Changes

An unknown number of [[civilians]] also died, in part as a result of the campaign of organized plunder in late 1864 and early 1865 by the troops of [[Union]] [[General]] [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] which helped not only to destroy the will of the Confederacy to fight, but literally to destroy the [[infrastructure]] of the Confederacy.  Severe damage was inflicted on both urban and rural communities in the South, and hundreds of thousands of people became refugees.  The exigencies of [[total war]] had led to the destruction of Southern infrastructure, in particular [[railroads]], long before 1864, but never on such a scale.

An unknown number of [[civilians]] also died, in part as a result of the campaign of organized plunder in late 1864 and early 1865 by the troops of [[Union]] [[General]] [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] which helped not only to destroy the will of the Confederacy to fight, but literally to destroy the [[infrastructure]] of the Confederacy.  Severe damage was inflicted on both urban and rural communities in the South, and hundreds of thousands of people became refugees.  The exigencies of [[total war]] had led to the destruction of Southern infrastructure, in particular [[railroads]], long before 1864, but never on such a scale.

[[Total war]] based on modern technology was confirmed as the mode in which [[nation-states]] would fight each other throughout the industrial age.  Simultaneously with the Union the Confederacy launched the first seagoing [[ironclad]] warships.  With the possible exception of the [[Prussia|Prussians]] and [[Great Britain|British]], it is unlikely that any country of comparable population and technology in the 1860's could have resisted the Union onslaught for as long as the Confederacy did.  This is considered by some historians to represent a major moral victory for the Confederacy.  An equally impressive moral victory was the decision by General Lee on April 9, 1865 to rule out continuing to fight as [[insurgents]]; although it can be argued that this only delayed the inevitable failure of [[Reconstruction]], it also made physical rebuilding possible in a way it would not be in the latter stages of civil wars in other countries in the [[20th century]].  Notional or real, its superiority man for man (and especially general for general) was permanently impressed on the South, which today remains more pro-military than any other region of the United States as measured by percentage of voluntary [[enlistment|enlistments]].

[[Total war]] based on modern technology was confirmed as the mode in which [[nation-states]] would fight each other throughout the industrial age.  Simultaneously with the Union,  the Confederacy launched the first seagoing [[ironclad]] warships.  With the possible exception of the [[Prussia|Prussians]] and [[Great Britain|British]], it is unlikely that any country of comparable population and technology in the 1860's could have resisted the Union onslaught for as long as the Confederacy did.  This is considered by some historians to represent a major moral victory for the Confederacy.  An equally impressive moral victory was the decision by General Lee on April 9, 1865 to rule out continuing to fight as [[insurgents]]; although it can be argued that this only delayed the inevitable failure of [[Reconstruction]], it also made physical rebuilding possible in a way it would not be in the latter stages of civil wars in other countries in the [[20th century]].  Notional or real, its superiority man for man (and especially general for general) was permanently impressed on the South, which today remains more pro-military than any other region of the United States as measured by percentage of voluntary [[enlistment|enlistments]].

== Legacy - Political/Ideological ==

== Legacy - Political/Ideological ==