The First Modern War, American Civil War

The American civil war was a civil war which occured after several Southern slave states declared their seperation and independence and formed the Confederate States of America. The civil war started from 1861 to 1865. The civil war was considered as the modern war because of use of advanced machines and electron devices. These things contributed to all wars to be changed on the course. Since the civil war used these advanced war machines, it ended up being the bloodest battle of American history.

The producers of these advanced mechines and electron devices wanted their products to be used mostly for military purposes. However, men who trained in traditional fighting ways and tactics opposed their thoughts because they saw this idea as ways to endanger the task. Many of these inventors intended to end the war quick when they were making those advanced machines and electron devices. The South more welcomed these products than the North because they had less military power and less resources so that they could use them as an advantages. Actually, many of those products were used in the war and made succesful results. Even though it made the armies more powerful, but also caused more deadly war forever.

Many of these inventions had a great affect on the war. One of the examples was the ironclads which were huge battle ships. They were made of iron and loaded with cannons and were very hard to sink. Since the ironclads were invented, wooden ships became useless. Many navys around the world paid attention on this, and the British navy remodeled all of their ships with metal. The Southern ports made the Confederates adapt, so the Union's navy planned to blockade them. The South developed mines and blockade runners, which were fast ships powered by steam to get through the blockades. Mines were placed in the water. When ships contacted them, they exploded and sunk. This one led to the sinking of forty Union ships. These warfares led to the first submarines and torpedoes which had devastating effects on enemy's ships because they could not see anything and could easily slip away, but many problems happened with submarines like air problem. These problems delayed their production.

There was another side that had advanced machines that showed up on land. One of these was advances in how cannons fired. These cannons had new technology, the rifles had twisted barrels which made them fire with better range and accuracy. These advancements led to the machine gun being created. This was called the Gatling gun which had eight barrels mounted on a cannon. One man fired the gun while the other fed in the ammo. The civil war led to the creation of more advanced devastating ammo. The ammo created shrapnel which made the civil war one of the bloodiest wars.

Railroads helped transfer war machines from place to place. Without the railroads supplies would have taken a long time to get to the men who needed them. The North controlled 70% of all railroads which gave the union a large advantage. Since railroads were so important both sides tried to sabotage the others. The telegraph was also important. It got messages to the front quicker and easier. This made them prized and important during the war. Without the use of the telegraph, either side could have lost.

All of these advanced machines and electron devices was the reason why the civil war was called the modern war. If these inventions were not still invented, then our life would be regressed. From some point, the civil war could be considered as the worst war, however, it contributed to our future in many ways.