There is a period in the history of the United States that they are trying to either forget about or distort its events as much as possible in order to please the current conjuncture. It's about about the civil war in the USA, about what preceded it, what caused it, and what chance was missed by America, and the whole world in 1861-1865.
Yankee poster
Residents of the United States are often disparagingly referred to as "Yankees". But it is worth noting that this so-called slang nickname applies only to white natives of the American North! In the South of the United States of America, representatives of another branch of the white American people, or even a separate nation, live. These are the so-called “johnnies” or “dixies”, that is, southerners, the descendants of the population of an independent state of the Confederate States of America.
If you now ask anyone more or less versed in the history of the United States in 1861-1865, you can hear a completely stereotyped answer: there was a civil war to abolish slavery. And this will be answered not only in countries former USSR but also in most countries of the world. In general, everywhere except the American South itself, where the truth is still remembered.
background
The idea of US independence was born in the South. The natives of the most populous southern state of Virginia were the ideologist of this very independence, Benjamin Franklin, and the author of the American constitution, Thomas Jefferson. After the independence of the United States, it was the southerners - johnnies that formed the backbone of the American political, economic and cultural elite of the United States.
But by the 30s of the XIX century, the situation began to change dramatically. The American southern states are located in a subtropical climate, where it is possible to grow crops almost all year round, and first of all, cotton, tobacco and sugar cane, which were super-profitable by the standards of that time. Therefore, every inch of free land was put into action. The lack of free land in the South practically stopped the influx of emigrants and forced the population to intensify their own agricultural economy. In the South, advanced agricultural technology, the production of agricultural machinery and fertilizers flourished.
Johnny poster The South was also distinguished by a peculiar ethno-religious process. Johnny was based on people from England who did not break the connection with the traditional Anglican Church, they were also diluted by emigrants from France and Spain, bringing their customs and habits into the formation of the Johnny mentality, which was characterized by openness, sincerity, morality, hospitality. There were also negative traits, such as excessive arrogance and fatalism.
Despite the established cliché, the North was absolutely not an industrial region, but lived mainly due to the same as the South, that is, through the sale of raw materials, primarily wood and furs. And since the forest does not grow like cotton, this forced the northern Yankees to engage in extensive farming, capturing more and more new territories. In addition, the flow of emigrants to the North increased. There were weeks when 15,000 seekers of happiness arrived in New York alone. Most of them had nothing but hope.
The basis of the emigrants were Germans, Dutch and British, who were not only Anglicans, but also Lutherans, or even belonged to extreme Protestant sects. The leitmotif of their creeds was that wealth is a sign of divine grace, that Americans are God's chosen people, compared to whom all others are nothing. As a result of the dominance of such a worldview, an image of a typical Yankee has developed - energetic, unprincipled, impudent, aimed primarily at personal enrichment and convinced of his absolute rightness, no matter what he does. It is clear that it became more and more difficult for two such types as Yankees and Johnny to get along in one country.
notorious slavery
Slavery took place throughout the United States, not just the South. Just the absence of plantations in the North meant that there were few slaves there, they were used mainly as domestic servants and the fact of slavery was not as conspicuous as in the South. Slavery was abolished in the North only at the end of 1865, after the end of the war and the death of Lincoln. True, laws were passed in the North, according to which a slave from one state, who ended up in the territory of another, automatically became free. That is why slaves from the South often fled to the North.
Back in 1808, the slave trade in the United States was banned, slaves were no longer imported from Africa, they were reproduced only in a natural way. This, in turn, pushed up the price of “black property” dramatically, which cost, for example, more than a horse. A slave was an expensive acquisition, which was not “spoiled” without special need. Therefore, the cruelty associated with the concept of "slavery" (shackles, whips, branding) for the American South was the exception rather than the rule. On small farms, slaves worked together with their masters; on large plantations, slaves were driven to work not so much by physical influence as by a system of incentives, including monetary ones.
In addition, in the South, a process that can be called “derabovelopladization” was in full swing, an increasing number of blacks received personal freedom from the hands of their masters, who also leased land to them. Thus, the process of integration of the black population into social structure South. Moreover, a free black in the South received a significant part of the rights of a white man. He was a legal entity, could buy and sell property (including slaves), hold positions, and so on. It is no coincidence that when the war broke out between the North and the South, about 40 thousand Negroes volunteered for the army of the Southern Confederation. Many of them became officers, all black soldiers received pay similar to that received by whites.
