Why The South Lost the Civil War
Kimberly M. Donovan
History – From Beginning to Civil War
Professor McConn
Final Essay
WHY THE SOUTH LOST THE CIVIL WAR The loss of the South in the Civil War was the result of various contributions. First of all, they were underequipped in artillery and production factories. The South’s population was about one fourth of the North’s excluding slaves. They were not united and lost because their own philosophical beliefs that destroyed them. Further, the South was underequipped and outclassed in everything industrially. They’re only hope of taking a military advantage was support from European countries. However, those connections were cut when the North blockaded the South and when the North incited the European public to support the North’s effort preventing European interference. Although there was a high morale to serving the Confederacy and to destroying the Union cause, they didn’t have the materials to do so. Many would just fight with stones or any primitive makeshift weapon they could use when they were depleted of bullets because of their low artillery production. The South also had much less supply lines. Their railroads were half that of the North’s and became less as the North decimated the South’s rail lines. The North figured that it would be wiser to destroy their supply lines and weaken the troops. However destroying food lines wouldn’t be a problem because the South couldn’t even supply food because as men were drafted into the army, the agricultural farms withered away due to lack of maintenance. Another disadvantage would be the size of the South. The ratio of people of South to North was about 3 to 7. However 3.5 million of those Southern people were slaves, so the actual ratio would be about 1 to 4. Considering the North’s territorial advantage over the South, it is impressive to see that the South could sustain such a defense over the four years of the war. The reason could be that the South had better trained generals such as
History – From Beginning to Civil War
Professor McConn
Final Essay
WHY THE SOUTH LOST THE CIVIL WAR The loss of the South in the Civil War was the result of various contributions. First of all, they were underequipped in artillery and production factories. The South’s population was about one fourth of the North’s excluding slaves. They were not united and lost because their own philosophical beliefs that destroyed them. Further, the South was underequipped and outclassed in everything industrially. They’re only hope of taking a military advantage was support from European countries. However, those connections were cut when the North blockaded the South and when the North incited the European public to support the North’s effort preventing European interference. Although there was a high morale to serving the Confederacy and to destroying the Union cause, they didn’t have the materials to do so. Many would just fight with stones or any primitive makeshift weapon they could use when they were depleted of bullets because of their low artillery production. The South also had much less supply lines. Their railroads were half that of the North’s and became less as the North decimated the South’s rail lines. The North figured that it would be wiser to destroy their supply lines and weaken the troops. However destroying food lines wouldn’t be a problem because the South couldn’t even supply food because as men were drafted into the army, the agricultural farms withered away due to lack of maintenance. Another disadvantage would be the size of the South. The ratio of people of South to North was about 3 to 7. However 3.5 million of those Southern people were slaves, so the actual ratio would be about 1 to 4. Considering the North’s territorial advantage over the South, it is impressive to see that the South could sustain such a defense over the four years of the war. The reason could be that the South had better trained generals such as
Cited: Wikipedia.org History Central.org