Warfare And Technological Advancements During The American Civil War

Warfare and technological advancements have been intertwined ever since innovation has been pointed in the direction of war. The biggest innovation that changed the landscape irrevocably, would be the introduction of gunpowder weapons in Europe. The adoption of gunpowder weapons in essence forced every country that wanted a chance in war, to adopt the same technology. Innovation in military technology is more adaptive than civilian innovation. A clear example can be seen with European inventors having a decisive edge over Incan, Aztec, and Asian foes, then the world following with Gunpowder weapons and century methods of war being suddenly outdated. Big castle walls that were meant to defend against cannonballs were now replaced by royal fortifications. In addition, groups of armored knights
Specifically the time period from 1814 to 1860 began to see massive changes in the industry, inventions like the repeating rifles and breech loading artillery. Samuel Colt and Eliphalet Remington played pivotal roles in revolutionizing the nature of warfare. During the same time period, naval technology saw rapid advancements such as ironclad steam powered vessels. With the introduction of steam power as a fuel source, and iron hulls as defense, these innovations help facilitate global exploration and conquest. The American Civil War was a unique case, since many of the new inventions could now be tested in real scenarios. This included rifled muskets, repeating rifles, and ironclad warships. Casualties now saw a huge boom, before there were bloody battles, but never on the scale seen in the Civil War. Even though weapons were now more effective and deadly, what hindered warfare was logistical problems such as manufacturing limitations and supply chain issues. The wide scale production to outfit every single soldier in newly invented firearms was not yet