Page 220 - (DK) Smithsinian - Military History: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Objects of Warfare

INTRODUCTION

Between 1815 and 1914, technological progress The pace of change increased from the 1870s. The Franco-
transformed conflict. High-explosive and rapid- Prussian War of 1870–71 was fought by infantry with
fire mechanisms greatly increased the killing breech-loading rifles; the French fielded machine-guns,while
power of weaponry; railroads enabled greater German rifled, breech-loading Krupp cannon bombarded
mobility; the telegraph, telephone, and radio Paris. In the 1880s, the use of smokeless propellants and
revolutionized communications; and warfare high explosives in shells marked the end of the gunpowder
spread into the skies and beneath the oceans. era. New navies were built, with steel ships equipped

with breech-loading rifled turret guns, as bolt-action
Developments were relatively slow at first, but, in the 1830s, repeater rifles became standard infantry equipment.
a forty-year transition period began, in which many hybrid Army organization was also changing, with the widespread

and experimental technologies flourished. The long reign of adoption of the Prussian model of a professional general
the flintlock musket came to an end, although at first mostly staff, and European powers committing to military service

replaced by the rifle musket, which was still muzzle-loaded as a basic duty of their male citizens. More advanced nations
and slow-firing. Breech-loading rifles and pistols capable of amassed vast army and navy establishments, using them
repeated fire were invented, but armies were slow to accept with success against tribal peoples and technologically

them. At sea, ships used both steam engines and sails, and inferior states, such as China or Turkey. The Russo-Japanese
their wooden hulls were armored with iron cladding. Even in War of 1904–05 provided a glimpse of 20th-century conflict
the American Civil War of 1861–65, more soldiers still died between industrialized states, with the presence of machine-

of disease than in combat—as in wars of old. guns and heavy artillery, barbed wire, and trenches.

KEY DATES
1815 The horrors of the Crimean War The first battle between ironclad
steam-powered warships is fought
movement of troops by railroad
Steam gunboats help Britain
France makes the first mass
stimulate progress in sanitation
The French Navy introduces
The invention of the Minié
defeat China in the Opium War
telegraph becomes widespread,
The use of the electronic
Paixhans guns, the first naval
ball allows the introduction
Prussian military reforms
lead to the creation of a
and care of the wounded
military communication
1816 permanent general staff 1830s guns firing explosive shells 1839–42 1840s transforming long-distance 1847 of rifle muskets 1854–56 1859 to fight the Austrians in Italy 1862 at Hampton Roads, Virginia
1841
1853
1862
1859
1827
c.1840
The last fleet battle Samuel Colt patents a Percussion caps begin to replace The breech-loading Dreyse Russian warships sink Turkish France launches the 1861–65 The Battle of Antietam becomes
1835
first seagoing ironclad
between sailing ships is
The American Civil
the bloodiest day’s fighting
needle gun is adopted
the flintlock firing mechanism
ships at Sinope, off the coast of
in American history
in infantry weapons
warship, La Gloire
cylinder revolver
fought at Navarino, Greece
by the Prussian army
War is fought
Turkey, using explosive shells
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR—1861–1865 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR—1870–71 THE BATTLE OF MANILA—1898