Collateral Damage

The first industrial war has been determined to be the American Civil War. This is the first war in which the troops were supplied with mass produced weapons. This was, primarily, the rifles made in the Springfield Armoury in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The most widely used rifle in the Civil War was the Springfield Model 1861, which was a rifled musket. The rifling increased accuracy enormously allowing for shorter barrels and the introduction of the carbine variations that were in use by cavalry. Sharps produced a rifle and carbine version of their falling block weapon of which more carbines than rifles were sold.

Sharps are now more known for their large calibre weapons of great accuracy used by snipers the World over.

Why are we talking about American Civil War weapons?

Because, as stated above, the Civil War was the first mechanised war. Other than the weapons there were now railroads and steamships that were able to transport troops quickly and efficiently to wherever they were needed; they would arrive relatively fresh and ready for battle. Add to this the telegraph that was used to transmit information almost instantly from one point to another and modern warfare swims into view.

During the war there was the introduction of terror methods. Still in their infancy but providers of terror nonetheless. This was the first time that innocent civilians were deliberately targeted by combatants

This was the first time that hospitals had been burnt and families routed from their homes.

It set something of a precedent.

Between 1880 and 1902, with an interregnum from 1881 to 1899, the British fought a protracted war with the South African Boers. The First Boer War was relatively short, sharp and decisive but the Second Boer War devolved into a long, bitter struggle against guerrilla tactics developed by the Boer Farmers after their army had been thoroughly beaten. The British responded with a scorched earth policy and the confinement of civilians in concentration camps to prevent the guerrillas from receiving support.

A terror tactic certainly but an effective one. The British won that war and the states of South Africa were combined into one country.

Why are we looking at these conflicts?

Because these wars were the start of absorbing civilians into the battles.

Historically, opposing armies sought each out on remote farmlands or wilderness where there was a perceived tactical or strategic advantage to be gained by the terrain.

Were there civilian casualties? Certainly.

Most armies had, of necessity, camp followers. This was a retinue of people that trudged behind the army and provided for their well-being and comfort. They were cooks, priests and prostitutes. Lots of prostitutes.

What happened to these camp followers if the army lost the battle? Many were killed or absorbed into the body of the opposing army’s followers.

But, with the advent of modern warfare, there has been less consideration given to the role of non-combatants.

Those of us that chose to join the military were aware of the risks. Many of us took risks and put our lives on the line for something that we regarded as patriotism. We never saw the role of the politician and their self-gratification and glorification in the wars that we fought.

And so, as we progress through the first World War and World War Two through Korea and VietNam there grew a greater disregard for the lives of innocents.

Children are almost irrelevant. The photograph of a naked little girl running away from the napalm that was searing her body is an image that can never be removed from my mind other than by death. Even then...

How does it go now?

We have become so inured to the death of civilians that it is passed off merely as ‘collateral damage’.

That is all they are. In two words the lives of children, mothers, injured, sick and medical people are discarded as ‘collateral damage’.

We are so numb to this that the news of a teacher, an ex-soldier, in America dying of gunshot wounds becomes so horrendous because of the perpetrator and yet the deaths of thousands—millions, perhaps, goes almost unnoticed.

I weep.

Not just for the children but for us; for our support of the inhumanity that continues this gruesome trade in death, maiming and mutilation to pursue a political point.

I grieve.

For the friends and relatives who have been suddenly transformed from a warm and close group into a shattered community full of confusion and despair.

I am glad.

In many ways, that I am now close to death and will not have to feel the pain of this senseless inhumanity any more.