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civil war?



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Sun May 04, 2014 1:49 pm
shulchan says...



What I mainly need to know is just the causes and effects of the war, not really about the battles. I'm looking more for the political side of things. I did some research myself but I just started getting overwhelmed.
The more detail, the better, and if anyone can link to an article or something that describes this that would be great.
  





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Sun May 04, 2014 5:03 pm
niteowl says...



Care to explain which civil war you're talking about? Lots of countries have had civil wars. If you mean US, I might be able to help.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Sun May 04, 2014 9:12 pm
shulchan says...



niteowl wrote:Care to explain which civil war you're talking about? Lots of countries have had civil wars. If you mean US, I might be able to help.


yeah, the american civil war (oops, I forgot this was an international site). I was thinking of writing a novel which took place in the US where the south had won the war instead of the north. So it would take place present day, but would be heavily influenced by the war. So any help you can give would be great. :)
  





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Mon May 05, 2014 2:26 am
niteowl says...



Huh, well it's an interesting question. The way I see it, there's lots of things that would have to be taken into account

-Slavery was obviously a big motive for the war, but how long would it have survived?
-Would the Confederacy be able to survive on its own or would it have been reassimilated back into the Union eventually anyway
-How would this affect the formation of the western states?
-Would the split Confederacy and Union (assuming they remained separate) have participated in the World Wars, the Cold Wars, etc.

Here's one hypothesis
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-if-the-south-won-the-civil-war This one seems a bit more realistic to me
A list of other alternate Civil War histories
Some other speculation, including political stuff
An INCREDIBLY idealistic conservative interpretation of what might have been (it even references our favorite Pat Buchanan!)
An examination of the CSA politics postwar had it won
An article about the war's motives
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm Another motives article

So there's some interesting info. It's a fascinating subject, but it does seem like it would involve a lot of research, not just on the Civil War itself, but on the emergence of "America as superpower" and how that would be affected by the fragmentation of the US.

Also note that it seems unlikely that the Confederacy would be able to or want to take over the North. They would likely be 2 separate countries unless there was another war or a different motive for assimilation.

Best of luck with your project!
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon May 05, 2014 10:38 pm
shulchan says...



Wow, thank you, this is amazing!

I was actually thinking a little bit differently- I thought that eventually the Union would fall apart, because every time a state didn't like something, they would secede. there would really be no central government (and if there was it wouldn't be very strong). And then, of course, they wouldn't be a world superpower....

So there's a lot to consider. Definitely a lot more than I thought there was when I first started. :) I will take into account what you said, though, and see what I can figure out. Right now all I've got is a tentative plot line.
  





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Thu May 08, 2014 9:47 pm
Rosendorn says...



You might be really interested in this: Knights of the Golden Circle.

It's part secret society, part conspiracy theory, part real thing. It's basically the Union's dreams for reestablishing the South, so it might give you some ideas for where they'd have expanded next. The conspiracy theory part is that it still exists and holds influence.

I like the idea that the Union would fall apart. You might want to look into a Greece style government, with city states that were independent of each other (so when we think of "Ancient Greece", we're really only thinking of a few city states, sometimes as narrow as Athens. When in reality, there were a lot more) to see how it would work overall.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Fri May 09, 2014 1:41 am
shulchan says...



That sounds really interesting, I'll look into it! Thanks. :)
  





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Sat May 10, 2014 12:29 am
JohnLocke1 says...



If you are going to create a universe where the South wins the Civil War, I would be particular about how exactly they defeated the North. Do not gloss over that factor.
"To prejudge other men's notions before we have looked into them is not to show their darkness but to put out our own eyes." - John Locke
  








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