Collapse of the Union
Despite the fact that all the reforms were carried out equally in the South and in the North, the attitude towards the black half of the population in the North was more severe. Negroes could not be in the same room with whites. Whereas in the South, negro slaves traveled and lived with their masters. Since the South was agricultural and provided the country with agricultural products, and the North, thanks to industries and manufactories, provided the state with machines, this made it possible to interact and supplement the economy and coexist peacefully. But there were contradictions. If the South wanted to trade freely with the world, the North advocated raising taxes on imported goods in order to protect the industry. Slave states in the South could not allow their fugitive slaves in the free North to automatically become free because they were deprived of free labor. There was also no consensus on whether each newly acquired state would be free or slave. After all, the United States at that time was expanding by capturing new territories.
In 1854, all social and political organizations united in the struggle against slavery formed the Republican Party. When Abraham Lincoln, the candidate from this party, came to power in 1860, the southern part of the states realized that drastic measures would now be taken to combat slavery and all new states would be free. This led to decisive action from the South, and in January 1861, five states announced their withdrawal from the Union, that is, secession. These states were: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana.
Following Lincoln's inaugural speech, in which he mentioned an end to slavery in the United States and his intention to politically seek change peacefully, a battle took place at Fort Sumter. The seizure of the port by the southerners on April 12, 1861 was the final proof of civil confrontation.
On July 21, 1861, the Northerners attacked the Southerners in Virginia, to no avail. They had to retreat. On October 21, 1861, General McClellan lost the Battle of Balls Bluff. On November 8, 1861, after the blockade of the Confederate sea coast, the steamer Trent was captured, on board of which were the emissaries of the Southerners. There were six significant battles in 1962.
The Battle of Shiloh, in which, under the leadership of General Grant, the Northern army drove the Southern out of Kentucky. Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley (60,000 people participated in the Northerners, the Southerners with 17,000 defended the territory). Campaign on the peninsula (North Virginia Campaign), 100,000 soldiers had already fought here and machine guns were used for the first time. Maryland Campaign, Lee entered Maryland, intending to cut off federal army lines and isolate Washington. On September 15, southern troops under Jackson's command occupied Harpers Ferry, capturing his 11,000th garrison and significant supplies of equipment. On September 17 at Sharpsberg, Lee's 40,000-strong army was attacked by McClellan's 70,000-strong army. During this "bloodiest day" of the war (known as the Battle of Antietam), both sides lost 4,808 dead and 18,578 injured.
Joseph Hooker devised an offensive against Richmond using tactical maneuvers. May 1863 began with the Battle of Chancellorsville, in which the 130,000 army of the northerners was defeated by General Lee's 60,000 army. The northerners again had to retreat, and Lee, bypassing Washington from the north, entered Pennsylvania.
The Battle of Gettysburg in July was a revenge for the northerners. Lee was stopped and driven back to Virginia. On July 8, General Banks' soldiers took Port Hudson in Louisiana. Thus, control was established over the Mississippi River Valley, and the Confederation was divided into two parts.
The southerners were not yet broken. But a turning point has already taken place in favor of the northerners. On May 4, 1864, 118,000 Grant's soldiers entered the Wilderness woodland, where they were met by two times less Southerner troops. Grant continued his advance to occupy Spotsylvani and cut off the North Virginia Army from Richmond. On May 8-19, the Battle of Spotsylvani followed, the northerners again suffered heavy losses - 18,000 people, but the Confederates were more stubborn. Two weeks later, the Battle of Cold Harbor followed, which spilled over into a trench war. Grant launched a siege that took nearly a year.
Following Lincoln's re-election to a second term, Sherman's army marched north from Savannah on February 1 to join Grant's main forces. Moving through South Carolina, the soldiers smashed everything in their path and occupied Charleston on February 18. A month later, the Union armies met in North Carolina. In the spring of 1865, Grant had 115,000 men under his command. Lee had only 54,000 men left, and after the failed Battle of Five Fox (April 1), he decided to leave Pittersburg and evacuate Richmond on April 2. On April 9, 1865, the remnants of the southern army, retreating with battles, surrendered to Grant at Appomatox. The surrender of the remaining units of the Confederate army continued until the end of May. After the arrest of Jefferson Davis and members of his government, the Confederation ceased to exist. The President was mortally wounded on April 14, 1865, and, without regaining consciousness, died the next morning.
Results of the war
The civil war claimed about a million lives. The losses of the northerners amounted to almost 360,000 people killed and died from wounds and more than 275,000 wounded. The Confederates lost 258,000 and about 137,000, respectively. During the war, the US government spent $ 3 billion on armaments. The war demonstrated new capabilities of military equipment, influenced the development of military skills.
