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Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Civil War

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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.

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