why did the civil war battles have high casualty rate?

Answer 1

The infantry tactics were outdated, they were described as "Napoleonic" where the infantry attacked each other over open ground, standing upright, usually in marching order. The problem was that technological increase in firepower, especially artillery, caused massive caualties. The best examples were seen at Fredricksburg and Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. The massed infantry charged out in the open, wave upon wave, only to be decimated by massed artillery and musketry fire by troops in entrenched positions.

Answer 2

Long story short: new weapons, but not new military strategies to adapt. Generals used old style assault tactics - mass your troops, get close, shoot all at the same time, then hand to hand combat. This worked well in the American Revolution and earlier wars, when soldiers used smooth-bore muskets, which were inaccurate over longer distances. But in the Civil War, the soldiers had rifles. The bullets or minie balls used went down the barrel of the rifle and were spun. The rotation (like on a football or a frisbee throw) made the bullet go further and more accurately. Thus, massed soldiers were more likely to get hit, and from further away. The defense had the advantage.

On another note, civil war medicine stunk. Way too many soldiers died of diseases or infected wounds. Lots of amputations of arms and legs too.

Answer 3

Well, new weapons. were used to increase the killing rate and battlefiled medicine was non-exsistant and so many men died from getting sick or wounded. There was a lot of pride in this war and many people died doing really ignorant things like charging into gunfire.

In one battle in the Civil war, over 4000 died in a half an hour... In world war II, 4000 died in a day... now in Iraq and and Afganistan... 5 years over two thousand.

Answer 4

ljdavid got the essential points in first..I've stood behind the stone wall at Gettysburg, looking over the wide open field Pickett's troops came across..and did the math: a Union trooper, firing and reloading every 10 seconds...well, there were 10,000 men behind that wall.....that's ONE THOUSAND balls the size of a grape travelling at 400 miles an hour EVERY SECOND going downrange and hititng men
and sara meigs has a point worth thinking about....we're all hysterical over 2500 or so KIA in Iraq and Afghanistan ( plus 2500 KIA in NYC on 9/11) when we lost that many in an hour in the Civil War, WWI, invading Iwo Jima and Pelieu.....

and if you want an interesting research effort, look up the number of Americans killed in ALL our wars, from the Revolution to Iraq....and you'll find there were more killed in the Civil War than ALL the other wars COMBINED

Answer 5

Good answers here, but they have ignored a real point. These battles were fought by men inspired. Only the strictest quarter was given. The men fought long after uninspired troops would have disengaged. A combination of modern weapons, outdated tactics, poor medical care and inspired troops of both sides ( The Union, after Gettysburg ) made the conflict deadly.

Answer 6

Old fashion tactics just like the Independacne War against England.

New weopons were introduced, bigger calibres but the greatrst culprit was the Canister Shell, one thats fired off a cannon packed with thousands of musket balls...tears down dozens of men within 200 yards.

Answer 7

the 55 calibre minie ball could cut a man in half!!!cannon fire included chain,nails,broken glass,explosive shells ,solid shot all fired at close and distant fronts into stupidly ranked massed troops to devastating effect!!!disease as always killed many more soldiers than enemy actionltyphoid,typhus,swamp fever and pneumonia being the biggest killers!!!freezing temperatures and sweltering marches added to the general misery and fatigues of war!!americans during the revolutionary war had fought much more successfully from ambushcade,camoflage and using indian attack methods to minimize exposure to enemy fire and retaliation!!!by copying european methods and military codes and troop disbursements we fell into murdering our young soldiers as a means population and economic control of society at large!!not good government or military development!!!!

Answer 8

The had insufficient medical equipment so you could have died from a cold in that war

Answer 9

Because they stood shoulder to shoulder in long thick lines, walk too there enemies and let them shoot at them.

Answer 10

Because it's not a war unless someone or lots of people die.