The American civil war. Arms and Equipment of the Civil War Essay

The American civil war. Arms and Equipment of the Civil War - Essay Example Lee who served as the confederate commander surrendered. In western civilizations, wars, such as the American Civil War, are usually characterized by five essential features. These include: Technology The Armed Forces of the West have always relied on superior technology, usually to compensate for inferior numbers. In the American Civil war, there were technologies that made this conflict more lethal than other past wars that had been conducted in the United States. This was the last war in which ancient artifacts such as wooden ships were used during hostilities. It also saw the introduction of weapons such as torpedoes, Gatling Guns, ironclads, and submarines, into modern warfare. When the war first broke out, the soldiers from both the Union and Confederate sides used old smoothbore muskets.1 These weapons allowed only for slow reloading and had a firing range of approximately eighty yards. Soon the Union soldiers were outfitted with rifles, which allowed for quick reloading of bu llets and had better accuracy and a wider firing range. The Confederate army would also start utilizing these types of rifles for more effectiveness. Both armies also began to make use of a new bullet known as the ‘Minnie ball’. The Minnie ball was much easier to reload than the older bullets. While these new types of weapons were more efficient, they also caused many more casualties within a shorter time period. Minnie balls resulted in many soldiers who were not effectively killed by this contraption sustaining deep tissue damage. Unfortunately, the surgeons did not know how to effectively combat such wounds and would often cut off limbs of the affected patient in order to save his life. Another weapon that gained widespread use during the civil war is the Gatling gun- which was essentially a machine gun that was positioned on wheels. This weapon could kills tens of men while being fired and rotated to cover all sides. Discipline More in the Western civilization relie d heavily on discipline, Western military practice has always exulted discipline, rather than kinship, religion or patriotism as the primary instrument that turns bands of men as individuals into soldiers fighting as part of an organized unit.2 In the American civil war, the soldiers had to live in a structured society which had privates at the lowest rank, followed by corporals and then sergeants, second lieutenants, lieutenants, captains, majors, lieutenant colonels, and finally colonels. To keep the men in top fighting condition, there was strict discipline. Offenses as minor as disregarding camp duty and not taking good care of one’s rifle was punished by hard labor such as digging latrines and uprooting large trees. More serious offenses such as theft, insubordination, or even cowardice in the time of action were punished by forcing the errant soldier to perform activities that would humiliate them before their colleagues. For instance, men were forced to carry logs, or wear signs that proclaimed their mistakes to all. There were also offenses such as performing acts of treason, murder, and desertion for which the errant soldier would be killed by hanging or by a firing squad. These punishments would be administered by the army’s Provost Marshal. Aggressive Military Tradition Shared military theories and doctrines help soldiers to understand how to conduct major operations as well as campaigns while preparing them for service in the fields. In the American civil war, the armies utilized Jomini's war theories. Baron Jomini’s theory on war was based on major European wars such as took place in the