Files
Download Full Text (426 KB)
Description
Review essay by Colonel Joerg Stenzel, instructor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College
Colonel Joerg Stenzel (German Army), an instructor at the US Army War College, lends his expertise in strategy to this review of "the most famous and successful" filibuster featured in William Walker's 1860 work, The War in Nicaragua. As Stenzel notes, the book is Walker's "personal description of his own war in Nicaragua" that it is "arguably biased" and written "in the third person in a style that differs greatly from his earlier editorials." Stenzel provides an overview of Walker's life and contextualizes his actions in relationship to slavery, North-South rivalries, the Gold Rush, and Manifest Destiny, noting that "A closer look at Walker and his actions shows that Central America, with its instabilities and turmoil, had and still has significant geopolitical relevance for the US government."
Publication Date
3-27-2024
Keywords
Nicaragua, William Walker, Central America, Cornelius Vanderbilt, filibuster
Disciplines
Defense and Security Studies
Recommended Citation
Joerg Stenzel,
Book Review: The War in Nicaragua ( US Army War College Press, 2024),
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/41