Society in the South was slave-owning but not racist, while segregation flourished in the North. There was not a single black officer in the army of the northerners; black soldiers served in separate units, while they were paid less than their white colleagues.
Before the storm
The established bourgeoisie of the North had long been thinking about how to get their hands on the wealth of the South. But this did not work out while representatives of johnny were in power in the United States. Recall that in the United States there is no direct presidential election. The head of state is chosen by the so-called electors, several representatives from each state based on the results of voting in the state. The Yankees came up with a multi-way combination, the essence of which was to first provoke a war with Mexico, which the Americans brilliantly won by taking 45% of its territory from Mexico, and began to cut into new states here, where flows of settlers rushed from the oversaturated emigrants of the North. Naturally, most of them voted for the Yankee presidential candidate. And as a state votes, so do its electors. Thus the number of Yankee electors grew, while the number of Johnny electors remained the same. This tactic led to Yankee President Abraham Lincoln coming to power in 1860 for the first time in decades. This did not bode well for Southerners, as Lincoln intended to raise taxes on them, prohibit direct sales of cotton to foreign consumers, and impose a number of other economic sanctions. All this threatened a serious blow to the economy of the South. Therefore, the southern states, in accordance with the then constitution, began the process of secession (secession). Eleven states announced their withdrawal from the United States (South and North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi), which announced the creation of a new sovereign state of the Confederate States of America (CSA).
At the beginning of 1861, this state acquired all the attributes of independence: a constitution, an anthem, a flag, the President of the Confederation, Jefferson Davis, was elected. CSA as an independent state was recognized by France, England, Spain and Mexico.
Thunderstorm
Johnny troops were leaving units in the North and returning to the South. The Yankees were returning to the North. Everything went on sedately and peacefully until the United States announced that Fort Moultrie, which stood on an island off the coast of South Carolina, was their territory. The southerners agreed, but suspended food supplies, after all, they are not obliged to feed foreigners! But the northerners did not bring food either. Completely starving soldiers - 84 people - led by their commander Robert Anderson, suddenly attacked the coastal Fort Sumter and began to destroy food supplies. In order to prevent uninvited guests from getting provisions, the southerners fired artillery at the warehouses and, in an ultimatum form, demanded that the Yankees leave. During the shelling of the warehouses, not a single Yankee was wounded, but leaving the fort, the northerners decided to finally solemnly lower their Stars and Stripes flag and fired a salute on this occasion. One of the guns exploded, and gunner Daniel Howe, who was standing nearby, was killed. This episode was presented to the population under such a sauce: "the rebels (in the sense of the southerners) attacked our (!!!) fort, the victims are incalculable." In the wake of the indignation that swept the North, Abraham Lincoln ordered his troops to commit an act of aggression against the independent state of the KSA.
At the beginning of the campaign, in 1861-1863, the northerners were unlucky, the southerners bravely defended their sovereignty and smashed the troops of the occupying Yankees. It was then, in 1863, that Lincoln adopted the so-called "Declaration of Emancipation", according to which freedom was granted to slaves living in the KSA. In the North, as well as in the territories of the South, occupied by the troops of the northerners, the former position of slaves was preserved. By his decree, Lincoln pursued two goals: to sow chaos behind enemy lines, since the slaves were the main labor force in the rear of the southerners, and to justify the aggression against the Confederacy to the world community by fighting slavery.
If the first task was partially solved, since many slaves learned about their liberation only after the end of the war, then the second goal was achieved by 100%. In this war, all "advanced mankind" began to "cheer" for the northerners.
Results
In 1865, the North completely defeated the johnny at the expense of inexhaustible human resources supplied by powerful emigration. Having filled up with the corpses of enemies not only the battlefields, but also cities and villages, the Yankees stopped the movement of the South to independence. The war for the ideals of northern capitalism cost the country 650,000 lives. The losses are huge, considering that the total population of the United States in 1861 was 31 million people, of which 5 million were Negro slaves. Entire states were set on fire and destroyed, as happened with the states of Georgia, both Carolinas and Louisiana during the raid on them by the army of northerners led by General Sherman. It was the civil war between the North and the South that went down in history as the bloodiest war of the 19th century, surpassing even the Napoleonic wars in terms of the annual number of casualties.
