Preview

New Weapons In The American Civil War

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1447 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
New Weapons In The American Civil War
Death, destruction, and mayhem are just a few of the vestiges of the modern war present throughout the American Civil War. Industrialization had a massive influence on the conflict moving it to the boundaries of total war. The American Civil War is the first modern war due to innovations in technology, which led to advances in weaponry, logistics, and communications. The Industrial Revolution allowed for the greatest level of production in human history, which in turn led to the greatest level of destruction known during that time. This military conflict pitted two similar people against each other, but the difference from previous conflicts was not new training techniques, but the armies’ utilization of these innovative technologies. …show more content…
These rifled cannons could shoot heavier and larger munitions compared to earlier smoothbore versions. One of the key aspects of modern warfare is commanders understanding the importance of superior firepower and utilize these force multipliers on the battlefield to gain advantages. Gen. McClellan fully appreciated the potential for this new weapon of war and expanded Union Artillery by 900 percent. The abilities of artillery would show the amazing killing power of modern ordinance ever changing its place on the battlefield. Now these modern factories were producing new weapons at a rate never seen before, thanks to the industrial revolution to cause death and destruction on a modern scale. Weapon advancements ended the old ways of war due to their killing potential and required military leadership to adapt with modern tactics and …show more content…
Innovations in communication technology are what let battle action reports and other information to travel faster than ever before. The primary carrier of news was the telegraph; this allowed Generals and government bureaucrats to communicate like never before. Now headquarters and leaders safely behind the lines could command troops without placing themselves in danger, a trend that has continued well into modern times. Another aspect showing that of the modern world is how President Lincoln utilized the War Department’s telegraph office to gain information on the war effort. In addition, newspaper reporters could send news to the home front instantaneously expanding media coverage serving as their version of cable news. This ability to grow lines of communication resulted in more than 15,000 miles of telegraph cables setup to meet the military and civilian needs. In the past, runners carrying letters transmitted news from the front; now the world could get information from the battlefield as it
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Essay On Civil War Weapons
    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Essay On Civil War Weapons

    Many traditional weapons were used in the Civil War, from knives to muskets, and bayonets to cannons. There was new technology that was introduced into warfare, through the Civil War, like rifled gun barrels, the Minie ball, and repeating rifles. A rifled gun barrel is the barrel of a rifle which has ridges grooved into it, so when the bullet is fired, it has more stability, which leads to more damage. A Minie Ball is a bullet for a rifle that has grooves around the entire surface that serves the same purpose as a rifled gun barrel, to keep the bullet steady. The Minie Ball is named after the co-inventor Claude-Étienne Minié. The repeating rifle, is probably the most advanced weapon in the Civil War. The repeating…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Civil War Weapons and Atrillery
    • 2947 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Civil War Weapons and Atrillery

    The Civil War, also called The War Between the States, was one of the bloodiest wars in American history. What made the Civil War such a massacre? The Civil War was such a bloodbath because the technological advances were so far superior to the tactics of the infantry, that the weapons virtually obliterated the soldiers. Soldiers would form lines known as a battalions. In these battalions, soldiers would basically march to their deaths. In addition to weapons doing so much damage, fortification on the battlefield was far more advanced than had ever been before. The Cheveau-de-frise was the main focus of armored fortification in the Civil War. This fortification consisted of 10 to 12 foot logs with large spiked-shaped, wooden stakes attached to the top of them. The Cheveau-de-frise would hold soldiers at bay while the opposing soldiers dismantled the battalion with cannons and rifles. Between the fortification and the weapons, humans did not have the slightest chance of survival.1…

    • 2947 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Tactics And Strategies In The Civil War
    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tactics And Strategies In The Civil War

    The American civil war was one of the toughest and deadliest wars in American history. This was where the Confederate States of America fought for their independence. It took place from 1861 when the war broke out till April 9th 1865 when confederate commander Robert E. Lee surrendered at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House. It was one of the earliest true industrial wars. Industrial knowledge was used to produce weapons in mass-production. Steamships and railroads were used to supply troops and the telegraph which was relatively new was used in communication. Practices of total war were being used in the civil war. This shows that this was a tough war that needed the best…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Springfield Rifle In The Civil War
    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Springfield Rifle In The Civil War

    The Springfield Rifle Model 1861, also called the Springfield Rifle-Musket, was a widely used rifle in the Civil War. Its purpose was to kill the enemy on both the Union and Confederate sides. It was first manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts in the Springfield Armory. That was where the Springfield Rifle got its name. Both the North and the South used this rifle due to its immense power. The Springfield Rifle was considered to be a very useful combat weapon in the fight of the Civil War (“Springfield Model 1861 - History, Specs and Pictures - Military Weapons”).…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare And Contrast The American Civil War
    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Compare And Contrast The American Civil War

    The American Civil War was the first modern war compared to the Napoleonic wars because Union and Confederate armies waged a total war that encompassed mass politics and advanced technologies. “The Civil War combined the mass politics and passions of the Wars of the French Revolution with the technology, productive capacity, and managerial style of the emerging Industrial Revolution.” The Civil War was not only an example of a modern war but one of the earliest examples of total war.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Chapter Outline Apush Ch.15
    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Chapter Outline Apush Ch.15

