sk8tan71 Posted March 25, 2013 #1 Share Posted March 25, 2013 What invention would you bring from the 20th century to the Civil War that would affect the outcome of the battle? I would bring forward 6 walkie-talkie radios whichever side gets them is going to win the battles and the war. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.United_Nations Posted March 25, 2013 #2 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Tank, planes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted March 25, 2013 #3 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) Well by saying you can have 6 walkie-talkies, you didn't really give a cap to how many of what we pick. So I'll just put plural and then you can imagine how many. lol Tanks Or Apache Gunships Or A nuke I think all those would make it 1 sided. lol EDIT: actually I'd bring a laptop with this downloaded and saved on it to show them: Tank, planes Damn it you posted before me. lol Edited March 25, 2013 by Coffey 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk8tan71 Posted March 25, 2013 Author #4 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Walkie-talkies give you the ability to communicate instantaneously, so as conditions change on the field you are not relying on pre-planned manuevers, you can position troops where you need them when you need them. Tanks and planes are fun, but without communication they are about as accurate as a wrecking ball, plus, how long do you think it would take the opposing side to develop anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, given the fact the Union had the Gatling gun starting in 1862 or 1863 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylemurph Posted March 25, 2013 #5 Share Posted March 25, 2013 So the point of this exercise what, exactly? The idea that enough people didn't die in a senseless, brutal war, so a means to retroactively kill more needs to be thought up, or that not enough people died so that war wouldn't that it couldn't be turned into a way to idly kill time? --Jaylemurph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashotep Posted March 25, 2013 #6 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Antibiotics. Wasn't nothing going to stop that war it had to happen but antibiotics would of saved a lot of people from painful amputations. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oniomancer Posted March 25, 2013 #7 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Walkie-talkies give you the ability to communicate instantaneously, so as conditions change on the field you are not relying on pre-planned manuevers, you can position troops where you need them when you need them. Tanks and planes are fun, but without communication they are about as accurate as a wrecking ball, A slight exaggeration. A tank is nothing more than a short-range mobile artillery platform and those managed quite nicely without forward spotters using traditional ranging as long as the target is line of sight. (which incidentally is why they used observation balloons equipped with telegraphs during the civil war) Likewise a bomber may not be pinpoint accurate but they still managed to be highly affective without ground-based target painting both during and after both world wars. In point of fact, it was SOP to maintain radio silence during bombing runs, each plane effectively operating independently except where absolutely necessary to coordinate once over the target. plus, how long do you think it would take the opposing side to develop anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, given the fact the Union had the Gatling gun starting in 1862 or 1863 Another case where the USA had it over the CSA in being the center of most manufacturing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oniomancer Posted March 25, 2013 #8 Share Posted March 25, 2013 So the point of this exercise what, exactly? The idea that enough people didn't die in a senseless, brutal war, so a means to retroactively kill more needs to be thought up, or that not enough people died so that war wouldn't that it couldn't be turned into a way to idly kill time? --Jaylemurph You really know how to suck all the fun out of human carnage. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldorado Posted March 25, 2013 #9 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Inflatable women! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiskatonicGrad Posted March 26, 2013 #10 Share Posted March 26, 2013 A really good and accurate history book. "General Jackson, I don't think it is such a good idea you scout the road tonite" that would pretty much take care of it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolguy Posted March 26, 2013 #11 Share Posted March 26, 2013 I would bring better medicine and medical technology Maybe some of them soliders can save a limb instead of losing it due to a bullet hole 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Censorship Posted March 26, 2013 #12 Share Posted March 26, 2013 given the fact the Union had the Gatling gun starting in 1862 or 1863 It's ironic that the inventor was born in the South. It's a bit like how Lee disagreed with both secession and slavery. Farragut's mom was a Southerner. Quantrill was born in a northern state! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flbrnt Posted March 26, 2013 #13 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Peace. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiskatonicGrad Posted March 26, 2013 #14 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Peace. OP said Invention of the 20th century when exactly in the 20th century was there peace? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Requiem Posted March 26, 2013 #15 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Obama. That could make things interesting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonecrusher Posted March 26, 2013 #16 Share Posted March 26, 2013 It depends on what Civil War we are talking about here.There was two of them in the UK.We had the War Of The Roses in the fifteenth century.Though because it's the War Of The Roses instead of sending weaponry why don't we send them some cricket balls,a wicket and stumps and Geoffrey Boycott.While in the seventeenth century I won't even bother supplying the decadent Cavaliers and puritan Roundheads.Not even a sausage.It's a bit of a no- brainer. But to stick to the theme of the American Civil War.If your with the Union cause why change a winning outcome.However if you send advanced weaponry to the Confederates everybody will be wearing white sheets in the States today.Ghost sightings will increase as a consquence. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiffSplitkins Posted March 26, 2013 #17 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Helicopters with loudspeakers blasting the Flight of the Valkyries. . 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PersonFromPorlock Posted March 27, 2013 #18 Share Posted March 27, 2013 A more general question would be: what device could you transport to the 1860s that would function very long without the infrastructure of the time it came from? A B-52 would surely impress, but it kinda needs twelve-thousand foot concrete runways, jet fuel, bombs, a few hundred maintenance troops in support and so on. Walkie-talkies might be less demanding, but even then the batteries wouldn't last very long. Incidentally, Harry Turtledove already considered the question*: his answer was AK-47s. *Guns of the South 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Censorship Posted March 27, 2013 #19 Share Posted March 27, 2013 However if you send advanced weaponry to the Confederates everybody will be wearing white sheets in the States today.Ghost sightings will increase as a consquence. The South had no monopoly on racists. In fact, some White Southerners loved and respected some Black Southerners. I read such sentiments in extremely old history books that had bits of personal diaries in them. There were more examples. Stonewall Jackson taught Sunday School to Black children. He even worried about missed lessons during the war. Robert E. Lee prayed and worshipped with a Black man at a segregated church. There indeed were vicious racists, but things weren't as pat as later pop culture portrayed them to have been. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everdred Posted March 27, 2013 #20 Share Posted March 27, 2013 I'd bring back an old 386 computer with the "Ancients" CD-ROM. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightly Posted March 27, 2013 #21 Share Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) air mattresses and space blankets. might as well be comfortable as you slaughter one another? . . seeya in the morning Reb! . . .. sleep tite Yank. Edited March 27, 2013 by lightly 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted March 27, 2013 #22 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Antibiotics. Wasn't nothing going to stop that war it had to happen but antibiotics would of saved a lot of people from painful amputations. Modern anaesthetics too. More people died from the shock of having a limb removed then the actual limb removal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essan Posted March 27, 2013 #23 Share Posted March 27, 2013 The interent. And a nuclear bomb. Stop. Or else ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Censorship Posted March 28, 2013 #24 Share Posted March 28, 2013 air mattresses and space blankets. might as well be comfortable as you slaughter one another? . . seeya in the morning Reb! . . .. sleep tite Yank. Both sides had a reunion when they were elderly. Someone filmed the moment. At first, old Rebels and old Yankees moved towards each other like they were still military foes. They then embraced like lifelong friends. It was quite moving and touching. It brought the World War I Christmas celebration to mind. That was when British soldiers celebrated it with German soldiers. They might have played football during the break from the war. It made the concept of battles and wars even more troubling. One day, they killed each other. One day, they liked each other. You saw a glimmer of hope in a pit of despair. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted March 28, 2013 #25 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I'd bring back an old 386 computer with the "Ancients" CD-ROM. You naughty person you - I spat coca-cola all over my screen because of that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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