Civil War: Why Did The North Win?

Despite the lack of economic and political power, the South was also at a loss of collective will. Certainly the course of the war, the military events, had a lot to do with the loss of will. The Southerners hoped that they would win spectacular victories on Northern soil, and that they would be able to exhaust the will of the Northern people, and they failed to do so. The battle of Gettysburg with the largest number of casualties is often described as the war’s turning point. The Union defeated attacks lead by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, ending Lee's invasion of the North. With regard to military turning points, the outcome of the war also became inevitable in November 1864 with the reelection of Lincoln and the utter determination to see the things through, and the finding of leader U.S. Grant, the man to

Between 1856 and 1860, a war broke out between the union and the confederate because the Confederates seceded from the union over the ban of slavery. After a hard fought war, the union won after 4 years. How did the North win? And how? The northerner won because of the advantages in technology, major battles, battle plans, the president Lincoln, and railroads.

“Why did the North win the Civil War?” is only half of a question by itself, for the other half is “Why did the South lose the Civil War?” To this day historians have tried to put their finger on the exact reason for the South losing the war. Some historians blame the head of the confederacy Jefferson Davis; however others believe that it was the shear numbers of the Union (North). The advantages and disadvantages are abundant on either sides of the argument, but the most dominate arguments on why the South lost the war would be the fact that state’s rights prevented unification of the South, Jefferson Davis poor leadership and his failure to work together with his generals, the South failed to gain the recognition of the European nations, North’s superior resources made the outcome inevitable, and moral of the South towards the end of the war.

The war was between states’ rights and the power of the national government to maintain the Union. For 40 years the questions of states’ rights were deflected by compromises and questions about nullification action by states when they disagreed with the federal government. Finally, it did take a civil war to determine who was right - those of states’ rights or those of federal control. The outcome said that the federal government had the final say. Hundreds of Americans died to settle this argument, but not one of them was a slave

A frequently, and sometimes hotly, discussed subject; the outcome of the American Civil War has fascinated historians for generations. Some argue that the North's economic advantages proved too much for the South, others that Southern strategy was faulty, offensive when it should have been defensive, and vice-versa. Internal division in the South is often referred to, and complaints made against Davis' somewhat makeshift, inexperienced, government. Doubts are sometimes raised over the commitment of Southerners to a cause many of them were half-hearted about. Many historians have argued that the South lost the will to fight long before defeat was inevitable. However, many of these criticisms could easily be applied to the North, had the

From the onset of the war, the Union had its obvious advantages. They simply had large amounts of resources of which the South did not. "In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. You are bound to fail" --Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman to a Southern friend. Over 85 percent of the nation's industry and significant material resources were controlled by the North. The North was able to use take power of their economical advantages to produce military supplies, and replace damaged equipment more rapidly than the Confederacy. On top of that, forces for the field could be re-supplied rapidly because

The Emancipation Proclamation was not a prime factor in the Union's victory over the Confederacy during the US Civil War, from 1861 to 1865. The main factors which contributed to the defeat of the Confederacy included the superior and far more advanced industrial capability of the North and a larger amount of people fighting for and in favour of the Union side. Two other major factors which tipped the scales highly in favour of the Union side were the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There were many other small factors which aided the Union, but none with the importance or impact of the factors mentioned above. However, without the Emancipation Proclamation, it is possible that the Union would have

One reason the North won the Civil War was because they had a greater population in the states than the South had in theirs. The North had a whopping 18.5 million people, which was double the South’s population of a mere 5.5 million people, 3.5 million of who were slaves. This allowed the North to have more men enlist in the army, which created replacements, so to speak, when people died. The South on the other hand, only had 2.5 million people who weren’t slaves, which meant all the available men enlisted usually as soon as possible, but they ran out of men slowly as men were killed. The four border states only had 2.5 million people, 500,000 thousand of them being slaves, so in the big picture of things, didn’t really have a big effect.

