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Technology of weapons during civil war
Technology of weapons during civil war
Technology that was invented in the American civil war
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American Technological Advancements of the Civil War
The Civil War had many large technological advancements that would greatly evolve warfare. The war introduced the first ironclad ships, the first repeating rifles and carbines, and the first metallic rifle and pistol cartridges. The military didn't solely rely on this new technology, however. Older weapons and other tools were still trusted, such as paper cartridges and smoothbore muskets.
Before 1860, the government of the United States provided little interest or encouragement in the inventions of various ordinance experts. The U.S. Ordinance Department generally thought that the United had many preceding wars and battles due to the smoothbore cannon, and thus, no further weapons were needed. Many inventors had spent of years of time and many on this experiments and would face financial crisis if the government did not use them.
On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 A.M., the refusal of the United States government for technological improvements was changed when Confederate Army Lieutenant Henry S. Farley pulled the lanyard on his mortar, firing a shot that exploded over Fort Sumter. It was not the first hostile shot, however but it marked the beginning of four years of bloody and brutal conflict.
At the beginning of the war, the South had only one functioning cannon supplier: Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia. Thus, it was extremely important that they started import trades with Europe. In the coming years, Great Britain became the biggest exporter to the South.
The Federal forces started the war off with 4,000 pieces of artillery, but less than 165 were of field uses. The North had a big advantage in the fact that that had a number of foundries t...
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...hich wooden ships were beginning to be unable to handle. 18 and 24-pounder guns were replaced with 32-pounder guns, and because of the power of the stem-propelled ironclads, 68-pounders were made use of.
Bibliography:
Primary Resources: http://www.2ndfloridalightartillery.com/Images/CannonLine.jpg
http://www.cannonartillery.com/multimedia/image_gallery/Member_Photos/CivilWarMortar.JPG
Secondary Resources: http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.civilwarartillery.com/BasicFacts.htm
Works Cited
http://www.2ndfloridalightartillery.com/Images/CannonLine.jpg
http://www.cannonartillery.com/multimedia/image_gallery/Member_Photos/CivilWarMortar.JPG
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.civilwarartillery.com/BasicFacts.htm
The Civil War was unlike any other war ever fought in America and had many effects on the home front for both the North and the South. It is stated to be the first ever total war, which is a war against not only the civilians but also the armies. The Civil War is also considered the first modern war fought by the U.S. troops. Lincoln asked volunteers to sign up for only three months. Many people thought the war wouldn’t last long. However, the war continued on for four years. The Union armies had around 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men and the Confederate army had approximately 750,000 to 1,250,000 men. The entire North and South society was affected by the war and desired for many social and economic assets. The Civil war brought new military techniques which caused the armaments to be more destructive. Ironclad ships and railroads were sufficiently used within the war. The north had a motive; they wanted to weaken the South’s longing to victory. The North tried to achieve this last motive by inflicting wholesale destruction upon the South (Janda, 1995). More than a hundred people seemed to be spies or secessionists in Maryland. In time, they were arrested due to not being faithful to the union and their state. Pro-secessionist newspapers were shut down, and telegrams and mail were censored (Perret, 2004).
The Civil War had a very large affect on all of the States. It changed men from gentlemen that went to church every Sunday and never cussed to people who rarely went to church and cussed all the time. Some of the people in the war were also very corrupt and did not do things as they should be done. The way that the enemy was looked at was even changed. All of these things were talked about in "The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd".
"If wars are won by riches, there can be no question why the North eventually prevailed." The North was better equipped than the South, with the resources necessary to be successful in a long term war like the Civil War was, which was fought from 1861 1865. Prior, and during the Civil war, the North's economy was always stronger than the South's, boasting of resources that the Confederacy had no means of attaining. Compared to the South, The North had more factories available for production of war supplies and larger amounts of land for growing crops. Its population was several times of the South's, which was a potential source for military enlistees. Although the South had better naval leadership and commanders, such as Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, they lacked the number of factories and industries to produce needed war materials. Therefore, the North won the American Civil War due to the strength of their industrialized economy, rather than their commanders and strategies.
Through out the 1920’s many inventions were created that altered human civilization. Transportation was successfully mastered. Radio communication was becoming more common and medicine was saving more and more lives every day.
When examining the role the homefront and the battlefront played during the Civil War, historians often make a glaring error by regarding the homefront and battlefront as independent entities. However, most battles took place on Southern soil, blurring the line between the Confederate homefront and the battlefield. To understand a war that split the country over regional differences, examining the impact the homefront had on the battlefront and exploring the ways these two environments overlapped and impacted each other is essential. Despite the Confederacy’s inferior resources, in the first years of the war, victory was possible. Yet, as the distinction between the homefront and battlefront blurred, the Confederacy’s ability to supply the military the resources required to sustain a war effort deteriorated. The Confederacy lost the war because its success was dependent on a limited resource supply that the homefront could not maintain on soils ravaged by the battles Northern armies brought to its home.
