Why it is wrong to call it a Civil War
Posted By : manager
Posted : April 17, 2021
Why it is wrong to call it a “Civil War”
The true definition of a Civil War is when two or more factions of a country make war with each other for the purpose of control of that country.
Normally there would be an existing regime that would fight to retain their power while being challenged for that power from another section of that country.
From the Southern perspective, the war of the 1860s was no Civil War at all. To the South, it was simply a war for their Independence.
The South had no intention of overthrowing the federal government in Washington, nor did the South have any intention to overthrow and possess those states in the North that disagreed with their right of secession.
It is important to remember that initially much of the general sentiment in the North was to let the South go in peace. However, it was quickly determined that letting the South go, it would, at least in the short term, ruin them economically. A strained economy was unacceptable for the industrialized North, and thus the true reason for their change of thought and increased aggression.
When the Northern economy started deteriorating more and more as each Southern State seceded, tremendous pressure started being applied to Lincoln to forcibly bring the seceded States back into the Union.
Lincoln also had his own political ambitions and legacy to protect, and this too played a major role in his decision to invade the South militarily.
Composed of consenting States, the Southern Confederacy was a sovereign independent nation that wanted nothing more than to live in peace and to be left alone.
Invading a sovereign nation would not fit well within the world community. So the North immediately set forth with new reasoning and causes for this War Between the States, in an effort to conceal their obvious aggression and shift the blame of the conflict away from themselves.
The North had their reputation in the world to protect and was especially worried that France or England would officially begin supporting the South.
A European ally with the South would have been devastating for the success of the North’s cause. For the South, this was a war for their Independence and nothing more. The same as it was for their grandfathers who had fought against England in America’s first war of secession for Independence.