During the civil war, the North and South had several advantages and disadvantages over each other regarding their position to win the war. This paper thoroughly explains why the South was economically disadvantaged over the North and the possible impacts of this on the overall course of the war. The paper also compares the economic situations and motivations of the Southern and Northern armies, describing the South’s ability to benefit from a defensive position during the war.
In the first place, the Union was more industrialized compared to the South and it possessed around 80% of the total industries in the U.S. Additionally, the industries that were part of the Confederacy and located on the Upper South in Virginia to be specific decided to join the Union instead of the remaining in the Confederacy. This further crippled the South who had heavily invested in slaves and land for their huge plantations hence lacked liquid capital to finance the war (Majewski, 2009). The South could raise capital during the war in three ways; issuing bonds, printing currency, or through taxing.
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To begin with, the South was not in favor of heavy taxation and most of the taxes levied were on the individuals of lower classes since under the states’ rights, the South believed overtaxing violated their principles. The South also had few banks thus making the idea of issuing bonds a difficult move (Majewski, 2009). The remaining option was to print money which was not successful either since it led hyperinflation of greater levels of up to 9000% making the search for liquid capital ending up in an economic disaster. This changed the overall course of the war as it gave the North an advantage over the South.
The economic situation of the North and the South were much different during this time of war. The South economy heavily relied on agriculture as their source of income and this was due to their fertile soils and their warm climate making large-scale farming ideal especially for crops like cotton and tobacco b(Majewski, 2009). Agriculture in the South was profitable with 80% of their labor force working on farms and the vast produce was mainly being exported to Europe.
Contrarily, the North’s economy was highly industrialized mainly due to their abundant natural resources compared to the South. Additionally, According to Erath (2015), the economy of the Union was boosted by their easy and convenient transport system as it had more than two thirds of railroad coverage in the entire country. The North’s dominance in politics also gave it a forefront in medicine, business, and education sectors generally.
In terms of army motivations, the North was more motivated than the South in terms of tyranny of numbers. The North had around 2 million soldiers compared to the South who only had around 750,000 soldiers during the war and the ratio was almost 2 to 1 with the North having more advantage (Erath, 2015). However, the South was also motivated differently as they had several great generals compared to the North. This gave the South a slight advantage and was able to hold the North for almost four years thanks to the defensive approach led by the generals.
The Southern ability to benefit from a defensive position was one of their strategic plans and they only permitted occasional attacks to the Northern territories. According to Erath (2015), the strategy also involved protecting the territory that was already in the Confederate’s control. This defensive approach allowed the South to gather and control their resources in a better way. This was a counter plan to Lincoln’s strategy of invading, capturing, and holding most of the important areas that were previously owned by the Confederates (Majewski, 2009). This defensive approach by the Confederacy was helpful as it prevented a quick defeat, making the war last up to four years.
Conclusion
The defeat of the South was due to several reasons such as economic instability and lack of tyranny of numbers in terms of soldiers. The South, however, managed to hold war with the North for around four years thanks to their defensive approach
References
Erath, J. (2015). Union success in the civil war and lessons for strategic leaders. Joint Force Quarterly , (77), 128. Retrieved from http://165.193.178.96/login?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dedsgao%26AN%3dedsgcl.416116965%26site%3deds-live
Majewski, J. (2009). Modernizing a Slave Economy: The Economic Vision of the Confederate Nation . University of North Carolina Press. https://doi.org/10.5149/9780807882375pass:[_]majewski
