Preview

How did technology give an advantage to the Union in the Civil War?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
376 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How did technology give an advantage to the Union in the Civil War?
Question: How did technology give an advantage to the Union in the Civil War? 1.

Battery D, 2nd U.S. Artillery, at Fredericksburg, VA 2.

Battle in action at Fredericksburg, Va

3.

A company of the 6th Maine Infantry on parade after the battle of Fredericksbu rg

4.

Aquia Creek and the Fredericksburg Railroad, with a construction corps at work

5.

6.

Pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, VA

7. Winter huts and corduroy roads

The Answer Looking back at the civil war, it is pretty obvious that the North had the upper hand. After all, they won the Civil War. One of the most significant advantages that the Union possessed was better technology than the South. The use of technology played a great role in the Union’s victory. A few of these advantages were the construction of railroads, more artillery, and the use of pontoon bridges.
First off, the construction of railroads played a role in faster troop and supply transportation. More than 70% of the nation’s rail lines were in the North. The rail lines provided much faster transportation than the South possessed. As you can see in picture 4, the construction of railroads was a major duty in the North. Next off, the Union occupied better artillery such as cannons. Northern factories made 97% of the nation's firearms. Cannons played a major role in the the civil war. Some of the cannons used by Union and Confederate forces include the Howitzer, the Parrot rifle, and the small Ordnance rifle. Some examples are in pictures 5, 9, 10, and 12. Lastly, the use of pontoon bridges gave the North a great advantage. These bridges provided for

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Theories abound to explain the Union government’s victory over the Confederate government. These usually focus on the idea that the Union defeated the Confederates because the North was large in population and was more industrial than the South. The naval aspect is often ignored though it represented a significant part of the war involving rivers, coastal blockades, and sea engagements.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Why the North Won the Civil War, Henry Steele Commager believed that there were multiple causes that led the confederacy to their defeat and that it was “an inevitability in history.” While many historians believed the North won due to their economic, military, diplomatic, and social aspects, Richard N. Current stated that the Union won the Civil War due to their “fundamental economic superiority.” He believed the North sustained a vast and overwhelming economic superiority in men and materials, giving them “an advantage of almost five to two” in everything. The Union succeeded because they were productive with their economy, unlike the Confederates.…

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Answer: 1.The Union states larger population allowed them to have a bigger army than the Confederacy, which was a great advantage.2.Another advantage in having a larger population during the civil war is if they ever needed more help they could ask for more.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    3.Due to the substantial differences between the North’s industrial economy and the South’s agricultural economy they both had distinct advantages and disadvantages during the war. To begin with, the North’s economy was far superior to the South’s because the North had two-thirds of the nation’s population, two-thirds of the railroad mileage, and almost 90% of the nation’s industrial output. Also, many of the North’s arm factories were equipped with mass production which allowed them to compete with the gun manufacturing centers and armories of the South. The Northern economy helped them have much greater supply of resources compared to the South. On the other hand, the Confederacy had slaves which helped provide food for the army and provide the most important good of all, cotton. The South was able to use cotton as diplomatic weapon which they thought they could use to persuade France or Britain to assist or side with the Confederacy. We can also see this as a disadvantage to the Northern economy because they had no such tool or weapon to use to obtain foreign assistance or aid. Unfortunately this same advantage for the South also led to a severe disadvantage. Because the majority of the people living in the South did not own slaves, they were not the ones producing cotton. This meant that the majority of the…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert E Lee Thesis

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages

    They had nearly all of the advantages. One thing they had was a greater population that could fight and also free black men, while the south debated over whether they should be able to fight until the war was over. The North also had an established government that was over a hundred years old while the South started with one only a few weeks old. One major factor that the North had was the boom of the Industrial Revolution and lots more money. The only big advantage the south had was Robert E.…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    28. Explain the Union’s strategy during the Civil War. They blocked supplies to the Confederacy and destroyed Confederate towns.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1) Why was the South slow to industrialize after the Civil War? How did industrialization affect the South? Pages 544 and 545…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Based on the information from above , the North should win the war due to their advantages in the number of railroads in the North and a greater amount of soldiers fighting in war. In the Civil War, the North had a far greater amount of soldiers fighting for them than in the South. While the South only had 750,000 to 1,000,000 soldiers fighting for the Confederate Army, the North had, “2 million soldiers fighting for the Union. ”(Society Infographic) Not only did the Union have more soldiers, but 179,000 slaves fought for the South.…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The North took victory in the civil war against the South. The North had several of advantages when it came to defeating the other side.The blockade. As the war progressed the blockade of Southern ports slowly became more effective, closing the ports and thus cutting off the vital supplies needed to fight the war. This includes medicine. The South had to rely on Europe even more so than the North for supplies with which to fight the war so by eliminating more and more ports into which the supplies could come into the Confederacy the North slowly deprived the South of it's ability to properly fight. By the end of the war many Confederate soldiers didn't have the ammo, food, or even effective weapons required to campaign with. Attrition. The Union had more men…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In order to win the war, the Union had to think smart and play it to their advantage. In the book The Civil War: A Visual History, author John E. Stanchak declared, “During the 19th century, the new era of rail and steam that marked the Industrial Revolution was centered in the Northern states, and a summary of economics and human resources shows their advantages” (Stanchak 54). The North had a lot of railroads which helped them travel faster. They also had more money and organizations than the South. These advantages boosted them further into victory.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first way the Union won the battle was by having better weapons for defense. They used weapons like rifles, carbines, 630 cannons, and many other weapons. The Confederacy used many other weapons that were no use compared to the Unions. As you can see, the weapons were one of the main reasons the Union won. Another war the Union won the battle was by having better strategy, and defenders than the Confederacy.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There was many new inventions and technology during the civil war like railroads, balloons, and the civil war photography and a couple more .A lot of the new technology helped like the railroads, they would us them to move troops and supplies from one place to another . Another important technology was the telegraph, the telegraph was a system for transmitting messages from a long distance along a wire using braking and electrical connections. They could use the telegraph to send more than a million messages to and from the battlefield. They also had stuff like submarines and balloons, which were both used in war. They also invented a gun called the repeater, they were so fast it could shot seven bullets in 30 seconds. And they didn’t just…

    • 167 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Union had many advantages during the Civil War. The Union had leaders that were far more valuable than the ones that the Confederacy had. The valuable leaders that the Union had possessed were Ulysses S. Grant, Philip Sheridan, and Abraham Lincoln. The Union was in the middle of an industrial revolution at the same time as the Civil War which meant that they had a booming economy. The Union had organized banks and had easy access to the supplies that they had needed.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Northern states, also known as the Union, had a very strong economy based on agriculture, industry, and free labor. They were independent and did not have to rely on the South for any of their goods or products. They also favored federal spending on internal improvements and wanted high tariffs. Their views on the way the country should be run included slavery as illegal. As a result of winning the 1860…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most important things the Civil War was known for was the advanced weaponry that was used during battles. The Union and Confederacy made many different types of weapons which helped them have an advantage against each other. A soldier from the South remembers, "I had shot one hundred and twenty times that day. My gun became so hot that frequently the powder would flash before I could ram home the ball, and I had frequently to exchange my gun for that of a dead comrade" ("Small Arms of the Civil"). Weapons played a major role in the battles of the Civil War. Due to more advanced weaponry, the Union won the Civil War.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays