American Civil War

What you’ll learn

• Why did compromise fail by 1861? Long-running fights over slavery and western expansion pushed sections toward war
• Union war aims began with preserving the nation; Confederate war aims centered on independence and holding territory
• Fort Sumter transformed political crisis into active war and forced Americans to choose sides
• The Anaconda Plan combined a naval blockade with river control to squeeze the Confederacy
• Early Eastern battles (Bull Run, Peninsula, Antietam, Fredericksburg) showed the war would be long and costly
• Ironclads at Hampton Roads ended the era of wooden warships and protected key harbors