The Civil War: North versus South Sectional conflict in the United States between northern and southern territory lead to one of the bloodiest battles in America’s history. The two sides fought over the power of the national government each side arguing whether or not it had the power to abolish slavery in the South. The disagreement lead the seceding of southern states from the Union and the formation of the Confederacy. The Civil War began between the two forces on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay and only escalated from there. Each side had advantages and disadvantages, those of which affected the course of the Civil War, with the North ultimately winning. The location of the battle, population, supplies, and purpose all …show more content…
With strong motivation and familiarity with land, the South had advantages over the North during the war. Numerous disadvantages plagued the South during the Civil War including a lack of supplies and proper funding. The absence of supplies for the soldiers in the war were caused by lack of transportation, an economy with an unhelpful focus, and no agricultural or livestock production (Boyer 434). The problems with transportation and agricultural production were a result from the Union army sabotaging what little the South had previous to the war. Furthermore, the focus of the southern economy was on tobacco and cotton which were not beneficial during the war. The Confederate Army lacked food, proper hygiene, clothes, and more, all of which lead to the death of many soldiers. Improper funds also harmed the South during the Civil War. In response to the absence of money, the Confederate Army created paper currency to help the economy during the war but ended up only creating a large amount of inflation. After printing one billion dollars, the Confederacy suffered an inflation rate of over 9,000 percent (Boyer 435). Not only did the South lack basic supplies, they lacked funding leading them to be at a disadvantage to the North. The advantages of the North during the Civil War greatly outnumber those of the South. The North had larger population, access to transportation, and an adequate amount of supplies during the war giving them leverage over the South.
Economically, the war was a benefit for the North and a disaster for the South. The North began the war with several advantages. The North held a distinct lead in nearly every
The North had a lot of different technological advances over the South because of their industrial system and transportation system. The North also produced most of the country’s wealth. So that means they had a money to spend to have better technology. Even though North was said to be more advanced the South had some advantages too. The main one was that they were fighting war on familiar territory. They knew where to go and the fastest way to get there. The Northerns just had to guess and pretty much hope for the best. Some of the most experienced and skilled military men were Southerners. Telegraph, hot air balloon, and deadly weaponry were more key pieces of technology that changed the war. The North had another disadvantage because they
The North and the South were prepared to fight a war because of the political advantages each side possessed. The North had an advantage because they had an established, working government. The South had to create a new government after they seceded from the Union. The North’s government had over seventy years to fix any problems in their government. The South also had a political advantage; they were defending their land. This gives the South
As the war continued on the industrial capabilities of the North would prove to become one of the greatest contributing factors to their ability to sustain military operations. Tied directly into the industrial capabilities of the North is the economical superiority that they held over the South. "The economy was the greatest Southern weakness; it was the North's greatest strength. The North was not only a huge farm but a sprawling factory as well" (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey pg. 439). Wars are expensive, and in order to sustain military operations especially one that would drag on for four years money would become of great importance. The North was comprised of approximately 75% of the nation's wealth, and they were able to maintain their trade with Europe which kept the money, and weapons pouring in. The South's inability to raise money took its toll on the pocket books of the Southern States, and in turn would be one of the major contributing factors to their defeat. A lengthy war on the other hand favored the wealthier and
The North had a higher population than the South, more ports, and stronger industries such as factory and railroad industries. The North was consequently more industrialized than the South. As a result to this, the South had to rely on the North. The North had to rely on the South as well because the South produced most of the cotton, which was in high demand in the North. The two opposing sides had to rely on each other economically.
620,000 American men tragically lost their lives fighting against themselves. The Union won the four year long war after many long and deadly battles. There were points in the war when the Union could have ended it, but they failed to do so. If the Union wouldn’t have won the Civil War then life today would be totally different. Nobody knows if the south would have survived as a lonely country, or how many more wars would have occured.
Though, in the South they wished Europe would help them because of the cotton industry. The South had very meniscal amount of factories and little to no railroads compared to the South. Abraham Lincoln asked the loyal states to help the arm. The South attempted to have single authority, but in the end this seemed to have failed and not workout. The South had also made the inflation due to the amount of printed paper. At one point shoes were $200 Dollars a pair and a barrel of flour was $300 Dollars which was ten time the cost of a normal one before inflation (Davidson and Stoff 487-488, Guelzo, “Confederate States”).
The North and South both had many advantages in the Civil War. Political, social, economic, and demographic advantages were some of the advantages that were used. While the North had most of these advantages, the South still managed to win many battles. The North’s advantages mainly pertained to politics, economy, demographics, and social advantages. The South, yet, had the advantage over where the battles were fought.
North won by number. They had a bigger army, larger navy, and a tremendous difference between population with the south; twenty-one million to seven million, and more infrastructure, factories that could produce weapons and goods and better managerial skills.
One of the biggest advantages the North had was the railroad system. The North had a lot more railroad on its side, which could move anything from soldiers to supplies to weapons. The South’s economy had gone downhill due to blockades on southern exports. No foreign country would ever have loaned money to the south because nobody had any idea if the south would make it through the war. At the end of the war, the southern economy was completely destroyed after making so many economical mistakes and having so much of their property destroyed.
Although the North won the war, the outcome could have been different if the South was more successful. One way the South could have been more successful is they could have produced more railroads and telegraph lines. To elaborate, if the South produced more telegraph lines, they would have been able to send forts information quicker. Not to mention, if the Confederate States of America fabricated more railroads during the Civil War, traveling for soldiers would have been quicker and more efficient. In like manner, another way the South could have been more successful was if they made better battle strategies. To give more information, due to the farming economy of the South, they were able to produce a lot of cotton, which was important to
All in all there were many political, economic, demographic, and social advantages in the Civil War for both the North and for the South. The political, economic, demographic, and social advantages are the reason that the North won the Civil War. The North had many advantages in the Civil War. One of them is that they had more population than the South.
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.
In the Civil War the North had many advantages over the South. The South was outnumbered, out supplied, and pushed into a corner using military tactics. Many things changed because of the Civil War. The military tactics used by the North changed how war was fought from then on. Many changes were made politically; some were only temporary, while others were permanent. After the war was over, the country was reunited and the image of the soul and duty of our country redefined.