The Civil War

The War

The conflicts worsened, and in 1861, the Southern states seceded, or separated, from the Union and formed a new nation: the Confederate States of America. The Nothern states refused to accept this. President Lincoln had not wanted war, but war became inevitable.

The American Civil War lasted four years. More Americans died in this war than in all other wars combined. Before the war, there had been great advances in weapons but few advances in medicine. Soldiers who weren't killed outright often died of their wounds. Many regiments lost over half of their men in a single battle.

The North had certain great advantages over the South. It had a larger population and most of the country's factories and banks. But it had the more difficult task - conquest rather than defense. Also, many of the nation's top military leaders were from Southern states and joined the Southern cause.

Effects of the War

When the war finally ended in 1865, the South had been devastated. The state of Virginia alone had been the scene of 26 major battles and over 400 smaller fights.

The most important long-term effect of the war was the end of slavery. Black Americans were made citizens and were given the right to vote.

The Civil War helped transform the nation's economy and way of life. The war effort required more factories and better transportation systems. The North became much more industrialized than before. One Northerner commented after the war, "It does not seem to me as if I were living in the country in which I was born."

Randee Falk: Spotlight on the USA; Oxford University Press, 1993, page 66 f.