On January 21, 1824, in the town of Clarksburg, US state of Virginia, a boy was born in the family of lawyer Jonathan Jackson, who was named Thomas. In the Civil War, he would become one of the most famous generals of the South, gain the nickname "Stonewall" and die with the mysterious words on his lips: "We must cross the river and rest there in the shade of the trees."

The American Civil War of 1861-1865 was not won by those about whom the legends had developed. The victory did not come to General Thomas Jackson, about whom Confederate commander-in-chief Robert Lee wrote that he "lives according to the New Testament, but fights according to the Old." In a deadly battle between two civilizations - the open world, industrial North and the isolated, plantation South - not heroes, but greasy artisans prevailed.

Both sides declared a struggle for freedom. But this freedom was different. Abraham Lincoln said in 1861, "We must decide immediately whether a minority in a free state has the right to destroy that state whenever it pleases." The ideology of the southerners was reduced, in fact, to a phrase once uttered by Robert Lee: "I love my country, but my home state I love Virginia more. "They, the southerners, fought each for their own street, house, garden," cherished bench at the gate" for the right to possess a pair of black slaves - almost family members.

They, the southerners, fought each for their own street, house, garden, "cherished bench at the gate", for the right to own 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 dominance of ideas, for the main road in the coming centuries. No other event in the history of the United States compares to its impact on the nation. "The war completely shook up the centuries-old way of life and so profoundly transformed the national character that this influence will be traced for another 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 Wars. But Winston Churchill called her " last war led by gentlemen."

In the first half of the 19th century, unprecedented growth was recorded in the United States in three directions: the influx of population due to British and German emigrants, the expansion of territory, and the rise of the economy. The planetary market was swamped with raw cotton from the American South; it was cotton, whose yields doubled every decade, that gave impetus to the industrial revolution in England and New England and tightened the shackles on African Americans more tightly than ever before. The conflict of interests between the North and the South over the issue of slavery hid the greatest danger to the viability of the country. Part of society did not understand how the institution of slavery could be reconciled with the founding ideals of a democratic republic. If all people are created by the Lord equal, then what is the justification for captivity for several million men and women?

By the middle of the century, the anti-slavery movement had entered 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, by no means considered themselves notorious sinners. They managed to convince the majority of white southerners who did not have slaves that the emancipation of slaves would entail the collapse of the economy, social chaos and interracial clashes. Slavery, from this point of view, is not at all the evil that Yankee fanatics make it out to be; on the contrary, it is an undoubted good, the basis of prosperity, peace and the superiority of the white race, a necessary tool so that blacks do not turn into barbarians, criminals, beggars.

“We like the old truths: good wine, books, friends, time-tested relationships between employer and worker,” said a Charleston customs official. “Let the northerners enjoy the work of mercenaries with all its scandalousness, herd instinct and the fight against housing rent.

“We like the old truths: good wine, books, friends, the time-honored relationship between employer and worker,” said a Charleston customs official.

Yankees and southerners certainly spoke the same language, but more and more often these nicknames were used with the intent to offend. The legal system also became a factor of contention: the northern states passed laws on personal freedom, ignoring the state law on fugitive slaves, lobbied by the southerners. And the Supreme Court, under the control of the latter, rejected the right of Congress to prohibit the expansion of slavery into new territories. And this decision was considered shameful by many northerners.

Under all circumstances, the North was clearly ahead of the South in key areas economic development. People born in slave states were three times more likely to move north than the other way around. Seven of every eight immigrants settled again in the North, where there was more work and where there was no competition from forced labor. In 1850, only 26 percent of railways countries. Southerners could not help feeling the humiliating vassalage of the Yankees. “All our wholesale and retail trade is in the hands of those who invest their income in the enterprises of the North,” complained one Alabama resident in 1847. “Financially, we are even more enslaved than our Negroes.”

The victory in the 1860 presidential election of Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln became "X hour" for the slave owners and caused secession, a domino effect, and secession from the Union. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina set the example, followed in January by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. The legal justification for these steps was the absence in the constitution of a direct ban on the exit of individual states from the United States.

