Transcript northern advantages

Civil War: North vs. South
Northern Advantages 1
• Population of 22 million
– Only 9 million in South.
And 4 million were slaves.
– Had almost three times
the population of the
south.
• Huge advantage in industrial
capacity
– Had more finances to
spend on the war
– Built 453 of 470
locomotives in U.S
– Manufactured 97% of all
firearms
– State of New York
produced twice many
manufactured products
as the entire South
Northern Advantages 2
• A navy that could block
southern exports
• Most food was grown in the
North—the South’s economy
was almost solely based on
the production and export of
cotton.
• More railroads and canal
systems. Helped them
quickly ship troops and
supplies.
• Was globally recognized as
the “legitimate government
of the USA.
• Did not have to fight on their
own soil.
Southern Advantages 1
Easier military job
– All the South had to do
was fight a defensive war
on familiar land.
• Did not have to
conquer one inch of
northern territory
– The North, on the other
hand, had to attack and
subdue a region as large
as Western Europe
Southern Advantages 2
• Union army only had limited combat
experience in 1860
• Best young officers, especially
generals, were from the South and
sided with the Confederacy.
– Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnson,
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, P.T.
Beauregard.
• Brightest young men in the North
were attracted to business; in the
South they were attracted to the army.
• Mobilizing the people of the North into
a disciplined, well-equipped and wellled fighting machine was a difficult
job
Robert
E. Lee
P.T.
Beauregard
Southern Advantages 3
• Some southerners
believed North lacked
the courage and
determination to win
• Southerners were
fighting to protect
their very way of life.
(economically and
socially)
Southern Advantages 4
• The northern states bought all of
their cotton from the south.
– Could potentially devastate
northern industry by holding
their crop off market
• South provided 80% of Europe’s
cotton. (especially England)
– Believed that an economic
havoc in Europe would force
European powers to aid the
South.
– If North established a naval
blockade, South hoped that
England and France would
run it and join their cause.
Casualties
• Bloodiest military conflict in
U.S. history
– Over 600,000 men died
• More than in WWI and
WWII combined
• At the Battle of
Gettysburg alone: 7000
men were killed, 33,000
wounded, and 11,000
MIA.
• One out four young men who
put on a uniform between 1861
and 1865 never made it back
home
Why Such High Casualties?
• Outdated military strategy based on
the traditional use of smoothbore
muskets.
– Inaccurate– would lead to a
frontal assault, with hand-to-hand
combat using bayonets.
– Range: less than 1 mile.
– Could fire: 3 shots/minute
– Remained popular until end of
war. (most battles fought at closerange)
• New and deadlier rifled guns and
cannons developed.
– Could reach further with
increased accuracy and impact.
– Therefore, frontal assaults
became suicidal (massive
casualties) as rifle accuracy
increased.
Why Such High Casualties?
• Lack of knowledge about germs,
sterilization, and other surgical
techniques
– Even minor wounds caused
infection and death.
• Overcrowded camps often lacked
clean water and proper sanitation
facilities
– Spread of diseases: typhoid,
dysentery, pneumonia, etc.
– Average regiment lost almost
50% of its fighting strength
from disease during its first
year in the field
• For every soldier killed in combat
during the war, two more died
from infectious disease
Purpose of the War
• War was triggered by the northern belief
that slavery must not spread into new
territories.
– Lincoln’s official position was that he
had “no purpose, directly or indirectly,
to interfere with the institution of slavery
in the states where it exists”
– Crittenden Resolution—July 1861
• Stated that the war was not waged to
abolish slavery but to reunite the
country.
• Was passed in order to reassure and
gain support from the remaining
slave states in the Union.
The Border States
• Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, W.
Virginia and Delaware stood
between the North and
Confederate States.
– All were slave states and
contained 5 million people
– If they joined the Confederacy,
they would dramatically shift
strategic balance in favor of the
South.
• It was therefore critical for Lincoln
not to antagonize them by pushing
the abolitionist issue.
– This is why the Emancipation
Proclamation only applied to
states that had already
seceded.
Many people
there were from
the South and
Abolitionism
had
southern
unpopular
in
racial
attitudes
southern Ohio,
They might
Indiana,
Illinois,
support
a war to
and Iowa
preserve the
Union but not
one to destroy
slavery
Lincoln therefore downplayed the
slavery issue to retain the loyalty
of southern northern states and
win over the border states
To Be Continued…