What If a Modern Tank Fought in the Civil War? | M1A2 Abrams at Gettysburg - video Dailymotion

What If

July 1863 — the Battle of Gettysburg begins. But this time, a 70-ton M1A2 Abrams rolls onto the field instead of Union and Confederate troops. With composite armor, thermal sights, and a 120mm cannon, the tank from the future meets muskets, cannons, and cavalry from the past.  Could one modern war machine end the Civil War in a single day? Or would fuel, logistics, and terrain limit its power?  #WhatIfWar #MilitaryHistory #CivilWar #M1A2Abrams #Gettysburg #AlternateHistory #Warfare #HistoryChannel #TankVsMusket #MilitaryTechnology #BattleOfGettysburg #ModernVsHistory #WarSimulation #DefenseTech #HistoricalAnalysis

Transcript

00:00July 1st, 1863. Dawn breaks over the Pennsylvania countryside as 71,000 Confederate troops march

00:09under the command of Robert E. Lee. They're about to clash with 93,000 Union soldiers dug

00:15in on the high ground, a battle that will leave 51,000 men dead, wounded, or missing.

00:21Lee's army will shatter, marking the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

00:26But let's change one thing. Instead of Lee's army marching to defeat,

00:31rolling over the countryside comes the physical embodiment of a death sentence,

00:36a single Abrams M1A2 SCP-V3 main battle tank. A 70-ton monster from 2023 is armed with weapons

00:45that could level city blocks and armor that 1863 can't fathom, and it just crested the hill from

00:52cash town. So what happens when $24 million and 160 years of military evolution crashes into

00:59America's defining moment? Well, the M1A2 Abrams is 67 tons of pure terror. It's powered by a 1,500

01:08horsepower gas turbine engine that sounds like the screams of hell, all while barreling toward the

01:14enemy at 42 miles per hour. And it's doing so 20 years before the world would see a car hit 10 miles

01:21per hour. And let's see what the rolling apocalypse brought to the party. One 120mm smoothbore cannon

01:29that can fire up to 40 democracy-delivering shells, twice as powerful as anything that existed in

01:35Lincoln's time, plus two 7.62mm machine guns that unload 950 rounds per minute, and a .50 cal

01:43Browning that can deliver 10 backstage passes to meet God every second. All this covered in

01:49Schaubham composite armor layered with steel, ceramics, and depleted uranium. For context,

01:55the most powerful cannon at Gettysburg might dent the paint job. Maybe. And if this wasn't enough,

02:02it's got thermal imaging that can spot heat signatures through smoke, laser rangefinders,

02:06and a ballistic computer that makes sure your bullets and someone else's skull can finally

02:11reunite. Essentially, this thing isn't supposed to be in 1863. Foolishly standing their ground,

02:18General George Meade and his army of the Potomac is 93,700 strong.

02:23These are veteran troops who've survived Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg,

02:28battle-hardened soldiers who know how to fight. They're armed with .58 caliber rifle muskets that

02:34can kill a man at 800 yards and have 372 pieces of artillery. Everything from nimble three-inch

02:42rifled guns to massive 12-pounder Napoleons that can blow apart cavalry charges. The Union artillery

02:49crews are some of the best in the world. They've perfected the art of 19th-century warfare,

02:53but here's the problem. These weapons were designed to fight other humans, not war machines.

02:59At 7.30 a.m., Union cavalry, under General John Buford, spots movement on the Chambersburg Pike.

03:07They're expecting Confederate skirmishers, but are met with a metal behemoth with anger issues

03:13barreling towards them. Remember, these are men who've never seen something this big move this fast.

03:19The Abrams thermal sights immediately picks up heat signatures, and the 120-millimeter gun

03:24swivels toward the first Union battery positioned on Harris Ridge. The high-explosive round hits a

03:30three-inch ordnance rifle dead center. The cannon, its crew, and most of their ammunition explode in

03:35a fireball that can be seen from Gettysburg. The surviving gunners watch as their comrades vanish

03:40in the blink of an eye. Buford's cavalry opens fire with their Spencer repeating carbines. Bullets

03:46ping off the Abrams' hull and attack the gunners inside might confuse for the sound of raindrops.

