Born in the USA: A New World of War
The American Civil War transformed the nature of conflict. Its opening salvos harked back to Waterloo; its end anticipated the industrial warfare of the 20th century, writes David White.
The American Civil War became the first modern conflict. It opened with sabre-wielding cavalry charges and lines of infantry advancing in close-packed rows armed with smoothbore muskets. The first engagements would not have looked out of place in the Napoleonic wars.Yet within three and a half years the appearance of over 50 miles of trenches around the Southern capital, Richmond, as both armies dug in for months, unable to launch a decisive attack, was a clear forerunner of the First World War.
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