On February 4, 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America opened, declaring the formation of a new state - the Confederate States of America. Texas joined the CSA in March, and Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined in April-May. Eleven states, which occupied 40 percent of the US territory, with a population of nine million people 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 slave-owning 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 Bay, which surrendered after 34 hours of shelling by the Confederates. In response, Lincoln declared the southern states rebellious, imposed a naval blockade of their coasts, and drafted volunteers into the army.

The Confederation had a brilliant military, the caliber of the commanders of its armies was clearly higher than that of the northerners. Most a prime 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 marrow of his bones, he had no visible flaws, except for excessive restraint.

Lee was an open 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 the event of war, Lee replied: "I will never take up arms against the Union, but I will probably have to take up a musket in the defense of Virginia. In this case, I will try not to be cowardly."

Everything changed after the choice made by Virginia. "I must stand 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 success in the war was given to him at a colossal price. The discrepancy 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 did not matter to them that the industrial potential of the Union was many times greater than that of the Confederacy: in 1860, 97 percent of firearms, 94 percent of textiles, 93 percent of raw iron, and more than 90 percent of shoes and clothing were produced in the northern states. The southerners did not care about the fact that the actual superiority of the North in manpower is 2.5 to 1. They were not even embarrassed by inflation, which reached 9 thousand percent, incomparable with 80 percent in the Union.

Civil War in the United States was primarily a political war, a war of the people, not of professional armies. And in this confrontation, the Confederation, with its intellectual and economic resources, had no chance of winning. The southerners could not endlessly help out the tactical resourcefulness of their generals. Even people like Thomas Jackson. An introverted, humorless, zealous Presbyterian who likened the Yankees to the devil, this man in an old greatcoat and a cadet's cap with a broken peak is a legend for all time.

In close order

The legend began to take shape in April 1861 in a battle on the slopes of a hill near the Bull Run River. South Carolina General Barnard Bee, who was trying to assemble the remnants of his broken brigade, pointed them to Jackson's fresh detachment and shouted something like: "Look at Jackson - he's standing 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!" This is where the nickname Stonewall comes from.

Jackson, a former Virginia Military Institute instructor and brigade commander, had a strategy of "puzzling, confusing, and astonishing 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 detachment the role of his strategic vanguard. Intolerant of human weaknesses, "Stonewall" led his infantry at a whirlwind pace. "He blamed all the exhausted soldiers, exhausted, falling on the side of the road, of a lack of patriotism," one of his officers noted. Jackson's victories in the Shenandoah Valley cast a halo of invincibility on himself and his foot cavalry.

Mortality in this war, in the fields near Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Vicksburg, was appallingly high. And largely because of the discrepancy between the traditional tactics of warfare and the latest weapons. Tactical legacy of the 18th century and Napoleonic Wars emphasized the actions of soldiers in close formation, maneuvering synchronously. The advancing troops marched in step, fired on command, with volleys, and then, at a quick pace, switched to a bayonet attack. However, the infantry of both armies used mainly not smooth-bore, but rifled guns. The accuracy and range of fire and, accordingly, the number of victims increased dramatically. The defense has also improved in quality. The officers, brought up within the framework of the old tactical dogmas, hardly understood 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 also meant the absence of formal discipline of congressmen and governors: Davis, unlike Lincoln, could not demand party loyalty or support for his actions. The two-party 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, and creating a new financial system. Democrats opposed most of these measures, causing Republicans to rally behind a military solution to the conflict. By the way, in the North, a considerable part of the population did not agree with such a goal of the 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 the war as the abolition of slavery

Someone accurately noted that the "rough blueprint of America today" was drawn up by the Lincoln administration and Congress, which passed laws to finance war, free slaves, and invest public lands in future development.

It was to 1861-1865 that the beginning of a process called by historians Charles and Mary Beard "the second American revolution" dates back. As part of this process, "the capitalists, workers and farmers of the North and West removed the agricultural aristocracy of the South from power, radically changing the system of classes, accumulation and distribution of wealth." This new america large business, heavy industry and capital-intensive agriculture overtook Britain, by 1880 became the leading industrial power.

“Our material resources are abundant and truly inexhaustible,” Lincoln declared in his annual message to Congress on December 6, 1864. “We also more people now than before the war. We are only gaining strength and will be able, if the need arises, to continue the struggle indefinitely."