Slaves, having received freedom, were not integrated into society in any way, and many of them were on the verge of starvation. To survive, some of them went to big cities becoming a cheap and disenfranchised labor force. Others began to stray into gangs and terrorize the local white population, which in response began to gather at night in detachments of the “invisible empire” (Ku Klux Klan) for protection at night. The region, which did not know before this serious racial hostility, blazed with clan crosses and robbed houses of white residents. Blacks didn't get rights, and white johnnies lost them. Until 1877, the South lived as an occupied territory: with an appointed administration and lack of rights in front of it of the local population.
The vital foreign policy principles of the Yankees won. Having conquered the South, the United States more actively took up Latin America, and then the whole world. But if Johnny had won, it is possible that on the territory of the modern USA there would have existed two states, the USA (North) and CSA (South), each reminiscent of neighboring Canada or Australia, and for the inhabitants of these countries, the issue of fluctuations in the world price of cotton and grain than the number of army bases abroad and nuclear warheads in storage. A militaristic nightmare called "George Bush" would be impossible in principle.
P.S. In 2000, on the territory of the states that were part of the CSA, a large organization "League of the South" was created, which aims to awaken the national identity of the "johnny" and renew the independence of the Confederation.
On January 21, 1824, in the town of Clarksburg, US state of Virginia, a boy was born in the family of lawyer Jonathan Jackson, who was named Thomas. In the Civil War, he would become one of the most famous generals in the South, gaining the nickname " stone wall and die with the cryptic words on his lips: "We must cross the river and rest there in the shade of the trees."
The American Civil War of 1861-1865 was not won by those about whom the legends had developed. The victory did not come to General Thomas Jackson, about whom Confederate commander-in-chief Robert Lee wrote that he "lives according to the New Testament, but fights according to the Old." In a deadly fight between two civilizations - open to the world, the industrial North and the isolated, plantation South - not the heroes, but the greasy artisans took over.
Both sides declared a struggle for freedom. But this freedom was different. Abraham Lincoln said in 1861, "We must decide immediately whether a minority in a free state has the right to destroy that state whenever it pleases." The ideology of the southerners was reduced, in fact, to a phrase once uttered by Robert Lee: "I love my country, but I love my native state of Virginia more." They, southerners, each fought for their own street, house, garden, "cherished bench at the gate", for the right to own a pair of black slaves - almost family members.
They, the southerners, fought each for their own street, house, garden, "cherished bench at the gate", for the right to own a pair of black slaves - almost family members
Yankees and Southerners
This war was fought not so much for territories as for minds, for the dominance of ideas, for the main road in the coming centuries. No other event in the history of the United States compares to its impact on the nation. "The war completely shook up the centuries-old way of life and so profoundly transformed the national character that this influence will be traced for another two or even three generations," Mark Twain noted. This war claimed the lives of 620 thousand soldiers, more than all other wars, including the First and Second World Wars. But Winston Churchill called her " last war led by gentlemen."
In the first half of the 19th century, unprecedented growth was recorded in the United States in three directions: the influx of population due to British and German emigrants, the expansion of territory, and the rise of the economy. The planetary market was swamped with raw cotton from the American South; it was cotton, whose yields doubled every decade, that gave impetus to the industrial revolution in England and New England and tightened the shackles on African Americans more tightly than ever before. The conflict of interests between the North and the South over the issue of slavery hid the greatest danger to the viability of the country. Part of society did not understand how the institution of slavery could be reconciled with the founding ideals of a democratic republic. If all people are created by the Lord equal, then what is the justification for captivity for several million men and women?
By the middle of the century, the anti-slavery movement had entered political life and gradually divided the nation into two camps. The planters, who received huge plots of land in the south during the war with Mexico, by no means considered themselves notorious sinners. They managed to convince the majority of white southerners who did not have slaves that the emancipation of slaves would entail the collapse of the economy, social chaos and interracial clashes. Slavery, from this point of view, is not at all the evil that Yankee fanatics make it out to be; on the contrary, it is an undoubted good, the basis of prosperity, peace and the superiority of the white race, a necessary tool so that blacks do not turn into barbarians, criminals, beggars.
“We like the old truths: good wine, books, friends, time-tested relationships between employer and worker,” said a Charleston customs officer.
“We like the old truths: good wine, books, friends, the time-honored relationship between employer and worker,” said a Charleston customs official.
