Why The North Won The Civil War Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

Why The North Won The Civil War Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers Why The North Won The Civil War The Confederate South, which is known for its deep military history, proved to be no competition for an industrially sound and hastily growing north in this Civil War. The North that was industrially strong and armed to the teeth found much of their victories quite easily obtainable. Strategy, moral, leadership, and economy are just a few factors that contributed to the Union?s dominance over the confederate succeeded states. The Union won the civil war by economic fortitude and industrial dominance not just by the power of their military. The Civil War was over before it began. "There was probably never any chance of the South winning without European recognition and military aid" (Zebrowski 222). The union showed its advantages from the beginning. In population the North had an advantage of almost five to two. This advantage appears even greater if the slaves (which were more than one-third of the Southern people) are counted as somewhat less than the same number of freemen (Current 21). Raw materials were mostly congregated in the North. Much of the railroads were traced across the northern habitants: twice as much track and a better system of integrated lines (Brinkley 383). The South fell short with these advantages and just could not keep up. The strategies of these two feuding regions widely varied. Grand strategy was involved in the southern approach to the war. This was the fact that the confederacy didn?t have to win in order to win; it was enough if she held the field long enough to weary the North with the war. The North in order to win, had to conquer the South (Commager 15). The North completed the with help from Lincoln?s Union policy. Lincoln wanted to preserve the Union and he would let nothing get in his way of doing this. Acts of force and violence to support secession were insurrectionary, he said, and the government would "hold, occupy, and possess" federal property in the seceded states (Brinkley 382). Over 2 million men served in the Union military forces during the Civil War. In 1861 at the beginning of the war the union army consisted of 16,000 troops. Lincoln called for the increase in 23,000 soldiers in the regular army, but the bulk of the fighting, he knew, would have to be done by th! e state militias (Brinkley 385). The South had a whole different approach to the War. It did not follow the North?s offensive motion, the South took more of a defensive approach. Edwin C. Bearss feels, "If the South were to win, it had to win a short war by striking swiftly-in modern parlance, by an offensive blitzkrieg strategy (Zebrowski 225). Behind the Confederate President Davis? command the Confederacy sat in a defensive stance, waiting for a northern attack. The main goal of the Confederacy was to protect its homeland. President Davis made one crucial mistake, he failed to create an effective central command system. After General Robert E. Lee left Davis?s side to command forces on the battle field; President Davis for the next two years planned war strategy alone (Brinkley 397). The leadership of these two different regions was very diverse. Lincoln who had almost no military experience except one brief service in a state militia , was on a whole a very successful military commander. He realized that numbers and resources were on his side, also he knew how to exploit the North?s military advantages (Brinkley 396). In 1864, Lincoln made Ulysses S. Grant general in chief of all the Union armies. Grant was not a strategic or tactical general; he simply believed in using the North?s great advantage in troops and material resources to overwhelm the South. He was not afraid to absorb massive casualties as long as he was inflicting similar or greater casualties on his opponents. Confederacy?s President Davis, who unlike Lincoln was a trained professional solider. Davis was not as impressive of a leader as Lincoln. He could not overcome the substantial disadvantages that faced the South and lead his Confederate states to victory. Psychological feelings differed greatly through the United States at this time. Many southerners knew it was certain death if