The prohibition of slavery was enshrined in the 13th amendment to the US Constitution, which entered into force on December 18, 1865 (slavery in the rebellious states was abolished back in 1863 by presidential decree).
The development of industrial and agricultural production began at a rapid pace in the country, free access to western lands was opened, and the internal market was significantly strengthened. Power in the country passed to the bourgeoisie of the northeastern states. Many problems remained unresolved, for example, granting the black population equal rights with whites.
On January 21, 1824, in the town of Clarksburg, Virginia, a boy named Thomas was born to the family of lawyer Jonathan Jackson. In the Civil War, he will become one of the most famous generals of the South, will acquire the nickname "Stone Wall" and die with mysterious words on his lips: "We must cross the river and rest there in the shade of trees."
The American Civil War of 1861-1865 was not won by those who were legendary. The victory did not come to General Thomas Jackson, about whom the commander-in-chief of the Confederates Robert Lee wrote that he "lives according to the New Testament, and fights according to the Old." In a deadly battle between two civilizations - the open world, the industrial North and the isolated, plantation South - it was not heroes that took over, but oily artisans.
Both sides declared a fight for freedom. Only this freedom was different. "We must immediately decide," said Abraham Lincoln in 1861, "whether the minority in a free state has the right to destroy that state whenever it pleases." The ideology of the southerners was, in fact, reduced to a phrase once uttered by Robert Lee: "I love my country, but I love my native state of Virginia more." They, southerners, fought each for their street, house, garden, "the cherished bench at the gate", for the right to possess a pair of black slaves - almost family members.
They, southerners, fought each for their street, house, garden, "the coveted bench at the gate", for the right to possess 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 domination of ideas, for the main path in the coming centuries. No other event in the history of the United States comes close to its impact on the nation. “The war completely shook up the age-old way of life and so deeply transformed the national character that this influence will be traced in 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 War. But Winston Churchill called it "the last war fought by gentlemen."
In the first half of the 19th century, an unprecedented growth was recorded in the United States in three directions: an influx of population due to British and German emigrants, expansion of territory, and economic recovery. The planetary market is inundated with raw cotton from the American South; it was cotton, whose harvests doubled every decade, that gave impetus to the Industrial Revolution in England and New England and tightened the shackles on African Americans more than ever. The conflict of interests between the North and the South over the issue of slavery posed the greatest danger to the country's viability. Part of society did not understand how the institution of slavery could be combined with the fundamental ideals of a democratic republic. If all people are created by the Lord equal, then how is bondage justified for several million men and women?
By the middle of the century, the anti-slavery movement had merged into 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, did not at all consider themselves outright sinners. They managed to convince most of the white southerners who did not have slaves that freeing slaves would lead to economic collapse, social chaos and interracial clashes. Slavery, from this point of view, is not at all the evil that the Yankee fanatics portray; on the contrary, it is an undeniable blessing, the basis of prosperity, peace and supremacy of the white race, a necessary tool so that blacks do not turn into barbarians, criminals, beggars.
"We love the old truths: good wine, books, friends, the time-tested relationship between employer and employee," said a Charleston customs officer.
"We love the old truths: good wine, books, friends, the time-tested relationship between employer and employee," said a certain customs officer from Charleston. "Let's leave the northerners enjoying the work of mercenaries with all its scandalousness, herd instinct and the struggle against housing rents."
Yankees and southerners (southrons), of course, spoke the same language, but increasingly used these nicknames with the intention of offending. The legal system has also become a factor of contention, with northern states enacting personal liberty laws that defy the state fugitive slave law lobbied by southerners. And under the control of the latter, the Supreme Court rejected the right of Congress to prohibit the spread of slavery in new territories. And many northerners considered this decree shameful.
Under all circumstances, the North clearly outstripped the South in key areas of economic development. People who were born in slave states moved to the north three times more often than in the opposite direction. Seven out of every eight immigrants settled again in the North, where there was more work and where there was no competition with forced labor. In 1850, only 26 percent of the country's railways passed through the southern lands. Southerners could not get rid of the feeling of humiliating vassalage to the Yankees. "All our wholesale and retail trade is in the hands of those who invest the proceeds in the North," complained one Alabama in 1847. "Financially we are enslaved even more than our negros."
The victory of the Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln in the presidential elections in 1860 became the "X hour" for slave owners and caused secession, domino effect, secession from the Union. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina set an example, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana in January. The legal justification for these steps was the absence in the constitution of a direct prohibition on the withdrawal of certain states from the United States.
