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Alternative Civil War


sk8tan71

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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.

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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 by Coffey
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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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!

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Peace.

OP said Invention of the 20th century when exactly in the 20th century was there peace?
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Obama. That could make things interesting.

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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.

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Helicopters with loudspeakers blasting the Flight of the Valkyries. :tu:

.

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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

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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.

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air mattresses and space blankets. might as well be comfortable as you slaughter one another?

. . seeya in the morning Reb! . . .. sleep tite Yank.

Edited by lightly
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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.

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The interent.

And a nuclear bomb.

Stop. Or else .......

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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.

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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.

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