The American Military: A Concise History

by Joseph T. Glatthaar

Since the first English settlers landed at Jamestown with the legacy of centuries of European warfare in tow, the military has been an omnipresent part of America. In The American A Concise History, Joseph T. Glatthaar explores this relationship from its origins in the thirteen colonies to today's ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.During the Revolutionary War, tension grew between local militias and a standing army. The Founding Fathers attempted to strike a balance, enshrining an army, navy, and a "well-regulated Militia" in the Constitution. The US soon witnessed the rise of a professional military, a boon to its successes in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. However, after the Civil War, the US soon learned that the purpose of a peacetime army is to prepare for war.When war did arrive, it arrived with a vengeance, gutting the trenches of the Great War with effective tanks, planes, machine guns, and poison gas. The US embraced the technology that would win both world wars and change the nature of battle in the Second World War. The nuclear era brought encounters defined by stalemate--from the Cold War conflicts of Korea and Vietnam to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 9/11, the US has been frustrated by unconventional warfare, including terrorism and cyberwar, largely negating the technological advantage it had held. Glatthaar examines all these challenges, looking to the future of the U.S. military and its often proud and complicated legacy.

Genres: History, American History

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 2, 2018

About the author

Military historian, specializing in the American Civil War and American military history

Reviews

[Robert Williams]

Joseph T. Glatthaar’s The American Military: A Concise History (2018) is a clear, surprisingly substantial overview of how the U.S. military developed from early colonial militias to a modern military-industrial complex. In just 142 pages, Glatthaar offers a tightly organized narrative that explains not only what happened, but why the American military kept struggling with recurring problems—balancing the citizen-soldier tradition with the reality of a standing force, building professionalism, integrating technology, and understanding the limits of military power.

Glatthaar structures the book around four lenses, using them to carry readers through major eras without getting lost in minutiae. His through-line is effective: the United States keeps reinventing its forces to meet new strategic demands, only to discover that deeper tensions—political, institutional, and technological—never fully go away. That framework helps the book stay readable while still covering a wide range of developments, from West Point and naval professionalization to steam and mechanization, and from World War I reforms to the organizational changes that shaped success in World War II.

The second half is especially compelling. Glatthaar shows how the experience of total war left the U.S. stronger, then quickly forced new thinking when atomic weapons and Soviet capabilities made “unlimited” war impossible. From there, his discussion of limited-war lessons—Vietnam, Iraq, and the contrast with the confidence-building 1991 Gulf War—makes the history feel connected to the present, not sealed in the past.

As a concise survey, the book necessarily moves at a “wide-angle” pace rather than a detail-heavy one. But it compensates with broad clarity, accessible language, and a strong sense of continuity across the centuries. It’s an excellent starting point for students (or any general reader) who want a dependable roadmap of American military history and enough context to know where to dig deeper next.

[Richard Wolff]

Glatthhar begins by laying out four clear challenges that the military has faced. These are interesting, and I was looking forward to a clear discussion of these. In the body of the book, he discusses many details of various engagements, which is fine, and he is clearly knowledgable about many details. Unfortunately, he does not regularly relate the details to his overall argument, and so often loses the forest for the trees. As is, I feel like a read two books: one that promised to support an argument about challenges facing the military, and one that just offers a lot of details about particular conflicts. In the end, the amalgamation of details didn't interest me as much as would have a more regular discussion of his originally stated argument.

[Steve Scott]

The military history nerd will learn little from this very brief work. It might be a good starter for those lacking any knowledge of U.S. military history. That number, sadly, is huge.

Others here say there are better primers. That may be true.

[Eli]

Disappointing. Nothing new in the history, the four themes didn’t ring true.

[Quincy]

This book was not a fantastic, incredible read, but it accomplished it’s goal in a concise manner.