The Civil War anD Reconstruction

Martin Clemis, Command and General Staff College

This course examines the causes, conduct, and immediate consequences of the Civil War. It explores America’s bloodiest and most divisive conflict using a variety of analytical lenses, including its social, cultural, political, economic, military, and environmental dimensions. Topics and perspectives include the racial, political, and economic conditions that differentiated the northern and southern halves of the United States during the nineteenth century; the role of race and slavery in the conflict; the root causes and events behind sectional conflict, secession, and the formation of the Confederate nation; the military strategy and tactics put in place by the Union and Confederacy; the conduct and character of Civil War combat; the nature and impact of Northern and Southern political and military leadership; and the federal governments conflicting and failed efforts to reconstruct Southern politics and society after the war.