South Advantages During Civil War

The advantages enjoyed by the North at the start of the American Civil State of war should take pointed toward a short confrontation, in line with General Winfield Scott's initial estimation. Even a worried simply confident Abraham Lincoln perceived his response every bit a "police activity" designed to bring the recalcitrant states back in the Union. Yet is was the immense advantages of the Due north that ultimately allowed the Union crusade to prevail as war goals and strategies transformed into unconditional surrender.

Advantages of the Union in 1861

When the war came, the Due north had a total population of twenty-two 1000000 people of which 1.3 1000000 worked equally industrial workers. The South only had ix one thousand thousand people with 110,000 employed as industrial workers. Moreover, equally the 1860 demography demonstrated, many Southern counties had a majority of non-white persons, slaves, which would not exist conscripted into the war endeavor other than the usual tending of agricultural enterprises. In South Carolina the slave population outnumbered the white population by over 100,000.

Immigration patterns remained steady both at the commencement of the Civil State of war and during the course of the state of war. The Irish gaelic comprised one of the largest pre-Civil War immigrant groups, settling, for the nigh part, in the large urban centers of the North. Civil War statistics demonstrate the immigrant advantage in terms of population size. Over 170,000 Irish gaelic served in the Union armies, compared to twoscore,000 for the Confederacy. Germans, the other large pre-war immigrant group, also contributed big numbers to the Union cause.

Northern industrial production was valued at $1.5 billion compared to $155 million for the South. Additionally, the ratio of textiles was 17 to i. Much is written almost the Southern military tradition where every man had a firearm and knew how to use it. This is often cited equally a Southern advantage. Yet in actual numbers, the ratio of firearms between the North and the South was a staggering 32 to 1.

Railroads Benefited the Due north More than the South

The employ of railroads would prove crucial to the Union's ultimate victory. The ability to quickly transport soldiers and supplies profoundly assisted the endeavour to defeat the Confederacy. At the start of the war, the North boasted 22,000 miles of rails compared to nine,000 in the South. Further, equally the war progressed, the inability to properly maintain the Southern arrangement hurt Southern defensive strategies.

The employment of the railroads to finer wage war did not become unnoticed by Prussian observers. Prussian victory in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War was due in large function to the German rail system which had more than than twice the rail of the French. The military employ of an extensive rail organisation was only one war innovation learned past the Europeans avidly watching the course of the state of war.

The North possessed a fleet of warships that finer blockaded Southern ports from the first weeks of the war. Although the South utilized "blockade runners" every bit well as raiders that harassed Matrimony shipping like the CSS Alabama, the Marriage blockade, part of General Scott'southward initial "anaconda program," kept the South from receiving desperately needed supplies and munitions from Europe.

Comparison the Leadership Skills of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis

Leadership also played a major part in the Northern reward. Although the S had better military leadership as the war began, with about field grade officers coming out of West Point, most historians hold that Abraham Lincoln was a improve leader than Jefferson Davis. Davis' personality was cold and annoying. Lincoln was sincerely apprehensive but a fast learner, spending hours in the Library of Congress reading and seldom intervening straight in field operations.

In 1861, the South fervently hoped that the Due north would allow it to leave the Union peacefully. Yet even Jefferson Davis questioned this seemingly naïve notion when he arrived home at his Mississippi plantation, telling his wife that everything would be lost. The industrial and armed forces might of the North ultimately overwhelmed the South, demonstrating the Northern advantages.

Sources:

Statistics taken from the 1860 census; Robert Divine, T. H. Breen, and others, America Past and Nowadays eighth Ed.(Pearson-Longman, 2007) chart on page 427.
Gabor S. Boritt, Why the Confederacy Lost (Oxford University Press, 1992).
Stephen B. Oates, The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Harper/Collins, 1997).

South Advantages During Civil War,

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