Specialisation: History

The Civil War Precursors, Significant Battles, and Outcomes

The United States Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 under different battles during the precursor war, which included the Battle of Gettysburg, the war of bull run, the Battle of Shiloh, the Antietam battle, and the Vicksburg campaign. These battles began because of the state versus federal rights and, most vital, economic interests between north and south Americans (Hart,2002). In addition, the election of Abraham Lincoln resulted in the Civil War because of his tough decisions in the region that the neighboring leaders feared.

The Battle of Bull Run was fought primarily to block the Union army from advancing on the Confederate capital. The war was catalyzed by the early victories that the Union troops had acquired from conquering other territories; this motivated President Abraham Lincoln to mount an offensive that would hit their enemies, open the way to their expansion, and prevent the enemy from finding a way into their territory. However, at the end of the Battle, there were more than three thousand casualties from the Union. Confederates had lost less than a thousand eight hundred soldiers.

The Battle of the Antietam is also called the Battle of Sharpsburg because the Battle was fought near Sharpsburg town. The war began at dawn with all of Lee’s troops being sick, hungry, and worn out. They kept an eye on McClellan’s army assembling along the creek’s east side. The Battle involved a huge number of forces that outnumbered the Confederate soldiers. The troops fought in a thirty-acre cornfield, making it the deadliest Battle in American history. The Battle involved the use of advanced weapons, unwise tactics, and the use of terrible decisions by the leaders. As a result, thousands of people lost their lives. Furthermore, many soldiers were injured and captured as captives in the Battle. As a result, the Union claimed their victory, keeping the Confederates in their southern region box, making it easy for President Lincoln to get liberated on September 22, 1862, finally.

There was also the Battle of Gettysburg, which resulted because of the conflict over the road junction in Gettysburg between the two armies of the Union and the Confederate. The war was fought for three days. Many soldiers took part in the war, resulting in more than fifty thousand deaths. This ended the Confederate’s ambition to invade the North and bring the civil war to a swift end. The Battle involved many casualties of the entire Battle and is often referred to as the war’s turning point because of the Union’s decisive victory. As a result, the Gettysburg bloody engagement stopped the Confederate force that persistently changed America to be at peace.

The Vicksburg campaign was another war in the United States that began when the Union soldiers attempted to cross the Mississippi at the Grand Gulf, a strategic point that the Union and the Confederates were scrambling. The Battle of Vicksburg was a final Union triumph during the American civil war that brought about the division of the Confederates and cemented the influence of the Union. Furthermore, there was also a clash between the two groups at the big black river. This resulted in the defeat of the confederates by the Union. The war resulted in thousands of soldiers losing their lives. This resulted in the Confederates surrendering their authority over the Mississippi River, splitting the South into two.

The Battle of Shiloh, also called the Pittsburg landing Battle, allowed the Union soldiers to penetrate the Confederate’s interior. This resulted in war at the Shiloh church, where the Confederates swept the Union line from the region. Despite the heavy gun attacks from the Confederates, the Union’s soldiers countered the attacks, but they slowly lost ground to the Confederates. In the Battle, many soldiers from both sides lost their lives. The Battle of Shiloh ended with the loss of the Confederates over the United States (Union) in Pittsburgh.

References

Hart, J. M. (2002). Empire and revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the civil war. Univ of California Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LI71T7UUYwMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=+Civil+War+Precursors+in+USA&ots=mqHX3Z-1yq&sig=P2AZeBrgPJNxg7Ss90NcztjCMI4

How the World Changed After WW2

The end of the World War 2 ushered in a new era for the countries involved in the war and resulted in policies, some of which are still effective in world politics and governance today. Following the end of the war, there was a decline in the powers of the European colonial powers and the emergence of two superpowers; the Soviet Union (USSR) and USA. The USSR and USA were allies during the war; however, they became competitors for dominance on the world stage after the war. The rivalry that fueled the Cold War, which was a war, never became an overt total war but was fought through proxy wars, political subversion, and espionage (Shephard, 2010). Europe was seperated into the USA-allied, a block to the West and The Soviet-allied Eastern side, while on the international stage, there were gradual shifts in alliances with the two superpowers. Some countries opted not to be involved in the Cold War by establishing the Non-aligned movement.

The Cold War resulted in an arms race between the superpowers. With the mutual distrust between the former allies building up, there was a massive buildup of arms as the military force was considered an option to contain communist expansion. American officials supported the development of atomic weapons like those used in Japan. As a result, The Soviet Union also started testing its nuclear weapons. Therefore, the superpowers continued to threaten each other with the ability to make deadlier weapons. One primary reason the Cold War did not evolve into a total war was the potential of destruction that both sides could cause each other in a nuclear war (Shephard, 2010). As a result of the Cold War, the allies established the United Nations organization with the objective of maintaining international diplomacy and corporation, through which members agreed to illigalize aggression to prevent the occurrence of a third World War.

The territory of Germany was de facto annexed by the allies in the aftermath of the war. About ten million citizens of Germany were either expelled or not allowed to return into the country after the war. The rest of the German territory was partitioned into four regions to be controlled by the Allies (Berger, 2012). In 1949, Germany was effectively separated into the west, Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic on the east side. Germany was compelled to pay reparations to the USSR, France, and the UK. The country suffered reduced living standards as US and Britain pursued intellectual reparations through technological and scientific know-how (Berger, 2012). The US policy was that the Germans should not receive help to rebuild their country.

Following the end of the war, the allies annulled the annexations that Japan had done pre-war, as most of the territories of Japan were divided among the allies. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese had to move back into Japan’s main island. In an attempt to limit the potential of Japan becoming a future military threat, the Far Eastern Commission resolved to deindustrialize Japan, to revert the standards of living to the levels of 1930-1934 (Berger, 2012). However, deindustrialization did not happen to the level implemented in Germany. However, in 1948 a recommendation to reconstruct the Japanese economy to reduce the cost on US taxpayers through continuous aid funding. In the post-war period, massive advancements in technology led to a serious economic boom in many parts of the world.

References

Berger, T. U. (2012). War, guilt, and world politics after World War II. Cambridge University Press.

Shephard, B. (2010). The long road home: The aftermath of the Second World War. Random House.