Interpreting Death: A Civil War Perspective

Death and the Civil War Analysis The film “Death and the Civil War” discusses how death was dealt with during the civil war with regards to men died and what this meant for America as a whole. The Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865) is the war of the Union against the Confederate States of America and it resulted in the United States of America changing its view of death. The Civil War was “the first modern war, the first mass war of the modern age” and before this war “there were no national cemeteries in America” (“American Experience”). This film is quite effective in it’s presenting of the information because of the following reasons: it taught me new information, helped me understand history better, and the film had more effective aspects rather than ineffective ones. After watching this film, I realized how little I knew about the American Civil War. The film provided me with more information about how many died as a result of this war and how this changed America completely. The civil war brought horrible modern conformation that included mass slaughter because “nearly two and a half percent of the population would die in the conflict -- an estimated 750,000 people in all -- more than in all other American wars combined” (“American Experience”). Never before, and never since, this war people

The most effective aspects of this film are the length, how the information was presented, and the credibility of those in this film. The film was not too long and only focused on death and how that pertained to the American Civil War. Also, the information was presented in a chronological order by discussing the American view of death before the war, during the war, and after the war. Furthermore, the film used both historical facts and information gathered by historians in order to ensure the logic and truth behind the topic. This film did not have any noteworthy ineffective