These words were not bragging. During the war, more ships left the stocks of the northern shipyards than the United States produced in peacetime. The gross product of the union states in 1864 was 13 percent higher than that of the whole country before the war. Copper production has doubled, silver - four times. Etc. However, one should not think that the North "crushed" the South solely by its material power. By 1863, Lincoln's preeminence made him a figure to outshine leadership skills Davis. 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, and not the South, that was transformed in those years into a special civilization, it was its spirit that became all-American

It was the North, and not the South, that was transformed in those years into a special civilization, it was its spirit that became common to America. old federal Republic, where the government did not interfere in the life of the layman, reminding of itself only by postmen, gave way to a truly centralized model of the state. This state levied direct taxes on the population and established a tax service to collect them, introduced a national currency, expanded the jurisdiction of federal courts, drafted people into the army, and also created the first state social security agency - the Bureau for the Emancipation of Slaves.

The northerners, having lost in the war almost 360 thousand people killed and died of wounds and forgiving the defeated, stepped towards the revolutionary future.

Click on the photos to enlarge:

The collapse of the Union

Despite the fact that all the reforms were carried out equally in the South and in the North, however, the attitude towards the black half of the population in the North was more severe. Blacks 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 agrarian and provided the country with agricultural products, and the North, thanks to industries and manufactories, gave the state machines, this made it possible to interact and complement the economy and coexist peacefully. But there were contradictions. If the South wanted to trade freely with the world, the North advocated higher taxes on imported goods to protect industry. The slave states in the South could not allow their runaway 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 due to the seizure of new territories.

In 1854, all public and political organizations, united by the struggle against slavery, created the Republican Party. When Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of this party, came to power in 1860, the southern part of the states realized that now drastic measures would 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.

After Lincoln's inaugural address, in which he mentioned the end of slavery in the United States and his intention to peacefully seek change through political means, a battle took place at Fort Sumter. The capture of the port by the southerners on April 12, 1861 was the final proof of the civil confrontation.

On July 21, 1861, the Northerners attacked the Southerners in Virginia, but to no avail. They had to retreat. On October 21, 1861, General McClellan lost the Battle of Ball's Bluff. November 8, 1861 after the blockade of the sea coast of the Confederation, the steamer "Trent" was captured, on board 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 Southerners out of Kentucky. Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley (60,000 people participated in the Northerners, Southerners defended the territory with 17,000). Peninsula Campaign (Northern Virginia Campaign), 100,000 soldiers were already fighting here and machine guns were used for the first time. Maryland Campaign, Lee entered Maryland intending to cut the federal army's lines of communication and isolate Washington. On September 15, Confederate troops under Jackson's command occupied Harper's Ferry, capturing its 11,000-strong garrison and substantial supplies of equipment. On September 17, at Sharpsburg, Lee's army of 40,000 was attacked by McClellan's army of 70,000. During this "bloodiest day" of the war (known as the Battle of Antietam), both sides lost 4,808 killed and 18,578 wounded.

Joseph Hooker designed the attack on Richmond with a tactic of manoeuvres. May 1863 began with the Battle of Chancellorsville, during which the 130,000-strong Northern army was defeated by General Lee's 60,000-strong army. The northerners again had to retreat, and Lee, bypassing Washington from the north, entered Pennsylvania.

The Battle of Gettysburg in July was a rematch 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 Confederacy was divided into two parts.

The southerners were not yet broken. But there has already been a turning point in favor of the northerners. On May 4, 1864, 118,000 of Grant's soldiers entered the Wilderness forest, where they were met by troops of the southerners, who were half as many. Grant pressed on to occupy Spotsylvany and cut off the Army of Northern Virginia from Richmond. On May 8-19, the Battle of Spotsylvane 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 trench warfare. Grant undertook a siege that took almost a year.

After Lincoln's re-election to a second term, Sherman's army marched north from Savannah on February 1 to link up with Grant's main force. 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 unsuccessful Battle of Five Fox (April 1), he decided to abandon Pittersburg and evacuate Richmond on April 2. On April 9, 1865, the remnants of the Confederate Army surrendered to Grant at Appomatox. The surrender of the remaining parts 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. On April 14, 1865, the president was mortally wounded and, without regaining consciousness, died the next morning.

