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Modern War Studies

America's First Battles, 1776-1965

charles e. heller william a. stofft

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This volume, a collection of eleven original essays by many of the foremost U.S. military historians, focuses on the transition of the Army from parade ground to battleground in each of nine wars the United States has fought. Through careful analysis of organization, training, and tactical doctrine, each essay seeks to explain the strengths and weaknesses evidenced by the outcome of the first significant engagement or campaign of the war. The concluding essay sets out to synthesize the findings and to discover whether or not American first battles manifest a characteristic "rhythm."

America's First Battles provides a novel and intellectually challenging view of how America has prepared for war and how operations and tactics have changed over time. The thrust of the book—the emphasis on operational history—is at the forefront of scholarly activity in military history.

432 pages, Paperback

First published December 1,1986
Series
Modern War Studies

This edition

Format
432 pages, Paperback
Published
December 16, 1986 by Univ Pr of Kansas
ISBN
9780700602773
ASIN
0700602771
Language
English

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About the author

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charles e. heller

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Charles E. Heller, a former university administrator and adjuct faculty member, holds a doctor degree in United States history from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. An Army Reserve Colonel, he returned to active duty to teach and write for the Army at the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College and has recently left military service to resume his civilian academic career. In addition to teaching Heller has numerous publications on United States history and national security issues. He is the co-editor of America's First Battles (1986).

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 11 votes)
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11 reviews All reviews
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keitaichi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is how we learn from tactical mistakes.

The book is clearly written with engaging, concise description of the broader context leading up to each conflict. The interesting theme of tactical theory lagging behind technological innovation is treated repeatedly.

The book could use better maps, but is otherwise an excellent read.
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Faded_Star
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Although dated, this is a great book for thinking about the US Army's readiness for first battles. This book covers ten first battles: Long Island - Revolutionary War; Queenston Heights - War of 1812; Palo Alto - Mexican American War; Bull Run - Civil War; San Juan Hill - Spanish-American War; Cantigny - WWI; Buna - WWII (Pacific); Kasserine Pass - WWII (N. Africa); Task Force Smith - Korean War; and Ia Drang - Vietnam War. My favorites were those covering the Battles of Long Island, San Juan Hill, Kasserine Pass, Ia Drang, and then John Shy composed a great concluding chapter "First Battles in Retrospect."
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KingIK
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book is a fascinating collection of quality essays by eminent military historians describing the experiences of American fighting men in the initial engagement of the ten major military conflicts in US history (as of 1986, the date of publication) Despite the multiple authors, there is a remarkable consistency among the essays with each one focusing on context, military preparedness, existing military doctrine, training (or lack thereof), performance in battle and, finally, the consequences of victory or defeat on subsequent doctrinal developments. I thought this was an excellent book. I hope some day an enterprising historian will undertake a new edition that will bring it up to the present day and leverage some of the new scholarship that has emerged in the last 35 years since the book’s publication.
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mertsi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A solid overview of American military doctrine and execution. The introduction and conclusion chapters are first-rate. Likewise, the opening sections of each essay gives a very clear picture of the state of readiness or, usually, the lack thereof. The blow-by-blow recitations of each battle varies significantly from chapter to chapter and can be a bit mind-numbing.
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main_huun_gian
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Eleven essays written by Army historians explain the state of the army at the beginning of each war that the U.S. has fought. They detail the training, doctrine, troops, and narrate the course of the battle.

Why I started this book: This book is on several of my Professional Reading lists, and I'm all about crossing the same thing off multiple lists.

Why I finished it: I struggled with this book. It's excessively technical and dense; very easy to put down and not pick back up. I think the most shocking was that in the last two pages it predicted that future wars (published in 1986) would bring back the draft, because volunteers couldn't sustain the long campaigns that modern war have become.
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Xaxeth
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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An enjoyable collection of 20-30 page summaries of America's Fist land battles in Wars from the Revolution to Vietman. Some are well known, like Ia Drang (1965) and Bull Run (1861) while others are very obscure.

This is a book for the student of military affairs, not for the casual reader. It is designed to be read by someone who knows military history.

I found the summary excellent and I recommend it to military students with an interest in our own US Army.
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Cicie
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I read this book several years ago. I have found myself thinking back on it often in recent months. The book studies the first battles of each of the major conflicts our nation has engaged in. It examines trends that have impacted the outcome of each of these battles. Two of the important takeaways are:
1. Our nation does a poor job of maintaining a military prepared to fight in times of peace. This always repeated mistake costs untold men their lives each time our nation returns to armed conflict.

2. Our military has a tendency to prepare for the was we last fought in stead of returning to the basics in preparation for the futures unknown. This also costs lives when our army suddenly finds itself in the middle of a war that is unlike that of the recent past.
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TrackHime
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is a tedious read. I read it because it is on military professional reading lists. It's a great in-depth look at the state of the military during the first battle in different campaigns. There were many take-aways from this collection of essays.
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