The American Civil War in a Global Context

Catalog description

The Civil War was the deadliest conflict in American History. It also captivated audiences around the world. Nationalists in Italy and Ireland, abolitionists in Sierra Leone, Bengali merchants in India, and imperial bureaucrats in China all debated the meaning of the war, wondering if the grand experiment in American democracy was coming to a tragic end. This class examines the Civil War as a global and transnational phenomenon, treating it as a broader conversation about race, slavery, democracy, capitalism, and liberty.