Military Review English Edition July-August 2016 | Page 147

BOOK REVIEWS

tactical doctrine bravely and enthusiastically, until
rendered ineffective by loss of men and officers. Poor
treatment of Slavic units—particularly Czechs—by
the army would eventually create disloyalty later in
the war, but this was a creation of the army itself, not
inherent to the troops.
One of Schindler’s most interesting contributions
is his emphasis on Austria’s one real success: signals
intelligence. Capt. Hermann Pokorny, a skilled linguist and mathematician, pioneered the use of radio
intercepts and code breaking, giving von Hötzendorf ’s
generals’ real-time signals intelligence. Though often
ignored by von Hötzendorf, Pokorny’s work saved
countless lives during the general retreat back to
Krakow in September 1914.
All in all, The Fall of the Double Eagle is an excellent
examination of one of the most important battles
of World War I, which would shape the future of
the Eastern Front and destroy the prewar AustroHungarian army. Highly recommended.

John E. Fahey, Purdue University

SPRING 1865

The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War

Perry D. Jamieson, University of Nebraska Press,
Lincoln, Nebraska, 2015, 320 pages

A

pproximately sixty thousand books have
been written about the American Civil War,
so it is often difficult for authors to introduce new material, insight, and analysis to the historiography. Perry Jamieson’s Spring 1865: The Closing
Campaigns of the Civil War, however, does not aim to
break new ground. As a part of the “Great Campaigns
of the Civil War” series, Jamieson, the senior historian
emeritus of the U.S. Air Force, instead “offers readers
concise syntheses of the major campaigns of the war,
reflecting the findings of recent scholarship … [and]
points to new ways of viewing military campaigns by
looking beyond the battlefield and the headquarters
tent to the wider political and social context within
which these campaigns unfolded.” In other words,
Jamieson uses a variety of contemporary secondary
sources, instead of original primary source research,
to synthesize a concise and readable history of the
MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2016

closing campaigns of the Civil War that is valuable to
a wide variety of audiences.
Spring 1865 juxtaposes Maj. Gen. William T.
Sherman’s march north through the Carolinas, which
ended in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender at
Bennett Place, with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s chase
of Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern
Virginia from the trenches at Petersburg, to the surrender at Appomattox. Each campaign is covered at a
strategic, rather than a tactical level. Therefore, readers looking for an examination of small-unit battlefield tactics should consider volumes with a narrower
scope. Jamieson also ties the military campaigns in
with certain political aspects, such as the efforts to
establish peace between the armies in the waning
days of the war.
In lieu of covering such an expansive topic, the
author does an excellent job at keeping the narrative
concise, clear, and readable. Entire volumes have
been written about some of the closing battles of the
Civil War alone, but Spring 1865 covers two major
campaigns thoroughly in the span of a manageable
two-hundred pages. Jamieson’s narrative construction
also contributes to the readability of his book. Each
campaign (Grant pursuing Lee from Richmond, and
Sherman moving north through the Carolinas) is
generally covered in separate chapters, reducing the
likelihood of confusion for the reader.
Spring 1865 does have a few minor weaknesses.
Although not a criticism of the authorship, the nature
of Jamieson’s approach, which presents secondary
source findings and lacks the color of primary sources,
may prove mundane to someone already familiar with
the topic. This reviewer is also a firm believer that there
can never be enough maps in a military history book.
As Spring 1865 covers numerous geographical locations
within its two-hundred pages, at least a half-dozen additional maps would be a welcome addition to the text.
Nevertheless, Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns
of the Civil War is a valuable addition to Civil War
historiography. By condensing an immense amount
of recent secondary source material into such a short
and readable volume, Jamieson provides an excellent
piece of work that will be welcome as a topic primer, or for the scholar seeking an update on the most
recent scholarship in the field.

Nathan Marzoli, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.

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