Assess How Technological Innovations Made the American Civil War an Entirely Different Kind of War from Those That Had Gone Before.

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Assess how technological innovations made the American Civil War an entirely different kind of war from those that had gone before. During the 19th Century, the industrial revolution had begun to change the world. For any society involved in this revolution, few areas within it remained unaffected, be it agriculture, transportation or military. The American Civil War, 1861-1865, was the first major conflict to take place in the industrial era and was fundamentally affected by it. The war marked a watershed between pre-industrial and industrial warfare. It had aspects of both, but the changes brought on by the industrial revolution meant that tactics and strategies used for many years could no longer be depended upon. For military forces, change could either be direct, by the introduction of more powerful weapons or weapon systems, or indirect, by the building of a national rail system or technological innovations, such as the telegraph, that could be used by the military in time of war. These changes profoundly affected how military forces were deployed, how they communicated, how they were equipped and how they re-acted both strategically and tactically. At the beginning of the Civil War, both sides were equipped with muzzle loading smoothbore muskets, which had an effective range of approximately 73 meters. In order to be an effective fighting force, soldiers were tightly packed into ‘close-order’ formations, closed to within 100 meters of the enemy and then fired their weapons in volleys, so ensuring their musket fire would have a concentrated effect on the enemy . Artillery supporting the infantry were right alongside them, firing into the enemies tight ranks. Finally, after the volleys of musket fire had weakened the enemy, the infantry charged with bayonets to finish them off. However, technological advances in firearms and bullets had meant
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