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The use of rifled guns and trench were the first steps towards modern warfare.

They represented a real tactical revolution whose first result was the dominance of the defense in comparison with the attack or, in other words the prevalence of fire opposed to the shock. That is to say that a position covered by an effective fire became almost impregnable.

In contrast to the shotgun that was effective up to about 90 meters, the rifled gun was deadly up to 600 meters and could still kill within a range of more than one kilometer, making expensive and almost useless the large bayonet charges in Napoleonic style.

The American generals never fully understood the tremendous lessons of the tactical revolution that was taking place before their eyes, which brought about an awful cost in terms of casualties, but they can not be blamed. European strategists understand lesser than them about it.

The lessons of the United States Civil War went almost lost and had to be relearned, at the cost of blood and tears, fifty years later on the fields of the First World War.

Furthermore, the use of the trench greatly limited that of the maneuver in tactical field, making in many cases the second one subordinate to the first one.

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