Sid Meier's Gettysburg! [antikvár]

1) INTRODUCTION Welcome to FIRAXIS™ Games' first offering, Sid Meier's Gettysburg! This is a rich, fun game that we hope you'll enjoy for years to come. The Importance of the Battle of Gettysburg The United States is perhaps the greatest democracy the world has known, and the American Civil War was a critical, defining period in the nation's history. The Battle of Gettysburg came at a time during that war when the forces of the rebellion, while pressed, were still in a winning position. The irrepressible conflict had burned on for two and a half years and it seemed little closer to ending now than it had at the beginning. There were essentially two great areas of conflict in the war - the East and the West. In the West, the forces of the Federal Government had been largely successful at winning battles, but had still not managed to gain control of the Mississippi River, a vital commercial artery that flowed from the northern states, through the rebelling states, and emptied into the Gulf of Mexico. As long as the Rebel forces controlled the lower end of the Mississippi - or any portion of it - it was useless to the United States as a shipping avenue and a political embarrassment. The Federal forces in the East had suffered defeat after defeat, and had been unable, after repeated attempts, to stop the Rebel forces from roaming freely throughout Virginia and Maryland. The proximity of the Rebel army in Virginia to the capital of the United States at Washington made it a terrible, chronic threat. Only the will of the president, Abraham Lincoln, and the riches of the northern states in supplies and equipment had kept the Rebel army out of Washington. It is said that the North could not win the war in the east, but they could easily lose it there. Now, in the spring and early summer of 1863, a climax was approaching in the West. A Federal army under Grant and Sherman was besieging the city of Vicksburg, the last substantial Rebel stronghold on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. If Vicksburg fell, the Federal government would again control the mighty river, and the area of the rebelling states west of it would be cut off from the east. In addition, another