I was checking some wiki pages about the revolutionary war (after watching http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543328/?ref_=nv_sr_3)
and the casualty reports seem very low, definitely compared to wars that broke out a few decades later. I've noticed that this seems to be the case for alot of wars fought in the late 17th and 18th century, atleast in the americas. Were weapons so innacurate at that time?
My first thought was that this is because weapon technology increased dramatically within that time. But that seems not to be the case since battles fought during the french revolution also had low casualties, while the napoleonic wars had alot higher casualty rate. Same for the american civil war.
a few examples:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trenton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Millstone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valmy
casualties are around like 1%
compare this to earlier or later wars:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stoke_Field
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...%C3%B6ngrabern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inkerman
casualties are more around 10% or upwards (depending on which side ur on XD)
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