The United States has been involved in many wars throughout history. Americans have fought and died in many wars such as the war for independence in World War I to Desert Storm. One of the bloodiest wars in our nation’s history is without a doubt is the Civil War. Prior to the beginning of the Civil War, the country was divided by the issue of slavery. When President Lincoln was elected to office, several states seceded from the Union. During this war, “Over six hundred thousand men died, and hundreds of thousands more bore the scars of war.” (Russell "Civil War." Encyclopedia of American Studies) The War started in April of 1861, The country expected this war to be brief when the Confederacy only 100 miles away from Washington D.C. in Richmond Virginia. President Lincoln asked for 75,000 troops with an enlistment of only 90 days. Little did he know the war would span four years. Most people in the north went to war to preserve the Union and not over the issue of slavery. The Union had several advantages during the war. The Union had twenty-one million people against the Souths nine million, which included three and a half million slaves. Most of the industrial center was located in the north. This meant the Union could produce more weapons, ammunition and other supplies need to win the war. The Navy was also in control of the Union, which would be used to blockade any aid from abroad. Despite the North having all of these advantages, the South would prove to be a fierce and formidable opponent through out the war. The first shots of the war were fired on April 12th, 1861, “Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter and continued for 34 hours” (www.civilwar.org) and eventually this fort would fall to Confederate force... ... middle of paper ... ...with all of the technological advances which came in the years after the war. I can think of very few things which are worth fighting for then the freedom of a people, whether it was back then or the resent wars in the Percian Gulf. People all over the world diserve to be free. Researching this topic brings a quote to my mind. “ The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” (Edmund Burke) Works Cited Fort Sumter. www.civilwar.org. Web. 24 May 2014. McClintock, Russell "Civil War." Encyclopedia of American Studies. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 24 May 2014. Harris, Bonnie WK_16 Civil War & Reconstruction PowerPoint Boyer/ Clark/ Halttunen/ Kett/ Salisbury/ Sitkoff/ Woloch. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Concise Edition Vol. I, 8th Edition. Wadsworth. Ed. Ann West. 2013.
The North and South benefited in many different ways, and both sides would use dissimilar approaches. The Southerners were fighting for a way of life they believed in. Comparing the two, the North had an extensive amount of people which made it easier to establish armies. In the beginning, the Union army only consisted of 16,000 soldiers or less. Southerners deserted the army because they didn’t have the things they needed for fig...
On April 12, 1861, squadrons of soldiers opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort 33 hours later. Sumter was one of the United States’ last outposts in the recently formed Confederacy of former Southern states. With its fall, the American Civil War began. Lasting four years, the Civil War tore apart what Abraham Lincoln had termed the “bonds of affection” between the North and South. Yet it was not a spontaneous occurrence. What incited the Confederacy to fire on Fort Sumter had its roots in deeply entrenched divisions that had been on the verge of bursting for years. The Civil War owed its existence to three crucial factors: the never-ending debate over slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and sectional tensions fueled by the Republican Party. Each of these contributed majorly to the development of what would become the most devastating war fought on American soil.
The Civil War determined what kind of nation the United States would become. It determined whether it would be a nation with equal rights for everyone or the biggest country that still abused of slaves. The war started because of the brutal conditions slaves were living in. Many had no education what so ever and were treated worse than animals. Back then part of this country found this acceptable and demanded to keep their slaves while the others demanded freedom. Today there are many movies about the civil war. For example the movie Glory which was made in December 15, 1989 it was directed by Edward Zwick. The movie depicts the lives of African American soldiers who had to endure tougher training than the American man, and American officials who had to make these men into real action fighting soldiers. The defining characters in this movie were. Major Cabot Forbes who was very tender towards the African American soldiers and he even stood up for them. Private Trip gave up his freedom in order to fight is true fighter. Corporal Thomas Searles who struggled a lot in the training camp but in the end pulled through. Glory is mainly about men with struggles that have to overcome their torments in order to end the Civil War. It took time and strength but the colored regiment became just as good as any white one. Corporal Thomas Searles, Major Cabot Forbes, and Private Trip all fought for what they believed in even at the time of their last breathes something they would have never done at the beginning of the movie.
The North wanted to end slavery and preserve the Union while the South tried to end the Union and preserve slavery. Abolitionists created an impact with outcries in the North by the 1850s and persuaded more people towards their side. Many abolitionists supported the war for the fact of being set free. The size and population of the North increased because of the industrialization that created factory work. Manufacturing in the North created an increase in coal mining and production of war supplies. The Union blocked off industrialization in the South to see if they would surrender from being deprived from goods.
Following the American Civil War, the whole nation was forever changed and was the result of many good and bad things. Although it was a very costly war and was So, the Civil War did define us and made us the good and the bad things we are and led to an extremely significant change because slavery was abolished once and for all and African American rights followed many years later, the Federal Government imposed more power over the states, our country was divided for a while, and it left the nation in debt due to the fact that we fought each other.
