A civil war is a war between different groups of people who belong to the same country. It lasted from 1861-1865, triggered by the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

As the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad proceeds, the weak Shiite-dominated government is inevitably becoming an open partisan in a nasty civil war between Sunni and Shiite Arabs.

As a result, President Bush's commitment to making a "success" of the current government will increasingly amount to siding with the Shiites, a position that is morally dubious and probably not in the interest of either the United States or long-term regional peace and stability.

In Iraq's civil war, the most prominent faction is what America calls Iraq's "government.".It is, of course, not a government, because there is no state. The "government's" goal is to recreate an Iraqi state and become a real government.

Therefore, this site contains selected after action reports of the Commanders in the field for major battles of the American Civil War and selected events that I felt were significant.

Just click on the event/battle you're interested in. Lavishly illustrated companion periodical to Civil War Times, Americas Civil War provides insights into the epic conflict that divided the nation for four tragic years. ACW emphasizes battles, strategies and leaders, with detailed battle maps and artwork, including modern and period photographs.

For decades after the war, Northern Republicans "waved the bloody shirt," bringing up memories of the Civil War as an electoral tactic, while the "Solid South" voted as a Democratic block in national politics. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s had its neo-abolitionist roots in the failure of Reconstruction.