Civil War And Reconstruction In The Film, Gone With The Wind

The Civil War and Reconstruction were two major events in 19th century America. The Civil War started in 1861 and ended in 1865. The war was against the North, who were called the Yankees, and the South, who were called the Confederates. The Reconstruction occurred in 1865 and ended in 1877. This period was about rebuilding the South after the war. The movie, Gone with the Wind¸ is focused on these two periods of time and gives the audience a visual perspective of what happened during these events. The movie focuses on how the Civil War and Reconstruction were seen through southerners’ eyes. Gone with the Wind is about how life can go from luxurious to catastrophic. The main character was a woman named Scarlett O’Hara. She lived in Tara, Georgia on a plantation her father owned. One day, Scarlett went to a barbeque on the Wilkes plantation. While there, she confessed her love for a man named Ashley Wilkes, although the feeling was not mutual. He was already engaged to his cousin Melanie Hamilton, who he loved, because he believed that they were very similar. Many of the men were excited about a war except for a man named Rhett Butler. Rhett was a wealth man from Charlotte, North Carolina and thought that war was a waste of time. During the barbeque, they received news that a war will take place. Everyone
According to Dr. James McPherson, author of Defining Time in Our Nation’s History, this war started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states. In the movie, the Yankees conquered most of the South and left Confederate soldiers for dead. Much of the South was poor during this time and their supplies were scarce or gone. Most of the Confederate soldiers died from disease and wounds. They even include that Robert E. Lee