The US Civil War and Military Innovation

Originally posted by Crusader3943 The first real machine gun was also invented and used during the Civil War.

 

Strangely enough, the Union had a lancer regiment from Michigan during the war. What chance the generals thought men on horseback using glorified spears stood against shells, canister, and accurate rifles, while charging en masse into all of this, I don't know. It wasn't a common thing, the cavalry mostly relegated to scouting and dismounted fighting, but someone must have thought it would be useful.

Originally posted by Sparten Well, if you want to nitpick, almost all innovations have been tried (albiet) in different forms before. What the ACW's biggest innovation was, was to bring an industrial might of a nation tomb bear.

"Bringing the industrial might of a nation to bear" was not new at all. What do you think the British Empire with its factories and coalfields and steel mills had been doing for an entire century preceding the ACW? Industry was the power (and often the reason) behind British expansionism.

The railroad, in the way that it was used, was certainly new and unique in the ACW. Although railroads had played some minor role in previous conflicts, no conflict prior to the ACW was so defined by the use of railroads to the extent that it altered the nature of war. So was the machine gun new, although it saw little use.

Also, new ironclad designs. Although ironclads were not new per se - several navies had hit on plating warships and the French and British had sixteen each at the outbreak of the ACW - the designs of ships like the monitors was radically different, employing a rotating gun turret. The rotating gun turret for naval use was a revolution in sea warfare.

Edited by edgewaters - 21-Jul-2007 at 20:19

Originally posted by Sparten Well, if you want to nitpick, almost all innovations have been tried (albiet) in different forms before. What the ACW's biggest innovation was, was to bring an industrial might of a nation tomb bear.

Edgewaters's diagram IS in essence the Trace Italienne.  The scarps, glacis and forward firing position (covered way) are essentially the same in many mid-19th century military engineering texts as they are in the diagrams of the engineers of the 16th century.

Edited by pikeshot1600 - 21-Jul-2007 at 09:53

Originally posted by Emperor Barbarossa One thing I have not seen covered in this thread yet is the widespread use of trenches by the Confederates while they defended Virginia in 1864-1865. The use of these trenches were not enough to save them, but they introduced a new concept of warfare, not fighting in lines, but fighting in trenches.

Ah ... no that was not a new concept. It had already been introduced in the Crimean War a decade earlier, during the great Siege of Sevastopol.

Also note that since the 17th century, forts had been used what were called "covered ways"or "advance ditches" which were basically trenches positioned in advance of the walls, used as a firing position. Sometimes the advance ditches formed a network on the field around the bastions.



Note, however, that this is not true trench warfare since trench warfare refers to defences thrown up in the field, not as part of a system of prepared defensive works. The British trenches at Sevastopol were true trench warfare, however.

The telegraph and the railroad were also used in the Crimean, although, the railroad was used in a quite limited fashion. The British built a track from their beachhead to the forward trenches at the Siege of Sevastopol; it was only a few miles long. Nothing at all like the use of railroads in the ACW.

Edited by edgewaters - 21-Jul-2007 at 09:15

Originally posted by Constantine XI One thing which has played on my mind for a while now is how the US Civil War proved itself to be such a fruitful arena for the innovation and invention of military technology. It seemed that the war rechanneled the considerable American industrial and intellectual capabilities into refining the arts of war, perhaps more technologically than tactically.A clear example is that in the year 1862 alone, 240 military patents were issued for new technology. That is an incredible figure for a single year.One example which particularly impressed me with its scope of imagination, though not its effectiveness, was one in which two artillery pieces were set up on the battlefield. Each cannon was loaded with an iron ball, the two balls connected by a chain. The intention was for the two cannons to fire simultaneously at the enemy ranks, the two balls being sent flying. The chain inbetween them was then to cut a swathe through the enemy ranks. A pretty neat idea, though in practice I don't think they managed to refine getting both cannons to fire at exactly the same time. Just something I found rather imaginative. Please contribute any other aspects of US Civil War invention and innovation. � � � � EDIT by Rider: I have decided to take this amongst the many upcoming military topics by nations, of which German Empire already exists. These will contain similiart information, so I hope you do not mind, all your previous posts shall be left here. Thanks, � On the 7th of September, 2006.

The first real machine gun was also invented and used during the Civil War.

This thread has been reentitled, and formed into a military topic concentrating on the whole of the US until 1918, and also the original source of this thread: US Civil War and Military Innovation.

The use of the telegraph was used quite alot in the Civil War. It was quite effective when operational and was usually something that got cut by the enemy due to its effectiveness.

The use of naval mines and torpedos though I dont think a new inovation was something that was demonstrated to be quite effective in the Civil War. The marine screw also showed how more effective it was over the paddle on steam ships.

Like in most wars medicine also progressed alot. The use of Anesthesia was something practiced a bit more in the Civil War. Prostheses and early practices of plastic surgery also showed up. The reconition of needing to get the patient to the surgeon created the ambulance corp. General sanitation also improved from it. Alot more including alot of post war medicine practices that the Civil War helped as a testing ground.

Originally posted by pikeshot1600 Rick Shumaker:   The advances in technology were not yet understood by the generals.  They had all studied physics and mechanics and chemistry at West Point and VPI, but the art of war was still defined by the tactics and strategy of Bonaparte and Frederick.   After 1815, there were few wars, and at the same time, the advances of the industrial revolution had outstripped the tactical practice of Napoleonic warfare.  Exactly why, I have never been sure.  In the Crimea, there were hints of "things to come," and in northern Italy in 1859, the French and Austrians had some experience with the newer technical realities.  This was especially true of railways and rifled ordnance.  Probably the time frame was not long enough for these experiences to be digested during the period of warfare from 1855 to 1871 (Crimea to Franco-Prussian, and incl ACW).   In the ACW, armies were created from scratch with few experienced soldiers, and it was reasonable to train and drill in tactics that were understood and accepted.  That insured a slow and long learning curve, and very bloody lessons.   The same thing happened in WW I.  It took a long time to react and adjust to technological advances - actually moreso than in WW II.

Yes, thanks for the information. That is another one of the problems, the commanders knew how to use Napoleonic tactics, but they were not able to adjust to the new technology fast enough, and thus, the generals were using outdated tactics. Also, commander does bring up another thing to this thread. The Gatling Gun was a new invention, but it was so rarely used during the war. It was used more in other wars, and was a precursor to the machine gun.