Yankees and southerners certainly spoke the same language, but more and more often these nicknames were used with the intent to offend. The legal system also became a factor of contention: the northern states passed laws on personal freedom, ignoring the state law on fugitive slaves, lobbied by the southerners. And the Supreme Court, under the control of the latter, rejected the right of Congress to prohibit the expansion of slavery into new territories. And this decision was considered shameful by many northerners.
Under all circumstances, the North was clearly ahead of the South in key areas of economic development. People born in slave states were three times more likely to move to the north than to reverse side. Seven of every eight immigrants settled again in the North, where there was more work and where there was no competition from forced labor. In 1850, only 26 percent of railways countries. Southerners could not help feeling the humiliating vassalage of the Yankees. “All our wholesale and retail trade is in the hands of those who invest their income in the enterprises of the North,” complained one Alabama resident in 1847. “Financially, we are even more enslaved than our Negroes.”
The victory in the 1860 presidential election of Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln became "X hour" for the slave owners and caused secession, a domino effect, and secession from the Union. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina set the example, followed in January by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. The legal justification for these steps was the absence in the constitution of a direct ban on the exit of individual states from the United States.
On February 4, 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America opened, declaring the formation of a new state - the Confederate States of America. Texas joined the CSA in March, and Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined in April-May. Eleven states, which occupied 40 percent of the US territory, with a population of nine million people adopted a constitution and elected Jefferson Davis as their president. "The time for compromise is over," said this former Mississippi senator. "The South is determined to defend its freedoms, and all who oppose it will smell our gunpowder and the coldness of our steel."
23 states remained in the Union with a population of 22 million, including slave-owning Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, which, not without a struggle, chose to remain loyal to the federal government.
"Stone Wall"
fighting began on April 12, 1861, with the battle for Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, which surrendered after 34 hours of shelling by the southerners. In response, Lincoln declared the southern states rebellious, imposed a naval blockade of their coasts, and drafted volunteers into the army.
The Confederation had a brilliant military, the caliber of the commanders of its armies was clearly higher than that of the northerners. The most striking example is 54-year-old Robert Edward Lee, a hero of the war with Mexico, a graduate of the famous academy at West Point. An aristocrat to the marrow of his bones, he had no visible flaws, except for excessive restraint.
Lee was an open opponent of slavery, which in 1856 he called "a moral and political evil"
Lee was an outspoken opponent of slavery, which in 1856 he called "a moral and political evil." Nor did he approve of the secession of the southern states. When asked who he would support in the event of war, Lee replied: "I will never take up arms against the Union, but I will probably have to take up a musket in the defense of Virginia. In this case, I will try not to be cowardly."
Everything changed after the choice made by Virginia. "I must stand with or against my state," said Lee, a military engineer and cavalry officer who was promoted to colonel in the federal army on the eve of the conflict. Looking ahead, we note that success in the war was given to him at a colossal price. The discrepancy between Lee's character - a suave and benevolent Christian gentleman - and his risky, aggressive tactics on the battlefield constituted one of the sharpest contrasts of the era.
The southerners were looking forward to the blitzkrieg. It did not matter to them that the industrial potential of the Union was many times greater than that of the Confederacy: in 1860, 97 percent of firearms, 94 percent of textiles, 93 percent of raw iron, and more than 90 percent of shoes and clothing were produced in the northern states. The southerners did not care about the fact that the actual superiority of the North in manpower is 2.5 to 1. They were not even embarrassed by inflation, which reached 9 thousand percent, incomparable with 80 percent in the Union.
The American Civil War was primarily a political war, a war of the people, not of professional armies. And in this confrontation, the Confederation, with its intellectual and economic resources, had no chance of winning. The southerners could not endlessly help out the tactical resourcefulness of their generals. Even people like Thomas Jackson. An introverted, humorless, zealous Presbyterian who likened the Yankees to the devil, this man in an old greatcoat and a cadet's cap with a broken peak is a legend for all time.
In close order
The legend began to take shape in April 1861 in a battle on the slopes of a hill near the Bull Run River. South Carolina General Barnard Bee, who was trying to assemble the remnants of his broken brigade, pointed them to Jackson's fresh detachment and shouted something like: "Look at Jackson - he's standing here like a stone wall! Get up to the Virginians!" Hence the nickname Stonewall.
"Look at Jackson - he stands here like a stone wall! Get up to the Virginians!" This is where the nickname Stonewall comes from.
