Essay on Why The North Won the Civil War

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, the South couldn’t have won the civil war because state’s rights prevented unification of the South. The very issue that created the Confederacy helped to destroy it. In waging war, the South faced problems of politics and government that greatly complicated its problem of economic mobilization. No one would deny the troublesome effect of the conflict generated by differing ideas of how best to protect liberty and to organize southern society for the war effort. Southern people insisted upon retaining their democratic liberties in wartime, which proved fatal for the South. They had to struggle with a “confederacy formed by

In 1861 the American Civil War started. The country was divided into the North (Union) and The South (Confederates). Robert E. Lee was the leading general for the South. Ulysses S. Grant was the leading General for the North. The Union had 23 states which were California,Michigan,Connecticut,Minnesota,Illinois,New Hampshire,Indiana,New Jersey,Iowa,New York,Kansas,Ohio,Maine,Oregon,Massachusetts,Pennsylvania,Rhode Island,VErmont,West Virginia and Wisconsin. The South on the other hand only had 11 which were Alabama,Arkansas,Florida,Georgia,Louisiana,Mississippi,North and South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas and Virginia. The North and many ways had a great advantage in the war because they had more men, more factories to build supplies, and a larger navy. On the other hand the South only had to defend their land from the Invading Union.

The Union was also capable of providing industry with the raw materials necessary for production. Mines and refineries existed in abundance in the North, which also had large amounts of land available for growing food crops, unlike the South which had devoted most its arable land to cash crops like cotton (Perman, 12). The existing infrastructure of roads and railways allowed the Union to transport weaponry, clothes, food, soldiers, and other supplies to almost any location in the entire theater, which greatly benefited the Northern army.

Historian McPherson argues that “Norther superiority in numbers and resources was a necessary condition for Union victory”. This shows that the North had a major advantage through their larger population, which helped them win the Civil War. The North also had a better industry. In 1860, the North had 6 times as many factories as the South, 10 times the industrial productive capacity and twice as many miles of railway. This proves that the North had an industrial advantage as everything would run normally during the war and supplies would still be produced at high rates.

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).

The lack of emphasis on manufacturing and commercial interest, stemming from the Southern desire to preserve their traditional agricultural society, disadvantaging themselves to the North and their ability to function independently. It was neither Northern troops nor generals that won the Civil War, rather Northern guns and industry. Northern states produced 97% of firearms in the US which allowed war materials to be much more accessible and productive to produce as the North already had these large factory’s, which is

However this effected the South because they failed to grow their industrial platform. The North had 66% of railroad mileage when the South had only 34%. This shows by far that the North was more industrialized than the South. Since the Union had more mileage of railroad they were able to have their men, food, and materials transported for a long distance in a short period of time. Unlike the North the South was unfortunate to not have such an advanced railroad. The South was able to transport some distance but not nearly the amount of mileage the North could cover. This shows very clearly the South simply lost the war due to their lack of interest in improving their resource industry and industrial

Through five battles in various places in the United States, The United States Union in the North and the Confederate States of America in the South had a bloody conflict. The North won four battles and the South won the first battle at Bull Run, therefore giving the Northern side the victory. However, would it have been possible for the Confederates to win the Civil War? Even with Robert E. Lee being the most successful general for the South, he could not surpass Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. The North had nearly three times the South’s population and the North was more advanced and civilized than the South. Since the Northern leaders are intelligent, it would be nearly impossible to outsmart them strategically or overwhelm them with manpower. Even if they found a way to win a battle, they need to win one more battle to win the Civil War since they will have three wins against two. Therefore, it is not possible for the South to win the Civil War, so the result of the North winning the war is

The Civil War was full of blood, sweat and tears. But like any other competition, war, battle, combat, you name it, there always has to be a champion. In this specific war, the north was victorious over the south. There are many military factors that go into determining why the north won the Civil War. The battles that were fought showed the determination and the strength of the north. The leaders from the very beginning to the very end and their decisions through out the war showed courage and intelligence over the leaders of the south. The environments that the soldiers were surrounded by even had an impact on the outcome. Noticing how the north became an offensive threat and the south became a defensive threat become clear early on in the war. By paying attention to the timeline of events and the small details of the military factors of the war one can predict from the very beginning that the north was going to win the nation over the south.

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.

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.

The North had a lot more people than the South making it another advantage for the Confederates. History specialists have looked for

During the Civil War, both the North and South had different strengths and weaknesses. For example, strengths of the North were that they had a much larger population than the South, they had more industries/factories to produce more weapons, a better banking system, larger ships, and a better railroad system to transport weapons, etc. to their troops. On the other hand, the South had a smaller population, a small number of factories, less food, and very few railroad tracks. These weaknesses of the South, however, did not mean they didn’t have any strengths too. The South had superior military leadership, they were fighting in familiar territory, and overall had strong, educated college graduate soldiers that went to military school.

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.