Advancements in technology and science contributed to one the most gory and bloodiest war in the annals of human existence. These new technological advancements revolutionized how people regarded war. War was no longer where the opposite forces fought in a coordinated battle. War evolved into game of cunning strategy where the side with the bigger, powerful, and smarter toys played better. This led to a fierce competition where each side tried to create the smarter machines and better weapons, leading to deadly mass killing weapons in the process. One weapon or machine was created and an even better one was made. New developments such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and new strategy to thwart trench warfare affected how WWI was fought and it came with catastrophic results.
The radio revolutionised the way families spent time together and receive information. The movie theaters had an impact on how people forgot about the depression and made life seem better. Many homes in the 1920s also just got access to electricity while many homes were still lit by candle light, but became more prominent as the time period continued. Labor saving appliances of the 1920s made the household chores easy to accomplish than it used to be. The 1920s was enriched by many technological achievements that helped changed the way americans communicated, managed their health, and partook in leisurely activities.
After 1871, the war atmosphere engendered by the secret alliances led to an armaments race among the powers. The race was particularly serious between 1900 and 1914, as the international situation became much worse than before. There was a significant rise in the army and naval estimates of the European powers in these years. All the Continental European powers had adopted the conscription system since 1870. Austria-Hungary had conscription since 1868 and Germany since 1870. Only Britain did not have conscription. After 1890, the deteriorating diplomatic relations among the powers accelerated their military expansion programme. Britain did not introduce conscription but had prepared her armed forces for both European expedition and for home defense. In general, all the powers increased their stocks of arms, produced more modern weapons of war and built more strategic railways. Britain and Germany were the chief rivals at sea. In the meantime, Britain produced her first Dreadnought. Dreadnoughts were large, fast and heavily armed battleships. They set a new standard in naval armaments and rendered all previous battleships obsolete. The naval race became intense. For centuries the powers of Europe had clashed over their competing interests around the globe. Du...
The famous Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1 to July 3 of 1863 in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle proved to show the most casualties of the entire war and resulted in a crushing defeat of the Confederates. The Battle of Gettysburg is generally considered to be the turning point of the American Civil War. This paper will demonstrate the various reasons as to why the Confederates, led by General Robert E. Lee, were unsuccessful in the Battle of Gettysburg during their invasion of the north. General Lee’s over-confidence, the confederate army’s disorganization and failed coordination, and the shift of intelligence all contributed to the crushing defeat of the confederates at Gettysburg. Following his “flawless” battle at Chancellorsville, General Lee was instilled with absolute confidence in his men and failed to see any deficiencies in his army’s offensive capabilities. Lee was not only over-confident, but also knew less than his opponent during the most crucial stages of the battle. The final contributing factor as to why the confederates were defeated was Alexander’s failure to provide effective artillery bombardment and his failure to advise General Pickett not to make the charge after the ineffective bombardment.
When WW1 sparked, weapon production companies were pushed to start to quickly produce the old weapons previously used in service instead of designing new one as these funds would be put into researching new tactics and arsenal. The Machine gun was invented in 1884, by Sir Hiram Maxim, cleverly designed so that the recoil from the previous bullet fired readied the mechanism again and so on so on. Artillery, meaning Large Calibre Gun, was a big part
During the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, over 620,000 accounted soldiers were killed. Known as the "the first modern war", historians generally agree that the reason for this was because this was a time of transition for the military. Armies and Navies were still using tactics where they would gather large forces of firepower to bear on the enemy. At the same time, weapons were being developed which were accurate and lethal well beyond any arms of the earlier conflicts. As a result of these two conditions many more casualties were sustained. Add to that the lack of medical knowledge of disease and infection and the numbers truly began to grow. This paper is an overview of the types of weaponry that was used during this time.
Civil War weapons proved to be very effective on the battlefield. Each type of weapon has its own drawbacks and advantages. Soldiers that fought in the Civil War remained primarily on their weapons and needed them to win battles. Without them, winning a war would be very challenging. Weapons are always improving and are always used consistently in wars all around the world.
Throughout the early parts of the century the North had heavily concentrated on industrial improvement while the South had mostly concentrated on agricultural means. This proved to be of great significance, as the two sides would find themselves in a high cost and high demand war. During the onset of the war the "North contained 80% of total U.S. industry" (Rivera pg.1), and many of these production facilities were quickly and easily transformed in order to support the demands of the military. The South on the other hand had very few production facilities and most of them lay along the contested Border States, and they lost most of these facilities when West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware opted to...
Many weapons were used during the Civil War. Some definitely saw more use than others, and some may have been forgotten. The most popular weapon used in the Civil War was most likely the Spencer Repeating Rifle. The Spencer Repeating Rifle replaced the much less effective musket. A less popular weapon, for example, were landmines, and were deemed as barbarous and banned for use.
The invention and innovation of small firearms spans throughout the world and throughout multiple centuries. The main inventions during the early phases of small arms development quickly gave way to the next innovation, although they were slow to be adapted to military use due to the cost of their production. As time went on these innovations became more and more stagnant to the point of there being no major innovations in the field for close to two hundred years. However, after this stagnant period, there began another period of advanced innovation in the area of small arms technology. The goal of this essay is to understand and dissect the innovations that occurred during these two periods of advanced innovation and the cultural and historical factors that lead to them.