# "War Between the States" or "Civil War"?? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 28, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067 "2011-04-28T18:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/1 "2011-04-28T18:43:48Z")
I have seen several TV and Movies portraying early 20th century Southerners getting (mildly) indignant when some youngster says the “Civil War.” They are instructed to say “War Between the States.” Why is “Civil War” a taboo term amongst early 20th century Southerners? Mods, this question might step into IMHO territory, but I thought it was best suited for GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/2 "2011-04-28T18:49:23Z")
You mean the “War of Northern Aggression” now don’t you? 😉 > **[Names of the American Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_the_American_Civil_War)** > > The most common name for the American Civil War in modern American usage is simply "The Civil War". Although rarely used during the war, the term "War Between the States" became widespread afterward in the Southern United States. During and immediately after the war, Northern historians often used the terms "War of the Rebellion" and "Great Rebellion", and the Confederate term was "War for Southern Independence", which regained some currency in the 20th century but has again fallen out of use. Th... ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/3 "2011-04-28T18:54:11Z")
This is a WAG, but there was rapidly an effort, as soon as the Civil War was over, to recast it not as a war to preserve the Southern right to own slaves (with it’s attendant issues) but as a war over states rights. Total bullshit, of course. Thus, a focus more on the states’ role in the genesis in the conflict would require it to be labelled as “The War Between the States” vs. “The Civil War”. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/4 "2011-04-28T19:01:29Z")
Civil War is a generic term for conflict within a country. There is currently a civil war in Libya. _War Between the States_ is the name of the American civil war. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/5 "2011-04-28T19:09:26Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > You mean the “War of Northern Aggression” now don’t you? 😉 > > [Names of the American Civil War - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_the_American_Civil_War) I don’t know how I missed that Wiki article when I googled. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/6 "2011-04-28T19:12:13Z")
“War Between the States” isn’t even a particularly accurate name, given that the primary antagonists were the rebel states and the federal government. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/7 "2011-04-28T19:13:32Z")
Objectively, I’d say that the American Civil War is correctly named “The American Civil War”, or just “The Civil War” from the perspective of an American. “War Between The States”, if used generically, could refer to any war between independent states (state=country), so I wouldn’t consider that to be any more accurate than “Civil War” without “American” thrown in there somewhere. For what it’s worth, every history book I’ve read has called it the Civil War. Considering that it was, in fact, a civil war, I don’t see any reason to object to that. Then again, I wasn’t educated in the South. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/8 "2011-04-28T19:13:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > _War Between the States_ is the name of the American civil war. It’s not _ **the** _ name: it’s just one of several names. One name that I’ve seen used from a contemporary Northern perspective is ["War of the](http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/525625131/) [Rebellion"](http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/477671119/). But “War between the States” and “American Civil War” both seem to me to be reasonably neutral ways of naming the war of 1861-1865. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/9 "2011-04-28T19:14:29Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > You mean the “War of Northern Aggression” now don’t you? 😉 Exactly! Or maybe “the Late Unpleasantness.” I’m not from the deep south but I’ve always heard it called “The Civil War”. I certainly don’t remember being instructed to call it anything else. In fact, isn’t the “Civil War Museum” in Richmond VA? Talking in terms of world history I would call it the “American Civil War.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/10 "2011-04-28T19:16:28Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > _War Between the States_ is the name of the American civil war. Well, it is one name for the American civil war. Not “the” name. For example, the Center for Military History, the official historian of the US Army, quite freely calls the unpleasantness the [Civil War](http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/civil_war/index.html)." ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/11 "2011-04-28T19:18:20Z")
I’ve often heard the dry joke that there is never anything civil about war. It may even be a quote from somebody. I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/12 "2011-04-28T19:18:29Z")
On the Beverly Hillbillies, Granny wouldn’t even admit that the South lost the war. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/13 "2011-04-28T19:22:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > On the Beverly Hillbillies, Granny wouldn’t even admit that the South lost the war. Grant stole Lee’s sword and Lee was too much of a gentleman to ask for it back. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/14 "2011-04-28T19:34:17Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > On the Beverly Hillbillies, Granny wouldn’t even admit that the South lost the war. She also said that it was the North that seceded and the South fought to preserve the union. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/15 "2011-04-28T19:40:09Z")
From the Southern perspective, it was a war between states of the FORMER United States. Thus to call it a “civil war” is inaccurate, as the Confederacy considered itself an independent nation. From the Northern perspective, the Confederacy were rebel states of the Unites States of America and the Confederate States of America was an illegal fabrication, and thus it was actually a civil war. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/16 "2011-04-28T19:43:11Z")
Lincoln called it a civil war. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/17 "2011-04-28T19:44:56Z")
An older gentleman once told me, “there was nothing civil about it.” He too preferred War between the States. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/18 "2011-04-28T19:46:28Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Lincoln called it a civil war. Yes, and indeed most of the participants who wrote about the war at the time, from both sides, refer to the conflict as ‘The Civil War’, it’s in the Wiki link above. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/19 "2011-04-28T19:51:23Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > From the Southern perspective, it was a war between states of the FORMER United States. Thus to call it a “civil war” is inaccurate, as the Confederacy considered itself an independent nation. On those grounds, the [Nigerian Civil War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War) was not a real civil war, because Biafra had declared its independence from Nigeria. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067/20 "2011-04-28T19:51:50Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > You mean the “War of Northern Aggression” now don’t you? 😉 > > [Names of the American Civil War - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_the_American_Civil_War) I generally call it “The War of Southern Stupidity,” but that’s just a personal preference. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-between-the-states-or-civil-war/580067.md?page=2)