The Civil War: a conflict of great magnitude, a major turning point in the nation’s history, and a catastrophic drain on America’s finances. Millions of men – many of them children – fought in the conflict, making it one of the largest wars in history.
A basic introduction to the causes of the Civil War and a timeline of the war’s key events. Includes a summary of the war’s impact on U.S. history, modern history, and the American economy.
Timeline of the Civil War
Cause of the Civil War
The 1861 secession of eleven southern states from the United States of America precipitated the onset of the American Civil War. The secession, which resulted from a conflict among southern states over the issue of slavery, pitted the new nation of the United States of America against the Confederacy. During the war, the Union Army defeated the Confederate States Army and forced its collapse. By 1865, the Confederates were left with few resources and their domestic economy collapsed. Several bloody battles ensued during the war and the Confederate Army killed more people than the Union Army did.
From 1861 to 1865, the population of the United States of America lived in fear of the terrible results that would come from the looming war. The war proved to be a very costly undertaking. After the Civil War, the war’s cost was estimated to have been around $2.6 billion, making it the most expensive conflict in history. Only the World War I campaigns (which lasted from 1914 to 1918) cost more.
The war came at a time when America was far from ready for war. The U.S. Army, Navy, and industry were virtually nonexistent, and it took the Union Army nearly three years to organize itself and equip a force large enough to engage the Confederate States Army.
The war began in April 1861, when the Confederate States Army, under the leadership of the Confederate States of America, invaded the American Union States. The Confederate States Army was led by Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. The invasion was a response to President Abraham Lincoln’s election as president of the United States of America.
The war began with the Confederate States Army occupying federal installations throughout the Confederacy and bombarding the federal military installations with cannons. The union forces began to react by mobilizing various civilian militias to counter the Confederate invasion. In order to avoid the harassment of their cannon fire and to begin to construct their own facilities, the Confederate be359ba680
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