What made the Civil War so deadly?
By the end of the Civil War which lasted 4 years, 620,000 soldiers had died and at least 500,000 more were either wounded or missing. In addition to these figures, the battle of Gettysburg still stands as the deadliest battle in United States history with 51,000 men losing their lives over three days, and the battle of Antietam remains the deadliest day in history when 22,000 men died. Given that pre-war sentiment of the general public was that the war would be short and bloodless, why did the Civil War pan out so differently?
One cause of the high morality rate was technological, for guns were becoming more advanced, and their ammunition was evolving equally fast. The principle advancement of weapons technology was the invention of a rifled barrel which applied spin to the fired projectile, creating a more accurate flight and allowing for soldiers to be killed at longer ranges. In the beginning, however, this technology was not enough to do much damage because it was difficult for soldiers to jam bullets equal in diameter to the rifled barrel down the barrels of their guns. But once the Minié ball was invented and put into use, guns with rifling suddenly became much more deadly in the hands of a trained soldier. The Minié ball was essentially a bullet that was smaller than the diameter of the gun barrel, making it easier to load, and upon firing, this new bullet would expand and engage the rifling of the barrel. Hence, it was accurate as well as convenient to use, and since a soldier valued both of these attributes, it saw great use during the Civil War and was the chief instrument in the killing of many soldiers.
Another reason why the Civil War was so deadly was because the battle tactics of the time did not evolve to take into account the new technological war innovations which saw weapons become much more deadly than before. Following the traditional style of fighting, during the war, military leaders would group their men into tight formations and shoot at the enemy straight on, at close range, and without taking cover. While this was a commendable tactic years ago when weapons were not accurate and one needed to be close to the enemy in order to have a chance of hitting something, it was certainly not a good idea considering that rifled guns equipped with Minié balls could hit a target 600 yards away. Rifled guns and Minié balls ended up mowing down entire regiments of men who used outdated tactics, and the failure to adapt to the times was a major reason why so many lives were lost during the Civil war.
I really liked this summary because it made it very clear that the Civil War was one of the deadliest because of its more modern technology in weapons. I also like how you described the guns and the bullets because it really helped understand why they were considered to be more deadly.
ReplyDeleteYou have brought up many good points in your post. It is interesting that the reason the war resulted in so many casualties was because the generals weren’t prepared for the impact new technological weapons would make on the war. You would think that they would have been prepared for any situation. I think this advancement in technology resulting in the deaths of thousands could also be seen later on in World War One. There, the generals also used primeval tactics which resulted in the deaths of millions.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the topic of this post. I have always wondered why there were so many casualties in the Civil Was. I like how you brought up how technological advancements in your discussion about war tactics. In addition to your talk about tactics, trench warfare wasn't something you saw a lot during that time. Since battles were usually fought in the open in lines and rows, that specific "strategy" or "tactic" wasn't very effective in defense. I feel like the lack of thought of how to approach an enemy may have led to the drastic number of deaths as well.
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