解放军文职招聘考试The American Civil War

 The American Civil War

The military aspect  of the  United States Civil War  has always attracted

the  most attention from scholars. The roar of gunfire, the massed

movements of uniformed men, the shrill o f bugles, and the drama of hand to   

hand combat have facinated students of warfare for a century. Behind the

lines, however, life was less spectacular. It was the story of back      

breaking labor to provide the fighting men with food and arms, of nerve    

tingling uncertainty about the course of national events, of heartbreak

over sons or brothers or husbands lost in battle. If the men on the firing

line won the victories, the means to those victories were  forged on  the

home front.  Never in the nation's history had Americans worked harder for

victory than in the Civil War. Northerners and Southerners  alike  threw 

themselves  into  the  task  of  supplying  their  respective  armies. 

Both governments  made  tremendous  demands  upon   civilians  and,  in  

general,  received  willing cooperations. By 1863 the Northern war economy

was rumbling along in high gear. Everything from steamboats to shovels was

needed and  produced. Denied Southern  cotton, textile mills turned to wool

for blankets and uniforms. Hides by the hundreds of thousands were turned

into shoes  and  harness  and  saddles;  ironworks  manufactured 

locomotives,  ordnance,  armor  plate. Where private enterprise lagged, the

government set up its own factories or arsenals. Agriculture boomed, with

machinery doing the job of farm workers drawn into the army. In short,

everything that a nation needed to fight a modern war was produced in

uncounted numbers. Inevitably there were  profiteers  with  gold         headed 

canes  and  flamboyant  diamond  stickpins,  but  for  every crooked tycoon

there were thousands of ordinary citizens living on fixed incomes who did

their best to cope with rising prices and still make a contribution to the

war effort. Those who could bought war bonds; others knitted, sewed,

nursed, or lent any other assistance in their power.

美国内战美国内战中的军事方面一直最吸引学者们的注意。  轰隆的炮声、军人大规模 的阵式，尖锐的军号和白刃战的场面，已吸引了战争研究者们一个世纪。 

然而，在后方， 生活却没有这般壮观。那里的故事就是为作战的军人提供食物和武装而做劳累至极的工作，

对国家事态的焦虑和对在战争中失去丈夫、兄弟和儿子的撕心裂肺。  如果说前线的人们获 得了胜利，那胜利的手段就要归功于后方的人们。 

在其历史上，美国人从来没有象在内战 中那样为夺取胜利而如此努力。南方人和北方人一样投入到为各自军队供应物资的任务中。

双方政府对民众都提出巨大的要求，总的来说，得到了极积的合作。  到了 1863 年，北方战 时经济呈高速运转，从蒸气船到铁锹，一切都需要并且生产出来。

 由于没有了南方产的棉

花，纺织工厂纷纷转用毛料生产毯子和军衣。  几十万件的皮革制成了鞋、挽具和马鞍。  铁 厂生产出机车、大炮、装甲板。 

私营企业不足以承担的方面，政府就成立自己的工厂和兵 工厂。  农业迅猛发展，因为农场工人参军后机械代替了手工。  总之，国家参加现代战争所

需的多得数不清的物资都生产出来了。  不可避免地出现了一些手持镀金手杖，戴着耀眼的 钻石别针的投资商。 但每有一个奸诈的富翁就有成千上万的普通市民。

他们依靠固定的收 入尽他们最大的努力应付着上涨的物价，为战争做着贡献。 那些有能力的人购买战争债券，

其他的人编织、缝补衣服，护理伤病人或做其它一切他们力所能及的工作。