When it comes to the massive casualties in the American Civil

>>34862899
Rifled cannon, yes. You can bumrush a cannon with a 300-yard range. Can't do it when it has 1000-yard range. You can talk to Colonel Pickett about that.

>>34862899
It was a bit, but more people died from disease and improper medical care than anything. Remember that most doctors weren't trained battlefield surgeons, they didn't sterilize their equipment, and things like the minie ball were designed to maximize casualties and amputations.

>>34862899
It had more to do with the Minnie ball than anything else. Rifles had been around since before the Revolutionary War, but it took at least a minute to load and fire one shot, fouled quickly, and began to lose their effectiveness after 100-150 yards. The Minnie ball could be loaded in a muzzle loading rifle almost as far as a smoothbore musket and had much better ballistics and KE than a spherical ball. Rifled muskets could now realistically kill from hundreds of yards away and were vastly more accurate than smoothbores at all ranges. It was now more or less impossible to break through entrenched infantry with a frontal assault. Artillery was playing catch up technologically and limited in its availability throughout the war, making it less than ideal for demolishing enemy positions that were not isolated. In its final stages, the war degenerated into trench warfare with both sides extending their fronts to outflank each other to try and break the cycle of attrition.

>>34864073
this muskets had effective ranges of 100yrds as an experts weapons. rifles around 200 yrds with shit reload times.

minnie ball made 150 an easy shot for conscripts. we start to see 500 experts

>>34862899
>When it comes to the massive casualties in the American Civil War, the most common and sound theory I've heard as to why was the Napoleonic tactics meshed with improved weapons

NOPE.

USA lost 400,000+ troops during WW2
Japan lost 2 million troops, mostly by us, but we had a bit of help from the Aussies, Kiwis, and a few Brits, thanks, mates.
The Germans lost about 5 million, the Soviets about 9 million, The Brits close to 400,000 (the true heros of the European theater, IMO) and Our frostback buddies to the North 40,000-- the Canuck population is relatively small, but they kick ass when it counts.

In Vietnam, we lost around 50,000 troops, but the Commie body count is estimated at somewhere between 1 and 3 million.

Iraq? Maybe 5,000 US troops KIA, against a half million camel jockeys, but the death stats are fairly confused or covered up.

Now, THE CIVIL WAR:
At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000. The number that is most often quoted is 620,000. At any rate, these casualties exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.

What does this mean? WE CAN KICK OUR OWN ASS FAR BETTER THAN THE WHOLE REST OF THE FUCKING WORLD COULD EVER POSSIBLY DREAM OF DOING.

Have any doubts? Watch what we do to North Korea in the next couple months.

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>>34862899
you cant say it was any one thing.

accuracy had alot to do with it. but not really, if accuracy was what won the war. The south wouldnt have lost.

you can talk to John Sedgwick about how much it made a difference.

It was truly the first modern war and the first true instance of trench warfare. It had such heavy casualties for many of the same reason that WWI did.

The battle of the crater sounds like its straight out of WWI or WWII.

>>34866182
>WE CAN KICK OUR OWN ASS FAR BETTER THAN THE WHOLE REST OF THE FUCKING WORLD COULD EVER POSSIBLY DREAM OF DOING.
Ive recently started taking pride in that fact that even though we are the greatest country in the world and we have proved it time and time again. That the rest of the west still thinks we are barbaric savages. Its been 400 years and we still maintain the title.

I have really gotten sick of the yankees attacking history and spreading lies. It sickens me to my stomach and makes my blood boil.

>>34866377
>yankees attacking history

It seems to me that it isn't just "yankees" trying to change history, it's Southern shitskins and mudsharks attempting to erase history as well.

General Robert E. Lee was one of the greatest military tacticians in American history. He was also a true, honest, and honorable gentleman that should be honored to this very day.

General Lee would be spinning at 40,000 RPM in his grave he knew that his only defenders of his memory were a bunch of inbred Nazi toads.

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>>34866598
Im regularly giving speeches about what people dont understand about the civil war and defending the south.

even my grandfather, a yankee that endlessly sucks shermans cock and thinks nothing but ill of south. thinks that the statues should stay up.

honestly this shit drives to make Alex Jones level feature length speeches.

My only shame is that my great great great grandfather marched with sherman. atleast every other bloodline is from the south and fought in the confederacy.

>>34866736
>a yankee that endlessly sucks shermans cock and thinks nothing but ill of south. thinks that the statues should stay up.

I'm the same, you don't edit history. Half the reason you even have history, is to remember the mistakes, so you're less likely to repeat them. So you could for example, go "Hmm, what if we tried letting some people own other people?" "Nope, looks like we tried that out already and it ended badly."

>>34866598
>his only defenders
wrong, but yes, the far-right is picking up our slack because we don't have the balls to do it ourselves

>>34863050
> Hey doc I got a cut on my arm
> Don't worry little William we'll take that arm off and you'll be right as rain
> *Willie dies of catastrophic infection of his everything*

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>>34864073
what about mortars ?
the coehorn mortar could be carried by four people and has decent range
it was used to put an end to the New Zealand land wars
but I do not know about its use or impact in the civil war

>>34866736
>My only shame is that my great great great grandfather marched with sherman
plz educate me on who, and what he did (or point me in a direction to research him myself) if you would be so kind

>>34863050
Also in those days sanitation was nearly unheard of. In fact doctors likedtheir clothes dirty since it implied that they had many patients and were "busy".

>>34862899
Yes, the minie ball and proliferation of rifled barrels killed dense infantry formations

>>34862956
The most common cannon of the day was a 12 pounder field gun with a smooth bore. It's most effective round was canister, a load of powder on top of a can full of lead balls that could rip though one man and kill the man behind him. Canister had a range of roughly 400 yards, and charging one on foot was nearly suicidal. A well trained crew could fire it every 20 seconds until the barrel overheated.


Round shot and explosive shell could reach 1300 yards in anti-fortification work, and 1000 yards for counter battery work.

Rifled cannons were useful, but not for anti-personal work. They were more useful for counter-battery fire, where their range and accuracy let them suppress hostile guns. If you could suppress the other side and let your guns operate freely the smoothbore cannon could shred advancing infantry.

>>34866598
Lee refused to be buried in his Confederate uniform and would have hated being branded as the face of the rebellion.