Discuss The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The North And South Advantages In The Civil War

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 south, which was mostly a society built on agriculture, was at a huge disadvantage when it came to railroads. Two-thirds of all the railroads in the nation at the time were in the north. The southern states couldn’t transport anything as easy as the north, and their income mostly relied on the exportation of their crops. Without this source of income, the Confederacy’s economy was crippled. Arguably, railroads were the reason for the South’s eventual defeat.

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

First off, the north had more resources. This can easily be seen when looking at the North versus South chart. The chart shows different types of resources, such as workers, factories, railroads, firearms, and a few other useful things that are needed for a war. The graph then shows a bar graph for each of those resources, showing in each one, that north has a big advantage over south with that resource. Firearms, for example, is a resource

"If wars are won by riches, there can be no question why the North eventually prevailed." The North was better equipped than the South, with the resources necessary to be successful in a long term war like the Civil War was, which was fought from 1861 – 1865. Prior, and during the Civil war, the North's economy was always stronger than the South's, boasting of resources that the Confederacy had no means of attaining. Compared to the South, The North had more factories available for production of war supplies and larger amounts of land for growing crops. Its population was several times of the South's, which was a potential source for military enlistees. Although the South had better naval leadership and commanders, such as Robert E. Lee

For one, the North wasn’t as united as the South. While the Confederacy fought for their way of life, the North fought for politicians (Confederate States). They were also fighting in unknown territory. In order to win, they would have to seize control over a large area of land (Davidson and Stoff pg 488). Finally, the North couldn’t find a good military leader for most of the war. Most of the military colleges were in the South, so the North was at a huge disadvantage in leadership and skill (Confederate States).

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.

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

Both the North and South had their share of disadvantages, however the North overcame every obstacle that came towards them, unlike the South. In the second source, “Why the North Won (1988)” by James M. McPherson, he talks about how the North had potential labor ratio of more than three to one (including just white men) and Union military had a real prevalence of two over one amid the greater part of the war. In monetary assets and logistical limits, the northern

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

The North was fighting for what they thought was just so they were doing everything in their power to defeat the south. The North had a strong navy with a large number of private ships. The Union’s navy helped to blockade the south ports so they were unable to leave and could not receive help from nations across the sea. The South wasted many of their resources early in the war by focusing on more conventional attacks rather instead of non-conventional attacks on the union. These wasted resources lead to the confederacy having to wait for more goods.

The differences in manpower and industrial capacity were so profound that the fact that the South almost won the war was a shock to observers all over the world. On paper, there was no way that the South could possibly have stood up to the North, which had all of the material and financial advantages, and which did an excellent job of closing off the only advantage the South did have: cotton. Since most of the South's money came from exporting cotton the North aimed to shut this trade down. One of the very first things the Union government did was to blockade southern ports. The blockade took some time to become operational, but after the capture of New Orleans the amount of southern cotton exported to England plummeted. With it went the South's only consistent form of income, something it desperately needed to defeat the

After they used economic advantages. The economic strategy was to try to make sure the confederates couldn’t get supplies.It is stated by Elizabeth Foster that “The Union chose an offensive strategy that combined attacks on the confederate territory with economic pressure.” The North had an advantage because the military produced more coal, iron, wool, and what which increased the North’s economic growth.They also had more farms and factories in the North.. The North’s social advantage was the network of railroads and canals.  It is stated in (Michigan History 512) that the north had 22,000 miles of routes for canals and railroad tracks.This could move soldiers and supplies throughout the North.This was one of