No American Civil War

jahenders

Banned
Prussia certainly sent observers and both sides gave it some consideration. However:
1) As far as 1870, it's debatable how much either side could really adjust their systems in ~5 years, with lots of other things going on.

2) As far as WWI, again the ACW provided some lessons, but by this point it was almost 50 years old. They'd quite possibly have learned those lessons from elsewhere if not for the ACW.

Overall, it's certainly fair to say that the ACW advanced the "state of the art" in war somewhat and had some impacts in European wars. However, I don't think the absence of the ACW is going to change the course of European History much. France and Prussia still fight in 1870 and Prussia still wins. Everyone still fights in WWI. The question mark as far as WWI is how US involvement is affected if there was no ACW.

I beg to differ (though I could be wrong as hell).

I think the Germans learned about logistics necessities in the modern (railroad era) from observing and studying the ACW. Without that knowledge, and the implemented structures, they would have done very poorly in 1870 and in WW1. (Again, maybe not.)
 
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