Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Civil War

Railroads are not nearly as popular in the United States as they are in European countries. Prior to the American Civil War, railroads were a fairly new, and untried, invention. Compared to carriages and the other modes of transportation at the time, the railroad was far superior. Due to this superiority, they were used to transport soldiers, food, and supplies. A systemic railroad began to spread all across the nation, and both sides of the war used them to their advantage.

The North began the war more prepared and better equipped than the South as their factories began to pour out brand new rifles and munitions at an impressive rate.

The Union had a lot of manufacturing and supplies, and had factories to make supplies for the Union army railroads. Many people grew food and worked in factories.The Union had their weaknesses, however there were few. They had to conquer a large area,they were poorly trained and invading unfamiliar land.

They had more supplies, better outfits and an efficient way to make weapons compared to the South. By the end of the war, there were roughly 198,000 African Americans in the Civil War. This was a controversy for not only some of the Union who refused to fight alongside an African American, but also for the South who would see them in combat. There were disputes among both sides over the Union taking slaves from the South and ultimately rescuing them. Though the North claimed it was legal, considering slaves were ‘property’ and both sides were allowed to raid and confiscate property from each other. This was particular accomplishment on the Union’s half, for it took the Confederate’s words and used them against them.

Historian McPherson argues that “Norther superiority in numbers and resources was a necessary condition for Union victory”. This shows that the North had a major advantage through their larger population, which helped them win the Civil War. The North also had a better industry. In 1860, the North had 6 times as many factories as the South, 10 times the industrial productive capacity and twice as many miles of railway. This proves that the North had an industrial advantage as everything would run normally during the war and supplies would still be produced at high rates.

The lack of emphasis on manufacturing and commercial interest, stemming from the Southern desire to preserve their traditional agricultural society, disadvantaging themselves to the North and their ability to function independently. It was neither Northern troops nor generals that won the Civil War, rather Northern guns and industry. Northern states produced 97% of firearms in the US which allowed war materials to be much more accessible and productive to produce as the North already had these large factory’s, which is

Civil War is defined as a war between citizens of the same country. When the two parties are from the same country there are bound to be major advantages and disadvantages to both sides. The South had a very recognizable advantage fighting on the defensive territory and being familiar with the land while the North was essentially coming in blind. While this would have been an advantage for the South, the North had an advantage themselves, they outnumbered the South. With both sides having huge advantages and disadvantages, it makes one think of the ‘what if’s”. Both the good and bad of each side played a crucial role of the outcome. The side that won would have an impact on the entire country.

However this effected the South because they failed to grow their industrial platform. The North had 66% of railroad mileage when the South had only 34%. This shows by far that the North was more industrialized than the South. Since the Union had more mileage of railroad they were able to have their men, food, and materials transported for a long distance in a short period of time. Unlike the North the South was unfortunate to not have such an advanced railroad. The South was able to transport some distance but not nearly the amount of mileage the North could cover. This shows very clearly the South simply lost the war due to their lack of interest in improving their resource industry and industrial

The Civil War was a very gruesome war. The war had become the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South). During the war the union and confederacy had many weaknesses and strengths. Some of them are technology, army/military and government.

As a result, the North was seen as the advantage and the South with the disadvantage due to the amount populations and resources. The author George M. Fredrickson explains his reasoning behind why he believes the north had a greater advantage. In the Why the North Won by James McPherson also explains the advantages of the north, he then after states turning points during the war which affected the end result. Both of the secondary sources state economic, population and resources which were all in favor of the Unions

The North was also able to create a blockade towards the South which prevented the South from accessing ships or any way that they had to transport goods. Stated in an article called “Why did the Union Win/ Confederacy Lose?” by Carl Zebrowski states, “But of course the factors that enter into the South’s ultimate defeat are those things that you hear time and time again, and with a great amount of validity: the North’s industrial base; the North’s manpower resources; the fact that foreign recognition was denied the Confederacy” (Zebrowski 3). The bottom line as to why the Union had won was clear and it as because of their ability to cope with the situation in a way that would be realistic and they had more than enough people going to war compared to the South. The North had weapons and men that were able to fight the war with easy access to weapons, the South had weapons but not enough men to fight for them during the war. It was evident that the South lacked people because in article it is mentioned that the manpower between the North and South was conflicting in a large amount.

The population that the North had was much larger than the South and this gave them advantages and led to victory

An army of soldiers requires an enormous amount of supplies, so one would therefore need to have the means to thereby create those supplies. The North was well industrialized by the time of the Civil War, whereas the South was still highly dependent on slave labor, which hindered their ability to industrialize.4 When it came to producing weapons, uniforms, shoes, preserved food, tools for more effective farming to feed soldiers, the telegraph, and other necessities, the Union was way in the lead. They could not only create these products, but they could produce them in mass amounts in a fraction of the time it originally took to make them.5 The South had a hard time enduring the war because they did not have the factories necessary to produce the quality and mass amount of supplies they needed.

    The civil war, fought from 1861-1865, was started after seven southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederate states. The Union had many advantages that, ultimately, led them to victory. The had many political, economic, and military benefits that aided them in their victory.

The Union had 22 million soldiers. The amount of casualties was 360,000. The Union was bigger than the Confederacy they had better artilleries than Confederacy. They had more immigrants and have more good junior and mid-level officers. Advantages were, banking, ships, factories, experienced government, more railroads to transport supplies, equipment and men, larger navy, larger population.