The 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 of 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 showed new possibilities 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 rebel states was abolished as early as 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 domestic market was significantly strengthened. Power in the country passed to the bourgeoisie of the northeastern states. Many problems remained unresolved, for example, giving the black population equal rights with the whites.

(1918–1922). Almost immediately after the October Revolution of 1917, armed actions of its political opponents began against the new government. Detachments of the Red Guard loyal to the Soviet government at the end of October and November 1917 suppressed anti-Bolshevik demonstrations in Petrograd, Moscow and other places. The speeches were local in nature, were scattered and quickly suppressed, but they were the first centers of the civil war, which soon engulfed the entire country.

The ground for discontent of a large part of the population was also fed by the government of V.I. Lenin's predatory Brest Peace with Germany, depriving the country of vast territories and assuming the payment of huge indemnities to Germany. This treaty hurt the moods of people who were traditionally brought up in the spirit of Russian patriotism: first of all, the officers who came out of the nobility and the raznochin environment, 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, an anti-Bolshevik "white movement" unfolded, 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 was made up of combat generals and officers, patriots of Russia, participants in the First World War. They relied on dictatorship in each individual 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 fights for the salvation of Russia by:

a) creating a strong disciplined and patriotic army;

b) a merciless struggle against the Bolsheviks;

c) establishing unity and legal order in the country.

2. Striving for joint work with all Russian state-minded people, the Volunteer Army cannot take on a party coloring.

3. Questions about the forms of the state system are subsequent 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, nor with 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 principles indicated in 1914 by the Russian Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

In connection with my order of this year No. 175, I order the Special Conference to adopt the following provisions as the basis for its activities:

1. United, Great, Indivisible Russia. Faith defense. Establishing order. Restoration of the productive forces of the country and National economy. Raising labor productivity.

2. Fight Bolshevism to the end.

3. Military dictatorship... Any pressure of political parties to be swept aside, any opposition to the authorities - both from the right and from the left - to punish.

The question of the form of government is a matter for the future. The Russian people will create supreme power without pressure or imposition.

Unity with the people. The fastest connection with the Cossacks through the creation of the South Russian government, while not wasting the rights of the nationwide government.

4. Domestic policy - only national. Russian.

Despite the hesitations that sometimes arise in the Russian question, the Allies go with them. For another combination is morally unacceptable and not really feasible.

Slavic unity. For help - not an inch of Russian land.

5. All forces, means - for the army, struggle and victory. Comprehensive support for the families of fighters. The supply agencies should finally embark on the path of independent activity, using the still rich resources of the country, and, not counting exclusively on outside help, increase their own production.

Extract uniforms and supply of troops 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.

Showing concern for the entire population without distinction.

Undertake the development of an agrarian and labor law in the spirit of my declaration, as well as the law on the Zemstvo.

Assist 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 at extreme measures.

To the press - accompanying help, dissenting - to endure, destroying - to destroy. No class privileges, no preferential support - administrative, financial or moral.

Severe 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 the most appropriate punishment.

To speed up and simplify the procedure for the rehabilitation of those who are not entirely prosperous in terms of Bolshevism, Petliurism, etc. If there was only a mistake, but fit for the cause - indulgence.

Appointment to the service - solely on business grounds, sweeping aside fanatics from both the right and the left.

Local Service Element for Policy Evasion central government, for violence, arbitrariness, settling accounts with the population, as well as for inactivity, not only to dismiss, but also to punish.

Involve the local population in self-defence.

7. Improve the health of the front and military rear - the work of specially appointed generals with great powers, the composition of the field court and the use of extreme repression.

Strongly clean counterintelligence and criminal investigation, pouring into them a judicial (refugee) element.

8. The rise of the ruble, transport and production, mainly of state defense. The tax press is mainly for the wealthy, but also for non-conscripts.

Bartering exclusively for combat equipment and items needed for the country.

Temporary militarization of water transport with the aim of using it for war, without destroying, however, the commodity-industrial apparatus.