On February 4, 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America opened, announcing the formation of a new state - the Confederation of the States of America. Texas joined the CSA in March, and Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina in April-May. Eleven states, covering 40 percent of the US, with a population of nine million, 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 the slaveholdings Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, which, not without a struggle, chose to remain loyal to the federal government.
"Stone Wall"
The fighting began on April 12, 1861, with the battle for Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, 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 recruited volunteers into the army.
The Confederation had a brilliant military, the caliber of the commanders of its armies was definitely higher than that of the northerners. The most striking example - 54-year-old Robert Edward Lee, hero of the war with Mexico, a graduate of the famous academy at West Point. An aristocrat to the core, he had no visible flaws, except for excessive restraint.
Lee was an outspoken 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 case of war, Lee replied, "I will never raise arms against the Union, but I will probably have to take up a musket to protect Virginia. In this case, I will try not to be cowardly."
Everything changed after the choice made by Virginia. “I have to march 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 successes in the war were given to him at a colossal price. The inconsistency 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 didn't matter to them that the industrial potential of the Union was many times greater than that of the Confederation: in 1860, the northern states produced 97 percent of firearms, 94 percent of textiles, 93 percent of raw iron, and more than 90 percent of footwear and clothing. Southerners did not care about the fact that the actual superiority of the North in manpower was 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 professional armies. And in this confrontation, the Confederation, with its intellectual and economic resources, had no chance of winning. Southerners could not endlessly help out the tactical resourcefulness of their generals. Even people like Thomas Jackson. A reserved, devoid of a sense of humor, a zealous Presbyterian who likened the Yankees to the devil, this man in an old greatcoat and a cadet's cap with a broken visor is a legend for all time.
In close ranks
The legend began to take shape in April 1861 in a battle on the hillside near the Bull Run. South Carolina General Barnard B., who was trying to collect the remnants of his broken brigade, pointed them to Jackson's fresh detachment and shouted something like: "Look at Jackson - he stands 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!" Hence the nickname Stonewall
Jackson, a former Virginia Military Institute professor and brigade commander, had a strategy to "puzzle, confuse and amaze 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 unit the role of his strategic vanguard. Intolerant of human weakness, the Stone Wall led its infantry at a hurricane pace. "He blamed all the exhausted soldiers who fell to the sidelines of exhaustion and lack of patriotism," said one of his officers. Jackson's victories in the Shenandoah Valley enveloped him and his "infantry cavalry" with an aura of invincibility.
The mortality rate in this war, in the fields near Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Vicksburg, was appallingly high. And this is largely due to the discrepancy between the traditional tactics of warfare and the latest weapons. The tactical legacy of the 18th century and the Napoleonic wars emphasized the actions of soldiers in close formation, synchronously maneuvering. The advancing troops walked in step, fired on command, in volleys, and then at a quick pace passed into a bayonet attack. However, the infantry of both armies used mainly rifled rather than smooth-bore rifles. The accuracy and firing range and, accordingly, the number of victims have dramatically increased. The defense has also improved qualitatively. Officers brought up within the old tactical dogma found it difficult to comprehend 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 implied the lack of formal discipline of congressmen and governors: Davis, unlike Lincoln, could not demand party loyalty or support for his actions. The bipartisan system in the North kept the political life of the country within certain limits, in good shape. The Republicans initiated the mobilization of the military industry, raising taxes, creating a new financial system. Democrats opposed most of these measures, forcing Republicans to rally in support of a military solution to the conflict. By the way, in the North, a large part of the population did not agree with such a goal of 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 war as the abolition of slavery.
Someone pointed out that the "blueprint for America today" was drawn by the Lincoln administration and Congress, which passed laws to finance war, free slaves, and invest state lands in future development.
It was in 1861-1865 that the process began, which historians Charles and Mary Beard called the "second American revolution." As part of this process, "the capitalists, workers and farmers of the North and West removed from power the agricultural aristocracy of the South, radically changing the system of classes, accumulation and distribution of wealth." This new America of big business, heavy industry, and capital-intensive agriculture overtook Britain to become the leading industrial power by 1880.
“Our material resources are plentiful and truly inexhaustible,” Lincoln said in his annual message to Congress on December 6, 1864. “We also have more people now than there were before the war. We are only gaining strength and will be able, if the need arises, to continue the fight indefinitely. ".
