Download North South

The Civil War Strength/Weakness/Goals/Strategy Name ____________________________Per ___
1) Before any country propels itself to war or if war is forced upon them, they should take account of their and
their opponentʼs strengths and weaknesses. With the Grid below, list out the main strengths and weaknesses
of the North (The USA) and the South (Confederate States). (Read the three articles below to get your
information)
North
South
Strengths
Weaknesses
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The Civil War Strength/Weakness/Goals/Strategy Name ____________________________Per ___
What was the Primary Goal in the Civil War in 1861?
To make the South part of the North (USA) again. Gain Control of the South
•
To end Slavery FYI This is not the goal in1861. Remember Slave states fought as part of the North.
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Main Method to achieve goal: Violent Force
Other methods ---> ???
Basic Strategy------> North Invasion: Gain and Maintain Control
South
Defend
*Homework Senario*:You are a teenager who has plopped back in time only to discover that
you are one of Lincolnʼs key military strategists. Without researching any information on the
Overall Strategies of the War (you are on an honor system with this and remember there is no internet back
then and you didnʼt transport with your US History book)
consider the
1) Strengths and Weaknesses of both the North and the South,
2) the Physical Geography and Civilization constructions,
3) the Goals/Methods/Strategy stated previously.
On a Map - Homework to Do:
• Design a plan for defeating the South if this might be a Short War
< 4 Months
• Design general 4 point invasion plan to gain control of the South if this
war is going to be a Long War
When you are done with this, Read Ch 11.1-11.5 Also Recommend the Extra Credit films.
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The Civil War Strength/Weakness/Goals/Strategy Name ____________________________Per ___
http://www.ushistory.org/us/33b.asp
Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South
Within days of the fall of Fort Sumter, four more states joined the Confederacy: Virginia, North
Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The battle lines were now drawn.
On paper, the Union outweighed the Confederacy in almost every way. Nearly 21 million
people lived in 23 Northern states. The South claimed just 9 million people — including 3.5
million slaves — in 11 confederate states. Despite the North's greater population, however, the
South had an army almost equal in size during the first year of the war.
The North had an enormous industrial advantage as well. At the beginning of the war, the
Confederacy had only one-ninth the industrial capacity of the Union. But that statistic was
misleading. In 1860, the North manufactured 97 percent of the country's firearms, 96 percent
of its railroad locomotives, 94 percent of its cloth, 93 percent of its pig iron, and over 90
percent of its boots and shoes. The North had twice the density of railroads per square mile.
There was not even one rifle works in the entire South.
The South was at a severe disadvantage when it came to manufacturing, but the Confederacy
managed to keep its guns firing by creating ammunition from melted-down bells from churches
and town squares.
All of the principal ingredients of gunpowder were imported. Since the North controlled the
navy, the seas were in the hands of the Union. A blockade could suffocate the South. Still, the
Confederacy was not without resources and willpower.
The South could produce all the food it needed, though transporting it to soldiers and civilians
was a major problem. The South also had a great nucleus of trained officers. Seven of the
eight military colleges in the country were in the South.
The South also proved to be very resourceful. By the end of the war, it had established
armories and foundries in several states. They built huge gunpowder mills and melted down
thousands of church and plantation bells for bronze to build cannon.
The South's greatest strength lay in the fact that it was fighting on the defensive in its own
territory. Familiar with the landscape, Southerners could harass Northern invaders.
The military and political objectives of the Union were much more difficult to accomplish. The
Union had to invade, conquer, and occupy the South. It had to destroy the South's capacity
and will to resist — a formidable challenge in any war.
"We had the poorest commissary arrangements, and all I could get for my men was salt and
hard crackers. I made the convalescents shoot squirrels, ground hogs, pheasants, and turkeys
with which to make soup for the men." -from the memoirs of Archibald Atkinson Jr., a
Confederate surgeon
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The Civil War Strength/Weakness/Goals/Strategy Name ____________________________Per ___
continued...