     The South’s dominating strategy in winning the civil war was attrition. They believed they could wear down the political will of the North if they held out long enough to make the Northerners tired and question value of the means to achieve the ends. Military stalemates, guerilla war tactics and inconclusive battles would help the South achieve this goal. “Confederate armies did not have to invade and conquer the North: they needed only to hold out long enough to force the North to the conclusion that the price of conquering the South and annihilating its armies was too high, as Britain had concluded in 1781 and as the United States concluded…” (Why Did the Confederacy Lose?, pg 117)The South really enjoyed McClellan’s performance in the Southern theatre with his tendency to retreat when he could have won. This was another helpful hand the South would need to cause attrition. In response, Lincoln knew he had to do two things to prevent attrition and win the war more quickly. He needed to fire McClellan, and shift the theme of the war in the view of the North so that it would not lose its thunder. He did this by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and converting the war for unionism into the war for morality. The

     Battles have been fought since the dawn of time. Weapons have gradually become more technological and sophisticated each and every time. People learn from their mistakes, as did the Indians in the late 1700s, as well as the Confederate troops from the Civil War. The Union was victorious in this war for freedom, and to this day, the north is more the heart of the country’s economy.

The American Civil War was a time wrought with peril. Families were split along party lines and took up arms against one another to fight for what they believed was right. Yet there was one group of people who had more to gain than any other present in the war, and that was the African American slave. This war was one of the biggest turning points in the morality of America all because of what happened to the slave in this war. They enlisted in the army, fought bravely, and after long last, gained their freedom.

The civil war was a monumental moment for the United States. Whether the citizens at the time realized this or not, this event would change America forever. Firstly, and most obviously, we have come from a country that was free for white, male, christian, Americans, to a country that is equal for all people. The civil war started this movement of reinforcing the basis of the constitution that everyone is created equal. To the extent that we as a country were able to do after the country was in shambles because of the war is quite remarkable. How we were able to create the 14th amendment arguably the most important one in our constitution today, and is being tried as of right now with homosexual marriage rights. We were willing to help people get out of the destruction of the war. With acts that helped educate, feed, and shelter the poor. However not all was good. The south, unwilling to accept the changes so rapidly, took the first chance they got of taking away the liberties and rights of the African Americans, as you later see. As Frederick Douglass had put it “Civil war was not a mere strife for territory and dominion, but a contest of civilization against barbarism”.

With the generals running the Union army, the leadership was inefficient. The ineffective leadership of the generals led to defeats of many battles in 1862. After many frustrating exchanges with his generals, Lincoln had to change leadership styles. He became more assertive and decisive. He became more direct with his orders and used his power as Commander in Chief to guide his army.

As a new nation it was time to choose a leader to run this country. In 1861 senator Jefferson Davis was promoted Major General of the Mississippi army. However, he needed for greater things. Jefferson Davis at this point had such a decorated resume that he seemed like an easy choice for a candidate to begin to run this new nation. He was willing to do whatever his country needed of him. The election was held and he won by a majority. After receiving this honor he did not show jubilation, but rather concern for the years ahead for him. Early in to Davis’s presidency he was already facing the toughest choice of his life. Fort Sumter was up in the air for who was going to control it, the North or the South. Davis has to decide whether or not to use military force to take it and potentially start a war between the North and the South. He thought it would show weakness to not use force to take it and thus started the Civil War. Davis quick thinking realizing how brutal the war could possibly immediately assigned one of the best generals in the world at this point, Robert E. Lee, to lead the troops if the South. From that point on most the military strategy came either Davis himself or from Robert E. Lee with very few others making any impact on the strategy. Davis ended up becoming consumed with power and started making bone headed decisions. He chooses to ignore Robert E. Lee’s advice and tried to defend every part of the south with the same amount of effort. This ended up spreading his forces much to thin and made them very vulnerable to any sort of attack. “Throughout the devastation, although not without objection, Davis maintained his position as the military and civilian leader of the Confederacy” . “As President of the Confederacy, Davis orchestrated a war effort that resulted in the death of at least 620,000 Confederate and Union soldiers and an

The President can hire and fire the Generals who would have engaged the Confederacy's troops (primarily General Robert E.Lee's forces) and so as Commander-in-Chief he and his best advisers saved the military volunteers and drafted soldiers and other troops to keep fighting on many fronts. He also kept up diplomatic pressures to keep outside countries and their trade from abetting the Confederate exports and deal-making. His moral authority is what sustained the Union Cause during dark hours of Gettysburg (July 1-2-3, 1863) and his oratorical skills are what still endear him to Americans of all kinds ! Lincoln did his best to make sure that the union won the civil war. The Northern armies won the war, and the rebellious states returned to the Union.