Why is the american "civil war" called a civil war when it doesn't meet the definition of a civil war?

Question

The south just wanted to leave the union , they didn't want a war, the north started the war and a half million deaths are the result of it.

Answer 1

With that shot on the Union ship “Star of the West” the Civil War officially began. The causes of the Civil War are complex and deep, however one word describes the heart of the division of America that led to actual fighting: slavery.

Read this and take all of your info dump it you are wrong as to started the war

Answer 2

Actually, your first assumption is incorrect:

The North did not start the war.

It started when the South, under general P.T. Beauregard, began to shell Fort Sumter during a food shipment, even though the Southern gov. had assured Lincoln that no attack would be made.

And, there were two parties fighting for control of the country. Though, as you say, the South didnt initially want a war, by attacking Sumter, they created a conflict in which no side could win without destroying the other. Dont forget, too, that for the first few years of the war, the North was on the defensive, as the South tried to capture Washington DC.

Answer 3

Careful now, you're gonna spill your grits all over your shotgun Granny.

Answer 4

Civil war is between groups of people within the borders of one country

Answer 5

It was still a war in a country against itself

Answer 6

the same reason the vietnam war, korean war, war in afghanistan, iraq war, was called a war, when technically a war was never declared

Answer 7

Very true. The South had no designs on a single square inch of Yankee territory.

Answer 8

So what is your 'definition' of a civil war? Two (or more) parts of a single country fight each other militarily for control of the country. The states of the Confederacy wanted to leave the union and form a separate country, and the Federal government stopped them. What else would you call this if not a civil war?

As far as "the South didn't want a war" - who fired on Fort Sumter - the Indians? Why were Federal forts and military stores seized by the Confederate states, and why had they already formed an army? Secession was the 'cause' of the Civil War, since it was clearly known for years before the fact that the Federal government would not allow states to break away from the Union.

Edit:  "the south wasn't fighting for control of the north.... THE NORTH WAS FIGHTING FOR CONTROL OF THE SOUTH......... enough said!"

You miss the forest for the trees - The "North" and the "South" you refer to are parts of THE SAME COUNTRY! You may argue that the Federal reaction to the South's secession was wrong, or inappropriate, or (as I suspect you believe) evil. But you can't seriously consider the attempt by one part of a country to break away and the national government's efforts to  resist the secession as anything other than a civil war. It is a simple matter of definition.

>>

civil war

Function:     noun

Date:  15th century

: a war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country. <<

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar...

>> civil war

n.

1. A war between factions or regions of the same country.

2. A state of hostility or conflict between elements within an organization: <<

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/civil+w...

>> Civil war, a war between different sections or parties of

      the same country or nation. <<

http://dictionary.die.net/civil%20war

>> civil war

noun:

war between geographical sections or political factions of the same nation. <<

http://www.yourdictionary.com/civil-war

>> civil war

n.

   1. A war between factions or regions of the same country.

   2. A state of hostility or conflict between elements within an organization: “The broadcaster is in the midst of a civil war that has brought it to the brink of a complete management overhaul” (Bill Powell). <<

http://www.answers.com/topic/civil-war-1

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