Logistical Problems During Civil War - Term Paper Example

Logistics are therefore essential or optimum requirements that must be implemented in ensuring that any military operation succeeds by maintaining its constituent organs. Generally, logistics is defined as the management of goods’ movement from their point of production to the points where they are required for consumption. Logistics are concerned with the flow of information, handling of material goods, inventory, mode of packaging, warehousing, and security amongst others. However, in a military context, logistics are termed as the “the art of moving armies and keeping them supplied”.

This can be better put as the integration of services and materials required in sustaining military operations such as procurement, warehousing, supply, transportation, automation, and sustenance into one universal function which sees to it that none of these areas is undernourished. With these in check, an army, or the military operation is allowed to accomplish or implement their missions. It is therefore sufficient to state that the success or failure of any military operation depends on logistics.

The roles of logistics have been evident in major world military or war situations such as the Roman Empire, the Napoleonic Era, the recent American war on terror, and the case primarily for this study; during the Civil War. In the era when horses were the machineries of trade and war, the generals in charge had to ascertain how much food was required for their beasts, how many carriers were required to transport all their men to the battlegrounds, how far from their supply points they had to go, the total tonnage that their entire forces could contain, calculate how much food their soldiers would require on the number of days they would be away, the temporary shelter they required, and how many nurses or medical attendants were required.

History is the greatest supporter of the fact that the side in battle which best handles its logistics is the one that usually takes the day, or is handed the victory. To justify this observation, the development of the following research text is based on the events and occurrences which took place during the American Civil War Era of 1861 to 1865. This case study chose the Civil War because it sufficiently represents a battle in which the two conflicting sides were perceived as being equal in terms of military power, and that the outcome was not one that could be easily predicted.

The reasons for the war were deep-rooted in the way of societal misrepresentations and dissatisfaction, and the grace period from the emergence of the problematic until the time the war broke out gave either side sufficient time to prepare in facing the other. The North as well as the South put together all their resources as they looked forward to prove their rival wrong, leading to the creation of one of America’s worst humanitarian crises in history.