What would USA look like if the Civil War never ended?

[Damien435]

this may be a little off topic, but how much of the american civil war do they teach you in countries other than the U.S.?

My guess would be somewhere between how much time we spent on the French Revolution and WWII. Amazing how every year the teachers assume that you studied WWII the year before and there is no reason to do so in the current year. And then of course we spent a lot of time on the French Revolution because it was the first democratic revolution in a world power. Blah blah blah, "Let them eat cake!" and "Viva la France!"

 

[danthepirate]

If the civil war had somehow managed to stay a full fledged war up until now, life would certainly be a lot different. We would be living in constant fear of another battle or more blood shed. Remeber that the Civil war divided father and son brother and brother. There would also be some major family fueds that would lead to some very aggresive fighting and hatred tword people of the south and the north. The battles would no longer be about slavery even though politicians would still say it was.
Also for the south to be able to stand against the north they would have needed a lot of support from other countries who don't want the north to gain power and become a major wold power. Other countries would be helping us stay at war with each other so we would not be able to bother them.
Hatred then, combined with extra munitions from other countries would drive our nations in this war. If we ever were able to obtain nucluear weapons, which is unlikely due to the fact that we will have been at war so much that we may not have had the time to work on it, we would have nuked each other until we couldn't fight any more. So the war probably would have ended but it might not have with a few people left over from each side still fighting it out. We would most definatly would not be the vast and economic country we are today.

 

[LeEnfield]

If you are saying that the war never ended are you trying say that you would still be fighting today. If this had happened what do the chances would have been of Mexico retaking all the land that it lost to America some years earlier. Then there would be a question over the Indians and the plains and just who would have been in charge if any one if this war had gone on. Such an idea leaves to many ifs and buts to come to any firm conclusion.

 

[danthepirate]

If you are saying that the war never ended are you trying say that you would still be fighting today. If this had happened what do the chances would have been of Mexico retaking all the land that it lost to America some years earlier. Then there would be a question over the Indians and the plains and just who would have been in charge if any one if this war had gone on. Such an idea leaves to many ifs and buts to come to any firm conclusion.

you know what, you're exactly correct.

 

[Damien435]

If you are saying that the war never ended are you trying say that you would still be fighting today. If this had happened what do the chances would have been of Mexico retaking all the land that it lost to America some years earlier. Then there would be a question over the Indians and the plains and just who would have been in charge if any one if this war had gone on. Such an idea leaves to many ifs and buts to come to any firm conclusion.

It's not that simple.

If Mexico tries to take back Texas they might get support from the Union.

If Mexico tries to take back California, New Mexico and Arizona they might get support from the Confederacy.

If Mexico tries to take back Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, basically everything South and West of Colorado the Union and Confederacy put their little squabbles on the back burner and beat the hell out of Mexico until they can not fight back.

But wait, there's more.

Mexico, hoping to get back their lost territories, but can't get it all so they are forced to choose, they choose Texas and join on the side of the Union. Britain and France, seeking to maintain the balance of power, join in on the side of the Confederacy. Spain, hoping to get back lost colonies, joins the Union and attacks Mexico. Some Prussian states become involved and try to attack France who they percieve as being weakened by war with the Union.

Personally, I think that neither side really wanted to bring in the european powers and if Britain, France, Spain or even Mexico had tried to take advantage of the situation to regain lost territory the two warring nations would have put aside their differences and fought off the agressors before finishing each other off.

 

[LeEnfield]

The other thing to be considered is that if the American civil war had not broken out then America and Britain could have easily gone to war over slavery. Once Britain passed the law out lawing slavery it then went all out to stop the trade. Any ship from any country that suspected of carrying out slaving was stopped and searched by the Royal Navy, if it had slaves then the slaves would be freed and this was causing problem in some areas of America, the problem America had was going to war with Britain to keep slavery, and it was this issue that brought it all to a head

 

[mmarsh]

this may be a little off topic, but how much of the american civil war do they teach you in countries other than the U.S.?