These words were not bragging. More ships left the stocks of the northern shipyards during the war than the United States produced in peacetime. The gross product of the Union states in 1864 was 13 percent higher than the entire country before the war. Copper production has doubled and silver production has quadrupled. Etc. However, one should not think that the North "crushed" the South exclusively by its material power. By 1863, Lincoln's extraordinary ability had transformed him into a figure that eclipsed Davis's leadership skills. 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, not the South, that was transformed in those years into a special civilization, it was his spirit that became a common American
It was the North, not the South, that was transformed in those years into a special civilization, it was its spirit that became common American. The old federal republic, where the government did not interfere in the life of the man in the street, reminding of itself only by postmen, gave way to a truly centralized model of the state. This state imposed direct taxes on the population and established a tax service to collect them, introduced the national currency, expanded the jurisdiction of federal courts, conscripted people into the army, and also created the first state social security agency - the Bureau for the Liberation of Slaves.
The northerners, having lost almost 360 thousand people killed and died from wounds in the war, and forgiving the defeated, stepped towards a revolutionary future.
Click on photos to enlarge:
(1918-1922). Almost immediately after the October Revolution of 1917, armed actions by its political opponents began against the new government. At the end of October and in November 1917, Red Guards loyal to the Soviet government suppressed anti-Bolshevik demonstrations in Petrograd, Moscow and other places. The demonstrations were local in nature, were scattered and quickly suppressed, but they were the first centers of civil war that soon engulfed the entire country.
The ground for dissatisfaction of a large part of the population was also fueled by the government signed by V.I. Lenin's predatory Brest-Litovsk peace with Germany, depriving the country of vast territories and involving the payment of a huge indemnity to Germany. This treaty hurt the sentiments of the people who were traditionally brought up in the spirit of Russian patriotism: first of all, the officers who came from the nobility and the different ranks, and the intelligentsia associated with the old state system. Millions of Russian people reacted negatively to the dissolution of the new Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks in January 1918, considering it a departure from the promised democratic changes. On the basis of this discontent, the anti-Bolshevik "white movement" developed, which set itself the task of overthrowing the Bolsheviks. Although the white movement was ideologically and organizationally fragmented, did not have a single leader and a single strategy, its core consisted of military generals and officers, patriots of Russia, participants in the First World War. They relied on dictatorship in each separate territory where the armies of the white movement were based. In the spring of 1918, it began to concentrate in the Don region.
1. The Volunteer Army is fighting to save Russia by:
a) creating a strong disciplined and patriotic army;
b) a merciless struggle against the Bolsheviks;
c) the establishment of unity and legal order in the country.
2. Striving for joint work with all Russian people who think of the state, the Volunteer Army cannot assume a party tinge.
3. Questions about the forms of the state system are the next stages, they will become a reflection of the will of the Russian people after liberation from slavery and spontaneous insanity.
4. No relations with the Germans or the Bolsheviks. The only acceptable provisions are the withdrawal of the former from the borders of Russia and the disarmament and surrender of the latter.
5. It is desirable to involve the armed forces of the Slavs on the basis of historical aspirations, but not violating the unity and integrity of the Russian state and on the basis indicated in 1914 by the Russian Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
In connection with my order of this year No. 175, I order the Special Meeting to adopt the following provisions as the basis for its activities:
1. United, Great, Indivisible Russia. Defense of faith. Establishing order. Restoration of the productive forces of the country and the national economy. Raising labor productivity.
2. Fight against Bolshevism to the end.
3. Military dictatorship ... To sweep aside any pressure of political parties, to punish any opposition from the authorities - both from the right and from the left.
The question of the form of government is a matter for the future. The Russian people will create the Supreme Power without pressure and imposition.
Unity with the people. The fastest connection with the Cossacks through the creation of the South-Russian power, not at all wasting the rights of the state power.
4. Domestic policy - only national. Russian.
Despite the occasional hesitation on the Russian question, the allies have to go with them. For another combination is morally unacceptable and not really feasible.
Slavic unity. For help - not an inch of Russian soil.
5. All forces, means - for the army, struggle and victory. All-round support for families of soldiers. The supply agencies should finally embark on the path of independent activity, using the country's still rich resources, and, not counting solely on outside help, to strengthen their own production.
Extract uniforms and supplies from the wealthy population.
Give the army a sufficient amount of banknotes, mainly in front of everyone.
At the same time, punish mercilessly free requisitions and theft of "war booty".
6. Domestic policy.
Show caring for the entire population without distinction.
To undertake the development of an agrarian and labor law in the spirit of my declaration, as well as a law on Zemstvo.
To promote public organizations aimed at developing the national economy and improving economic conditions (cooperatives, trade unions, etc.).
To suppress the anti-state activities of some of them, without stopping before extreme measures.
Press - accompanying help, dissenting - endure, destructive - destroy. No class privileges, no preferential support - administrative, financial, or moral.
