Effects of War Thousands of people were affected during the American Civil War. They all might have been affected by the war, but not directly affected by the war. The American Civil War was a time period from 1861 to 1865. During those four years, the battle over slavery affected everything. The Civil War had effects on people fighting, men and women at home, free blacks, and enslaved blacks The people fighting in the war were majorly affected. Approximately 2.75 million soldiers fought in the civil war. Roughly 2 million from the North, Union states, and 750,000 from the South, confederate states. During the war around 620,000 soldiers died. “The human cost of the Civil War was beyond anybody’s expectations” (Civil War Casualties, p.1).