To alleviate the position of the service element and the families of officials who are at the front by private transfers to in-kind allowances (through the efforts of the Food Administration and the military supply department). The content should not be below the subsistence level.

9. Propaganda to serve exclusively its intended purpose - to popularize the ideas pursued by the authorities, to expose the essence of Bolshevism, to raise people's self-consciousness and to fight anarchy

The Russian army is going to liberate the Native Land from the red innocence.

I call on the Russian people to help me. I have signed laws on the volost zemstvos, and zemstvo institutions are being restored in the regions occupied by the Army.

Land state-owned and privately owned for agricultural use by the order of the volost zemstvos themselves will be transferred to the owners who cultivate it.

I order the defense 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.

To the people - land and will in the dispensation of the state!

Earth - by the will of the people set by the Master!

God bless us!

General Wrangel.

__________________

Listen, Russian people, what are we fighting for:

For desecrated faith and offended shrines.

For the liberation of the Russian people from the yoke of the communists, vagabonds and convicts, who completely ruined Holy Russia.

To end the internecine strife.

For the fact that the peasant, acquiring ownership of the land he cultivates, would be engaged in peaceful labor.

For true freedom and law to reign in Russia.

For the Russian people to choose their own OWNER.

Help me, Russian people, save the Motherland.

ORDER of the Ruler of the South of Russia and the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Sevastopol October 29, 1920

Russian people. Left alone in the fight against the rapists, the Russian army is waging an unequal battle, defending the last piece of Russian land where law and truth exist.

In the consciousness of the responsibility lying on me, I am obliged to foresee all accidents in advance.

By my order, the evacuation and boarding of ships in the ports of Crimea has already begun for all those who shared the path of the Cross with the army, the families of military personnel, officials of the civil department, with their families, and individuals who could be in danger in the event of the arrival of the enemy.

The army will cover the landing, bearing in mind that the ships 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 within the limits of human strength.

Our further paths are full of uncertainty.

We have no other land except Crimea. There is no state treasury. Frankly, as always, I warn everyone of what awaits them.

May the Lord send strength and wisdom to all to overcome and survive the Russian hard times.

Lenin V.I . Report at the VII All-Russian Congress of Soviets December 5–9, 1919. Full coll. cit., volume 39
Sokolov K.N. The reign of General Denikin: from the memoirs. Sofia, 1921
Boldyrev V.G. Directory Kolchak. Interventions. Novonikolaevsk, 1925
Pilsudsky 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. Kolchakism and its collapse. M., 1986
Great October and the defense of its conquests. Defense of the socialist Fatherland. M., 1987
Denikin A.I. Essays on Russian Troubles. M., 1991
Lekhovich D. White versus 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 Emigrant Archives. M., 1995
Trukan G.A. Anti-Bolshevik Russian government. M., 2000

To find " CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA" on the

There is no more controversial moment in the history of the United States than the Civil War. The two halves of the country tried to resolve their fundamental differences in political, economic and social issues with the help of weapons. The war began 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 prolongation of hostilities, the northerners managed to realize their economic and human potential. After the battle at Appomatox in April 1865, the southerners began to surrender en masse, but some units fought until May-June. US President Abraham Lincoln never lived 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 causes and heroes, which historians are trying to debunk.

The southern states withdrew from the state due to the violation of their rights. The Confederation declared its right to secede, but not a single state seceded from the Union. The disagreement 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 outlining the reasons justifying the move. In particular, there was a growing hostility on the part of non-slave-owning states to the institution of slavery. The delegates protested to their neighbors to the north, who were not fulfilling their constitutional obligations by hiding fugitive slaves. So the causes of the conflict lie not in the rights of the states, but in fundamental disagreements on the issue of slavery.

In South Carolina, they were unhappy that New York refused to return the fugitives. In New England, in general, they gave blacks the right to vote, there appeared societies to combat such inequality. In fact, in South Carolina they spoke out against the rights of citizens and freedom of speech in those states that opposed slavery. Declarations passed in other southern states were similar.