With harsh measures for rebellion, leadership of anarchist movements, speculation, robbery, bribery, desertion and other mortal sins, not only frighten, but carry them out with the direct intervention of the Department of Justice, the Chief Military Prosecutor, the Department of Internal Affairs and Control. The death penalty is the most appropriate punishment.
To speed up and simplify the procedure for the rehabilitation of those who are not quite successful in Bolshevism, Petliurism, etc. If there was only a mistake, and indulgence was good for business.
Appointment to the service is solely on the basis of business, sweeping aside fanatics both on the right and on the left.
The local service element for evading the policy of the central government, for violence, arbitrariness, settling scores with the population, as well as for inaction, not only repudiate, but also punish.
Involve the local population in self-defense.
7. To rehabilitate the front and military rear - by the work of specially appointed generals with great powers, the composition of the field court and the use of extreme repression.
Strongly clean up counterintelligence and criminal investigation, infusing them with a judicial (refugee) element.
8. Rise of the ruble, transport and production of mainly state defense. The tax press is mainly for the wealthy, as well as for those who are not conscripted.
Commodity exchange exclusively for military equipment and items necessary for the country.
Temporary militarization of water transport in order to use it for war, without destroying, however, the commodity-industrial apparatus.
To alleviate the position of the service element and families of officials who are at the front by private transfer to subsistence allowance (through the efforts of the Food Administration and department, military supply). The content should not be below the subsistence level.
9. Propaganda to serve exclusively its direct purpose - to popularize ideas carried out by the authorities, to expose the essence of Bolshevism, to raise the people's consciousness and to fight against anarchy
The Russian army is going to liberate the Native land from the red part.
I call on the Russian people to help me. I have signed laws on the volost zemstvo, and zemstvo institutions are being restored in the regions occupied by the army.
State and private agricultural land by the order of the volost zemstvos themselves will be transferred to the owners who process it.
I order the protection of the Motherland and the peaceful labor of the Russian people and I promise forgiveness to those who have gone astray who will return to us.
The people - land and freedom in the organization of the state!
To the Earth - by the will of the people put the Master!
God bless us!
General Wrangel.
__________________
Listen, Russian people, what we are fighting for:
For the insulted faith and the insulted shrines.
For the liberation of the Russian people from the yoke of the communists, vagabonds and convicts who to the end ruined Holy Russia.
For ending internecine warfare.
For the peasant, acquiring the land he cultivates, to engage in peaceful labor.
For true freedom and right to reign in Russia.
For the Russian people to choose their own OWNER.
Help me, Russian people, to save the Motherland.
ORDER of the Ruler of the South of Russia and the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Sevastopol on October 29, 1920
Russian people. Left alone in the fight against the rapists, the Russian army is fighting an unequal battle, defending the last piece of Russian land, where right and truth exist.
Conscious of my responsibility, I am obliged to anticipate all accidents in advance.
By my order, the evacuation and boarding of ships in the ports of Crimea have already begun for everyone who shared its path of the cross with the army, the families of military personnel, civilian officials, with their families, and individuals who could be in danger in the event of an enemy arrival.
The army will cover the landing, bearing in mind that the vessels necessary for its evacuation are also in full readiness in ports, according to the established schedule. To fulfill the duty to the army and the population, everything has been done that is within the limits of human forces.
Our further paths are full of uncertainty.
We have no other land besides Crimea. There is no state treasury either. Frankly, as always, I warn everyone about what awaits them.
May the Lord bestow upon all the strength and reason to overcome and survive the Russian hard times.
Lenin V.I. ... Report at the VII All-Russian Congress of Soviets on December 5-9, 1919... Full collection cit., t 39
Sokolov K.N. General Denikin's reign: from memoirs... Sofia, 1921
Boldyrev V.G. Kolchak's directory. Interventions... Novonikolaevsk, 1925
Pilsudski Yu. 1920
... M., 1926
Spirin L.M. Classes and parties in the Civil War... M., 1968
Ioffe G.Z. The collapse of the Russian monarchist counter-revolution... M., 1977
Ioffe G.Z. Kolchak and its collapse... M., 1986
Great October and the defense of his conquests. Defense of the Socialist Fatherland... M., 1987
Denikin A.I. Essays on Russian Troubles... M., 1991
Lekhovich D. White against red. The fate of General Anton Denikin... M., 1992
Civil war in Russia. Crossroads of opinions... M., 1994
Anti-Bolshevik Russia: from the White Guard émigré archives... M., 1995
Trukan G.A. Anti-Bolshevik government of Russia... M., 2000
To find " CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA" on
There is no more controversial moment in the history of the United States than the Civil War. Two halves of the country with the help of weapons tried to resolve their fundamental differences in political, economic and social issues. The war broke out on April 12, 1861, when the Southerners shelled Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
At first, the southerners inflicted a number of painful defeats on the northerners, but with the protracted hostilities, the northerners were able to realize their economic and human potential. After the battle at Appomatox in April 1865, the southerners began to massively surrender, but some units fought until May-June. US President Abraham Lincoln did not live to see the complete surrender of the enemy.
