Jules Verne’s Use of Civil War Technology

Abstract The U.S. Civil War was fought during an era of technological innovation and new inventions, including monster cannons, a dramatic evolution of ferrous metallurgy, iron-hulled and ironclad battleships, steel-hulled blockade runners, submarines, balloons, and even medical rubber implants. Indeed, the Civil War offered a Victorian-era engineering laboratory and proving grounds for future technology. Jules Verne proved to be a literary engineer applying the emerging science of the Civil War to his futuristic engineering tales. Verne used the advancing Civil War cannon technology for his futuristic moonshot; he foresaw the steel revolution in shipbuilding with the success of steel-hulled blockade runners of the Civil War; and he used steel for his science fiction submarines, ships, and machines to explore the oceans, the Arctic, Africa, and India. Verne chronicled, studied, and published about the Civil War and its technology in his works, which offer a new dimension for Civil War enthusiasts.