Gentlemanly Price-Fixing and Its Limits: Collusion and Competition in the U.S. Explosives Industry during the Civil War Era

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Agency Problems ◽  
Black Powder ◽  
Social Foundations ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Commercial Markets ◽  
The Social ◽  
Civil War Era ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

During the Civil War era, when the U.S. explosives industry was already dominated by a handful of firms, the leading manufacturers of black powder tried repeatedly–with mixed success–to fix prices in commercial and military markets. Their surviving correspondence reveals some of the dynamics of oligopolistic collusion and competition. In commercial markets, price-fixing by leading explosives makers was undermined not only by competition from small powder manufacturers but also by rivalry among their own selling agents. The same agency problems that made price-fixing more difficult, however, may have actually made it easier for manufacturers to sustain the social foundations of cooperation by allowing them to blame the failures of their agreements on forces outside their control. Maintaining cooperative relations over the long run proved useful to manufacturers in wartime military markets, in which price agreements were easier to sustain. But during the Civil War, the leading powder producers found that even successful collusion in the military supply business did not guarantee high profits, because government bureaus could prove to be demanding consumers.

On-Site Neutralization of Civil War Munitions Recovered From an Underwater Environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
Valentine A. Nzengung ◽  
Ben Redmond
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Chemical Reduction ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Black Powder ◽  
Underwater Environment ◽  
Explosive Ordnance Disposal ◽  
Civil War Era ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThis paper describes the recovery, on-site nondestructive mechanical breaching, and chemical neutralization of munitions recovered from an underwater environment. The munitions were recovered during salvaging of the scuttled confederate states ship (CSS) Georgia, as part of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP). The CSS Georgia was scuttled on December 20, 1864. The CSS Georgia wreck site is on the Georgia and South Carolina border and covers an approximate area of 350 × 200 feet at a depth of about 36 feet. Because the CSS Georgia shipwreck site would obstruct the SHEP, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) entered into agreements to salvage some artifacts, including the munitions, for conservation. Due to the historical significance of the artifacts and the munitions among the CSS Georgia wreckage, the USACE required that the munitions be neutralized in the safest and least destructive manner possible. The munitions on board the scuttled CSS Georgia consisted of two types of civil war era projectiles, often described as cannon balls. A total of 185 munitions were removed from the CSS Georgia site in 2015. The majority of the recovered projectiles (170) were mechanically breached, and energetics were safely neutralized using MuniRem, an innovative chemical reduction reagent for explosives. After the black powder was completely flushed and neutralized, fuzes were unscrewed, if it could be done safely; otherwise, the explosive ordnance disposal technicians drilled into the fuzes at an angle. The contents of the fuze were neutralized in a solution of MuniRem before reattachment to the projectile. The neutralized black powder solids and wastewater were disposed as nonhazardous wastes. This project constitutes the largest on-site chemical neutralization of recovered confederate and underwater disposed military munitions from the U.S. civil war era.

Book Reviews

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 464-466
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
Union Army ◽  
Prisoner Of War ◽  
The Social ◽  
Brown University ◽  
Army Soldiers ◽  
The U.S

Kaivan Munshi of Brown University reviews “Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War” by Dora L. Costa and Matthew E. Kahn. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Explores the effect of peers on people's behavior, drawing upon the life histories of white and black Union Army Soldiers from the American Civil War. Discusses loyalty and sacrifice; why the U.S. Civil War; building the armies; heroes and cowards; prisoner-of-war camp survivors; the homecoming of….”

