Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Abe
But if anyone wants to know why Hitler and Hirohito were destroyed in WW 2, the answer is that America managed to stay "one" nation after the Civil War, despite our many disagreements, which persist to this day.
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The way I've seen it best summarized is that the proper grammatical usage before the war was "The United States are" and afterwards, "The United States is". It established the "one nation, indivisible" part of the pledge of allegiance.
The second best way is that the civil war was, in many ways, the first modern war. Logistics, industrial capacity, manuever warfare, and technology were all determining factors in the outcome. It presaged what 20th century wars would be like.
Foote (and Burns) manage to drive both points through with crystal clarity while humanizing the conflict at ground level rather than just by listing dates and battles. Very readable. (And watchable. I think the series is on Netflix.)