I have heard is said, quite often, that history is written by the winners. Generally speaking, it is done by people who are trying to represent a more balanced view of history. Most often, they are trying to represent the losing side of a conflict in a more positive light. Most often, they have an axe to grind about the history as it is written.
There is one exception the the adage of history being written by winners that I am aware of. That is right here in the good old USA. That is the American Civil War. In the past 150+ years since the end of the Civil War, apologist and revisionists representing the Southern Cause have generally rewritten the cause and public view of the war itself.
I know this as I spent the majority of my life being enchanted with the antebellum South and being an exponent of the fact that the Civil War was about States Rights. Well it was; in a messy, dirty, rotten way. The States Right that they were referring to was holding slaves; no more and no less. It was not about any other damned right, just the right to hold fellow human beings in perpetual bondage. So much for the Southern Cause.
Oh, I will admit that there was a goodly amount of the individuals in the South that adhered to the belief of States Rights in the theoretical sense. After all, they had convincing politicians then as well. I will also admit that many people joined one side of the conflict or another as a matter of geography, without any real allegiance to any cause. Ofttimes, this was because association to a given state was often stronger than to the nation as a whole.
But that did not change the fact that the South was fighting for the continuation of slavery and the North was, initially, fighting to keep the South from succeeding and ultimately, to abolish slavery.
The problem is that, all to often, history books and novels have been written from the Southern Cause point of view. To the point that it is often hard to figure out who the “bad guy” was. Well, let me tell you: the “bad guy” was those who continued to hold slaves. They were most often educated individuals who knew better and did nothing because it made them money – pure and simple.
So next time you are wondering about the Civil War, remember the “good guys” won and the “bad guys” are lying.
