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When the Civil War began, both the North and the South imagined it would be a swift and easy victory. But what made the North think they could win so easily? And what about the South? Well, it came down to their respective advantages. Keep reading to learn about these advantages as well as the disadvantages each side would face. They would determine the strategy of each side and the eventual outcome of the Civil War.
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Sign up for freeIn order to achieve their war goals and win the war, the South needed to:
Which side had the more extensive railway network during the Civil War?
What did the Union need to do to achieve its war goals and win the Civil War?
What was a fear the Confederacy had concerning their relative lack of manpower?
What was one advantage the Confederate Army had?
Which side of the American Civil War had a larger population?
How much of the Confederacy's population was enslaved?
Where were most of the United States' firearms produced in the years before the Civil War?
Which side in the American Civil War retained control of the Navy at the start of the war?
What did the Confederacy believe would give it an advantage in gaining foreign support?
In order to achieve their war goals and win the war, the South needed to:
Which side had the more extensive railway network during the Civil War?
What did the Union need to do to achieve its war goals and win the Civil War?
What was a fear the Confederacy had concerning their relative lack of manpower?
What was one advantage the Confederate Army had?
Which side of the American Civil War had a larger population?
How much of the Confederacy's population was enslaved?
Where were most of the United States' firearms produced in the years before the Civil War?
Which side in the American Civil War retained control of the Navy at the start of the war?
What did the Confederacy believe would give it an advantage in gaining foreign support?
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Team Advantages of North and South in Civil War Teachers
At the Civil War outbreak, the North possessed many fundamental advantages, including its manpower, expansive railway network, superior navy, and higher output of industrial production. Let's go over these in more detail below.
The North possessed a population of 22 million, whereas the South had a population of only 9 million people--3.5 million of whom were slaves. This advantage in manpower meant that:
On land, the Union had a much more comprehensive railway network for moving supplies, men, and material. And at sea, their navy reigned supreme, as they had begun the Civil War with full possession of the United States warships.
The naval superiority of the Union lent itself to the Anaconda Plan, a Northern military strategy that called for a blockade of all Confederate ports. The idea was to strangle the South into submission by cutting off their key trade networks with European powers.
Fig. 1 - illustration of the Anaconda Plan
The North also had an upper hand economically, as it had a larger number of financial institutions and a much more developed industrial base. Much of the United States's manufactured goods were made in the North, leaving the Confederacy to use what equipment they already possessed or what they could get from Europe. In contrast, the North could manufacture their own supplies and remain self-sustaining.
Though the South was at a disadvantage in terms of population and industry, they possessed some advantages of their own.
The most crucial advantage of the Confederacy was that they had a more limited war aim that would not require as much military power to accomplish. Their goal was to preserve their independence from the Union, meaning all they had to do was defend their territory and put up enough of a fight that the Union lost its own will to fight.
In contrast, the Union would have to conquer vast swathes of unfamiliar territory.
Additionally, the further Union forces pushed into the South, the more stretched their own lines of supply would become. Thus, if the Confederacy could inflict enough losses on the Union Army by fighting in favorable battles from strong defensive positions, they could win the war through attrition and compel the Union to give up on trying to reconquer their lost territory. It certainly helped that the Confederacy had arguably more experienced military leaders than the Union.
The Historiography of Military Leaders in the Civil War
Though there is ultimately subjectivity involved in assessing the skills of the generals and presidents on either side of the conflict, it is a commonly discussed subject in the historiography of the American Civil War.
Some histories put forward that the Confederacy possessed, in general, a greater quality of commanders in the form of generals such as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, referencing cases of them outmaneuvering Union armies in Virginia and suggesting that clever and intelligent leadership from Southern commanders gave the Confederacy an advantage over the Union in battle.1 Others reference Lincoln's dissatisfaction with some of his commanders, notably George McClellan when making the argument that the Confederate had superior generals.
Fig. 2 - Robert E. Lee
While many important generals on both sides experienced both tactical and strategic victories as well as failures, what can be said certainly is that seven of the eight military colleges in the United States at the time of the secession crisis were located in the South, though not all of their graduates would be sympathetic to the Southern cause at the outbreak of the war.
While the South might have had less industrial production, they had control over agricultural production, mainly cotton and tobacco. The Confederacy hoped they could use "King Cotton Diplomacy" to influence European powers such as the United Kingdom or France to intervene on their behalf. These nations relied on cotton imports for their own industries, namely the textile industry, so the South believed the restriction of its trade would force their hand. In conjunction with enough significant military victories, the Confederacy thought they could surely sway powers like Britain and France to give them recognition and some level of support.
Essentially, the advantages of the North in the Civil War were the disadvantages of the South. The South had a smaller population and lacked access to supplies, and it was because of these disadvantages that the fine military prowess of military leaders like Robert E. Lee was so useful.
Enlisted soldiers:
The Confederacy had to be strategic in order to earn a victory with a shortage of manpower and supplies. European intervention would have helped the South immensely when it came to this supply shortage, but the Emancipation Proclamation dashed any hopes of support.
The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln that freed all slaves in rebelling states and territories. It shifted the Union's war aim from preserving the Union to ending slavery. This not only increased morale in the North but ruined the chance of a European intervention because no European power would support a cause that explicitly endorsed slavery.
Fig. 3 - print of the Emancipation Proclamation
Interestingly, the Confederacy had the ability to increase both its manpower and funding, but its commitment to states' rights prevented any real action. For example, the Confederacy was unable to:
While the North might have been fighting in unfamiliar territory with a relatively inexperienced military, these disadvantages could be easily overcome with the advantage of manpower and supplies to spare. The real threat to the Union war effort was a lack of morale, as that was what the Confederacy was hoping to target but failed.
Fig. 4 - painting of the Battle of Antietam
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What was an advantage of the South in the Civil War?
One advantage of the South in the Civil War was that they were fighting a defensive war on territory they were familiar with.
What were the advantages of the North in the Civil War?
The advantages of the North in the Civil War included a larger population, a more extensive railway network, a superior navy, and a higher industrial output.
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the North versus the South?
The North had more manpower and access to supplies, whereas the South had more territory and arguably more experienced military leaders.
What was the most important advantage the North had during the Civil War?
The most important advantage the North had during the Civil War was its ability to come up with more supplies and troops as needed.
What advantages did the South have?
The South had the advantage of fighting a defensive war on territory they were familiar with, and led by arguably more experienced military leaders. In the first two years of the Civil War, they also believed European powers would intervene on their behalf as a result of King Cotton Diplomacy.
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