The Civil War and New Technologies The Civil War was a major turning point in American History. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 9, 1865. With the war many new technologies emerged due to the need of better weapons and ways to help give the Union an advantage in the war. During the war there were five thousand new patents on new inventions. A few of these new technologies include things like the railroad, hot air balloons, submarines, the telegraph, improvements on weapons, canned food, pocket watches, and sewing machines. These new technologies helped determine the outcome of the war and was the beginning of an era of creativity. The development of railroads and hot air balloons made it possible to travel in different ways than before. The railroads gave a major advantage to the Union. The North was extremely successful at building railroads, bridges and new and better steam engines. More railroad tracks were laid down during this time than ever before. The railroads made it possible to transport goods a lot quicker than before. The development of hot air balloons made it possible to spy …show more content…
The Union had more fire power that overwhelmed the Confederates. These improvements on these weapons included the repeating rifle that allowed several shots to be fired before reloading when the Confederate side had guns that had to be reloaded after every shot. Also the gatlin gun was a big help. The gatlin gun was basically a machine gun. Iron gunships were fully metal hull reinforced ships that were loaded with cannons all along the side. These gunships were often difficult to sea and were difficult to damage. The confederates had a couple gunships. These ships were so tough that a battle between two gunships ended in a draw because the ships were unable to do much damage to each other. Steam technology was added to these ships making them extremely powerful. This changed the way of naval