    The Civil War has been called the first modern war. It depended on railroads, mass-produced weapons, joint army-navy tactics, iron-plated warships, rifled guns and artillery, and trench warfare. The Confederacy had just 9 million people as compared with 22 million in the Union in 1861, and although the Confederacy had only a fraction of the industrial capacity of its opponent, the South was fighting in defense of its own homeland. The North had longer supply lines and the problem of occupying captured areas. It had to commit a greater proportion of its men away from the front than did the South, which could count…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How Did The Civil War Affect The Economy
    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages

    How Did The Civil War Affect The Economy

    The American Civil War was the result of economic and social differences of the North and South. It ended with the defeat of the Southern Confederacy and the subsequent the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. The Civil War provided the Northern Union opportunities by introducing war supplement businesses such as railroads, weapons and machines, and crashed the Southern economy and its market. Some lasting effects of the Civil War including abolishment of the institution of slavery, the development of industrialization, and the expansion of railroad system in America firmly redefining the economic status of the North and South.…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare And Contrast The North And South In The Civil War
    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page

    Compare And Contrast The North And South In The Civil War

    The Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars fought by the Unites Sates of America. The Civil war was fought in the South, known as the Confederate Sates, and the North, the Union. The North’s and the South’s differences were based on slavery. Southerners had an agricultural way of life, using slaves as farm tools. The use of slaves in the South was common and considered essential for a farm. But the North opposed to the South’s ways. They believed it was inhumane to use someone for free labor, despite their long, hard working hours. Finally the South was fed up and seceded, calling for war. The war, although, did not happen over night. A series of existential threats had built up and had finally exploded. Four of the major threats were the…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Napoleonic Decisive Battle Analysis
    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Napoleonic Decisive Battle Analysis

    In conclusion, the changing nature of warfare was the most important factor in why it took the North four years to win the American Civil War because the USA had to completely change their strategy, which involved going against what they had been taught militarily. This made it more significant than the initially poor strategy of the USA, the contributions of Lee and the strengths of the CSA because of the extent of its…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Sherman's March
    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sherman's March

    A person could say that the experience to fight the Civil War was like on the job training. As this war fit between other wars it brought with it an evolution of changes in transport, weapons and administration. It was at the start a political war and at the start did not have a professional army on either side as the last war fought by the U.S. was with Mexico. Politics carried an immense weight on the shoulders of…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Why the South Lost the War
    • 2026 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Why the South Lost the War

    The first contributing factor to the South’s loss of the war is the fact that the North had a fundamentally sturdier and superior economy. Economically, the Civil War was not a contest between equals. The South had no factories to produce guns or ammunition, and its railroads were small and not interconnected, meaning that it was hard for the South to move food, weapons, and men quickly over long distances. In addition, though agriculture thrived in the South, planters focused on cash crops like tobacco and cotton and did not produce enough food crops to feed the southern population (“Economy” 2004). The North, on the other hand, had enough food and enough factories to make weapons for all of its soldiers. It also had an extensive rail network that could transport men and weapons rapidly and…

    • 2026 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The American Civil War - Unlike Any Other War?
    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The American Civil War - Unlike Any Other War?

    One of the ways the Civil War has been argued as being unlike any war before is through the claim that it was the last Napoleonic, pre-modern war and the first ‘modern war.’ Janda agrees that if referring to technology, “they seem to be correct, as the Civil War represents the first mass conflict of the industrial age.” The way modernity and technology infused the Civil War and marked it as different from the wars before it was particularly significant in terms of two things, supplying the armies and weaponry. Clark says that a war like this could not have been fought before because the means to feed and clothe over three million soldiers did not exist. The mechanisation of farming to produce…

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Victory in the North: Us Civil War
    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Victory in the North: Us Civil War

    Since the final battle of the American Civil War was fought in 1865, scholars have debated the reasons for the Union’s victory over the Confederacy. Historians have attributed the war’s outcome to many factors, some of which include Lincoln’s superior leadership, the South’s failure to diplomatically secure foreign intervention, emancipated slaves enlisting in the Union army, and the military strategies employed by the North’s generals. Both the Union and Confederacy expected a quick victory, each believing it possessed several advantages over the other. In the end, however, the North’s overwhelming superiority in manufacturing and industry proved to be far too great a hurdle to overcome by the South’s agricultural economy.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The North and South in Antebellum United States
    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The North and South in Antebellum United States

    In the time just before the Civil War, the United States was one of the most successful nations in the world. The United States had become the world’s leading cotton producing country and had developed industry, which would in the future, surpass that of Great Britain. Also, the United States possessed an advanced railroad and transportation system. However, despite its successes, the United States was becoming increasingly divided. The North and the South had many distinct differences in terms of their social, cultural, and economic characteristics that brought about sectionalism and, eventually, the Civil War.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Monitorvirginia
    • 2323 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Monitorvirginia

    The Civil War began during America’s industrial age. America’s cities were teeming with factories and railroads. Industry encouraged the development of new technologies. Coal powered steam engines propelled riverboats from port to port. Railroads provided quick passage and domestic trade from city to city. Factories effectively produced large quantities of goods. Industrialization provided Americans with new opportunities and experiences. As a result of this industrialization, wartime technologies also improved. Muskets were rifled, artillery pieces grew larger, and ships were coated with iron armor. Industrialization and technology were transforming warfare, and the Civil War was their catalyst. The Civil War ironclads, the Monitor and Virginia, were direct results of American industrialization. The Monitor and Virginia not only revolutionized naval warfare at Hampton Roads, but they changed the sailor’s experience in battle.…

    • 2323 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More