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Y315: The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945

Depth study: The American Civil War 1861–1865 — Grant, Atlanta and interpretations

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on black soldiers, Grant’s command, the fall of Atlanta, the death toll, whether this was the first modern or a total war, the rifled musket debate, Confederate defeat and Lee’s reputation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Was the American Civil War a total war?

Numbers

How many died in the war, and why is the figure disputed?

Key term

How have historians disagreed about the impact of the rifled musket?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How significant was black military service to the Union?

    Model answer

    About 180,000 black soldiers served in the Union armies, providing manpower the Confederacy could not match and turning the war into a struggle over slavery itself.

  2. 2

    What made Grant's approach to command in 1864–1865 different from that of earlier Union generals?

    Model answer

    He directed all the Union armies to advance together so that Confederate forces could not reinforce each other, and he kept up continuous pressure instead of withdrawing after each battle.

  3. 3

    How did the fall of Atlanta in September 1864 affect the war?

    Model answer

    It transformed Northern opinion at the moment of the presidential election, all but securing Lincoln's re-election and with it the continuation of the war to unconditional victory.

  4. 4

    How many died in the war, and why is the figure disputed?

    Model answer

    The traditional estimate is about 620,000 dead, but demographic studies of census data have suggested a figure closer to 750,000, since deaths from disease and among civilians were poorly recorded.

  5. 5

    Outline the debate over whether this was the first modern war.

    Model answer

    Some historians point to railways, the telegraph, mass conscript armies, industrial production and the entrenched siege lines around Petersburg as evidence of modernity, while others argue that tactics, staff work and command remained essentially Napoleonic.

  6. 6

    How have historians disagreed about the impact of the rifled musket?

    Model answer

    One line of argument holds that rifled weapons made frontal assault suicidal and explains the war's casualties, while Griffith and Hess have argued that most firing took place at short range and that the rifle's tactical effect has been exaggerated.

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