On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began.

This conflict led to the largest casualties in the history of the United States, but at the same time contributed to the consolidation of the country, created the preconditions for its transformation into a power with significant weight in the world arena.

Causes of the war

Since the 17th century, slavery has played an important role in the economy of British possessions in North America.

Black slaves brought from Africa were most often domestic servants in the north of the mainland, and in the south their labor was widely used on agricultural plantations. 

After the War of Independence, slavery was abolished in the northern states.

However, in the south, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the profitability of using slave labor increased sharply due to the transition of planters to growing cotton, which was in high demand in the world market.

“Since the land in the south of the United States was rapidly depleting, it was necessary to move to new ones located to the west.

At the same time, the southerners faced another stream of immigrants - free farmers not associated with slavery, ”said Yuri Rogulyov, director of the Franklin Roosevelt US Research Foundation at Moscow State University, in an interview with RT.

On the lands seized from the Indians and neighboring states, as well as in the colonies ransomed from the Europeans, new administrative units - "territories" were formed, which later, as a rule, were transformed into states.

According to the chief researcher of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of the Moscow State Linguistic University Alexander Petrov, in the 1820s the question arose of how to accept new states into the United States: as slave-owning or free.

First, the problem was solved with the help of the so-called Missouri Compromise - a special agreement passed by the US Congress: slavery was prohibited north of 36 ° 30 'N.

sh.

and west of the Mississippi.

"The compromise was in force until 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed, which gave the residents of these two states the right to determine for themselves whether they will be slave-owning or not, although these territories were located north of the previously agreed line," the expert said.

But gradually, conflicts began to arise between supporters and opponents of slavery.

In 1854, anti-slavery politicians formed the Republican Party, and six years later, Republican representative Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election, Yuri Rogulev said.

  • Harvesting sweet potatoes at the plantation

  • © Wikimedia Commons

But in the South, Lincoln was categorically rejected, riots began.

According to the chief researcher of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Vasiliev, on February 4, 1861, representatives of the leadership of the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana announced their secession from the United States and the creation of a new state called the Confederate States of America.

Texas soon joined the Confederation.

Former US Secretary of Defense Jefferson Davis was elected President of the CSA.

“An internal state conflict arose due to the fact that the North and the South had absolutely incompatible values.

By this time, the North was industrially developed, a consumer society was forming there, and hired labor was developing.

In the South, on the contrary, an agricultural society based on slavery flourished, "Pavel Sharikov, a researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RT.

Civil War

According to Vladimir Vasiliev, the Civil War was provoked by the southerners.

On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked and captured Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

This event was the first clash from which historians trace the beginning of the Civil War in the United States.

President Lincoln accused the Southerners of the mutiny and announced the recruitment of volunteers for the federal army.

The States, which had not yet decided on their position, were forced to accept one of the parties.

Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina soon joined the Confederation.

The support of the CSA was announced by the territories of Arizona and New Mexico, which did not yet have the status of states, as well as a number of Indian peoples.

And in the states of Missouri and Kentucky, two governments were formed at once.

As a result, two coalitions were created.

On the side of the federal government were the states with a total population of 22 million people, and on the side of the Confederate were the states and territories in which 9 million Americans lived.

During the war, the northerners were able to recruit 2.7 million people into their army, and the southerners - 1.1 million. At the same time, the main industrial facilities and the largest transport routes were located in the northern states.

However, according to Yuri Rogulev, the strengths of the South were the professionalism of the command and the good level of training of the army personnel.

“The southern army was mobile and professional.

At the beginning of the war, this allowed them to win a number of victories over the northerners and almost reach Washington, ”added Alexander Petrov.

  • Rally on April 20, 1861 in support of Lincoln's declaration of recruiting volunteers

  • © Wikimedia Commons

In July 1861, during the first major battle at Manassas (a city in Virginia), the northerners were defeated.

The federal army then suffered a series of defeats in an attempt to break through to the major urban centers of the Confederation.

In turn, the southerners were unable to take Washington.

In 1862, President Lincoln began to take action to morally suppress southerners.

He introduced the death penalty for treason to the United States, ordered the confiscation of property from the rebels, and the federal government passed the Homestead Act, according to which every citizen of the United States (except for Confederate military personnel) could receive ownership of land for a minimal payment.

In April-May 1863, the southerners, according to historians, inflicted a heavy defeat on the northerners at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but soon after that a turning point began in the war.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate forces were defeated and forced to retreat.

The federal army then forced Vicksburg to surrender and seized control of territory along the Mississippi.

The KSA lands were divided into two parts.

  • Abraham Lincoln

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Library Of Congress

In 1864, the northerners began to act even more decisively.

They defeated the southerners at Winchester, and then occupied Atlanta and Savannah, reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

In the same year, Lincoln was re-elected President of the United States.

At the beginning of the next year, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted in the United States, which completely outlawed slavery.

Shortly thereafter, the federal army captured the main stronghold of the Confederate forces - the territory of North and South Carolina.

And in early April, the main center of the southerners, Richmond, fell.

Confederate groups of troops began to surrender.

Finally, the land forces of the southerners surrendered on June 2, 1865.

However, Lincoln did not see this anymore - on April 15, he died an assassination attempt by one of the Confederate supporters.

According to the head of the Center for US Studies at Kursk State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences Tatyana Alentyeva, the victory of the North was predetermined by the superiority of its economic potential, and the American Civil War became a prologue to future total wars and reflected new phenomena in the development of technology and military art.

“The offensives were carried out not only on fortresses and capitals, but also on industrial centers and communications of the enemy.

The parties combined positional and mobile warfare.

They used hand grenades, rapid-fire rifled weapons, carbines and revolvers, canister shots, mines and torpedoes, armored ships and even submarines at sea, "Alentyeva said in an interview with RT.

  • Siege of Atlanta

  • © Wikimedia Commons

At the same time, according to Pavel Sharikov, the northerners were able to achieve victory at the cost of colossal losses.

According to historians, the North lost 360 thousand people killed and died from wounds and diseases, the South - 258 thousand people.

These were the largest military casualties in US history.

“The Civil War has become a tool for the transformation of the United States from an agrarian-industrial country into an industrial-agrarian one.

A period of rapid economic development began.

Washington has claims to a global role, ”said Vladimir Vasiliev.

As Yuri Rogulev noted, the most famous result of the Civil War was the abolition of the institution of slavery in the United States, but it was replaced by racial segregation, which lasted for about a hundred years.

“But most importantly, the Civil War affirmed the supremacy of the federal government.

She actually formed the American Federation in the form in which we see it now.

That is, all disputes about the rights of the states were terminated, ”concluded Rogulyov.