The Civil War- Modern or Napoleonic War? Essay

The name Civil War is misleading because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat, having its roots in political, economic, social, and psychological elements. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment the Civil War was viewed as criminally stupid, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and blundering politicians. Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that, rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means.

The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

Amongst the most lasting of factors stemming from the Civil War are the weapons that were developed. Before the Civil War, the weapons used were highly unreliable, and were not advanced enough to provide the needed defense for a young nation such as our own. Innovative minds created many interesting ways to demolish their enemies without ever having to fire a shot or go into full combat through different types of bombs that were in disguise. Among the advancements in the Civil War were the torpedo, the carbine rifle, the minie` ball, several models of rifle-muskets, rocket launchers, rocket bombs, "Greek Fire," and a wide array of other secret weapons.

The introduction of steam and iron reshaped and defined new tactics during the 1815-1866 time period with emphasis on the Civil War. Primarily, the invention of the steam engine and rifled artillery forged from iron would define a new tactical advantage for both Confederate and Union Armies. Furthermore, these two new inventions would also greatly increase the effects of speed, lethality, and mass at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels during the Civil War.

The American War for Independence was a successful struggle of a smaller nation fighting a larger, more powerful force. However, in the case of the American Civil War, the larger more powerful Union defeated the southern Confederacy. The Union won the Civil War because the Confederacy could not sustain a war of attrition in the Napoleonic style that evolved into Total War. This paper will briefly explain what Napoleonic warfare is and examine the resources of the North and South. Then, the paper will develop how the Union used its advantages in resources and the use of Total War to defeat the Confederacy.

On April 12, 1861 Confederate troops under General Pierre Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter (in Charleston, South Carolina) with fifty cannons, thus initiating the beginning of the Civil War (“The U.S. Civil War,” 1996). And this, of course, was only the first of many military actions which would rage throughout the 5-year conflict.

The Civil War of America has been discussed as the first modern war of the new industrial age. Army’s of such a large size had yet to meet head on, face to face in the battle field with weapons of such mass destruction and deadly force. America had not yet seen casualties of this magnitude to

In 1861 the United States witnessed a division within itself. As a result a war, better known as the Civil war, broke out due to the South’s declaration for their independence. In the beginning of the Civil war, President Lincoln's main goal was to preserve the union. Although many assumed the Civil war’s primary goal was to abolish slavery, that simply wasn't the case. The Union and the Confederacy both wanted to preserve a way of life. The difference between the Union and the confederacy, and what ultimately started the Civil war, was that both sides wanted to preserve life differently. These differences brought many changes throughout the war, and along those changes came many consequences.

The new weapon was the handgun. The handgun was invented well before the war began yet it was not widely used due to their short range and long reload time. When the war begun handgun technology grew. Smith & Wesson a gun company created rimfire cartridges which allowed the gun to have the ability to ne reloaded from behind, decreasing the reloading process. Handguns also used the new technology to be able to be extremely accurate up to fifty yards and hold several rounds before needing to be reloaded. Edward C. Ezell teaches us that, “By linking the trigger to the hammer-cocking and cylinder-revolving mechanisms, double action permitted a pistol to be fired with a simple pull of the trigger.” This is important because before Smith & Wesson created this new trigger system soldiers had to manually pull back the hammer before the gun could fire now when they pulled the trigger the hammer was automatically pulled back and released firing the handgun. With the combinations of all these new technologies the handgun or as they called them revolvers quickly became popular replacing the centuries old weapon the sword. The sword had been used as a weapon for thousands of years even as a sidearm once guns started to be primarily used but now with new advantages of the handgun swords were made obsolete. With all the new invented technologies of firearms being put together how do the

The Civil War caused many new weapons to be built. There were even weapons and technology made for navy ships. These weapons ranged from small hand-held weapons to large field artillery.

The American Civil War and the American Revolution had some distinct similarities, but their reasons for war and their outcome could lead one to think of the Civil War much like a second American Revolution. During the eighteenth century, America became very diverse with the growth of the colonies. Their social and political climates began to change drastically from that of their rulers, the British. Similarly, the same is to be said of America during the Civil War with the Northern and Southern states, though it was because of the Southerner’s right to own slaves. The British did not like the colonies’ rebellious behavior, and the Northern states did not like that slavery still existed.

In 1861, the American Civil War commenced after many years of tension building between the Northern and Southern states. The main reason of the tension was said to be the debate of slavery between the North and South, and although some documents support this claim, it is false. The war had been brewing since 1607, before slavery was even introduced to the colonies that would become the United States of America. The debate of slavery did play a major part in the civil war; however it did so in supporting the true cause of the civil war. The main cause of the American Civil War was not the debate of slavery, but rather Europe’s role in the American economy.

In the Civil War the North had many advantages over the South. The South was outnumbered, out supplied, and pushed into a corner using military tactics. Many things changed because of the Civil War. The military tactics used by the North changed how war was fought from then on. Many changes were made politically; some were only temporary, while others were permanent. After the war was over, the country was reunited and the image of the soul and duty of our country redefined.

are some common misconceptions about the American Civil War that need to be dealt with. Firstly, the American Civil war ended slavery, this is not true. As a matter of fact, the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states that rebelled against the Union. To mention nothing of, the slaves in the north were finally abolished some 8 months

I was interested in the Napoleonic Wars from a young age and being British and all I found studying about my country fighting Napoleon and all the different aspects of the war interesting from artillery to cav and to the common foot soldier in which I have family that took part in the war. The civil war became known to me when reading history books and the interest I developed was that this newish country heavily involved with slavery had finally turned on each other after differences had gotten to the point of no return and like the English civil war it had families turning on each other and brothers vs brother or brother vs father or brothers vs father but also the new technology that was used in terms of rifling and new advancements in cannon