The Defeated of the Greek Civil War: From Fighters to Political Refugees in the Cold War

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kostis Karpozilos
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Refugees ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Refugee Experience ◽  
The Military

In the fall of 1949, after the end of the Greek Civil War, the bulk of the defeated Greek Communist (KKE) fighters were covertly transported from Albania to Soviet Uzbekistan. This article addresses the covert relocation project, organized by the Soviet Communist Party, and the social engineering program intended to create a prototype Greek People’s Democracy in Tashkent. Drawing on Soviet and Greek Communist Party records, the article raises three major issues: first, the contingencies of postwar transition in the Balkans and the precarious status of the Albanian regime; second, the international Communist response to the military defeat of the KKE in 1949 and the competing visions of the Greek, Soviet, and Albanian parties regarding the future of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG); third, the intentions of the KKE to establish military bases in Albania and the party’s ensuing effort to transform the agrarian fighters of the DAG into revolutionary cadres for a future victorious repatriation in Greece. Drawing these elements together, the article elucidates the relocation operation of 1949, positions the Greek political refugee experience within the postwar “battle of refugees,” and challenges the widespread historiographical assumption that the KKE immediately abandoned the prospect of a renewed armed confrontation.

scholarly journals The Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly as a Left-Democratic Alternative to the Communists and the Whites in the Civil War

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Shubin
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
World War I ◽  
Private Property ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

The Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was an option in the Civil War that was essentially distinct from both the Soviet and the White alternatives. Komuch differed from the Soviet and the White authorities, as it was characterised by a combination of advanced socioeconomic policy and a dogmatically principled commitment to parliamentary democracy. In the event of the military victory of such a power, the success of the social democratic model was not guaranteed (as the history of Europe during the interwar period demonstrated), but Russia’s chances of moving along a path that combined a social state and democratic institutions would have increased markedly. While criticising, and in many respects rightly so, the military policy of the Bolsheviks, the Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks had to partially restore market capitalist relations. Their successful development was possible with the cooperation of the government and the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie demanded the dismantlement of “socialist conquests”, which Komuch was not going to do – both for ideological reasons and because the capitalist economy had begun to disintegrate during World War I and the Revolution. Komuch’s path involved the combination of a market economy (not necessarily just capitalist), state regulation, and broad social rights. After the Bolshevik promises, the workers and peasants took it quite calmly, fearing the possible cancellation of the social gains of the Revolution and expressing dissatisfaction with violations of promised civil rights. But the bourgeoisie, convinced of the “inconsistency” of dismantling institutions that infringed on the right of private property, stood in sharp opposition to Komuch, betting on its opponents in the anti-Soviet camp. At the same time, Komuch did not have time to build a state system for monitoring compliance with social rights and had to rely on the activity of trade unions, which, due to their social function, were critical of the government – in this case, Komuch. Komuch followed the law regulating the socialisation of land adopted by the Constituent Assembly and proposed a relatively successful version of regulating the food supply for the cities. Initially, the people’s army created by Komuch was also successful (enjoying support from the Czechoslovak Corps). However, Komuch faced a blockade by the Provisional Siberian Government. It was the opposition of more right-wing forces in the rear that predetermined the defeat of the Komuch alternative.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Downs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Civil War Era ◽  
The U.S

What is a revolution and why should we think of the U.S. Civil War Era as part of a revolutionary wave? The introduction lays out theories of revolutions and revolutionary changes and explores why the United States’ domestic transformation fits categories of a revolution because of its reliance on bloody constitutionalism, as well as its relation to a broader international revolutionary wave connecting Spain and Cuba and Mexico to the United States.

Civil War and Rebellion in Burma

1990 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Silverstein
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Short History ◽  
Moral Ground ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
High Moral Ground ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

1988 was unlike any other year in Burma's short history as an independent nation. It began quietly, but erupted into a revolution for democracy and change which failed when the army violently restored its dictatorship; it ended quietly, but with the people living in fear under a military determined not to be challenged openly again. During this same period, while the world focused on Rangoon, the minorities continued to pursue a civil war which some have been fighting for the past forty years, hopeful that the changing situation in Burma's heartland would effect their struggles because both they, and the Burmans who rose in revolt, have the same enemy and seek the same ends — a peaceful and democratic Burma. Both looked to and sought help from the free nations of the world who spoke out vigorously when the rebellion began but whose voices either have been lowered or even stilled since the military made clear that it would decide the time and degree of change; only the U.S. continued to hold the high moral ground in support of the rebellion but its actions hardly matched its rhetoric.

