Emory Upton Lives!

Emory Upton was a 19th Century US Army officer who was very influential in the area of Army tactics - he has been called the US Army's equivilent of Mahan.

In OTL, he died in 1881 at the age of 42 of suicide - he suffered from tremendous headaches perhaps caused by a brain tumor.

OK - easy POD - we do away his headaches. He lives until 1920 - which would make him old (81) but not ancient. How does he continue to influence the development of the US Army?

Mike Turcotte
 
Oh my god Emory Upton yes.

Upton was a huge fan of the Prussian system, and it showed in his ideas of how the US military should be reformed. The problem is that his proposed changes, while probably sound enough from a military standpoint, were absolutely wretched from a poilitical point of view. Even if Upton were to live on, I can't see him making much success in the 1880s or '90s. An General Staff system might be able to get pushed through some time before 1914 (or whatever Great War equivalent pops up), but conscription would be a pain in the ass to get implemented.
 
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