ConflictNorth America
The American Civil War
Four years, six hundred thousand dead, and slavery ended
See it on the timeline →In depth
The seceding states' own declarations name slavery explicitly as the cause, worth noting because a later narrative of "states' rights" has been widespread. The war was also the first industrial one: railways, telegraph, ironclads and mass-produced weapons. Reconstruction was abandoned in 1877, and the segregation that followed lasted until the 1960s.
For children
The southern states broke away from the United States because they feared slavery would be abolished. The war became the bloodiest in American history. The North won and slavery was banned — but racial segregation continued for another century.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org