From 1861 to 1865, slavery ended and a loose-knit republic became a unified, continent-spanning power. The price in human lives was greater than that for all other American wars combined.
These lectures carefully examine the political strategies and consequences of the Civil War. Much of the course is also devoted to the strategic and tactical dimensions of military campaigns.
Much more than the story of battles, the course recounts the price paid by all Americans, including:
- the hard lot of prisoners;
- how soldiers dealt with the rigors of camp life and the terror of combat;
- how slaves and their falling masters responded to the advancing war; and
- the desperate price paid by the families so many left behind.