As a history student living in Connecticut, this is what I am taught. According to history teachers and historians around here, the various modern innovations of the American Civil War made it the first modern war and an object of awe and speculation to all of Europe. New strategies and technologies like the rise of the breech-loaded rifle, telecommunications, primitive ironclads, and even submarine prototypes are seen as the first of their kind in the history of the world.

However, since my neighbors and I are about as Yankee as it gets, I'm wondering if these opinions are biased. What actually defines a 'modern war'? Are there any earlier 19th or even 18th century conflicts which could be said to hold such a title?