Civil War

1. Civil War • Technology • Gatling Gun • Rifles with Long Muskets • Revolving Pistol • Railroads • Land Mines • Submarines • Air Balloons

2. Railroads • The biggest effect of the railroad on warfare was the ability to supply vast armies • The railroads could, and did, move large numbers of troops quickly, such as shifting Confederate Longstreet and his corp from Virginia into Kentucky to surprise the Federals, and back again before the Federals could react in Virginia • The biggest effect by far was the ability to haul supplies, especially food, long distances • Ammunition is heavy, very heavy, but not perishable like food.  • The vast armies at Gettysburg marched from Virginia in the summer heat to get there, but it was the railroad that sustained the Federal Army in the South

3. Infantry Rifles • The infantry rifle was still a long musket, and it still loaded from the muzzle, but in massed fire, it wrought havoc against formations of troops. • The revolving pistol, invented by Colt, and rifled cannon didn't change warfare nearly as much as the Minie Ball and the rifled musket that shot it • Another improvement was a new bullet, called the minie ball, which was easier to load into a rifle than the older type of ammunition • The new guns improved a soldier’s fighting effectiveness, but they also inflicted more causalities than the older weapons • Minieballs caused more widespread wounds and tissue damage than the older ammo and Civil War surgeons were hard pressed to deal with these more extensive injuries

4. Gatling Gun • The Gatling gun, a kind of machine gun on wheels, was not used much during the war, but when it was used it was devastating

5. Torpedoes “Land mines” • South made extensive use of torpedoes, which were not the self-propelled missiles of today, but more like mines. Some torpedoes could be detonated electronically when an enemy vessel neared

6. Submarines •  The Confederates used steam-powered small submarines • The Union submarine did not prove to be an effective weapon and it sank off Cape Hatteras in 1863

7. Balloons • Balloons were used during the civil war • Thaddeus Lowe was funded by the Union to make balloons to be used as recon for the Army

8. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY DECLARED WAR ON SERIBIA • World War I began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict between two countries spread rapidly: soon, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France were all drawn into the war, largely because they were involved in treaties that obligated them to defend certain other nations. Western and eastern fronts quickly opened along the borders of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

9. OTTOMAN EMPIRE • Late in 1914, the Ottoman Empire was brought into the fray as well, after Germany tricked Russia into thinking that Turkey had attacked it. As a result, much of 1915 was dominated by Allied actions against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. First, Britain and France launched a failed attack on the Dardanelles. This campaign was followed by the British invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Britain also launched a separate campaign against the Turks in Mesopotamia. Although the British had some successes in Mesopotamia, the Gallipoli campaign and the attacks on the Dardanelles resulted in British defeats.

10. TRENCH WARFARE • The middle part of the war, 1916 and 1917, was dominated by continued trench warfare in both the east and the west. Soldiers fought from dug-in positions, striking at each other with machine guns, heavy artillery, and chemical weapons. Though soldiers died by the millions in brutal conditions, neither side had any substantive success or gained any advantage.