NCWM Lessons in History Series: “The Civil War in a Global Context” with Dr. Aaron Sheehan Dean

Professor Aaron Sheehan Dean places the Civil War in the context of what other nations were doing, especially Britain during the Sepoy Rebellion.

The video’s description reads, “Dr. Aaron Sheehan Dean presented virtually for our NCWM Lessons in History Series on May 22, 2021. Most histories of the American Civil War describe it as a domestic event. Instead, this lecture situates the conflict in the context of the other civil and national wars that happened at nearly the same time. By comparing and contrasting the American experience with the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Polish Insurrection of 1863, and the Taiping Rebellion, we see the Civil War in a new light. Rather than being a unique or exceptional American event, we can see what Confederates shared with other rebels around the globe. This new framing also helps us see the commonalities between the US and the British, Russian, and Chinese empires, all large and ambitious states willing to use violence to maintain their authority. About the Presenter: Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean is the Fred C. Frey Professor of Southern Studies at Louisiana State University and the chairman of the History Department. He teaches courses on nineteenth-century U.S. history, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Southern History. He is the author of the award-winning The Calculus of Violence: How Americans Fought the Civil War, Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia, Concise Historical Atlas of the U.S. Civil War, and is the co-author of American Horizons: U.S. History in a Global Context.”