What is with the Obcession with the American Civil War outside of the US

[FirstDiv2Corps]

I'd be more interested to know how popular the English Civil War is over in the United States.

Haha, nil. Good luck striking up a conversation about Naseby or the political decisions of Cromwell.

[David Dire]

Yeah, the English civil war basically never happened according to American schools :P

[Brooklyn]

I'd be more interested to know how popular the English Civil War is over in the United States.

Yeah, through all my basic education (k-12), I remember learning about the English Civil War once.

[zerosius]

As a german i find the underlying romanticism of fighting for freedom very interesting, even though the topic of freeing the slaves only became the primary Focus of the war later on. The Immigration to the US of many Germans after the failed Revolution of 1848/49 and them fighting on (mostly) the Unions side is a very interesting aspect for me personally. Though in Germany, although we have a good school system per say, not once was the topic of the US Civil War brought up in my curriculum.

[arpbarker]

its definately the romantisicm of the American Civil War that does it for me. What I love about the US military in a lot of the larger scale conflicts is the individual soldiers need to express themselves, take Vietnam and Helmet graffiti etc. Its something that is lost in armies.

I think the time period was interesting, civil wars themselves promote discussion due to the 'neighbour killing neighbour' thing, even if you talk about the troubles in N.I it has the same feeling.

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

As a german i find the underlying romanticism of fighting for freedom very interesting, even though the topic of freeing the slaves only became the primary Focus of the war later on. The Immigration to the US of many Germans after the failed Revolution of 1848/49 and them fighting on (mostly) the Unions side is a very interesting aspect for me personally. Though in Germany, although we have a good school system per say, not once was the topic of the US Civil War brought up in my curriculum.

We talked about the war of independence in our english lessons. Only in the aspect of the election system we talked shortly about the civil war.

The revolution of 1848/49 is a very important topic. You can see a big influence of their ideas in our constitution.

About the English civil war

Only Europa Universalis 4 teached me about it

In Germany you talk a lot about the 2 World Wars and their connections.

[Jonny Powers]

I think a lot of interest in conflicts that one's native country has little to no involvement in spurs an interest simply due to the unknown factor, at least among those inclined to be interested in history (as I assume most people here are). I know in my public schooling, and it seems to be that way across the globe from the posts here, national education focuses primarily on just that, how it relates to the nation. It's only in subjects touching other areas, such as foreign languages and world history courses, that it goes outside of the perspective of history in relation to the native country.

Pop culture and entertainment mediums are probably the biggest impetus for exploring other periods of history. I know myself I didn't really care at all about the Civil War, and American history as well to an extent, and found it boring until I got into North and South and Guns of the South. Funnily enough, a lot of my interest in regular history came from my fascination with alternate history; the 1632 series, Turtledove's work, etc.

[BloodBeag]

Was that a joke to the guy that said the wars of the roses to mean the english civil war? The english civil war is one of the wars that shaped Britain in a similar way to the thirty years war in Europe and you could go ahead and say that the english civil war was part of the thirty years war

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

So it proves his statement xD

[Celt]

First off, there isn't an obsession with the American Civil war outside of America. In fact it's one of the lesser known historical events to most people worldwide.

Secondly, personally I like the era because it's the last major era of conflict before modern warfare. Once you go past the ACW, you're getting in to WWI conflict, which was fought totally different. Gone are the uniforms based on colours, you're moving into camouflage. WW1 also saw military units not be so focused on all the men coming from one area. Gone are the line tactics, into the trenches they go.

Civil war military is interesting to me because, especially on the Southern side, all the units and commanders so are tied to their regions. Robert E. Lee was a Virginian through and though, as was Beauregard was a Louisianan. Wheat's Tigers, in their roster, told the story of New Orleans' working class. The Kansas Troops, packed with Germans, told the story of Kansas. There was so much character and personality to each commander and each unit.

WWI is more about the inhumanity of the war; how suddenly now war was almost industrial in it's brutality. It was no longer about dashing charges and bravery, it was about running into a meat blender to die for 500 metres of land. WW2 then had a lot of characters and personality, but the tactics and vibe are totally different.

The ACW is the last major war where fighting under a flag literally meant fighting under a flag. The ACW was the last major war where you could the whites in the enemies' eyes. The ACW was the last major war where hand to hand combat was a significant part of the fight.

It's also the only real out and out war fought on American soil. War of Independent was a bit more guerilla in nature, America-Mexico was all in Mexico, and the war of 1812 was more of a series of skirmishes and fort capturing. Individual states sent as many men into battles in the ACW as participated in the entire war of 1812.

The ACW was unique in many aspects.