03:51The tank's .50-caliber machine gun responds, a weapon that fires rounds designed to stop

03:57aircraft, not horsemen. At 1,800 meters, it starts picking off cavalry officers.

04:03The sound of the Abrams' turbine engine terrifies every animal in the area,

04:08including the horses that have never heard anything louder than cannon fire.

04:12Cavalry units break without orders, bolting in the opposite direction.

04:16By 10.30 a.m., when Union General John Reynolds arrives with the Iron Brigade,

04:21Buford's line has collapsed. The tank has punched through in under three hours,

04:26a delay that historically lasted all morning. Reynolds deploys his 10,000 infantry along Seminary

04:32Ridge and the Iron Brigade, made up of farm boys famous for their fancy black hats from battle lines

04:39near McPherson's Ridge. They've never run from a fight. Today might be different.

04:43The Abrams crests the ridge, and 1,500 Union soldiers open fire in perfect volleys.

04:50The crash of masked musketry fills the air with a thick white smoke, yet through thermal sights,

04:57the tank crew sees every movement behind it. The tank loads a 120-millimeter canister round

05:03filled with over 1,000 tungsten balls that turn the main gun into the world's biggest shotgun.

05:08At 600 meters, it fires into the center of the Iron Brigade's line, and in an instant,

05:1450% of the force ceases to exist. Before the survivors can reload, the coaxial machine gun

05:20opens up and unleashes 950 rounds per minute. General Reynolds, trying to rally his troops amidst

05:26the chaos, makes himself a target, and a single .50 caliber round ends the career of one of the

05:31Union's best generals. Within an hour, most of the Iron Brigade has been evicted from Earth,

05:37while survivors flee through a Gettysburg in panic, spreading tales of an invisible iron

05:43monster. By afternoon, what remains of the two Union corps huddle on Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill,

05:50the high ground advantage that historically decided the battle. But high ground means nothing when the

05:54enemy is immune to your firepower and can climb a 45-degree slope. As evening approaches, the tank

06:00begins its assault on Cemetery Hill. Union artillery opens up with everything they have, dozens of cannons,

06:06fire, and coordinated salvos. The thunder is deafening, and again, smoke blankets the battlefield.

06:13The tank returns fire with 120-millimeter rounds that destroy artillery and their crew, and by sunset,

06:19on July 1st, Cemetery Hill goes quiet. July 2nd dawns, and instead of 93,000 Union troops,

06:26maybe 30,000 survivors hide in scattered positions. The rest are dead, wounded, or have abandoned their

06:32units in terror. The Union leadership faces an impossible decision. Retreat means abandoning

06:38the Pennsylvania campaign and possibly the war effort, but the fight means to face off against

06:43a god that traded 60,000 lives for a few dents. But even gods have weaknesses. The Abrams is running

06:51low on fuel and has expended over half its main gun ammunition. There's also maintenance. Modern military

06:57equipment requires constant care. The air filters are clogged with dust, the track links are showing

07:03wear, and a thrown track or engine failure in hostile territory would be catastrophic. Still,

07:09within the three-day time frame of Gettysburg, these limitations don't matter. The tank has

07:13accomplished what Lee's entire army couldn't—complete destruction of Union resistance in Pennsylvania.

07:19The victory at Gettysburg would send shockwaves through the Union. With the Army of the Potomac

07:24destroyed, nothing stands between the Confederate forces and Washington, D.C. The war that historically

07:31turned at Gettysburg could end with Confederate victory instead. A single M1A2 Abrams at Gettysburg

07:37would single-handedly alter the course of history. The careful tactics, brave charges, and artillery

07:43duels that defined Civil War combat become irrelevant the moment it rolled onto the field. The tank would

07:49be remembered as the Iron Devil of Gettysburg, and five words would echo through all of history.

07:54Subscribe to two brain cells.

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08:11it next week.

08:13Thanks for watching.

What If a Modern Tank Fought in the Civil War? | M1A2 Abrams at Gettysburg

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