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That's not what GP is saying. His disputing the claim that WWI was the first industrialized total war. Total war is not the same as a world war. Total war is th

That's not what GP is saying. His disputing the claim that WWI was the first industrialized total war. Total war is not the same as a world war. Total war is the idea of committing your entire nation to war (economy, population, etc) instead of just the military. His argument that the American Civil War is the first industrialized total war is not novel nor unfounded. It's a position taken by more than a few military historians. Sherman's strategy of destroying the Southern economy is indeed something that was new and would come to characterize many wars in the industrial era and after, including WWI and WWII. Before WWI, there was the Franco-Prussian war and many American Civil War veterans served as advisors to the Prussian army, teaching them the ways of total war, such as shelling Paris, etc.

jghn 5y ago
I think often the Crimean War is the one viewed as the template for modern warfare. But this raises a good point that things are always more of a spectrum and the US Civil War had already pushed a few steps in this direction.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  US Civil War was also notable for * trench warfare, and "charges" into enemy lines so disastrously repeated in WW1 -- the lessons of the power of repeating rifles had not yet been learned. * the first engagement between two "ironclad" ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Merrimack_(1855) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Merrimack_(1855) * an early war that used railroads and telegraphs * the first war that was photographed and had photographic journalism * rifling + minie ball -- the US civil war was the first war using rifled muskets with special grooved bullets that could kill a man a half-mile away (800 meters), often shattering bones. It was the main reason why there were so many amputations. * The gatling gun (predecessor to the maxim gun) was the first machine gun capable of firing a continuous series of rounds without reloading (the innovation was the creation of a belt of bullets that could be fed into the gun). * medical innovations such as anesthetic inhalers, recognizing how to deal with chest wounds, life saving amputations, military ambulances, facial reconstruction surgery were invented in the US civil war (and contributed to much higher survival rates than in the Crimean War) * Aerial reconnaissance (via balloons) * naval torpedoes and naval mines were invented in the US civil war

jghn 5y ago

I think often the Crimean War is the one viewed as the template for modern warfare. But this raises a good point that things are always more of a spectrum and the US Civil War had already pushed a few steps in this direction.

rsj_hn 5y ago
US Civil War was also notable for * trench warfare, and "charges" into enemy lines so disastrously repeated in WW1 -- the lessons of the power of repeating rifles had not yet been learned. * the first engagement between two "ironclad" ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Merrimack_(1855) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Merrimack_(1855) * an early war that used railroads and telegraphs * the first war that was photographed and had photographic journalism * rifling + minie ball -- the US civil war was the first war using rifled muskets with special grooved bullets that could kill a man a half-mile away (800 meters), often shattering bones. It was the main reason why there were so many amputations. * The gatling gun (predecessor to the maxim gun) was the first machine gun capable of firing a continuous series of rounds without reloading (the innovation was the creation of a belt of bullets that could be fed into the gun). * medical innovations such as anesthetic inhalers, recognizing how to deal with chest wounds, life saving amputations, military ambulances, facial reconstruction surgery were invented in the US civil war (and contributed to much higher survival rates than in the Crimean War) * Aerial reconnaissance (via balloons) * naval torpedoes and naval mines were invented in the US civil war