The Bravest of the Brave

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Confederate Army ◽  
Senior Officer ◽  
The Social ◽  
Army Of Northern Virginia ◽  
Camp Life ◽  
The Military ◽  
Insight Into

Born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, in 1837, Stephen Dodson Ramseur rose meteorically through the military ranks. Graduating from West Point in 1860, he joined the Confederate army as a captain, and, by the time of his death near the end of the war at the Battle of Cedar Creek, had attained the rank of major general in the Army of Northern Virginia. Ramseur excelled in every assignment and was involved as a senior officer in many of the war's most important conflicts east of the Appalachians. His letters—over 180 of which are collected and transcribed here—provide his incisive observations on these military events, and, at the same time, offer a rare insight into the personal opinions of a high-ranking Civil War officer. Correspondence by Civil War figures is often strictly professional. But in Ramseur's personal letters to his wife, Nellie, and best friend, David Schenk, this book candidly expresses beliefs about the social, military, and political issues of the day. It also shares vivid accounts of battle and daily camp life, providing colorful details on soldiering during the war.

scholarly journals Archeological Investigations for Fort Stabilization and Restoration, For McKavett State Historical Park, Menard County, Texas: 1978-1990 Seasons

1996 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Small Proportion ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Military Occupations ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Town ◽  
Limited Testing ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. Army occupations at Fort McKavett from 1853 until 1859 and from 1868 until 1883 were part of Texas's frontier defense. During the Civil War and from 1883 until the present, civilians have inhabited and used the fort buildings, creating the small town of Fort McKavett. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department developed part of the town as a state historical park, restoring this property to its appearance during the second military occupation. Archeological investigations at the park between 1978 and 1990 focused on recovering architectural data and artifacts to support restoration, stabilization, and interpretation of the military occupations. The archeological work varied from surface collection to large-scale excavations, the latter generally confined to Officers' Quarters 4, but the most common approach was limited testing in building foundations and suspected architectural features. Work took place in 16 structures. Most of the archeological work focused on officers' quarters, although a few enlisted mens' barracks and other buildings also were tested. Relatively few temporally diagnostic artifacts were recovered in the vicinity of walls, fireplaces, and other architectural features, and only sparse military and military-period artifacts were found. The 372 military and military-period artifacts recovered from the post-1977 work at Fort McKavett and described in this report represent less than 0.01 percent of the total artifact assemblage and likely represent only a small proportion of the trash generated by the military occupations. Much of that trash probably was disposed of and possibly burned off-site or, if on-site, in pit latrines or other deep features not excavated during the 1978-1990 work. Military conduct, discipline, and policing may have functioned in keeping public spaces at this frontier military fort relatively litter free and thus artifact poor.

Banking and Finance from the Revolution to the Civil War

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Ann Murphy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Financial System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Savings Banks ◽  
Banking Institutions ◽  
New Nation ◽  
Civil War Era ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

In creating a new nation, the United States also had to create a financial system from scratch. During the period from the Revolution to the Civil War, the country experimented with numerous options. Although the Constitution deliberately banned the issuance of paper money by either Congress or the states, states indirectly reclaimed this power by incorporating state-chartered banks with the ability to print banknotes. These provided Americans with a medium of exchange to facilitate trade and an expansionary money supply to meet the economic needs of a growing nation. The federal government likewise entered into the world of money and finance with the incorporation of the First and Second Banks of the United States. Not only did critics challenge the constitutionality of these banks, but contemporaries likewise debated whether any banking institutions promoted the economic welfare of the nation or if they instead introduced unnecessary instability into the economy. These debates became particularly heated during moments of crisis. Periods of war, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, highlighted the necessity of a robust financial system to support the military effort, while periods of economic panic such as the Panic of 1819, the Panics of 1837 and 1839, and the Panic of 1857 drew attention to the weaknesses inherent in this decentralized, largely unregulated system. Whereas Andrew Jackson succeeded in destroying the Second Bank of the United States during the Bank War, state-chartered commercial banks, savings banks, and investment banks still multiplied rapidly throughout the period. Numerous states introduced regulations intended to control the worst excesses of these banks, but the most comprehensive legislation occurred with the federal government’s Civil War-era Banking Acts, which created the first uniform currency for the nation.

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