Here in France the American Civil War is very popular. There are lots books written in French about the subject, there are French Civil War reenactors, there is even a very popular comic book called LES TUNIQUES BLUES (The Blue uniforms) thats based on 2 Northern Cavalryman. Although its fiction and a dramatic comedy, it has many cameos by famous people Grant, Lincoln, Lee, as well as famous battles.
Alot of the interest involves French-American Zouaves which fought on both sides.

 

[DTop]

this may be a little off topic, but how much of the american civil war do they teach you in countries other than the U.S.?

Here in France the American Civil War is very popular. There are lots books written in French about the subject, there are French Civil War reenactors, there is even a very popular comic book called LES TUNIQUES BLUES (The Blue uniforms) thats based on 2 Northern Cavalryman. Although its fiction and a dramatic comedy, it has many cameos by famous people Grant, Lincoln, Lee, as well as famous battles.
Alot of the interest involves French-American Zouaves which fought on both sides.

I'm not picking on you today mmarsh (really) but the Zouaves were never French-American. There were French Zouaves and American Zouaves, that adopted the North African inspired uniforms. Most, although not all of these units were from the North. Some of the more famous ones included the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, 'Duryee's Zouaves'(suffered the highest percentage of casualties in the shortest amount of time of any unit in the Civil War), the 10th New York 'National Zouaves', and the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, 'Fire Zouaves'. (BTW, they got their butts kicked at the Battle of First Bull Run).
Anyway, just thought I'd shed some light to see how the truth might compare with what they teach you in France.

 

[Springfield]

That would suck if the Civil War hadn't ended when it did. Although, I personally think that if it hadn't ended at the time it did end, I think it would have ended not long later. If our country just kept fighting against itself for that long, I think it would have fell apart not long after it ended (if it kept going). Maybe the US would have come back together after/if it had fallen apart. But I don't think that would be very possible. Fighting and killing your own country is plain absurd, and although it happens sometimes, it won't last long before the country completely falls apart.

 

[LeEnfield]

Basically it could not have gone on much longer when you look at the advances made in weapons by the Northern States during this time. just how would the south stand up to the Cannons, and some of the biggest for this period of history, the Gatling gun, The Winchester Rifle. I am not being rude but the South would have torn apart by the fire power that the Northern States were rapidly building up. Much of the Souths weaponry was no where near the quality or as modern as that of its opponent in the north

 

[Damien435]

Basically it could not have gone on much longer when you look at the advances made in weapons by the Northern States during this time. just how would the south stand up to the Cannons, and some of the biggest for this period of history, the Gatling gun, The Winchester Rifle. I am not being rude but the South would have torn apart by the fire power that the Northern States were rapidly building up. Much of the Souths weaponry was no where near the quality or as modern as that of its opponent in the north

The only thing I remember from my early days of learning covering the Civil War, and it is a rather basic principle, is this.

During the Civil War there were three categories: population, manufacturing, and leadership. The north's population was more than double that of the south's, the number of factories in the north were far greater than those in the south and 90% of the nation's railway lines were in the north. The North therefore had control of two categories, population and manufacting. The South however had far better leadership, General Lee was Lincoln's first choice as commander of the Union army, but he "knew that Virginia wouls never allow him to come home if he fought against them." and he chose the loyalty to his state over that of his nation.

Also, when I say the South I usually refer to Virginia, IMO if Virginia does not secede the war truly is over in weeks or months. Think about it, the greatest generals for the South came from Virginia, the Merrimack (renamed CSS Virginia) was taken when the Union soldiers tried to burn the ships in port before fleeing to the north. The Capitol of the CSA, Richmond, was in Virginia. VMI is in Virginia, Lee was born and raised in Virginia, I believe it was the most populace state of the CSA with the most men in uniform (perhaps Texas or Georgia had larger population?) and most of the factories of the south were in Virginia.

Anyways, that's just my rant for this evening, if this makes no sense please keep in mind that it is 2am and I might be a little tired and drowsy while typing this.