Was Northern Victory in the Civil War Inevitable? Several factors played in to the American Civil War that made it have the outcome that it did. Although the South had better trained officials due to their military school, the North was far more advanced than they. The North had the advantage over the South in several ways. However, the outcome of the Civil War was not inevitable: it was determined as much by human decisions and human willpower as by physical resources, although the North’s resources gave them an edge over the South. The South seceded in part out of growing awareness of its minority in the nation. The Union held twenty-three states, including four border slave states, while the Confederacy had eleven. Ignoring …show more content…
They had most of the trained mechanics, most of the shipping and mercantile firms, and the bulk of the banking and financial resources. Even in farm production the northern states overshadowed the rural South, for most of the North’s population was still rooted in the soil. The Confederacy produced enough foodstuffs to meet minimal needs, but the disruption of transport caused shortages in many places. The North, meanwhile, produced a surplus of wheat for export at a time when drought and crop failures in Europe created a critical demand. King Wheat supplanted King Cotton as the nation’s main export, becoming the chief means of acquiring foreign money and bills of exchange to pay for imports from abroad. The North’s advantage in transport weighed heavily as the war went on. The Union had more wagons, horses, and ships than that of the Confederacy, and they also had an impressive edge in railroads. The Confederacy had only one east-west rail connection, between Memphis, Tennessee and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The latter was an important rail hub with connections via Knoxville, Tennessee into Virginia and down through Atlanta, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. But the North already had an extensive railroad network. Three major lines gave the western
The North’s economy was based on textiles, shipping, and skilled trades. Their climate was not suited for the same type of agricultural products that the South produced like cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. Northern states like New England manufactured and shipped goods like guns, clocks, plows and axes (page 399). One reason for the South’s dependence on slavery is because their economy relied on the existence of slave labor. For example, the cultivation of cotton depended largely on slave labor, with 75% of the crop grown on plantations,
The Civil War that took place in the United States from 1861 to 1865 could have easily swung either way at several points during the conflict. There is however several reasons that the North would emerge victorious from this bloody war that pit brother against brother. Some of the main contributing factors are superior industrial capabilities, more efficient logistical support, greater naval power, and a largely lopsided population in favor of the Union. Also one of the advantages the Union had was that of an experienced government, an advantage that very well might have been one of the greatest contributing factors to their success. There are many reasons factors that lead to the North's victory, and each of these elements in and
Who would have thought that a nation could split and turn on each other? The Civil war has main causes, key people, and battles. All of the people, events, and causes effected how the war came to be and how the Civil War was fought. The important people of the Civil war made important decisions that may have caused one side to a victory or a horrific lose. The battles of the war were bloody and devastating, and the causes of the Civil War show how different the North was from the South. Many people know the Civil War was extremely significant, but most people don't know what caused this major battle in history.
Southern states left the Union because they thought they had more power than the Federal Government. “Many Southerners favored secession as part of the idea that the states have rights and powers, which the federal government cannot legally deny”(Doc 5). This means that Southerners thought that the Federal Government could not deny their right to have slavery so they left. Southern states left the Union because Abraham Lincoln banned slavery and it was their only way to make a
Railroads were a major part of Northern and even Southern economies. Railroads, which were expanded on 1860, were used to transport crop productions from the south the North. Cotton, Indigo, tobacco, corn and more were sold to Northern markets. Since the South weren’t fully ready or capable to imitate a Northern way of income, they heavily relied on this way of income. In the North, Chicago was seen as the railroad capital. Most goods were sent through this city and Chicago became extremely wealthy later on in
For example, farming was the main source of income for the Confederate states. The main southern chief crop which came to be known as King Cotton, accounted for 57% of all U.S. exports (“Civil War”). However, in order to produce these large amounts of cotton, the southern Confederate states depended heavily on slave labor. Since cotton production began to dominate and fuel the southern economy, the South felt that they did not need to industrialize like their northern neighbors did. This caused the South to manufacture very little goods and caused them to purchase manufactured goods from the industrialized North or to purchase imported goods from overseas.
A frequently, and sometimes hotly, discussed subject; the outcome of the American Civil War has fascinated historians for generations. Some argue that the North's economic advantages proved too much for the South, others that Southern strategy was faulty, offensive when it should have been defensive, and vice-versa. Internal division in the South is often referred to, and complaints made against Davis' somewhat makeshift, inexperienced, government. Doubts are sometimes raised over the commitment of Southerners to a cause many of them were half-hearted about. Many historians have argued that the South lost the will to fight long before defeat was inevitable. However, many of these criticisms could easily be applied to the North, had the
Furthermore, the South had little preexisting industry and lacked an infrastructure for dispersing goods (Perman, 14). From an early point in the war the Union army cut off railways and blockaded Southern ports, and roads in the South were primitive. Farmers were forced to contend with government controls on production and marauding thieves who would take whatever they could from them. With no means of transporting goods and no slave labor, Southerners could barely produce enough to feed their families and even if they were
Prior to the start of the Civil war in 1861, the South was still a heavily agricultural based society and remained so for years after the war ended. On the other hand, the North’s economy relied more on manufactured products rather than agricultural products. With the North’s openess to advancements in technology, came advancements in travel and shipping. The biggest advancement in travel at the time was the invention of the railroad system. The North’s percentage of railroad tracks, when compared to the total of railroad tracks located within the North and the South, was about 72 percent (Doc. C). Meaning the South had to rely on the North to transport most of the time so their crops could be transported
"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
I agree with the idea that the North had won the Civil War before it began to the extent of Lincoln’s conservative political stands. Trying to receive the favor of the South while winning in the North would require Lincoln to take neutral stands in heated political issues like slavery. It wasn’t really wan by the North until he broke away from these stands to enact the Emancipation Proclamation and turn the tides of war in favor of the North. “This Lincoln always publicly condemned the abolitionists who fought slavery by extra constitutional means – and condemned also the mobs who deprived them of their right of free speech and free press.” (Holfstadter, Lincoln and the Self-Made
The Civil War was inevitable in many reasons. The economic and industrial evolution was mainly in the North side of the United States while the South was just a cotton kingdom, Slave Empire. Also both were completely opposites of one another when it was about freeing the slaves or hiring more. With many debates there has to be sides that would be separated especially if the president has so much hate from the people. With that being said, since many want opposing ideas, the Civil War becomes much evitable.
After thoroughly assessing past readings and additional research on the Civil War between the North and South, it was quite apparent that the war was inevitable. Opposed views on this would have probably argued that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War. Therefore suggesting it could have been avoided if a resolution was reached on the issue of slavery. Although there is accuracy in stating slavery led to the war, it wasn’t the only factor. Along with slavery, political issues with territorial expansion, there were also economic and social differences between North and South. These differences, being more than just one or two, gradually led to a war that was bound to happened one way or another.
While both the North and the South had stable and confident economic systems, the North was much more industrialized and diversified and with a better transportation system they not only had the ability for mass production but also the means for speedy and
Comparing the Relative Importance of Political Leadership, Military Skill and Resources as Reasons for the Outcome of the American Civil War