First Modern War?

Naval combat hadn't really become what it would in World War I and later though. The Russo-Japanese War had torpedo boats as the primary means of torpedo attack, not submarines. It also saw the last surrender of ships to an enemy, while in later wars ships would either sink, scuttle, or be destroyed. Commerce attacks still used the old cruiser rules too, whereas in World War I and later conflicts the attack without warning doctrine was at least occasionally used.

I was thinking more of the land war actually.
Good points.
 
World War II, maybe? It was the first war to focus on things that are now commonplace in modern warfare: Jets, tanks, aircraft carriers, and nukes.
 

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World War II, maybe? It was the first war to focus on things that are now commonplace in modern warfare: Jets, tanks, aircraft carriers, and nukes.

The issue is that it depends on what is meant by modern, and what is being considered. For example, the Korean War introduced modern casualty evacuation and the concept of internationally sanctioned war (through the United Nations), the Malayan Emergency was the first modern counter-insurgency campaign, the Vietnam War involved heavy use of special forces and other unconventional forces and missions, the Falklands War was the only war to feature modern naval combat, Operation Desert Storm was the first major post-Vietnam air campaign, etc.
 
I'm going to say WWII also, as it was the first major war where airpower became decisive. The first war with blitzkrieg, successful use of amphibious and airborne invasions, urban and guerrilla warfare.

These definitions obviously change as wars change. Students of WWI would no doubt find the Crimean War recognizable. Crimean veterans would point to the Napoleonic Wars as their idea of the first modern war, and Napoleon might say the War of Spanish Succession.
 
Arguably the Napoleonic Wars. It was first instance in the history of warfare that you had battles fought by armies of 500,000 men and up. It was the first war to be fought on every single continent, expect Antarctica, and in all major oceans and it definitely affected all subsequent wars, not to mention global politics for a hundred years.

Of course if you're talking about numbers then a few battles in the Warring States Period of China (c.500BC - c.200BC) qualify up there - one state once mobilized every person above 15 in a single province to fight in a battle. And if you're talking about the breadth of conflict the Seven Years' War achieved similar scale. Not to mention that for most of the period the Napoleonic Wars were at a much lower level than that.

As for what is the first modern war... I would say that, in a logistics sense at least, it was probably World War I. Increasing complexity/number of weapons led to an exponential increase in ammunition expenditure, which meant that for the first time in warfare food was not the primary concern. In addition, the unprecedented number of men being concentrated on small fronts made it no longer possible to just 'live off the land' like previous wars (even the 1870-71 Siege of Paris saw Prussian troops creating ad-hoc farms behind the lines).

Technologically I would say that the Crimean War is just as good a contender as the ACW, since most of the effects of the technology -like better communications leading to 'remote-control' operations from the rear, and the impact of public opinion on strategy - had already occurred in the 1850s. McClellan's observations with regards to the killing power of the Allied weaponry probably influenced his thinking when the American Civil War came along.

However, I do agree that the American Civil War combines most of the hallmarks of what we would consider a 'modern war'.
 
Hence my argument for the Napoleonic Wars. When you consider the technology used to fight them in comparison to their sheer scope, and the very shadow that they cast over the 19th Century, it seems clear to me that they are definitely a watershed moment in the history of warfare.

Not to mention that the peace treaty formed a new World Order that held for a time.

These definitions obviously change as wars change. Students of WWI would no doubt find the Crimean War recognizable. Crimean veterans would point to the Napoleonic Wars as their idea of the first modern war, and Napoleon might say the War of Spanish Succession.

The War of the Spanish Succession? The war nearly a hundred years before the Napoleonic Wars started? He would obviously point to the Seven Years War which is considered the first true world war. And was also only 40 years before the Napoleonic Wars.
 
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