Essay On The American Civil War

Argumentative Essay

Was the American Civil War the last Napoleonic conflict or the first modern war? Historians have debated the nature of the American Civil War. Was it a Napoleonic conflict or a modern war? If it was a modern war, what aspects of the warfare made it so? Naturally, one can try to answer this question by analyzing the differences in warfare before, during, and after the Civil War. A deeper understanding of conflict, how warfare developed and changed because of such conflict, is important for understanding warfare and the kinds of decisions that governments and military officials make. This can help us to better understand such conflicts and government strategies in the future. Most historians of the American Civil War frame

First, the telegraph made it possible for armies to communicate more rapidly and effectively. Abraham Lincoln became the first President to communicate on the spot with his officers on the battlefield. Due to its importance in 1861, the Union Army established the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps. Second, the coal gas balloons were used for recon purposes with a telegraph line so the observer could communicate directly with the ground. Successful and heavy use of balloons led to the creation of the Union Army Balloon Corps. Third, from the area of communications was the invention and use of photography. Photos are worth a thousand words, and their importance cannot be undermined. Consequently, they were used by political figures like President Lincoln, who even acknowledged the growing importance of photos in his own political campaigns by war photographer Matthew Brady. Finally, the photographic documentation of battle scenes became accessible to the public with showings in New York and Washington, DC. Newspapers and magazines would also use the image and help the public learn about the atrocities of war. Over a million photographs were taken during the Civil War. Even families with members at war were changed by these technologies because they could have a photograph of the soldiers who were away at war. They even allowed news sources to report the war in almost real time,

Railroads helped to move soldiers and needed supplies across the country. There were 22,000 miles of railroad track in the North and just 9,000 in South, and the North had almost all of the nation’s track and locomotive factories. This gave the North clear advantage over the South. Both Armies used the railroads to send supplies to the groups of soldiers that were on the lines. However, railroads also limited the combat and maneuvers closer to the railroad tracks, making enemy movements very predictable. President Lincoln was famous for his incentives of the national railways and they dominated the Confederate South with their more advanced and intensive technologies . Steam vessels were used in the Civil War and the first confrontation between iron-clad warships occurred between the Monitor and Merrimac in 1862. The war helped to push innovations of these vessels, and by the end of the war the use of steam and iron-clad vessels for naval purposes was