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Summary Of Nature's Role In History By Ted Steinberg

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One of the first topics that environmental historians sought to examine was the relationship between nature and military strategy. The bulk of these initial studies analyze the how both Union and Confederate forces focused their strategies around the acquisition of natural resources such as food and horses in order to gain an advantage on the battlefield. Ted Steinberg was one of the first to adapt this approach to his research in his book Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in History. In his chapter on the Civil War, Steinberg argues that the conflict was essentially a “great food fight” and proceeds to detail how generals on both sides of the conflict had to accommodate their military strategies around the procurement of food. While Steinberg notes …show more content…

Steinberg cites numerous meteorological occurrences, which he complied from popular secondary sources like Battle Cry of Freedom, in order to explain the successes and failures of various military operations throughout the course of the Civil War. Most notable is his analysis of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s 1863 attempt to cross Virginia’s Rappahannock River, which Steinberg argues was destined to fail due to heavy precipitation and Virginia’s clay-like soil composition, a combination that created an impassable mud barrier. Steinberg concludes that the environmental was the southern rebels “secret weapon” and made the transport of Union supplies a near impossible task during times of inclement weather. While poor weather could hinder military operations, favorable conditions could actually aid campaigns. Steinberg notes that weather allowed daring military maneuvers such as Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia to succeed. Without favorable weather, Steinberg contends, “Sherman’s march could have gone down as one of the most insane misadventures in the annals of military history.” Both his analysis of natural resources and weather demonstrates how, as much as the Union’s victory relied on “countless discrete human decision… natural forces too had a hand in shaping the

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