ch capital Paris into submission by means of overwhelming artillery bombardments and by taking advantage of French internal political divisions.
Crucial importance of the transportation and communications revolutions. According to McNeil, the Industrial Revolution brought in its wake changes in methods of transportation and communications which enabled industrial powers in Europe and North America to mobilize, organize, deploy and maintain in the field large conscript armies. The principal development in transportation was "the application of fossil fuels" (coal and steam) in railways and warships and in communications the telegraph (McNeil 223). The logistics of supply were simplified. Large standing professional armies were gradually replaced by conscript armies made up largely of reservists led by a professional officer cadre. Howard said armies emphasized "efficient conscription, training, and mobilisation" (4).
The railroads played crucial roles in both the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. Both North and South had efficient railway nets. For the South, which operated on shorter interior lines of communication, railroads enabled it to move its more limited forces to the most threatened points. They let the North capitalize on its larger manpower base, which Hattaway and Jones said was roughly four to one (6). During the war, McPherson said that average troop levels in the North were two million men vs. about 900,000 in the South (319). This meant that in a protracted war, the South could not afford to match Union casualties on a one-for-one basis. Steam powered warships gave the North a significant advantage. Although the Union naval blockade could never effectively prevent smuggling along the South's 3,500 mile coast lhne, the South entered the war with practically no navy and only one major shipyard and naval base, the Norfolk Navy Yard, which it seized at the outset of the war. The seceding states of which ...