Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: emery@linus.mitre.org (David Emery)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Civil War technology
Message-ID: <1990Oct11.050904.29368@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 11 Oct 90 05:09:04 GMT
References: <1990Sep24.001114.22188@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military-request@att.att.com
Organization: The Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA
Lines: 22
Approved: military@att.att.com
Full-Name: Usenet News



From: emery@linus.mitre.org (David Emery)

The use of railroads, and the resulting growth of technical troops
(such as railroad troops) and planning staffs (such as the German
General Staff railroad division) was probably the greatest
technological contribution to the war.  Technology only counts (IMHO),
when it results in a change in organization and/or doctrine.  Clearly
the use of railroads had significant operational and strategic impact.
The increased effectiveness of Minie balls, etc, had more tactical impacts.

It's not true that the German General Staff sent "hoardes of
observers", but they did spend some time studying the war.  There's a
book by Jay Luuvas on the European lessons learned from the Civil War.
It's facinating reading from several perspectives, including:
	1.  seeing a non-US view of the war
	2.  seeing European interpretations of the war
	3.  seeing the lessons Europeans learned from the war.

				dave emery
				emery@aries.mitre.org