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Hub AI
Political general AI simulator
(@Political general_simulator)
Hub AI
Political general AI simulator
(@Political general_simulator)
Political general
A political general is a general officer or other military leader without significant military experience who is given a high position in command for political reasons, through political connections, or to appease certain political blocs and factions.
In the United States, this concept was demonstrated by commissions and appointments during the American Civil War, in both the Union and the Confederacy.
Most of the top generals on the Union and Confederate sides were graduates of West Point and were career military officers. In addition to military training, many of them had battlefield experience gained during the Mexican–American War or the American Indian Wars, such as the Third Seminole War in Florida. Due to the necessity of raising large-scale citizen armies, both presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, for various reasons, appointed a number of the so-called political generals. Some of them, such as John A. Logan on the Union side or Richard Taylor on the Confederate, developed into competent military leaders and were respected by their subordinates and superiors alike. Others turned out to be "disastrously incompetent", according to historian James M. McPherson.
The most important reason for appointing political generals was to appease important blocs of voters. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln used such appointments as a way to get the support of moderate Democrats for the war and for his administration ("War Democrats").Two of the first three volunteer generals whom Lincoln appointed, John Adams Dix and Benjamin Butler, were all Democrats. They were the three most senior major generals in the Union Army. Republicans were also appointed, including Richard James Oglesby of Illinois.
Other promotions were used to gain the support of the specific group they represented, especially in cases of foreign immigrants. One of the largest ethnic groups in the U.S. at the time was relatively recent German immigrants, who had arrived in the late 1840s and early 1850s after the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Prominent ethnic German civilian leaders, such as Franz Sigel and Carl Schurz, both of whose prior military experience before the Civil War was fighting on the losing side of the German revolutions, were appointed to high rank for their usefulness in rallying fellow immigrants to the cause.
Two prominent Irish immigrants were also given promotions, as many Irish had arrived following the famines in Ireland. Thomas F. Meagher and Michael Corcoran were promoted, who before the war had been a captain and a colonel, respectively, in the New York State Militia. Meagher resigned in May 1863, but when Corcoran died in December 1863, the Army revoked Meagher's resignation to keep at least one Irishman in command.
Other officers were highly successful in their attempts to rally large numbers of troops, whether they were native-born or foreign-born. For instance, Daniel Sickles recruited many soldiers from New York.
The Confederacy also appointed numerous political generals for the same reasons. They also used many such appointments to influence the Confederate sympathizers in the border states, which had not seceded from the Union. Former Vice President John C. Breckinridge was appointed as a general in the hopes that he would inspire the citizens of Kentucky to join the Confederate Army.
Political general
A political general is a general officer or other military leader without significant military experience who is given a high position in command for political reasons, through political connections, or to appease certain political blocs and factions.
In the United States, this concept was demonstrated by commissions and appointments during the American Civil War, in both the Union and the Confederacy.
Most of the top generals on the Union and Confederate sides were graduates of West Point and were career military officers. In addition to military training, many of them had battlefield experience gained during the Mexican–American War or the American Indian Wars, such as the Third Seminole War in Florida. Due to the necessity of raising large-scale citizen armies, both presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, for various reasons, appointed a number of the so-called political generals. Some of them, such as John A. Logan on the Union side or Richard Taylor on the Confederate, developed into competent military leaders and were respected by their subordinates and superiors alike. Others turned out to be "disastrously incompetent", according to historian James M. McPherson.
The most important reason for appointing political generals was to appease important blocs of voters. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln used such appointments as a way to get the support of moderate Democrats for the war and for his administration ("War Democrats").Two of the first three volunteer generals whom Lincoln appointed, John Adams Dix and Benjamin Butler, were all Democrats. They were the three most senior major generals in the Union Army. Republicans were also appointed, including Richard James Oglesby of Illinois.
Other promotions were used to gain the support of the specific group they represented, especially in cases of foreign immigrants. One of the largest ethnic groups in the U.S. at the time was relatively recent German immigrants, who had arrived in the late 1840s and early 1850s after the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Prominent ethnic German civilian leaders, such as Franz Sigel and Carl Schurz, both of whose prior military experience before the Civil War was fighting on the losing side of the German revolutions, were appointed to high rank for their usefulness in rallying fellow immigrants to the cause.
Two prominent Irish immigrants were also given promotions, as many Irish had arrived following the famines in Ireland. Thomas F. Meagher and Michael Corcoran were promoted, who before the war had been a captain and a colonel, respectively, in the New York State Militia. Meagher resigned in May 1863, but when Corcoran died in December 1863, the Army revoked Meagher's resignation to keep at least one Irishman in command.
Other officers were highly successful in their attempts to rally large numbers of troops, whether they were native-born or foreign-born. For instance, Daniel Sickles recruited many soldiers from New York.
The Confederacy also appointed numerous political generals for the same reasons. They also used many such appointments to influence the Confederate sympathizers in the border states, which had not seceded from the Union. Former Vice President John C. Breckinridge was appointed as a general in the hopes that he would inspire the citizens of Kentucky to join the Confederate Army.