"They're desperate, prepared for the worst, and no matter what decision we make, they're grateful." They don't ask for it, they don't talk about conditions. They have lost the war, and there is no way but to obey. ”
Recently, the matter with Iran has been boiling over, and the United States seems to have once again put itself on the brink of war. Some people think that the United States has long wanted to find an opportunity to fight a war, and some people say that the United States cannot afford to fight now, and at most it is to put on a show to scare people. The international situation is unpredictable, and the interests are particularly complex, and before the outcome is staged, it is difficult to say whether what is happening now is a bluff. But it is true that historically, Americans do not seem to be afraid or even fond of fighting; and they are never soft on their opponents, even if the enemies are their compatriots.
A Civil War taught the Americans that "reconciliation is needed," especially as the victory-winning Confederate commander General Ulysses Simpson Grant did not show off his victory in front of the defeated army, but instead gave full respect to the Confederate commander, Robert Edward Lee. The two sides have written a good story in American history, and Americans have vividly interpreted the wonderful words "human nature, understanding and respect". In fact, after the End of the Civil War, only a very small number of people received such treatment, and most of the officers and men of the Confederate Army faced a cruel reckoning.
What kind of cruelty was the liquidation of the Northern Army against the Southern Army? We can see it from a "famous quote" by the famous Northern Army general William Tecuse Sherman: "Lao Tzu wants the Yankees and their descendants to get an unforgettable lesson, and never dare to think about independence and war again!" Of course, Sherman dared to make such a wild statement, of course, he had the confidence. As we all know, the Civil War was the first hand of the Confederate Army and once had the upper hand. After 1862, the Confederate Army quickly reversed its decline, and in the process, Grant decided to end the war as soon as possible, for which he issued an order: destroy everything that might benefit the enemy.
Grant's instruction became the "sword of Shangfang" for the commanders of the Northern Army, and in order to destroy the Resistance of the Confederate Army, they expanded the war to a point that was difficult to face, and could even be said to have no fear. For example, in July 1862, the Confederate Army had difficulty making a breakthrough when it attacked the Southern Army's fortress of Vicksburg in Memphis. The Confederates were at a disadvantage in this war, but they skillfully used the cover of strong fortifications to inflict great casualties on the enemy. Enraged, Sherman ordered heavy artillery to be sent to surround the fort, completely ignoring the large number of Southern civilians in the fortress. The shelling continued for a month and a half, and by the time the Confederates had conquered Vicksburg, it was in ruins. The great victory, known as "ringing the death knell of slavery," was later denounced as the "Vicksburg Massacre."
Another of the more famous cases occurred in Atlanta. As one of the most important strategic centers of the Confederate Army, Atlanta was captured by the Northern Army in 1864. In order to completely destroy this stubborn stone, the Northern Army expelled the people in the city in November of that year. There are a large number of old, weak, sick and disabled people in the city, who are unable to move and do not want to leave. They even knelt at the feet of the Northern Army officers and wept bitterly and pleaded, but in exchange for a fire. The Confederates burned the entire city before leaving, and the fire in Atlanta lasted for two weeks. According to some information, at that time, the surrounding towns could see the fire of Atlanta, and people who were slightly closer to the city could faintly hear the terrible cries coming from afar. As a result, this brutal past was buried in the ground along with the ruins of old Atlanta.
As the saying goes, "kill people and curse the heart", and General Grant's so-called "destroy everything" command may just want to make the Confederate army no longer have the courage to make trouble. However, his subordinates apparently misinterpreted the original intention, even equating this order with a "scorched earth policy". At the end of the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Northern Army troops became beasts of prey to burn and loot the southern lands, and according to the literature, by 1865, there was no longer a slightly more vibrant plantation in the whole south. Officers and men of the Northern Army hunted and killed the Southern Army's scattered soldiers in droves, and the former was as excited as hunting. There were soldiers of the Confederate Army who were cornered and hid in a private house in a hurry, but the pursuing soldiers did not even have a word of persuasion to surrender, and they launched a strafing of the entire building on the spot, until the wall was turned into a sieve.
The bodies of the fallen Soldiers of the Confederate Army and the southerners had nowhere to be found, and they were simply buried in the former plantations. As a result, the fields were densely packed with grave bags, and I couldn't see my head at a glance, which looked extremely mad. After the victory of the Northern Army, they trumpeted that the war had brought unprecedented stability and unity to the United States, and even whitewashed the war as a "gentleman's war." However, when a reporter from the North interviewed a citizen on the streets of North Carolina and asked him what he thought of the Civil War, the citizens were furious and their facial features were distorted by anger. He said the war took away his son, who was not killed in battle, but was tortured and killed by the Northern Army at the end of the war. Not only that, but the Northern Army also took away his personal property and set fire to his house. Another young southern man said bluntly: "In the future, I will have offspring, first of all, let them learn to hate the Yankees, because they are just a bunch of shameful bandits!" ”
In fact, most textbooks, books and related literature regard the abolition of black slaves as the root cause of the Civil War, in fact, from a historical point of view, the so-called "abolition of black slavery" is just an excuse for the Northern Army to provoke war. As we often say, the essence of war is nothing more than a struggle for interests, and in the mid-19th century, stimulated by the Industrial Revolution, there was an irreconcilable confrontation between the northern bourgeoisie and the southern slave owners over the question of "money". Encouraged by a paper called "abolition of 4 million black slaves", a huge anti-black slave movement broke out in many states, which not only forced the seven southern states to announce their withdrawal from the Union, but also gave the northerners the excuse and determination to carry out the war to the end. In fact, as far as the war itself is concerned, the two sides of the Civil War cannot say that there is justice and evil at all; and in light of the specific behavior of both sides, the Northern Army under the guise of "human rights" is not a "division of justice", but they look more evil.
On Christmas Eve 1864, the Confederate Army conquered the famous port city of Savannah. Sherman made a shocking decision to set fire to the city. Afterwards, he smugly sent the war to Lincoln, calling it a Christmas gift for the president. Even with such a crime, Sherman later patted his chest and said, "I have nothing to repent of, and everything I do is worthy of conscience." ”
Interestingly, Americans who speak of "human rights" and "humanity first" also seem to ignore these altogether, and their heroes remain pure and unblemished. In their eyes, the atrocities of the Northern Army were nothing more than a "catharsis" of the war mood, and the Southern Army deserved to be unlucky; even if the Northern Army was not clean and dirty, who let the Yankees provoke this war to split the country first?