An Alternative Ending to the Civil War

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What if the South had won the Civil War in the 1800s in the United States and had seceeded from the Union and formed its own country, the Confederate States of America? Just how different would the world be today if the war ended differently? Would there have been a 9/11? Or even a Saddam Hussein in power?

 

Ok, this wasn't my primary history class subject but anyway:

I don't see how the South could have won that war, being less populated and less industrialised than the North and having no battlefleet to speak of. If they won a blietzkrieg, then they'd have taken over the North and its riches, hence "preserving" the union in a different way. Or, they'd have seceeded and their troops left the occupied territories, which is an invitation for the North to try and invade.

Or unless foreign powers intervened (though I don't see how), then NA would have returned to the colonial powers with a pet state in the South.

Considering Saddam's fate from there is too far-fetched for me.

 

Who knows, maybe there would have been a slave rebellion. That happened before on some of the caribean islands. Or if not perhaps a regime similar to that of apartheid, that isn't even far fetched looking back at the 1950s and the south.

Considering that, and imagining a USA with slavery in 1932 is a chilling thought, as the WASPs sympathising with the KKK, probably the people keeping slaves then, are iirc also antisemites. With whom they might have formed a coalition?
Considering the racism in the idea of slavery they wouldn't have a serios problem to understand the idea of worthy and unworthy races, and maybe sympathising with it.

And that was even residual in the highly civilised british empire, just look at Kipling's "White man's burden"

That underlines my impression that the civil war in the US was one of the big turning points in US history.

[ September 12, 2003, 20:49: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

For once, Ragusa, we are in agreement about the implications of the Civil War.

@Oxymore
I'm not a confederate, but the south did use much better tactics, and probably could have won. It was pretty close.

 

You certainly know more than me about confederate field tactics, Rastor. All I was saying is the North was an industrial, densely populated side, the South wasn't, and without allies would have lost sooner or later. But that's just my view.

Sorry if that was off-topic.

 

The Confederacy was fighting a defensive war, and had by far the best leaders. They could have won the war if Lee hadn't have tried to invade the North. He lost too many men while invading.

Also, the North did not have the motivation to win, in fact, there were so many people who opposed the war, that few thought Lincoln would be re-elected, and if that hadn't happened, McClellan (who ran against him) would have probably eneded the war.

Also, many people in Britain supported the Confederacy, and if they had directly intervened, that would have changed things quite a bit.

Yes, the North had superior numbers and manufacturing power, but if that alone decided wars, the North would have won much faster.

On a side note, although I am not a Confederate or even a Southerner, I do believe that secession has a firm basis in American history. Vermont seceded from the U.S. in 1777 (although it wo.uld later return). More will be posted later.

 

"Ok, this wasn't my primary history class subject but anyway"

You should read up on the subject. I would reccomend the novel "The Killer Angels" if you want to forgoe the boredom of history books.

"That underlines my impression that the civil war in the US was one of the big turning points in US history"

It was probably the biggest turning point in US history.....but for reasons much more complicated than slavery. IMHO slavery wouldn't have lasted into the 1900's if the south had won the war.

"I do believe that secession has a firm basis in American history"

It does indeed!

 

The American Civil War is one of the most debated topics in American history. The most interesting part of the debate goes something like: "If Lee had not sent Pickett at the Little Clump of Trees at Gettysburg," or "if Lee had sent one more regiment against Little Round Top," or, "if Stonewall Jackson had only survived..."

Well, Lincoln was the President, and did win re-election, despite all the talk about how unpopular the war was. He went on to become one of the most beloved American presidents. Who remembers Jefferson Davis? Chamberlain held the line at Little Round Top and attacked, and the Union had General "Sam" Grant, a general who knew how to win. The union soldiers knew how to fight and they proved it despite horrid loses at Gettysburg, at Shilo and at the Battle of the Wilderness.

Bobby Lee was a brilliant and aggressive general who was not forgiven by the Federal government after the war. In fact, the federals placed Arlington Cemetery on the grounds of Lee's family home so that Lee would remember the deaths that he had helped cause. The first buried there were the 1800 union soldiers who died at the Battle of Bull Run. Lee did not return to Arlington after the war.

[ September 14, 2003, 08:14: Message edited by: Chandos the Red ]