8/11    Here is a pretty lame question but after watching a few Civil War
        documentaries, I wonder why neither the confederate and union soldiers
        dig protective barriers (trenches) to minimize loss. Also given that
        the guns they used were pretty weak why they didn't hide behind
        light barriers (wooden or copper, etc). Also they could have mounted
        canons behind a movable protective shell (primitive tanks). They
        could have done a lot, but instead they fought like stoneage
        primates with guns. WTF?
        \_ Because you forget that tactics always lag behind technology in
           every war. I mean, haven't you ever heard of the expression that
           we are always fighting the last war? It means that tacticians
           are using old techniques in a changing battlefield.
           Technically speaking, you could say that the Civil War could've
           just been postponed for 80 years until we had the bomb, then it
           would've been a on day war by just nuking Richmond.
        \_ Don't forget the Revolutionary war, where they marched in tightly
           packed formations, the better to be picked off by inaccurate musket
           fire, or the First World War, with cavalry charging the machine guns.
           Future generations would probably find our approach to war
           equally insane (what, they flew around in steel coffins which would
           explode on their own more often than from enemy fire?  WTF?).
           Maybe the problem is more essential than technology or military
           doctrine...  -- ilyas
           \- well there are lots of norms that in one sense seem irrational.
              it's "legal" to spray the other side with automatic weapon
              fire, but i believe it is not legal to use a powerful laser to
              blind the enemy. does the CA law on speed traps make sense?
              it seems like a cop gets in more trouble if they scientifically
              measure your speed. --psb
              \_ there is rational behind soldier marched in tighly packed
                 formation, as muskets are so inaccurate that they need a
                 packed firepower to do decent damage.  What was changed
                 in Civil War was the wide spread use of RIFLES.  Neither
                 the south nor the north was prepared for this.   If you look
                 at the photos taken on siege of Richmond, you will see that
                 both North and South started to dig trenches for their cover.
                 Too bad Europeans didn't learn anything from it, thus, they
                 repeated the same mistakes 40-50 years later.
                                                -kngharv
                 \_ I agree with you regarding muskets being inaccurate,
                    and that accurate rifling was unexpected.