Southerners enjoyed the initial advantage of morale: The South was fighting to maintain its
way of life, whereas the North was fighting to maintain a union. Slavery did not become a
moral cause of the Union effort until Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation in
1863.
When the war began, many key questions were still unanswered. What if the slave states of
Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware had joined the Confederacy? What if Britain or
France had come to the aid of the South? What if a few decisive early Confederate victories
had turned Northern public opinion against the war?
Indeed, the North looked much better on paper. But many factors undetermined at the
outbreak of war could have tilted the balance sheet toward a different outcome.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/american_reconstruction/109662 by Melanie Storie
Why the South Lost or How the North Won? : A Perception of the American Civil War
Since the final handshake between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 at
Appomattox, Virginia, historians have sought the reasons for the Confederacy's defeat. Almost
140 years have past since the end of the war and there have been numerous books and
articles written with various explanations. It seems most of the interpretations fall into two
schools of thought: "Why the South Lost" and "How the North Won". The "Why the South Lost"
historians tend to focus exclusively on the failures of the Confederacy and allow southerners to
preserve their pride. This explanation states that the South lost not because they fought badly,
but because the North had more men and better weapons. Meanwhile the exponents of "How
the North Won" examine both the North and the South and tend to assert that a Northern
victory was inevitable. While a more comprehensive view makes the most sense in explaining
the outcome of the war, it was never a given that the North would be victorious over the South.
At the onset of hostilities both the North and the South were woefully unprepared to fight a
long, full-scale war. Though, in terms of comparison, the manpower and materials of the North
were vastly superior to those of the South. Despite these overwhelming odds, Southerners
believed they had a fighting chance and adopted a strategy to take into account their strengths
and weaknesses. The North was able to begin the war with numerous advantages over the
South. First, the North had an established government and therefore did not have to waste
time trying to set up a governing system as did the South. Second, almost all of the nation's
industry was located in the North. This diversified industry allowed the North the ability to mass
produce adequate amounts of artillery, rifles, and munitions which permitted the North the
ability to fight a protracted, modern war. The South on the other hand lacked any major
industrial facilities that could mass produce weapons. Third, the majority of the nation's farms
were in the North. This provided agricultural resources for an army and its civilians. In contrast,
Southern farms primarily produced staple crops like cotton, tobacco and sugar cane. This
made it difficult to have adequate food to feed an army, not to mention the civilian population.
Fourth, the North enjoyed control over the transportation system. Of the 30,000 miles of
railroads the North controlled 20,000 of them. Additionally, the North began the war with an
existing Navy and the ability to expand its naval resources. However, the South had no navy of
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The Civil War Strength/Weakness/Goals/Strategy Name ____________________________Per ___
continued...
which to speak and few resources to build one. Finally, the North had a much greater
population on which to draw from in fighting the South. The twenty-three Northern states with a
population of 22 million people greatly overshadowed the eleven Southern states with a
population of 9 million (of which included 3 million slaves). Despite these overwhelming odds,
the South believed it had a chance to win its independence.
Jefferson Davis and Southern leaders were aware of the differences in terms of manpower and
materials, yet they strongly believed that they could be victorious. Despite numerous
disadvantages, the South entered the war with some important advantages. First it possessed
a long military tradition. The military was regarded as an honorable profession and the South
had a large number of professionally trained men to command their armies. Many of the
country's top ranked officers like Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston resigned their
commissions in order to fight for the Confederacy. As a result Lincoln was left without a supply
of adequate military leaders. Second, the South hoped to gain resources and enlist the support
of the boarder states as well as some European countries, particularly England and France.
The Confederate government believed that if the South stopped shipping cotton to these
countries that they would enter the war. Finally, the South began the war with a concrete war
aim, they were fighting for independence. In fact Davis likened the goals of the Confederacy to
that of the American patriots. As a result, the South adopted a strategy like that of George
Washington in the American Revolution. The plan, known as attrition, called for a strategy of
winning the war by avoiding losing. That is, the South did not have to match the North's
resources, they only needed to avoid full-scale battles and prolong the war making it too costly
for their opponents.
http://historyofwarfare.blogspot.com/2008/11/american-civil-war-military-balance.html
The American Civil War: The Military Balance sheet of 1861: Strengths and Weaknesses
of the Union and Confederacy
With the benefit of historical hindsight, it seems almost impossible to think that the
Confederacy could have won the war against the Union. By surveying the balance sheet of
both sides, it is possible to assess how far the Confederacy lagged behind the Union in both
resources and economic development.
