Civil War

In its relatively short life as a country, America has taken part in many wars and conflicts in foreign lands. The Vietnam War has a deadly reputation in American memory, and even in my young life I can recall Vietnam casualty rates being a go-to comparison for things like anti-smoking ads. America was also a late-comer to World War I, the so-called “War to End all Wars”. And of course, America took a large part in the most costly conflict in human history, World War II. Through all of these conflicts and many others, American lives were lost by the thousands; a harrowing tragedy to be sure, but none were as costly in terms of American lives as The Civil War. In 1861, America was shaken by the first shots of a war that would go on to claim nearly one million lives. The reasons for the war notwithstanding, the time had come for America to experience the horrifying tumults of a war of secession, and to this day it remains the most costly conflict in the American story to date. Indeed, civil wars represent some of the most grizzly and tragic chapters across the whole of history, and even recent history demonstrates the brutality of civil wars in places like Ethiopia, Syria, and Vietnam for that matter. In each of these conflicts there are casualties in the hundreds of thousands and even millions. America lost at least 600,000 citizens during those terrible years in the 19th century, and here we are in 2021 hearing those horrible two words again. Civil War.

The reasons behind the American Civil War are either myriad or singular, depending on who you ask. The largest impetus for the war is undoubtedly the legality of slavery in the US, and all of those myriad other reasons can easily be linked to this singular problem. This is reflected in the articles of confederation drafted by most of the rebellious states; slavery was the confederate government’s reason for secession. It is necessary to make this unequivocal point in order to understand another: the common soldier did not own slaves and likely cared not for the profits of plantation owners. This is not meant to argue the morality of the common soldier on either side, but merely to illustrate the disconnect between “leaders” and fighters. The governors and legislatures of the confederate states could write loftily worded essays about the “inferiority of the negro race” until the ink ran out, but they were not the ones fighting and dying at Gettysburg and Antietum. In the civil war of 2021, it will be common people who shed blood on our streets, not CEOs or politicians. Whatever compels a person to combat, the final decision to take up arms is their own. It is worthless to speculate what would happen if a pacifist movement had overcome the nation in 1861, but history shows us that such things rarely happen, and war seems to be the order of things when conflict reaches apex. If and when America goes to war with itself again, we will not have the luxury of blaming the bloodshed on a politician or media mogul. The burden of the decision to kill our fellow citizens is not so easily shaken, and a dozen lives taken in a moment of fury will quickly grow to a million if the vigilant close their eyes.

September 17th,1862, was the first day of the battle of Antietum, the bloodiest day in American military history, with a total of 22,717 casualties, including at least 5,389 deaths. Men charged each other with bayonets and swords, rode each other down on horseback, and killed each other by the hundreds with musket and cannon. Not even a century later the world was shocked by the first day casualty reports from The Battle of the Somme during World War I. The British army clashed with the German army, and after only one day of fighting the British lost over 20,000 men. These were not mixed casualties including wounded and missing, these were deaths.

20th century warfare had arrived.

Returning to the American Civil War, this most costly of American wars saw nearly one million deaths over four years, no small number to be sure. Compare this number to the mere five month Battle of Stalingrad in World War II which saw a staggering two million casualties amongst all belligerents. The soldiers at Stalingrad used bolt action rifles, propeller airplanes, and relatively simple tanks to fight what would become the bloodiest battle in history. The aforementioned tools are worlds ahead of the muskets and cannons of The Civil War, and yet they are considered archaic by modern military standards. It is 2021, and the United States of America spends more money on its military than any other country, even more than the next ten countries combined. Even if one argues that the military may never be involved in force (a naive hope, given historic wars) there are more firearms in this country than there are people. Whatever arguments might be made about the ethics of gun laws, the fact remains that even a civilian led conflict in America would see horrifying casualties, and when those numbers start to climb, the military would have to get involved. Drone strikes, Abrams tanks, and high tech aircraft represent just some of the seemingly endless arsenal at the modern army’s disposal. The weighty burden of that call to war was immense in 1861, how much heavier it is in the 21st century. And none of this mentions the apocalyptic weapons we all seem to forget, atomic bombs. Anyone who does not think it could come to that is blind to the escalating nature of the history of war.

The United States stands on a precipice. It would not be unreasonable to assume that every American has considered the possibility of Civil War in the past two months, and the idea of the “peaceful divorce” grows more popular by the day. And why not? When faced with the magnitude of an information-age civil war in America, anything seems more appealing. It is difficult to argue another view, except to say that America is not without powerful enemies, and we are never as strong as we are when united. What else is there to do? The line between left and right in this country is a vast canyon, uncrossable if leaders and media are to be believed. Every day we are inundated with reasons why one side is wrong and evil and the other is just and good. We are told that the issues that divide us cut to the heart of our very being, and there can be no compromise with those who run contrary to our ideologies. So it seems we have a horrifying choice: face the rest of the world as weakened shadows of our former glory, or slaughter each other in a fit of vengeful rage. For that is the new civil war’s impetus, vengeance. Vengeance against Donald Trump and his supporters for the evils of the past four years. Vengeance against Joe Biden and the democrats for stealing the election. Vengeance against social media and mainstream media for defying our free speech and lying to the American people. Vengeance against a system that perpetuates racism and subjugation in the name of capital.

Pick one and scream it. Will it make the next million deaths worth it?