Ehn Nishioka

CIVIL WAR, PROGRESSIVE ERA, WWI TIMELINE

PAPER MONEY• Of all the greatest innovations that the civil war had given to us today, paper money, has to be the most

important. The appearance of this money began circulating in 1862 as there was pressure to finance the civil war. It replaced paper notes that were issued by local banks and that were not accepted in all regions. Although paper money was not accepted in all regions either it was backed by the federal government and it completely changed the U.S. central banking system creating the new standard in currency. The prior paper notes would only receive up to 90 percent of the original value as they pushed to make paper money the universal currency with in the united states. It was given the nickname green backs for the color of dye used in the paper and many soldiers during the war demanded that they be paid in this new standard of currency. This new legal tender completely changed the us banking system and created the money that we currently use today. It has greatly revolutionized the way in which we distribute currency and has created a unified banking system.

POCKET WATCH• The pocket watch, although outdated, is one of the greatest innovations during the civil war. It created the

first portable clock and would eventually lead the way to the wrist watch. The pocket watch was dated back to as early as 1462, but did not come readily available until the late 19 th century to the early 20 th century. The pocket watch was commonly used by the masses and soldiers as it had moved away from the fortunate and rich population. The Waltham Watch company had found a way to interchange the original pieces to make the watches more affordable for common folk. It was used by soldiers to keep track of their schedules and maintain and stay on camp time. The engravings upon the front of the watches also reminded the soldiers of their loved ones back home. The watch revolutionized how people would tell time making luxurious items available for people who lacked in money and would eventually modified further to create brands today like Rolex and Casio.

AUTOMOBILE• Although automobiles had been built much earlier prior to the progressive era no milestone vehicle had

been produced unlike those of the cars built in Germany by Karl Benz and Wilheim Maybach. They both had created new innovative vehicles that ran on gasoline and had the capabilities to run and be improved upon. The first mass produced vehicle was produced in the United States in 1901 and was the curved dash oldsmobile and was helped created largely in part thanks to Henry Ford’s assembly line which led to the model T but was discontinued in 1927 after 18 million had been produced. The innovations made upon the automobile moved technology forward eventually leading to today’s modern creations and works of art. The automobiles of our time have come a long way since their invention and our innovations are still advanced upon to this current day.

RAILWAY GUNS• Can be dated back to the 19 th century, however, these guns became notorious during world war 1 when the

Germans created “Paris Guns”. It appeared in 1918 and was mounted upon specially built wagons and had a much larger range than most other guns. They were remnants of leftover naval artillery pieces and delivered massive firepower that could fire as far as 75 miles. These pieces of artillery were heavily used and were admired for their awesome destructive capabilities, but they were larger and more easily hit targets. They were often mounted upon armored trains but they too were also vulnerable targets. They were completely vulnerable to attacks from the air as enemy aircrafts dropped tons and tons of explosives upon them. Each country developed their own version of the railway gun but the Germans had created the most advanced of them. They eventually became obsolete as newer and more reliable sources of weaponry were developed.

ANTI AIRCRAFT ARTILLERY• As seen in the movie “Flyboys” at the beginning of the first world war the newest innovation was the plane. The

use of anti air was widely used in the early stages of world war one and developing further into the 1930’s. With this new piece of machinery the war took to a whole new level as the war now took to the sky and battle tactics and strategies had opened up to so many new opportunities. Both sides of the war had a new piece of offense but had to develop another piece of defense to counter these new innovations. Their solution to this was anti aircraft artillery. They mounted artillery pieces upon armored vehicles that could fire 4 rounds per minute and at a range up to 3000 yards. These weapons were quite ineffective alone but when combined in groups and fired together they were a force to be reckoned with. Innovations over the years have made anti air a necessity in the battle field as the technology of aircrafts increase so must the artillery pieces.