Research - The American Civil War

Here are some of the relevant notes I took during my research on the American Civil War:

• The war lasted from 1861 to 1965 and led to over 618,000 casualties.
• Causes can be traced back to tensions that formed early in the nation’s history
• 1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South
• There was a greater need for slaves, especially in the South
• 2. States versus federal rights
• Since the time of the Revolution, two camps emerged: those arguing for greater states rights and those arguing that the federal government needed to have more control.
• 3. The fight between slave and non-slave state proponents
• 4. Growth of the Abolition movement
• 5. The election of Abraham Lincoln
• Federalists believed that the federal government and the executive needed to maintain their power in order to ensure the survival of the union. On the other hand anti-federalists held that states should retain much of their sovereignty within the new nation. Basically they believed that each state should have the right to determine the laws within its own borders and should not be forced to follow the mandates of the federal government unless absolutely necessary.
• Arguments arose of taxation, tariffs, internal improvements, the military and of course slavery
• The north and south were squared off against each other. The south was largely comprised of small and large plantations that grew crops such as cotton which were labor intensive. The north, on the other hand, was more of a manufacturing center, using raw materials to create finished goods. Slavery had been abolished in the North but continued in the South due to the need for inexpensive labor and the ingrained culture of the plantation era.
• Technology: The first railroad in America was made in 1830, there were hospitals, rifled musket weapons, the submarine, flame thrower, land mines, grenades, observation balloons, iron hulled warships, repeating guns.

I could perhaps use the American Civil war in my concept - perhaps the Vikings could be the North or South sides, or a third party

Or perhaps I could set the game during this time period but could have a war between the vikings and their enemies which could have aspects of the Civil war in it, but could have other causes and effects. I could re-write history!