The southern states seceded from the state due to tax policy. To this day, Confederate supporters argue that tax policy was the cause of the Civil War. Allegedly high duties on goods from the southern states helped the northerners to raise their industry. But such claims are fictitious. Due to high duties, the Nullification Crisis of 1831-1833 developed. Then South Carolina demanded to remove some federal laws, threatening to secede from the Union in case of refusal. But then other states did not support these demands, and they were withdrawn. Fiscal policy did not cause secession at all; the declarations of other states do not mention this. The duties of the 1857 model, applied throughout America, were invented precisely by southerners. And these taxes were the lowest since 1816.

Most southerners did not have slaves, and they were not going 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 smaller. In areas where slavery was poorly developed, the majority did not support secession from the United States. West Virginia chose to remain in the Union. Confederate forces then had to occupy eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama to keep those states from going over to the Northerners. Southerners, even those who did not have slaves, were convinced by ideological factors. For Americans, social optimism is important. They look up to the rich and hope to achieve the same status someday. Financially constrained, farmers hoped to win fortune, status, and slaves through war.

Another factor lay in the idea that the superiority of white people over black people is justified and just. Even in the north, many thought so, and in the south, almost everyone. Southerners urged 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 also lay in the postulate of the superiority of one race over another.

Abraham Lincoln went to war to end slavery. The result of the Civil War was the abolition of slavery. Many people think that this was Lincoln's original goal. In fact, the North began to fight in order to maintain the unity of the country. On August 22, 1862, the president wrote a famous letter to the New York Tribune. There he bluntly stated that if he could save the Union without freeing the slaves, he would do it. Lincoln was going to keep the state, even if it was necessary to free all or part of the slaves. Any action in relation to slavery, the president committed in the name of saving the Union. But much more famous are Lincoln's personal statements against slavery. He believed that every person has the right to freedom. The official position and personal point of view converged in the preliminary "Proclamation for the Emancipation of the Slaves."

Southerners did not cling to slavery. By 1860, Southerners generated 75 percent of America's total export product. The cost of slaves was greater than all manufacturing plants, factories and railroads in the United States. No one wanted to give away such wealth without a fight. Yes, 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 stable system that brought a good income. The elite grew rich rapidly. The further, the less likely was the emancipation of slaves in the South and in the North. The firm position of the slave-owners could only be ended by military means.

The war is called the Civil War. 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 was not at all seeking 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 incorrect. The South was more backward from an economic point of view. For some reason, the undeveloped and backward part lasted for four whole years. If we evaluate the facts about the south

America, an interesting picture emerges. A third of all America's railroads 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 in all states west of New York and Pennsylvania.

At the beginning of the war, all the best federal officers went over to the side of the southerners. This myth is generated by individual bright stories. The most revealing is the biography of General Robert E. Lee. Initially, he commanded the Texas district and opposed the secession of the southern states. After the secession of his state, Lee left office 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 position of commander in chief. But he refused, and after a few days he agreed to lead the army of 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 commanders had different styles command. Halleck began to complain frequently about Grant's insubordination. And 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 against such as Grant, a trial is required. The higher authorities allowed the recalcitrant general to be arrested. Luckily for everyone, Halleck had cooled off by the time he got his 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 rise began after Lincoln refused to fire the general, explaining that "he's fighting."

The Battle of Glory saw African Americans fight for the first time. First African American military unit, created in the North, became the 54 Volunteer Volunteer Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He appeared in 1863 and in the same year took part in the assault on Fort Wagner. This battle was called the "Battle of Glory", in which the regiment lost half of its personnel. A famous painting about those events was created. But even before the Emancipation Proclamation in October 1862, the First Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment fought the Confederate cavalry and drove them back near Island Mound in Missouri. This unit was created by the local authorities of the Union in August 1862, while the regular US 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 the local farm and named it Fort Africa. After two days of fighting, reinforcements arrived and the southerners retreated. The skirmish was insignificant on the scale of the war, but became famous. It was she who helped African-American regular units to take place, one of which was the 54 Volunteer Volunteer Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

The first land battle is the Battle of the Bull Run River. 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 Draper". On July 21, the army of the North faced a comparable force of the southerners, but was put to shameful flight. But even earlier, in June 1861, Union troops surprised the Confederates at Philippi, Virginia. The northern press called the enemy's undignified retreat the "Race at Philippi". That little skirmish resulted in no casualties, but had some interesting consequences. The U.S. Army's victory helped support the secession movement in West Virginia. George McClellan received the coveted position of general in Washington. And Federation soldier James Edward Hanger 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 Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant near Appomattox. But fighting continued elsewhere. General Joseph Johnston surrendered with the Army of Tennessee, 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 26 May. The rest of the Confederate army surrendered until the end of June. The last to lay down his arms was Stand Wayty, in Indian territory. And the war at sea generally continued until November, when the raiders, the former Confederates, surrendered.