For 5 years of fierce hostilities, 625 thousand people died. The Americans lost a little more in World War II. The Civil War is a cornerstone of American culture. A number of stereotypes have developed about her, her reasons and heroes, which historians are trying to debunk.
The southern states seceded from the state due to violation of their rights. The Confederation declared its right to secede, but no state left the Union. The controversy was that the southern states opposed the decision of the northern neighbors not to support slavery. On December 24, 1860, a meeting was held in South Carolina to discuss possible secession from the Federal Union. The delegates adopted a declaration setting out the reasons for this step. Including noted the growing hostility from non-slavery states to the institution of slavery. The delegates protested to their northern neighbors who did not fulfill constitutional obligations by hiding fugitive slaves. So the reasons for the conflict lie not in the rights of the states, but in principled disagreements over the issue of slavery.
South Carolina was unhappy with New York's refusal to return fugitives. In New England, in general, blacks were given the right to vote, and societies appeared there to combat such inequality. In fact, South Carolina spoke out against the rights of citizens and free speech in those states that opposed slavery. Declarations adopted in other southern states were similar.
The southern states left the state due to tax policy. And today, supporters of the Confederation argue that tax policy was the cause of the Civil War. Allegedly, high duties on goods from the southern states helped northerners to raise their industry. But such statements are fictitious. Due to high duties, the Nullification Crisis of 1831-1833 developed. Then South Carolina demanded that some federal laws be removed, threatening to withdraw from the Union in case of refusal. But then other states did not support these demands, and they were withdrawn. Tax policy did not cause secession at all, in the declarations of other states this is not mentioned. The duties of the 1857 model, applied throughout America, were invented by the southerners. And these taxes were the lowest since 1816.
Most of the Southerners did not have slaves, and they did not intend to defend this institution. Indeed, in the south, slaves were owned by a minority. In Mississippi, less than half of the farmers owned human property. And in Virginia and Tennessee, the ratio was even lower. In those areas where slavery was underdeveloped, the majority did not support separation from the United States. West Virginia chose to remain part of the Union. Confederate forces then had to occupy eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama in order to keep these states from going over to the northerners. Southerners, even those who did not have slaves, were convinced by ideological factors. Social optimism is important to Americans. They look to the rich and hope to someday achieve the same status. Financially constrained farmers hoped to win their fortunes, status and slaves through war.
Another factor was the idea that the superiority of white people over blacks was justified and just. Even in the north, many thought so, and in the south, almost everyone. Southerners urged their neighbors to stand up for the institution of slavery, drawing the horrors of a possible racial war. It seemed that the Americans would be destroyed or expelled. Thus, the conflict lay in the postulate of the superiority of one race over another.
Abraham Lincoln went to war to eradicate slavery. The result of the Civil War was the abolition of slavery. Many people think that this was the original goal of Lincoln. In fact, the North began to fight in order to preserve the unity of the country. On August 22, 1862, the president wrote a famous letter to the New York Tribune. There he directly stated that if he could save the Union without freeing the slaves, he would do it. Lincoln was going to preserve the state, even if it was necessary to free all or part of the slaves. Any actions in relation to slavery, the president performed in the name of saving the Union. But Lincoln's personal statements against slavery are much more famous. He believed that everyone has the right to freedom. The official position and the personal point of view were agreed upon in the preliminary "Emancipation Proclamation".
Southerners did not cling to slavery. By 1860, southerners accounted for 75 percent of America's entire export product. The value of slaves was greater than all manufacturing plants, manufactories, and railways in the United States. No one wanted to give up such wealth without a struggle. And the Confederation planned to expand its possessions towards Cuba and Mexico. Only war could stop these plans. By 1860 in the south of the country, slavery had become a solid system with good income. The elite grew rich rapidly. The further, the less likely it was the emancipation of slaves in the South and North. The firm positions of the slave owners could only be ended by military means.