Jackson, a former Virginia Military Institute instructor and brigade commander, had a strategy of "puzzling, confusing, and astonishing the enemy." Until the death of the general, by the way, ridiculous, from the bullets of the soldiers of his own patrol, Lee assigned his mobile detachment the role of his strategic vanguard. Intolerant of human weaknesses, "Stonewall" led his infantry at a whirlwind pace. "He blamed all the exhausted soldiers, exhausted, falling on the side of the road, of a lack of patriotism," one of his officers noted. Jackson's victories in the Shenandoah Valley cast a halo of invincibility on himself and his foot cavalry.
Mortality in this war, in the fields near Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Vicksburg, was appallingly high. And largely because of the discrepancy between the traditional tactics of warfare and the latest weapons. The tactical heritage of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars emphasized the actions of soldiers in close formation, maneuvering synchronously. The advancing troops marched in step, fired on command, with volleys, and then, at a quick pace, switched to a bayonet attack. However, the infantry of both armies used mainly not smooth-bore, but rifled guns. The accuracy and range of fire and, accordingly, the number of victims increased dramatically. The defense has also improved in quality. The officers, brought up within the framework of the old tactical dogmas, hardly understood these changes. From a distance of 300-400 meters, the defenders mowed down the attackers with rifles.
New America
The Confederation lost for a combination of reasons. Among other things, due to the lack of official parties, which also meant the absence of formal discipline of congressmen and governors: Davis, unlike Lincoln, could not demand party loyalty or support for his actions. The two-party system in the North kept the political life of the country within certain limits, in good shape. Republicans mobilized military industry, raising taxes, creating a new financial system. Democrats opposed most of these measures, causing Republicans to rally behind a military solution to the conflict. By the way, in the North, a considerable part of the population did not agree with such a goal of the war as the abolition of slavery.
By the way, in the North, a considerable part of the population did not agree with such a goal of the war as the abolition of slavery
Someone accurately noted that the "rough blueprint of America today" was drawn up by the Lincoln administration and Congress, which passed laws to finance war, free slaves, and invest public land in future development.
It was to 1861-1865 that the beginning of a process called by historians Charles and Mary Beard "the second American revolution" dates back. As part of this process, "the capitalists, workers and farmers of the North and West removed the agricultural aristocracy of the South from power, radically changing the system of classes, accumulation and distribution of wealth." This new America big business, heavy industry and capital-intensive Agriculture overtook Britain, by 1880 became the leading industrial power.
“Our material resources are abundant and truly inexhaustible,” Lincoln declared in his annual message to Congress on December 6, 1864. “We also more people now than before the war. We are only gaining strength and will be able, if the need arises, to continue the struggle indefinitely."
These words were not bragging. More ships left the stocks of the northern shipyards during the war than the United States produced in Peaceful time. The gross product of the union states in 1864 was 13 percent higher than that of the whole country before the war. Copper production has doubled, silver - four times. Etc. However, one should not think that the North "crushed" the South solely by its material power. By 1863, Lincoln's preeminence made him a figure to outshine leadership skills Davis. And in the person of Generals Ulysses Grant and William Sherman, the Union found commanders who adopted the concept of total war and adhered to it to the end.
It was the North, and not the South, that was transformed in those years into a special civilization, it was its spirit that became all-American
It was the North, and not the South, that was transformed in those years into a special civilization, it was its spirit that became common to America. old federal Republic, where the government did not interfere in the life of the layman, reminding of itself only by postmen, gave way to a truly centralized model of the state. This state levied direct taxes on the population and established a tax service to collect them, introduced a national currency, expanded the jurisdiction of federal courts, drafted people into the army, and also created the first state social security agency - the Bureau for the Emancipation of Slaves.
The northerners, having lost in the war almost 360 thousand people killed and died of wounds and forgiving the defeated, stepped towards the revolutionary future.
Click on the photos to enlarge:
The war between the North and the South in America was one of the bloodiest stages in the formation of modern American society. For 5 years of armed conflict, the still unformed United States, despite the countless number of victims, managed to create the ground for its future existence and development.
USA in the 19th century and its collapse
The first and main cause of military conflict between the states originated at the dawn of colonization. In 1619, the first African slaves were brought to Virginia. The slave system began to take shape. Within a few decades, the first signs of a future conflict began to appear. Individuals began to speak out against slavery. The first was Roger Williams. Step by step, the first legislative acts, facilitating and regulating the life of slaves, who gradually received "human" rights, often violated by their masters.