In terms of population, for every inhabitant of the Confederate States there were more than two
Americans who lived in the Union. In addition, the Confederacy had more than three and half
million slaves and 130,000 freed blacks. Slave labour also allowed white men to serve in the
Confederate army, allowing for more than 80% of the military age population to be mobilized.
Economically, the North surpassed the South in almost every measure. Prior to the war, the
South had relied upon the northern states and Britain for the iron and steel imports necessary
for railroad construction. The North possessed 110,000 some factories and workshops of
various sizes. By comparison, the South possessed barely a tenth of that number. Statistics for
industrial workers further demonstrate that the American industrial basin was clearly
concentrated in the Northern states. 1,300,000 workers in the North were employed in industry.
By comparison, the south had only 110,000 workers. The predominance of manufacturing in
the northern states gave the Union a huge advantage. In 1860, the North produced fifteen
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The Civil War Strength/Weakness/Goals/Strategy Name ____________________________Per ___
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times the level of iron manufactured in the South. The arms industry was also concentrated in
the North with 97% of all firearms produced north of the Mason-Dixie line.
Despite these massive material advantages, the war would be won by the side that could best
concentrate their resources overwhelmingly against the enemy. Total war is only possible with
the support of a banking and credit system to support the costs of war. It was in this field that
the North excelled over the Confederacy. With 85% of all capital and 80% of all bank deposits,
the North had a banking and credit system vastly more developed than anything in the South.
The Federal government was therefore able to draw upon loans from private financiers in
quantities which was simply impossible for the Confederacy.
Although many Southern politicians believed they had a predominance in agriculture
(especially cotton, which they attempted to leverage to gain diplomatic recognition from Britain
and France), the reality was that here too, the North had a clear advantage. The failure of
Missouri and Kentucky to secede had deprived the Confederacy of another important
agricultural basin that could have supplied the Confederate army. The South had also hoped to
use cotton exports to obtain credit on the European markets. However, New Orleans, the
largest port in the Confederacy fell into Union hands early in the war. The remaining important
cities of Charleston, Galveston, Mobile and Wilmington were all vulnerable to naval and land
attack.
Despite these inherent disadvantages, the South possessed strengths that they hoped would
ultimately win them the war. In order to conquer the South, Federal armies would have to
subdue an area the size of Western Europe. In 1860, the Federal army was only 14,000
strong. Those few troops were scattered across various parts of the continental United States.
Both North and South would therefore have to start from scratch in raising the large armies
that would ultimately be required to fight the war. It was hoped that the Confederacy would
therefore have sufficient time to make allies and involve international powers such as Britain to
turn the tide against the Union. Furthermore, Federal troops advancing into the South would
have to deal with the problems of over-extended lines of communication and the estimated
thirty or so supply wagons required for every thousand troops. Countryside and enemy
strongholds would need to be pacified, drawing yet more troops away from the front. If the
Confederacy could drag out the fighting for long enough, they hoped to be able to tire out the
Union, just as the American colonists had tired out a militarily superior British force ninety
years before. Although the North had a larger population, one in five (four million people) were
foreign immigrants. Such a large diverse population might be more difficult to keep together in
comparison to the more homogeneous Southern population.
Given the weaknesses of the South, the historian must ask how the Confederates could have
rationally believed that they could make and win a war against the Union?
The answer lies perhaps in the fact that many of the technologies and tactics of Total War later
seen in the US Civil War were not immediately apparent to commanders on both sides. The
potential of railway to change the nature of battlefield logistics had yet be discovered. It is
important to remember that many of the relative strengths and weaknesses of both sides were
only fully realized later in the war.
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