The Civil War was going on in the United States. Private Confederate ships (legalized pirates) and merchant raiders on the high seas made life miserable for American carriers. Pirates blocked the path to the Union, sailing around Bermuda, stationed in the Bahamas and Cuba. Merchant ships, sailboats and steamships were subjected to capture, for the release of which and their crew a ransom was required. The Union tried to resist this. So, USS Wachusett attacked CSS Florida in Bahia Harbor, Brazil. This led to an international scandal. USS Wyoming chased CSS Alabama around Far East without ever catching him. Even Japanese troops took part in the dismantling of the Americans. The CSS Shenandoah began patrolling the sea lanes 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 pacific ocean in polar waters. The raider surrendered with his crew only on November 6, 1865 in Liverpool, England.

Soldiers were constantly involved 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, up to the last desperate months in late 1864 and early 1865, took place in seasonal campaigns. Armies fought in late spring, summer and autumn-winter. That is why the average soldier of that war actually fought one day a month. The rest of the time he was walking somewhere, digging, or just being in a camp where his life was in danger. Primitive field conditions and a rudimentary level of medicine ensured that each 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 combat. 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 wealthy North. Meanwhile, there were also serious financial problems - the war turned out to be a very costly affair. The Union was not ready to allocate funds for the army. Lincoln's election as president in 1860 shocked Wall Street. Even worse, back in the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson did away with the centralized banking system, calling it undermining the rights of the state and dangerous to the freedom of the people. The US government did not have a quick and easy way 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 was able to restore at least some order in business. This made it possible to wage war. However, some parts, especially African Americans, sometimes went months without receiving their salaries. 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 warfare unthinkable without rockets, electricity. Prohibited chemical and biological weapons are also sometimes used. It's hard to believe, but all these technologies were used during the Civil War. Floating explosive containers designed to sink ships have been used since american revolution. But the Confederates took weapons to the next level by adding electric detonators. The world's first electric minefield appeared on the Mississippi. The wires went to the shore, from where a signal for an explosion could be sent. The same weapons were used in the Eastern theater of the war, where the USS Commodore Jones was sunk in this way in May 1864. Powder rockets were used as early as the Mexican-American Civil War in 1840. In the Civil War, such weapons were used by both sides. The Union even had a Rocket Battalion of 160 people. The southerners tried to wage bacteriological warfare by infecting clothes with yellow fever (unsuccessfully) and smallpox (partially successful). During the retreat, water sources, as well as animal carcasses, were 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 decided to test the "MythBusters". They created a rocket in two days using only 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 Sixkiller was a Cherokee who served in the First Kansas Colored Infantry. He fought and died in that famous battle at the Island Mound. Ironically, he himself was a slave owner, leading his men into battle with him. For the Cherokee, African American slaves were common. From the frontier territories of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, people went to the American military. The example of Kentucky is especially illustrative. There, a quarter of the families that 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. Yes, and the famous "Declaration of Emancipation" declared free only the 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 strength of the southerners by promising their slaves freedom.

Presidents Lincoln and Davis waged war in cabinets. It seems that the heads of the parties were playing a gigantic chess game, directing the war from their offices. In fact, both men were in the fields during the battles. So, in 1862, Jefferson Davis watched the course of the bloody battle of Seven Pines, changing the commander during it. It was Robert Lee. Abraham Lincoln in 1864 visited Fort Stevens outside of Washington, even falling under enemy fire. Then the famous phrase of the Confederate General Early 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 the gunfire as the city was taken. Immediately after the battle, the president entered the city and symbolically sat in the chair of the escaped Jefferson Davis.