The war is called Civil. Often in the literature there is also the term Civil War of the North and South. But this kind of hostilities implies a struggle for power in the state between social groups. But the South did not seek to overthrow the Lincoln government. It is correct to call those events the War between the States, the War of Independence of the South. So the term Civil War is not correct; the South was more economically backward. For some reason, the undeveloped and backward part lasted for four whole years. Looking at the facts about the south
America, an interesting picture emerges. A third of all America's railways were in this region. And although the transport network of the North was more developed, among the southerners it still overtook other countries. By the 1860s, per capita income in the South was 10% higher than all states west of New York and Pennsylvania.
At the beginning of the war, all the best federal officers went over to the southerners. This myth is generated by separate striking stories. The most revealing one is connected with the biography of General Robert Lee. He originally commanded the Texas District and opposed the secession of the southern states. After secession of his state, Lee left the post and returned to his family in the District of Columbia. On March 28, 1861, Lincoln appointed him commander of a cavalry regiment. On April 18, Robert Lee was offered the post of commander in chief. But he refused, and a few days later agreed to lead the army of the southerners in Virginia.
Grant has always been considered a hero. On April 16, 1861, just four days after the attack on Fort Sumter, Ulysses Grant volunteered for the army under the command of General Henry Halleck. These two generals had different command styles. Halleck frequently complained of Grant's rebelliousness. Although Grant won important battles in February 1862, Halleck took advantage of the lack of communication and complained about Grant to General McClellan in Washington. He replied that for the future success of the case over people like Grant, a trial is required. The higher authorities allowed the arrest of the rebellious general. Luckily for everyone, Halleck had cooled down by the time he received this permission. He only removed Grant from command and kept him in reserve. This continued until Halleck himself went to Washington for a promotion. Grant's growth began after Lincoln refused to fire the general, explaining that "he is fighting."
In the Battle of Glory, African Americans entered the battle for the first time. The first African American military unit created in the North was the 54th Volunteer Volunteer Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He appeared in 1863 and in the same year he took part in the storming of Fort Wagner. This battle was called "Battle of Glory", in which the regiment lost half of its personnel. A famous picture of those events was created. But even before the Emancipation Proclamation in October 1862, the First Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment fought Confederate cavalry and drove them back near Island Barrow in Missouri. This unit was created by the local authorities of the Union in August 1862, while the US regular army refused to accept blacks into its ranks. In late October, about 240 African Americans were sent to Bates, Missouri to defeat the Confederate guerrillas. Outnumbered, the northerners took over a local farm and named it Fort Africa. After two days of fighting, reinforcements arrived and the southerners retreated. The skirmish was minor on the scale of the war, but it became famous. It was she who helped the African American regular units to take place, one of which was the 54th Volunteer Volunteer Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.
The first land battle is the Battle of the Bull Run. Another name for this battle is the Battle of Manassas. And the Civil War began on April 12, 1861 with the shelling of Fort Sumter. It is believed that the first major battle was the Battle of Manassas. Southerners nicknamed him "The Great Drap". On July 21, the army of the North clashed with comparable forces of the southerners, but was put to shameful flight. But even earlier, in June 1861, Union forces had caught the Confederates off guard in Philippi, Virginia. The northern press called the enemy's unworthy retreat "The Philippi Races." That little skirmish had no casualties, but had some interesting consequences. The US Army victory helped bolster the secession movement in West Virginia. George McClellan was given the coveted post of general in Washington. And Federation soldier James Edward Hunger lost his leg in that battle, which is why he invented the world's first realistic and flexible prosthesis.
The war ended at Appomattox. On April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered with the remnants of his Northern Virginia army to General Grant near Appomattox. But fighting continued elsewhere. General Joseph Johnston surrendered with the Tennessee army, the second largest in the Confederacy, to General Sherman. On May 4, General Richard Taylor laid down his arms with 12,000 soldiers. And on May 12-13, a battle took place at the Palmito ranch, won by the southerners. This battle was the last in that war. General Kirby Smith wanted to continue the war, but his opponent, General Simon Buckner, surrendered on May 26. The rest of the Confederate army surrendered until the end of June. The last to lay down his arms was Waitey's Stand, in Indian territory. And the war at sea generally lasted until November, when the raiders, the former Confederates, surrendered.
The civil war was fought in the United States. Private Confederate ships (legalized pirates) and merchant raiders on the high seas made the life of American carriers miserable. Pirates blocked routes to the Union by sailing around Bermuda, stationed in the Bahamas and Cuba. Merchant ships, sailing ships and steamers were seized, and ransom was required for their release and their crew. The union tried to resist this. For example, USS Wachusett attacked CSS Florida in Baia Harbor, Brazil. This led to an international scandal. The USS Wyoming pursued CSS Alabama throughout the Far East without ever catching it. Even Japanese troops took part in the dismantling of the Americans. The CSS Shenandoah began patrolling the sea routes between the Cape of Good Hope and Australia in October 1864, terrorizing American whalers. The ship continued to attack even after the surrender of the Confederate ground forces. During this time, the southerners captured 21 ships, including 11 in just seven hours in the Pacific Ocean in polar waters. Raider surrendered with his crew only on November 6, 1865 in Liverpool, England.
