The American Civil War

What Do We Call It?

The War for Constitutional LibertyThe War for Southern IndependenceThe Second American RevolutionThe War for States' Rights Mr. Lincoln's WarThe Southern RebellionThe War for Southern RightsThe War of the Southern PlantersThe War of the RebellionThe Second War for IndependenceThe War to Suppress Yankee ArroganceThe War of SecessionThe Great RebellionThe War Against Northern AggressionThe Late Unpleasantness

The War for NationalityThe War for Southern Nationality The War Against SlaveryThe War Between the StatesThe War of the SixtiesThe Yankee InvasionThe War for SeparationThe War for AbolitionThe War for the UnionThe Confederate WarThe Brothers' War The War for Southern FreedomThe War of the North and SouthThe Lost Cause

http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarnames.htm

A civil war is a military conflict what arises from a desire for usually radical change in society as a result of either cultural, social, religious, political or economic disputes due to diametrically opposed and uncompromising ideas about the leadership, administration and management of the population and territory it occupies, and which is resolved through use of weapons.

What is a civil war?

When brother fought brother…

A civil war is a military conflict what arises from a desire for usually radical change in society as a result of either cultural, social, religious, political or economic disputes due to diametrically opposed and uncompromising ideas about the leadership, administration and management of the population and territory it occupies, and which is resolved through use of weapons.

What is a Civil War?

The opponents are usually representatives of the same culture, society or nationality, and contest the right for the control of political power, and with it the right to formulate policy for future administration of the population and resources of the territory where the dispute takes place.

Causes of the Civil War

Culture differences

Lingering issues over constitution:

States rights

Legality of secession

Slavery

Economic differences

Sectionalism

Placing the interests of one’s own region ahead of the interests of the nation as a whole.

SECTIONALISM

Causes of the Civil War

Slavery

Different culturesAgricultural - Industrial

Lingering Issues Over ConstitutionCompromises no longer working

Missouri applied to become a state in the United States, WITH SLAVERY BEING LEGAL.

Why is that a problem?

Fought for months in Congress

Henry Clay tried to make both regions happy by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

Congress agreed and passed the Missouri Compromise in 1820

Missouri Comp also banned slaverynorth of the 36°30’ line.

Maine enters union with MO.

Economic changes created divisions in the US – and particularly the North and South

North depended on manufacturing and trade.

South depended on agriculture and slavery.

Southern Population

Sequence of EventsNovember 6, 1860

December 20, 1860

January 9, 1861

January 10, 1861

January 11, 1861

January 19, 1861

January 26, 1861

February 23, 1861

March 4, 1861

April 13, 1861

April 17, 1861

May 6, 1861

May 20, 1861

June 8, 1861

Lincoln elected President

South Carolina secedes

Mississippi secedes

Florida secedes

Alabama secedes

Georgia secedes

Louisiana secedes

Texas secedes

Lincoln inaugurated

Fort Sumter falls

Virginia secedes

Arkansas secedes

North Carolina secedes

Tennessee secedes

Home of the American Civil War http://www.civilwarhome.com/timeline.htm

Choosing Sides

Objectives

ConfederacyUnion

Preserve the Union Protect lifestyle

Don’t lose… by force if necessary

How could the protagonists obtain their objectives?Strategy

Strategy

A plan to employ all available resources to achieve a goal or objective.

[working definition]

Definitions

Strategy

“the employment of the instruments (elements) of power (political/diplomatic, economic, military, and informational) to achieve the political objectives of the state in cooperation or in competition with other actors pursuing their own objectives. “

US Army War College

Quoted by H. Richard Yarger “Toward a Theory of Strategy”

Definitions

Definitions

Strategy

“the employment of the instruments (elements) of power (political/diplomatic, economic, military, and informational) to achieve the political objectives of the state in cooperation or in competition with other actors pursuing their own objectives. “

US Army War College

Quoted by H. Richard Yarger “Toward a Theory of Strategy”

Definitions

Strategy

“the employment of the instruments (elements) of power (political/diplomatic, economic, military, and informational) to achieve the political objectives of the state in cooperation or in competition with other actors pursuing their own objectives. “

US Army War College

Quoted by H. Richard Yarger “Toward a Theory of Strategy”

Elements of National Power

Diplomacy

Communication

Military

Economic

Resolve

Elements of National PowerDiplomacy

Union• Established relationships

• Experienced diplomatic corps

• Abolitionist stand favored by European nations

Confederacy• Sympathy of revolutionary countries (France)

• Support of trading partners (France and Britain)

Elements of National PowerCommunications

Union• Extensive rail system

• Telegraph

Confederacy

• Extensive river system

• Telegraph

Elements of National PowerMilitary

Union• Established organization ( + / - )

• Strong central control

• Larger manpower pool ( 22 million vs. 6 million [free] )

• Stronger navy

Confederacy• Best generals

• Interior lines

• Easier task

Elements of National PowerEconomics

Union• Established industrial base

• Manpower pool

• Financial strength

• Merchant shipping

Confederacy• Trading Relationships with Europe

Elements of National PowerResolve

Union• Strong abolitionist feelings, but …

Confederacy• Very strong beliefs in their cause

• Fighting on their own ground to protect way of life

not universal

• Strong resolve to preserve Union

Elements of National Power

Diplomacy

Communications

Military

Economics

Resolve

Union Confederacy

X

x

x

X

X

(Pre-war assessment)

Elements of National PowerA Contemporary Assessment

The North can make a steam-engine, locomotive or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or a pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical and determined people on earth--right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared. . . . At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, and shut out from the markets of Europe by blockade as you will be, your cause will begin to wane.

William Tecumseh ShermanTo a Southern acquaintance prior to the war

Elements of National Power

Grand Strategies

ConfederacyUnion

• Defend territory

• Subdue the rebellion with minimum animosity

• Rebuild the Union to preclude future dissolution

• Gain international legitimacy

• Wear down the Union

• Isolate the South

Military StrategiesUnion

The Anaconda Plan

Proposed by General Winfield Scott

• Blockade the Confederate ports & coast

• Split the Confederacy along the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers

• Capture the Confederate capital

Military StrategiesUnion

The Anaconda Plan

Wikipedia (public domain)

Union Strategy

Public Broadcasting System

Military StrategiesConfederacy

?

Military StrategiesConfederacy

Use advantage of interior linesto defend home territory

Interior Lines

Military StrategiesConfederacy

Use advantage of interior linesto defend home territory

Employ commerce raiders to disrupt Union shipping

Defeat the Union army in a decisive battle

And so, the war began …

The last war of the 18th century …

… or the first war of the 20th century?

Petersburg VA 1865