R. Mitchell, The American Civil War, Bologna, il Mulino, 2003; M. Del Pero, Freedom and Empire. The United States and the world, 1776-2016, Bari, Laterza, 2017, pp. 6- 274.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge of the United States history from the second half of the 19th century to current events with particular attention to the economic, social and political consequences of the Civil War.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of English language
Teaching Methods
Frontal lessons
Further information
Beginning and end of the course: Tuesday 24 March-Friday 29 May
Lessons timetable: Tuesday (D5, 012); Wednesday (D5,110); 12-14 hours; Friday (D5,110), 12-14
Number of lessons: 23
Type of Assessment
Front exam. For non-attending students, in addition to studying the texts indicated, is requested a written report of about 20 pages (with notes and footers and bibliography) on a topic to be agreed, also via e-mail, with the teacher and relevant to the course topic .
Course program
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 - May 13, 1865) represented an event of extraordinary importance not only from an institutional and political-military point of view, but also socially and economically. It was the first great war fought in the age of the industrial revolution and therefore helped to highlight the effects of technological advances in industry and agriculture which, in turn, were destined to revolutionize the war. Militarily it functioned as a large laboratory for the experimentation of new war techniques, new weapons and new concepts for their production. During the entire course of the conflict, 2,375,000 men were recruited. About 20% of the total population of the South, and over 10% of that of the North, were hired for military service, through the two forms of voluntary recruitment and compulsory conscription. The war also led to the end of slavery, the institution that had characterized the life of all colonies first and then the southern part of the country. However, the release of 4 million slaves (more than 10% of the entire population in 1860) did not mean the end of the plantation, a constituent molecule of the slave society, let alone social peace within the great country. Ultimately, despite the military successes achieved by the Union and the strengthening of the federal state, the Civil War only partially solved the problems that generated it, leaving behind a long trail of claims and struggles for real freedom from slavery , for the greater autonomy of the southern states and initiating an infinite series of social and wage protests by the northern population. Already at the end of the conflict, the Democratic President Andrew Johnson offered the ex-slave and secessionist aristocracy, through a series of intimidating measures against African Americans (see Black Codes), the opportunity to return to power by triggering the party's reaction Republican and, above all, of its radical component. Then began a very long phase that, from the years of the "Redemption of the South" and the birth of secret organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan (born in 1866) and terrorism against ethnic minorities, leads to current affairs passing through over 150 years of struggles for racial, civil and social equality until the current debate on the elimination of all monuments dedicated to heroes, civil and military, who fought for the South during the Civil War. The course aims to retrace the most important phases of the American Civil War, to evaluate above all the economic and organizational aspects of the conflict with particular attention to the technological innovations adopted by the two armies during those years. It will also explore the long-term consequences of the war to the present day.