In the 19th century, when war between the North and the South in America became inevitable, Congress still tried to find a compromise by peaceful means. Thus, in 1820, the Missouri Compromise was signed, as a result of which the area of slavery was expanded. The boundary of the slave-owning regions clearly appeared. Thus, the South completely opposed itself to the North. In 1854 this agreement was cancelled. Also this year, the Republican Party was formed on the platform of anti-slavery organizations. And already in 1860, a representative of this political force became president.
In the same year, the United States lost six southern regions, which announced their withdrawal from the federation and the creation of the Confederation of States. A few months later, after the first Confederate victories at Fort Sumter, five more states announced their withdrawal from the United States. The northern states announced mobilization - the Civil War of the North and the South in America has started.
and its traditions
What was such a sharp confrontation between the states that existed side by side for centuries? It cannot be said that the South was completely slave-owning and inhumane. On the contrary, in early XIX centuries, a large number of anti-slavery protests took place here, but by 1830 they had exhausted themselves.
The way of the southern states was radically opposite to the North. After the Mexican-American War, the States received huge land holdings. needed to be processed. The planters found a way out by buying slaves. As a result, the South became an agrarian region in need of constant shortages. Because of cheap labor, the war of the North and South began in America. The essence of the conflict, according to many historians, lay deeper.
northern states
The northern states were the exact opposite of the bourgeois South. The businesslike and enterprising North developed thanks to industry and engineering. There was no slavery here, and free labor was encouraged. From all over the world, people came here who dreamed of getting rich and making capital. In the northern regions, a flexible system of taxation was carried out and established, and there was charity. It must be admitted that, despite the status of free citizens, African Americans in the North were second-class people.
Causes of the North-South War in America
- Fight to abolish slavery. Many historians call this point just a political ploy by Lincoln, which was needed to strengthen his authority in Europe.
- The difference in the mentality of the population of the northern and southern regions.
- The desire of the northern states to control the southern neighbors through the majority of seats in the House of Representatives.
- Dependence of the Industrial Revolution on the agricultural products of the South. The northern regions bought cotton, tobacco, and sugar at reduced rates, forcing planters to survive rather than prosper.
The course of hostilities in the first period of the war
In April 1861, the American Civil War began. Historians for a long time could not understand who started the armed conflict. After comparing the facts of shelling by artillery, it became clear that the southerners unleashed the war.
The first battle and victory of the Confederate troops took place near Fort Sumter. After this defeat, President Lincoln put 75,000 volunteers into the gun. He did not want a bloody resolution of the conflict and offered the Southern states to pay it off on their own and punish the instigators. But the war of the North and the South in America was already inevitable. The southerners were inspired by the first victories and rushed into battle. The concepts of honor and valor of the brave southern guys did not give them the right to retreat. Yes and benefits initial stage the South had more war - a sufficient number of trained soldiers and commanders, as well as weapons depots, remained after the war with Mexico.
Lincoln declared a blockade of all the states of the Confederacy.
In July 1861, the Battle of Bull Run took place, during which the Confederate troops won. But instead of launching a counteroffensive against Washington, the southerners opted for a defensive tactic, and the strategic advantage was lost. The confrontation escalated in the summer of 1861. However, if the southerners had been smarter, the war between the North and the South in America would have ended. Whoever would win at this stage of the conflict would certainly not be the Federation.
In April 1862, one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War took place, which claimed the lives of six thousand people - the battle of Shiloh. This battle, albeit with heavy losses, was won by the allied troops and already in the same month, without a single shot, they entered Memphis.
In August, Northern troops approached the Confederate capital of Richmond, but half the size of the Southern army, led by General Lee, was able to repulse them. In September, the troops again fought on the Bull Run River. There was an opportunity to capture Washington, but luck again did not accompany the Confederates.
abolition of slavery
One of the secret cards of Abraham Lincoln, which he taught as the main reason for the confrontation between the states, was the question of the abolition of slavery. And at the right moment, the president took advantage of it by abolishing slavery in the rebel states, since the war between the North and the South in America in 1861-1865 could drag on for a longer period.
In September, Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation in the states at war with the Union. In peaceful areas, slavery persisted.
So, the president killed two birds with one stone. He declared himself to the whole world as a man fighting for civil rights black population. Now Europe could not help the Confederation. On the other hand, with a stroke of the pen, he increased the size of his army.
