Was the Civil War the First Modern War?

Was the Civil War the First Modern War?

In this article, A.D. Harvey compares the American Civil War to what is generally viewed as the start of “Modern Warfare.”  This is an interesting position taken by Harvey, and caught my attention because of the discussion we had in class recently on the book War Upon This Land.  The first thing that came to my mind was the entrenched warfare that we had talked about during our discussion day.  I, like some of the others in class had associated that with WWI.  However, that isn’t the only similarity between the two wars as Harvey points out.

Harvey, points out that the telegraph played a huge role in both wars as well.  He however does claim that the position taken by author of The Military Telegraph during the Civil War in the United States, William R. Plum took, which was that the American Civil War and the success of the telegraphers of the Union telegraphers had was one of the major factors in European countries integrating the telegraph into their armies.  Harvey, however, states that some European powers already had the telegraph implemented prior to the Civil War.  None the less, the telegraph did have a major impact in the civil war, and was one of the first steps to modern warfare.

In the end, I think it’s very interesting at some of the war strategies that Harvey pointed out that occurred both the American Civil War and the more modern warfare recognized WWI such as the entrenched warfare and the telegraph.

Harvey, A.D. "Was the American Civil War the First Modern War?." The Journal of the Historical Association. : 272-280. http://web.ebscohost.com.libproxy.eku.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=cd893fed-ef04-4a9b-878b-7e858f67918d@sessionmgr111&vid=9&hid=127 (accessed April 12, 2013).