Soldiers constantly participated in battles. In the 19th century, due to dirt roads and the inability to move in any weather, the army had to plan its actions according to the seasons. Almost all the events of the Civil War, right up to the last desperate months in late 1864 and early 1865, took place during seasonal campaigns. The armies fought in late spring, summer and autumn-winter. This is why the average soldier in that war fought virtually one day a month. The rest of the time he was going somewhere, digging or simply being in a camp, where his life was in danger. The primitive field conditions and rudimentary level of medicine ensured that every soldier had a 25% chance of not surviving the war, even without participating in combat. Less than a third of the 360,000 allied deaths were directly related to the fighting. The rest died from diseases, mainly from dysentery.
The northerners had no problems with funding. A common myth is that the poor South was opposed by the rich North. Meanwhile, there were also serious financial problems - the war turned out to be a very costly business. The union was not ready to allocate funds for the army. The election of Lincoln as president in 1860 shocked Wall Street. Worse, as early as the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson did away with the centralized banking system, calling it undermining the rights of the state and dangerous to people's freedom. The US government did not have a quick and easy way to find funds to finance the war economy. The situation was aggravated by the fact that there were more than 10 thousand different types of paper money in circulation. With the help of the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase, Lincoln managed to restore at least some order in affairs. This allowed the war to be waged. However, some parts, especially African Americans, sometimes did not receive their salaries for months. One result of this was the first federal income tax in the United States, passed in 1862. The Confederation introduced its own similar tax in 1863.
The war was fought with primitive firearms. Modern war is inconceivable without missiles and electricity. Banned chemical and biological weapons are sometimes used. It's hard to believe, but all of these technologies were used during the Civil War. Floating containers with explosives designed to sink ships have been used since the American Revolution. But the Confederates took weapons to a new level by adding electric detonators. The world's first electric minefield appears on the Mississippi. The wires went to the shore, from where a signal for an explosion could be sent. The same weapon was used in the Eastern theater of war, where the USS Commodore Jones was sunk in May 1864. Powder-loaded rockets have been used since the Mexican-American Civil War in 1840. In the Civil War, such weapons were used by both sides. The Union even had a 160-man Rocket Battalion. Southerners tried to wage bacteriological warfare by infecting clothing with yellow fever (unsuccessfully) and smallpox (partially successful). During the retreat, water sources and animal carcasses were also poisoned.
The Confederates managed to create a two-stage rocket by launching it from Richmond to Washington. There is a legend that the winged weapon was able to fly 190 kilometers. This myth was decided to check the "Destroyers". They created a rocket in two days using only the materials that existed during the Civil War. True, the rocket was single-stage. She was able to fly only 450 meters.
There were no slave owners among the northerners. John Sickskiller was a Cherokee serving in the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment. He fought and died in that famous Battle of the Island Barrow. Ironically, he himself was a slave owner, leading his people into battle with him. For the Cherokee, African American slaves were common. From the border areas of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, people went to the American military. The example of Kentucky is especially significant. There, a quarter of the families who owned slaves at the beginning of the war sent 90 combat units to fight for the Union. General Grant's wife had slaves in her service. They received freedom only as a result of the XIII Amendment in 1865. Grant honestly said that he did not release the slaves to freedom earlier, as they helped well with the housework. And the famous "Declaration of Emancipation" declared free only slaves of states in a state of rebellion. Lincoln did not seek to free all slaves, this could cause discontent among his own supporters. He wanted to undermine the power of the southerners by promising freedom to their slaves.
Presidents Lincoln and Davis fought the cabinet war. It seems that the heads of the sides were playing a gigantic chess game, directing the war from their offices. In fact, both men were also in the fields during the battles. So, in 1862, Jefferson Davis watched the bloody battle of Seven Pines, changing the commander in its course. It was Robert Lee. Abraham Lincoln visited Fort Stevens outside Washington in 1864, even coming under enemy fire. Then the famous phrase of General Earley of the South was born: "We did not take Washington, but we scared the hell out of Abe Lincoln." The President also visited General Grant's headquarters on March 24, 1865, at a key moment in the siege of Richmond. Lincoln was on the ship, close enough to the front line to hear gunfire as the city was taken. Immediately after the battle, the president entered the city and symbolically sat down in the chair of the escaped Jefferson Davis.