Open Course Space

The Civil War and Reconstruction

Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States21H.116J
Free, no sign-up neededFall 2005English
Go to course on MIT OpenCourseWare

Although attention will be devoted to the causes and long-term consequences of the Civil War, this class will focus primarily on the war years (1861-1865) with special emphasis on the military and technological aspects of the conflict. Four questions, long debated by historians, will receive close scrutiny: What caused the war? Why did the North win the war? Could the South have won? To what extent is the Civil War America’s “defining moment”?

Description from MIT OpenCourseWare.

Where to take this course