Could someone please tell me why over 630,000 Americans died during the Civil War and for what ??

Question

That is about one man DEAD each minute round the clock 24 hours a day for 365 days a year for 4 years. Please explain that nice peice of history to me.

Answer 1

Many Americans died during the Civil War because they are protecting their own interests. There are those who wanted to continue with slavery so that they could continue with their plantations while others opposed it contending that there should be no slaves. Thus, the war resulted to many deaths because of freedom and equality.

Answer 2

Actually the war was more about economics than humanitarianism. Most of the politicians in the North carried as much disdain for ****** as those in the South. The true cause of the war was twofold: First that the southern farmers had an unfair economic advantage over their counterparts in the North as they did not have to pay wages for labor. Keep in mind that at this time the United States for for the most part an agrarian economy. While it is true that the farmers in the north could have begun buying slaves doing so would have been costly given that they did not have the "stock" the south already owned and bred (Note that most wars fought by the U.S. were driven by economics) Second, the Southern government felt that a strong central government (perhaps something on the level of a fascist state) was a better fit for the United States than a republic.

Answer 3

From April 1861-May 1865 the American Civil War (oxymoron if there ever is one. Since when is war civil?) was fought. Lincoln was determined to preserve the Union and bring back the states that succeeded earlier in 1861. These states were under President Jefferson Davis (Confederacy). Unfortunately for soldiers on both sides, Napoleonic tactics were used against modern weapons for the time. Massed infantry assaults guaranteed a blood bath. The two sides traded volley's of musket fire against each other until one side looses its nerve and leaves the field. These battles of attrition often resulted in many thousands of dead and wounded. The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest one-day battle of the war, resulted in 23,000 casualties. The bloodiest battle was Gettysburg with over 50,000 casualties in three days. Keep in mind it's Americans killing Americans. Taking all this into consideration is the reason why there were so many dead during the war. The 600,000 plus killed is more than all of America's wars before and after the civil war COMBINED.

Answer 4

A great number of the deaths were from disease, infection, and botched surgeries and failed amputations. The other most common cause of death were battle injuries; rifle and pistol fire, cannon and mounted gun fire, blade wounds caused from bayonets and swords, etc.

But if you mean why the actual war started, then that is something totally different. The war started because the Southern
states succeeded from the Union, because they felt that their rights as states were not being recognized. Their right to choose slavery was being threatened so they broke off from the Union.

A good example of this happening another time is in the Revolutionary War. In that war America felt that Britain was being unfair in it's laws, so it succeeded from British rule, causing Britain to respond with military force. The only difference in the Civil War is that the succeeder lost independence and the aggressor gained back the land that broke off.

Answer 5

Contrary to popular opinion, it was NOT slavery that caused the war. Although slavery was one of the factions that lead to the states withdrawing from the union,it was not THE reason. Those who repeat the matra given in American history classes that the cause of the war was slavery have not done proper or complete research on the subject.

Slavery was legal in the US before and *during* the war in the states where it was legal. There were free states and slave states. It was not outlawed overall until 1863, well after the war began. Up until that time, Lincoln was simply trying to prevent it's spread westward as states joined the union. He wanted them to enter as free states, not to eliminate slave owning where it was already legal (keep in mind that because something is legal, it does not automatically follow that it is right).
Lincoln's wife's (Mary Todd) father was a slave owner.

The basic cause of the war was that the southern states choose to withdraw from the union for various reasons, slavery being one, and the north, fearing a loss of revenue and control over the goods of the south (tobacco and especially cotton) denied them that right.
Very few southerners owned slaves or ever would.
While I disagree with slavery, I think states should have every right to ceceed. What the war did was to strengthen the government's control over it's citizens. It was the beginning of martial law, which has not ended to this day.

One fact of note: when free blacks and escaped slaves tried to enlist in the union army, they were turned down until late in the war when the union realized they needed every man they could get. Then they let them fight but only in limited numbers with whites or as platoons of black (only) soldiers under the command of white officers. They were treated as second-class citizens by union soldiers and officers as well within 'society' in the north as well.

Answer 6

Well, all the deaths in the war on both sides were Americans so of course the total is bigger. Also it was very violent and bloody. In that war you had cavalry, canons, muskets, guns. You had the old type of war where people just lined up and shot each other and also georilla warfare where they surprised and ambused each other.
It was about slavery vs. freedom, states' rights vs. federal rights and territorial pride and different life styles.

Answer 7

Because Lincoln wanted a strong central government, which is what he got. Then later on, the slavery issue entered the picture.

Answer 8

Lincoln abolished slavery. The south, who relied heavily on the slaves to raise crops, believed it was the right of the states to make that decision. So 11 states wanted to secede from the union forming a country with Jefferson Davis as their president. They were told they didn't have the right to secede from the US & so began the Civil War. The war was over state's rights brought on by the abolishment of slavery.

Answer 9

It was a war. Large areas of battles. Limited medical skills.

Answer 10

To make room for the other races