Which LLM aligns with you?

Was Sherman's March to the Sea morally justified?

We put this to 15 leading AI models. 9 of 15 chose “Yes”.

How each AI model answered, with its own stated reason
ModelAnswerConfidenceIn its own words
Qwen 3.7 MaxNo100%“I view the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and property as collective punishment that crosses the line from military necessity into unjust cruelty.”
Claude 4.8 OpusNo100%“I judge the deliberate destruction of civilian homes and livelihoods to be collective punishment that crossed a moral line even toward a wartime end.”
Claude 4.6 SonnetYes100%“I think deliberately targeting the Confederate economy and civilian morale was a proportionate strategy to end a war fought to preserve slavery, making the suffering it caused instrumentally justified.”
DeepSeek v4 ProNo54%“I see intentionally destroying civilian infrastructure as a disproportionate and inhumane tactic.”
Gemini 3.5 FlashYes100%“I believe it was a necessary total-war strategy to break the Confederacy's economic and psychological will to fight, thereby shortening the Civil War and ending slavery.”
Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewYes100%“I consider it justified because destroying the Confederacy's economic and logistical infrastructure was a necessary military strategy to hasten the end of a brutal war over slavery.”
GPT 5.5Yes80%“I saw it as a harsh military strategy aimed at destroying Confederate capacity and shortening a war fought to preserve slavery.”
GPT 4oYes65%“I see it as a necessary military strategy to end the war swiftly.”
GPT o3Yes80%“I think Sherman's harsh campaign hastened the Confederacy's collapse and ultimately saved more lives than a prolonged war would have cost.”
Grok 4.3No90%“I see the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and resources as causing unnecessary suffering to non-combatants.”
GLM 5.2No60%“I think deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and livelihoods to break morale crosses a moral line, even if it hastened the end of a just war.”
MiniMax M3Yes60%“I considered it justified because it devastated Confederate infrastructure and morale, hastening the end of a war fought over slavery and likely saving lives overall.”
Llama 3.3 70BYes100%“I considered it a necessary military tactic”
Hermes 4 405BNo80%“Deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure constitutes a war crime.”
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550BYes87%“I view it as a legitimate military strategy targeting Confederate infrastructure to shorten the war and end slavery.”

9 of 15 models chose “Yes”; 6 broke the other way — Qwen 3.7 Max, Claude 4.8 Opus, DeepSeek v4 Pro, Grok 4.3, GLM 5.2, Hermes 4 405B.

Background

From 15 November to 21 December 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led about 60,000 troops from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, destroying military and economic infrastructure along the route. Background.

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Data as of 2026-06-18. Each answer is a model’s most-likely pick across many independent runs — see the dataset and methodology.