Civil War Essay Examples and Research Papers Page 4

Four years of gruesome battle over freedom and equality. The Civil War itself started in 1861 on April 12th. However, the issues of the Civil War started long before that. The consequences would last centuries.

During the Civil War, roughly seven hundred thousand lives were lost between the union and confederacy, and it is seen as the bloodiest fight in American history.

Both the North and South had numerous reasons as to how and why they justified war. First, both sides saw that they were acting defensively. The south said that they had the right to succeed from a tyrannical government, and that going to war was a constitutional right to protect their liberties. The north saw it as their job to crush and end the rebellion (the Confederacy). Also, the union always said how they were acting in response to the succession of the southern states. Leaders of the union said that war might be the only way to protect the things that the Confederacy and succession of states hoped to destroy. Both sides also began to build their reasons for war from ancient histories such as the Spartans, Peloponnesians, and Athens. As the war went on both sides began condemning the other side while building up their moral reasons as to why they are fighting the war. Also as the war went on both side’s morals seemed to grow, and they felt that they were fighting for something bigger. Guerrilla warfare became a war tactic for those in southern states who did not live in densely populated areas. They had to form because they wanted to protect their communities and towns from northerners who they deemed as invaders. The guerrilla fighters often fought separately from the Confederate army, and most of their gains were for personal reasons. Guerilla-style warfare was seen as an unprincipled war by the northerners, but the confederacy sanctioned it, and the guerillas were one of the reasons the war was so destructive.