North Korean, Nazi Germany (where women had children to give to the government), Communist Russia, these are also militaristic societies.

The pre-Civil War South was not really a militaristic society. Strict discipline and devotion to the military was not a trait of the Southern ideology prior to the Civil War. The American South did have militias, did send some of their sons to military school, but so did the North. In the South the problem of lawlessness and uncivilized behavior drove well-to-do Southerners to send their sons to military schools to put some structure into their lives. The post-Civil War Southern culture became closer to the look of a militaristic society with the opening of dozens of schools with military themes; more so than before the war. By the turn of the century, the memory of the lost cause helped create the love for anything military.

Southerners become good professional soldiers not as a goal in life but as a first step to being a good citizen. The ability to be a good soldier, learning leadership, discipline and structure, and performing well, was and is thought a way to prepare a young Southern man for life as a good citizen not a life long career in the military.

I believe that terms militaristic society is wrong to describe the pre-Civil War mentality in the South. Confederate soldiers were outstanding warriors and lousy to average military men. To be militaristic society the people would have to submit to rules, laws, and a command structure, I would not describe these Southerners as people who would willingly submit to military rules as part of their daily lives. They hated being told what to do.

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David Upton