Horse & Musket VI: Sunset of an Era

With the final defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte, a new conservative era of anti-liberal and anti-republican politics began in Europe. It was a false dawn for the forces of reaction. In the Americas, Spain’s empire evaporated in a series of rebellions. The defeat of the republicans led to a renewal in great power struggles, such as the Crimean War, and nationalist and expansionist wars. The middle of the century saw the unification of Italy and Germany through warfare. America, wracked by division over slavery, politics, and economics, was ripped apart by a civil war that ended in the reunification of the nation.

The great changes in government and ideology were matched by a shift towards industrialized war. By the 1850s railroads, telegraphs, and photographs were changing the face of battle. The smoothbore flintlock was replaced by the rifled musket, which was in turn replaced with repeating rifles. The era of linear combat, the basic tactics of western warfare for thousands of years, now gave way to a looser form of warfare, where technology was as important as training and generals. It was the end of an era.

The battles included are...

Ayacucho - December 9, 1824 – “If from Romulus, Rome; from Bolívar, it is Bolivia.”

The Alamo - March 6, 1836 – “What are the lives of soldiers, than so many chickens?”

Mudki - December 18, 1845 – Opening Battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War

Buena Vista - February 23, 1847 – “Tell him to give ‘em hell!”

Cerro Gordo - April 17-18, 1847 – “Mexico no longer has an army.”

Novara - March 22, 1849 – The Abdication of Charles Albert I

Balaclava - October 25, 1854 – “There, my lord, is your enemy! There are your guns!”

Inkerman - November 5, 1854 – “I tell you, we gave ‘em a hell of a towelling.”

Second Sevastopol - September 8, 1855 – “I’m here, and I shall stay here.”

Solferino - June 24, 1859 – The Birth of the Red Cross

Volturno - October 1, 1860 – “Victory all along the Line!”

First Bull Run - July 21, 1861 – “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall.”

Second Bull Run - August 28-30, 1862 – The Confederacy at Flood Tide

Antietam - September 17, 1862 – The Bloodiest Day of the American Civil War

Irish Bend - April 14, 1863 – “Grover had stopped just short of the prize.”

Rangiriri - November 20, 1863 – Death Knell of the Kīngitanga Movement

Lookout Mountain - November 24, 1863 – “It is all poetry.”

Missionary Ridge - November 25, 1863 – “When those fellows get started all hell can’t stop them.”

First Petersburg - June 15-18, 1864 – “You cannot strike a full blow with a wounded hand.”

Peach Tree Creek - July 20, 1864 – Hood Takes Command

Cedar Creek - October 19, 1864 – “God DAMN you, don’t cheer me!”

Selma - April 2, 1865 – “Go in boys, give them hell, we have the city...”

First Tuyutí - May 24, 1866 – The South American Waterloo

Königgrätz - July 3, 1866 – Königgrätzer Marsch

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