Second phase of the war
In May 1863, the second stage of the military campaign began. The war between North and South in America has resumed with new zeal.
In early July, the landmark Battle of Gettysburg began, lasting several days, as a result of which the Confederate troops were forced to retreat. This defeat claimed thousands of lives and broke the morale of the southerners, they still resisted, but without much success.
On July 4, 1863, Vicksburg fell to General Grant. Lincoln immediately appointed him commander-in-chief of the northern army. From that moment began the confrontation between two tactical generals - Lee and Grant.
Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston - city after city came under the control of the Union troops. President Davis sent a letter to Lincoln offering peace, but the North wanted the obedience of the South, not equality.
The war between the North and the South in America in the 19th century ended with the surrender of the Confederate troops, the noble South fell, and the businesslike and greedy North won.
Results
- Abolition of slavery.
- The United States remained an integral federal entity.
- Representatives of the northern states won the majority of seats in the House and pushed through the laws necessary for business and industry, hitting the "purses" of southerners.
- More than 600 thousand people were killed.
- Beginning in the southern regions, total industrialization.
- Expanding the US Single Market.
- Development of trade unions and public organizations.
The war between the North and the South in America led to such results. She received the name Civil. There has never been such a bloody confrontation between its citizens in the United States.
Reasons for the start of the war.
in the southern United States to civil war slavery was absolute. Moreover, the attitude towards the slaves, and the conditions of their life and work were unbearable. Each landowner believed that he had the right to mock the slaves. The political forces of the southern part tried to introduce a slave system into the economy of the whole country, while racist inclinations slipped through them.
The south tried with all its might to restrain the onset of capitalism flowing from the northern part of the country. As a result, the war was unleashed, since the north considered it absolutely inhumane to keep slaves on farmlands.
The course of the American Civil War.
As a result of the fact that the south did not agree to any changes in the way of life, he decided to secede from the country altogether. But since southern lands almost the entire country was supplied with raw materials, the US president did not like this idea. They were even sent warships to the shores of South Carolina. In 1861, the war began with the shelling of one of the ports of the southern part of the United States. The war was very large-scale and bloody, neither side expected such an outcome of events.
At the time of the outbreak of the war, the south, containing 11 states, had already called itself the Confederation. The main task of the south was to keep the enemy as long as possible in the territory of the state of Virginia, where at that time a bloody mess was unfolding. The north decided to block off the southern part from the outside world, surrounding it from all sides and hoping that they would soon run out of resources. The fighting continued. Soon the law on the abolition of slavery came to the aid of the outbreak of the war. Numerous populace crossed to the north side and began to fight for their liberation with the south.
Results of the American Civil War.
Slavery was abolished and approved constitutionally. The country opened up new prospects in the development of trade and industry, as well as in strengthening the domestic market. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated, but his work was continued by his followers.
The real causes of the American Civil War cause heated debate among researchers to this day. Thousands of books have been written on the subject scientific works and popular articles. main reason of such interest is a quantitative measure of the casualties suffered in the course of the war, which exceed any American military losses of any other wars.
Background of the war between the north and south of the United States of 1861 - 1865
Most people who know at least something about the American Civil War are sure that the cause was a "noble" goal - the emancipation of slaves, and those who worked on plantations in the southern states. In fact, the prerequisites were as follows:
At its core, the north and south of the United States were two different civilizations - states that existed and developed independently for a long time.
To understand the reasons for the outbreak of the Civil War, it is necessary to take into account one of the main factors in the relationship between the north and the south - economic. The North sought to sell its not very high quality, compared to European, manufactured goods in the south as expensive as possible, while at the same time buying cheap agricultural goods. It got to the point that it was more profitable for southerners to sell their own and buy manufactured goods in Europe, which was prosecuted by US laws.
In fact, the north towards the south pursued the same policy as Britain before the Revolutionary War.
The immediate causes of the outbreak and development of the war were the following events:
As can be seen from the reasons and sequence of actions of attempts to agree, after the outbreak of hostilities between the parties did not occur, and Lincoln and his government did everything to destroy the economic components of the southerners during the war, creating new reasons for them to resent.
The emancipation of the slaves became a disguise for the forced obedience of the southern states.
As can be seen from the previous text, the causes of the Civil War are far from being as noble as we used to think, and the northern civilization in this war mainly pursued its own mercantile, economic goals. Particularly interesting is that black slaves as a result of the war did not receive equality with free whites, especially in the southern states.