, the Red River campaign turns into a Union disaster, after which Confederates take Arkansas and Missouri.
Chapter 10: In summer 1864, Cleburne’s division is removed from the West and sent to reinforce Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Also, Lincoln exposes himself to enemy fire (as in our history) and is shot dead. Early and Cleburne defeat and capture Sheridan.
As far as I can tell, the intention of the book is simply to entertain people who enjoy alternative history; although these stories are not told as fiction, but written in the style of military history. I’m more accustomed to reading fiction, but I found this book more entertaining than I expected.
Perhaps it deserves four stars, but I find it hard to work up that much enthusiasm for a book of military pseudo-history, even a good one.
Each chapter is written by a different author, and describes a way that the Confederacy might have won the war, in a parallel world with some slight alteration to the history we know. Here’s a summary of the chapters, although my summaries don’t do justice to the detailed research that’s gone into them.
Chapter 1: Prince Albert dies a bit early, and the Trent incident in November 1861 leads to Britain and then France recognizing the Confederacy and declaring war on the USA.
Chapter 2: The Confederacy adopts a more aggressive and ambitious naval policy, and sells cotton abroad to finance it. This is more than a slight alteration to our history.
Chapter 3: In September 1962, Confederate Special Order 191 is deliberately allowed to fall into Union hands, giving McClellan a false idea of Confederate plans, to lead him into a trap. This is an amusing idea.
Chapter 4: Lee is not thrown from his horse at the end of August 1862, gets useful information from captured orders, wins the Battle of Frederick in mid-September, and moves on to occupy York, Pennsylvania. Britain offers mediation to end the conflict.
Chapter 5: Albert Sidney Johnston is seriously wounded at Shiloh, but survives to resume command in 1863 and defeat Grant at Vicksburg.
Chapter 6: In 1863, JEB Stuart is ordered to support the army closely and not to go off adventuring as he’d hoped to do. So Lee is kept much better informed, and defeats Meade in detail, in a series of battles smaller than the Gettysburg in our history.
Chapter 7: Braxton Bragg is seriously wounded at Chickamauga in 1863, and gives Longstreet (who has just arrived) command of the Army of Tennessee. Longstreet improves on Bragg, not performing miracles but doing just well enough to swing the US election to the Democrats.
Chapter 8: In early 1864, Lee intervenes and speaks up in favour of Cleburne’s proposal to recruit slaves into the army with the promise of freedom, and Davis is reluctantly persuaded. This improves Southern manpower and reduces Northern motivation and morale.
Chapter 9: In 1864, the Red River campaign turns into a Union disaster, after which Confederates take Arkansas and Missouri.
Chapter 10: In summer 1864, Cleburne’s division is removed from the West and sent to reinforce Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Also, Lincoln exposes himself to enemy fire (as in our history) and is shot dead. Early and Cleburne defeat and capture Sheridan.
As far as I can tell, the intention of the book is simply to entertain people who enjoy alternative history; although these stories are not told as fiction, but written in the style of military history. I’m more accustomed to reading fiction, but I found this book more entertaining than I expected.
Perhaps it deserves four stars, but I find it hard to work up that much enthusiasm for a book of military pseudo-history, even a good one.
November 3, 2013
This is a series of 10 counter-factual essays by military historians which show various scenarios that might have occurred at times during the Civil War that might have led to Confederate victory. The examples range from the plausible (McClellan doesn't find General Order 191 during the Antietam campaign, resulting in decisive Confederate victory at Antietam, lack of issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and British intervention); to the unlikely (Longstreet taking command of the Army of Tennessee following Chickamauga and routing Union forces in the West); to the ridiculous (the Confederacy never had the will or desire, let alone the materiel to build an ironclad navy capable of being a difference-maker in the war). The cause and effect results of some of the events is somewhat questionable as well. For example, even if Jubal Early had routed Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, it is unreasonable to think the war would have ended differently. It is arbitrary to rely on Lincoln's death in the middle of it (as author Kevin Kiley does)to change the result and unreasonable to think that Republicans could not have found a legitimate candidate to put up against McClellan in the 1864 election at that late date in the war. Although the articles are well-researched and thought-provoking, there are problems. The "false" footnotes of fictional sources is distracting, and it would be helpful to the reader to have some indication of when the narratives change from non-fiction to speculation. The brief Reality explanations at the end of each essay help but are insufficient. Overall, a good effort, and probably more than a little bit of SCV wishful thinking. Worth reading for the Civil War buff.
August 27, 2018
Based on a series of fascinating "What ifs" posed by leading military historians, this intriguing new alternate history reconstructs moments during the American Civil War which could conceivably have altered the entire course of the war and led to a Confederate victory. Commencing with real battles, actions and characters, each scenario has been carefully constructed to reveal how at points of decision a different choice or minor incident could have set in motion an entirely new train of events altering history forever. What if Sherman was stalled outside Atlanta, and Lincoln lost the crucial 1864 election? Or if Stuart's Cavalry at Gettysburg arrived in time to give Lee the freedom of operation he lacked in reality? These and many more convincing scenarios are played out against the dramatic and colorful backdrop of this critical and bloody era of American history.
August 20, 2014
I enjoyed this book a great deal. The different views taken by the various authors offer very interesting points to ponder.
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August 28, 2018Excellent Alternate Histories
This book contains ten possible alternate scenarios. Sometimes you read an alternative he history and it just seems too farfetched to be possible, but several of these could have happened and so they are plausible. Give it a try.
This book contains ten possible alternate scenarios. Sometimes you read an alternative he history and it just seems too farfetched to be possible, but several of these could have happened and so they are plausible. Give it a try.
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January 9, 2019I love alternate history books, well alternate history anything. I love how Tsouras breaks down different alternate history scenarios depending on what might have happened.
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