Now we ACTUALLY teach about the Civil War. In part one of our two part look at the US Civil War, John looks into the causes of the war, and the motivations of the individuals who went to war. The overarching causes and the individual motivations were not always the same, you see. John also looks into why the North won, and whether that outcome was inevitable. The North's industrial and population advantages are examined, as are the problems of the Confederacy, including its need to build a nation at the same time it was fighting a war. As usual, John doesn't get much into the actual battle by battle breakdown. He does talk a little about the overarching strategy that won the war, and Grant's plan to just overwhelm the South with numbers. Grant took a lot of losses in the latter days of the war, but in the end, it did lead to the surrender of the South. If you want to learn more about the Civil War, we recommend these books:
Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson
The Civil War by Shelby Foote

Check out CommonLit's free collection of reading passages and curriculum resources to learn more about the events of this episode. There were many causes of the American Civil War and events that led to disunion: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/causes-of-the-american-civil-war
Once the war started, its outcome was determined by the different abilities and resources of the divided North and South: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/a-nation-divided-north-vs-south