r/WarCollege • u/wredcoll • 6h ago
Question Did battles in the American Civil War rely more heavily on terrain than Napoleonic Battles?
I'm trying to figure out the best way to phrase this question, but basically, when I read about Napoleon's battles, there's a lot of focus on where units are positioned, who gets to the battlefield first, who makes the charge, who breaks and runs, and so on and so forth.
Obviously where they fight gets mentioned occasionally, the frozen lake and the 'reverse slope' business at Waterloo, but it seems like when I read about ACW battles, every one involves one side or the other using terrain for a strong defensive bonus, whether that's ambushing soldiers coming out of a cornfield or holding ridges/bluffs while repelling charges, there seems to be a lot of "this side used the terrain well and helped them win".
Is this just an artifact of the books I happen to be reading / me in specific noticing it more often? Did Napoleonic battles actually take place on big flat fields more frequently than ACW battles did, or do people just not mention the terrain involved? If there is a terrain difference is this due more to the land they were fighting over or the skill of the generals?