No other conflict has brought as much bloodshed, trauma, and division to the United States of America than the American Civil War. While other wars that Americans have fought in may have been fought on larger scales, with grander armies and greater resources, none compare to the lasting effects of the Civil War which continue to plague the Nation to this day. Approximately 618,000 Americans lost their lives between the years of 1861 and 1865. States, cities, and families turned on one another in a desperate struggle; a struggle which was to continue to divide the Nation long after the last guns had been fired.
Causing four years of bloodshed on American ground, the Civil War was considered to be one of the most divisive wars in American history. Lasting from 1861 to 1865, the US Civil War was fought between the American people, mainly the northern states versus the southern states. There is a common misconception that slavery is the key issue that led to the American Civil War. However, there were several other reasons that pushed American into the “Great American Tragedy”. Because the North and the South were very different economically, socially, and politically, and with territorial expansion all of this eventually resulted in the Civil War, or the War Between the States.
...e that the nation will never again be faced with such a horrible conflict which results in the deaths of so many people.
The Civil War lasted 5 years, took 600,000 lives and yet there exists doubt in what is the main reason behind it. I myself feel that the major issue that triggered the war was slavery, which for the South threatened economy. I am going to discuss how issues of slavery existed before the war, how it was in the minds of soldiers during the war, and then still existed after the war.
“Our losses have reached an intolerable level.” a German solider said during WWII. WWII was no small war. With over a million deaths and wounded just in the US, WWII has left its dirty mark on history. Japan had just attacked Pearl Harbor and the US was pulled into the war. The war was fought in two major places; Europe and the Pacific area. These two areas were as different as day and night in terms of weather, enemy, battle, etc. The United States had to face very different challenges during these times.
The Civil War abolished slavery and redefined the United States as a single and indivisible nation. A nation that would not perish no one will ever forget what happened at Gettysburg, the words that were spoken by Abraham Lincoln and no one will ever forget the words that were spoken there. Many humans lost their lives being brought into slavery and many lost their lives in the battle to end slavery. There was a high price paid in the war to free slaves. The face of the land was scarred and disfigured. Many families were left with nothing, homes were destroyed and lives torn apart. There had been so much suffering on all sides. The monetary cost to wage the war was very significant but not as significant as the loss of life and limb. Our country had faced a great deal in it’s young life.
The Civil War has been viewed as the unavoidable eruption of a conflict that had been simmering for decades between the industrial North and the agricultural South. Roark et al. (p. 507) speak of the two regions’ respective “labor systems,” which in the eyes of both contemporaries were the most salient evidence of two irreconcilable worldviews. Yet the economies of the two regions were complementary to some extent, in terms of the exchange of goods and capital; the Civil War did not arise because of economic competition between the North and South over markets, for instance. The collision course that led to the Civil War did not have its basis in pure economics as much as in the perceptions of Northerners and Southerners of the economies of the respective regions in political and social terms. The first lens for this was what I call the nation’s ‘charter’—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the documents spelling out the nation’s core ideology. Despite their inconsistencies, they provided a standard against which the treatment and experience of any or all groups of people residing within the United States could be evaluated (Native Americans, however, did not count). Secondly, these documents had installed a form of government that to a significant degree promised representation of each individual citizen. It was understood that this only possible through aggregation, and so population would be a major source of political power in the United States. This is where economics intersected with politics: the economic system of the North encouraged (albeit for the purposes of exploitation) immigration, whereas that of the South did not. Another layer of the influence of economics in politics was that the prosperity of ...
"If wars are won by riches, there can be no question why the North eventually prevailed." The North was better equipped than the South, with the resources necessary to be successful in a long term war like the Civil War was, which was fought from 1861 1865. Prior, and during the Civil war, the North's economy was always stronger than the South's, boasting of resources that the Confederacy had no means of attaining. Compared to the South, The North had more factories available for production of war supplies and larger amounts of land for growing crops. Its population was several times of the South's, which was a potential source for military enlistees. Although the South had better naval leadership and commanders, such as Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, they lacked the number of factories and industries to produce needed war materials. Therefore, the North won the American Civil War due to the strength of their industrialized economy, rather than their commanders and strategies.
Before the start of the Civil War, conflict had been brewing between the states of the North and South. The election of Abraham Lincoln did not enhance the situation at all. Lincoln was a noted abolitionist and he wanted to abate the expansion of slavery into the Western states. The Southern states saw this as an infraction to their way of life by controlling their economy. How could the Northern states regulate the Southern states? The economy of the North was very different than the South. Especially since slavery was vital to farmers in the planting and harvesting the crops. Secession was on the horizon and Lincoln knew he had to do something to prevent this. To help build the Union Army, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve for 90 days. Every state was asked to fill a quota based on its population. This did not help Lincoln’s and only hurt the Union cause. This only enraged the Southern state more and seceding for the Union was becoming a reality.
but other nations were as well effected by it. The civil war was a conflict