Bonuses for American Civilization Starting: Begin the game with a Great Person Ancient: 2% interest on gold Medieval: Rush units at half-price Industrial: +1 food from plains Modern: Factories provide 3x production Unique Units: Tank becomes Sherman Tank, Bomber becomes Flying Fortress, Fighter becomes Mustang Fighter
Fun Facts
America is one of the most prosperous nations in history. In fact, California, a state in the western United States, is so economically powerful that if it were to become its own country, it alone would have an economy larger than those of Canada, Spain or Russia.
America is the only country with states in all three major climate zones - Hawaii in the tropical zone, the mainland United States in the temperate zone and Alaska in the polar zone.
Notes from the Civilopedia: The Americans:
The United States is young by Civilization standards, being barely more than 200 years old. The United States did not expand to reach its current borders and did not become a true world power until the middle of the 20th century. America was the first European colony to separate successfully from its motherland, and it was among the first nations to be established on the premise that sovereignty rests with its citizens and not with the government.
Prior to the 1770s, the American colonists were loyal subjects of the British Empire, but a combination of taxes and ministerial mismanagement of the situation led to the outbreak of revolution in 1776. With the aid of France American independence was gained after a long and bitter struggle.
In its first century and a half, the country was mainly preoccupied with its own territorial exploration, internal development, and economic growth. But the spectre of slavery continued to divide the country between North and South, eventually erupting in a bloody civil war that lasted four years and consumed hundreds of thousands of lives. In the end, the Union was preserved and the power of the central federal government greatly strengthened compared to before the conflict.
Following the Civil War, the nation entered a period of unprecedented growth. European immigration, westward expansion, urban growth, technological advances, and a host of American inventions - including the telephone, typewriter, linotype, phonograph, electric light, cash register, air brake and the refrigerator car - contributed to the American explosion.
The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked the emergence of the United States onto the world's stage as a major - albeit reluctant - world power. Despite a strong isolationist streak the country was heavily engaged in the two World Wars of the first half of the twentieth century. Those wars were finally ended when the United States employed nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945.
The Allied victory at the end of World War II left the United States as one of the world's two "superpowers." The communist Soviet Union and capitalist United States were ideologically hostile to one-another, and for the next half-century the world would endure the tense and dangerous "Cold War," one misstep away from devastating nuclear conflagration.
Since the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989-91, the United States has been left alone as the world's sole remaining superpower. Rather than facing conventional armies on the field of battle, America is now challenged by terrorist groups who make no distinction between military and civilian targets. For all of its overwhelming economic and military strength, the United States will have to work together with other nations in order to meet the threats of the modern world.
Unique American worker units.
Notes from the Civilopedia: More about Abraham Lincoln:
President Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865 AD) was born in 1809 on the American frontier in Hadrin County, Kentucky. While not poor, Lincoln certainly had more in common with the average American than his more affluent political counterparts. An almost entirely self-made man, Lincoln's formal education included only 18 months of unofficial schooling which he supplemented with his own studies. Teaching himself law, he was admitted to the bar in 1837 upon which he became a well-known and successful lawyer.
In the mid-nineteenth century the United States was bitterly divided over the issue of slavery. The mostly-agrarian South viewed slavery as an economic necessity, while the more urbanized North largely saw it as immoral. As the North's population and economic power grew, the South became increasingly concerned that the North would force it to abandon its "peculiar institution."
In 1860 Lincoln was elected president of the United States. Although he was considered a moderate on slavery - he did not seek to end slavery where it existed, but wished to limit its expansion - following his election a number of Deep South states announced their secession from the United States. By April of 1861 the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and the American Civil War began in earnest.
The war's outcome was anything but pre-ordained. The North greatly outnumbered the South and had far more industrial power. However, the South began the war with the better military officers. Finally, the British were generally supportive of the South - although the Brits did not approve of slavery, they admired the Southern character greatly and they badly needed Southern cotton - and their intervention might give the Rebels a decisive advantage.
As a war president, Lincoln needed to craft a winning strategy, build a mighty military force and isolate the South from foreign intervention while maintaining popular Northern support for the war effort.
The early years of the war were generally marked by a series of crushing defeats for the Union, as one incompetent general after another was defeated by superior Confederate tactics. Seeking to further demoralize the Union and perhaps to spark British intervention, the Confederacy launched an audacious invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania under the command of the brilliant general Robert E. Lee. In July of 1862 the Northern and Southern forces met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and after a terrible three-day battle the Rebel forces were decisively beaten and forced to retreat to Virginia. Simultaneously, Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant captured the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last Southern stronghold on the vital Mississippi river.
These victories greatly strengthened sagging Northern morale. Shortly thereafter Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which, although it did not immediately repeal slavery, clearly sounded its death knell in the United States. By so doing Lincoln gained popular British support for the North's cause, making it virtually impossible for the British government to intervene on the Southern cause.
As the war progressed, Lincoln began to find the generals he needed to achieve victory. By 1865 the last Southern army was captured and the Rebellion was finally crushed. Lincoln was assassinated shortly afterwards, having lived just long enough to see the victory.
A brilliant politician and a savvy war leader, Lincoln is perhaps best known for his oratory skill. His magnificent words did perhaps as much as anything to save the Union, and they can still stir the heart today.
