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Assess The Effectiveness Of A Blockade During The Civil War

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A blockade can be defined as an effort to cut off supplies, war materials or communication between forces partially or totally. If one side can establish a blockade it would get easier to defeat the other side, because an effective blockade can cause military and economically problems. During the Civil War, Union navy established a blockade of Confederate ports to prevent export, import and war supplies. The author William N. Still, Jr. argues the effectiveness of a blockade during the Civil War. He argues that the blockade was both effective and ineffective. The effectiveness increased through the end of the war. The blockade had little effect in the war. He gives examples about its effectiveness, such as importance of blockade to cause economic problems. On the other hand, there is considerable evidence showing the ineffectiveness of the …show more content…

Even though, he says that the blockade was both effective and ineffective, he finishes his argument with the ineffectiveness of the blockade. He supports that the blockade was ineffective, but the Confederate secretary of the navy, Mallory, wanted to challenge the blockade. If Mallory thought that the blockade was insufficient and ineffective, he could not have tried to challenge. He admitted that the blockade was a real problem to the Confederates so that he challenged it. He also mentioned that historians considered the Confederate naval effort a failure and accepted that it was particularly true. These examples show that he is not consistent with his argument. Even if he tries to show how the blockade was ineffective, he still gives conflicting arguments. He gave examples at the beginning that the blockade was effective. For example, he says that the Union navy expanded, from 90 warships to more than 700, approximately 650% growth. This shows that the Union navy had great power to establish an effective

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