Preview

Victory Of The Union In The Civil War Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
928 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Victory Of The Union In The Civil War Analysis
Analyzing the Victory of the Union in the Civil War
The American Civil War, was fought from 1861 to 1865. It was caused by the disagreement over the future of slavery between the industrialized North and the agrarian South. That dispute led to secession. The North’s initial political objective was clear: to restore the Union. Later, emancipation, or freeing the slaves, became another objective. The Confederacy (South) wanted its independence. The Secession led to the Civil War. The victory of Union in the Civil War was a product of many factors. Yet three most notable ones are: the “simultaneous pressure” of the North, offensive-defensive strategy of the South, and the crucial victory of the North in the Battle of the Antietam.
The Union’s
…show more content…
However political, social, and financial factors prevented him from using this strategy. Governors worried about descents, they feared that any Union invasion into the Confederacy, even if the captured lands were recovered, would completely destroy the slave system in the area, making it irrecoverable(McPherson). Furthermore Confederate States were expected, by the southern people, to show physical strength and independence of their new government’s military. It was necessary to do some military attacks in order to keep the loyalty of people. Davis had no choice but to dispersed small armies around the Confederate perimeter, making it easy for Union to break through somewhere, as they did at several points in 1862. Another factor, which affected the development of Southern strategy is the temperament of Southern people. They were sure in their military capabilities and believed they can easily defeat Northerners, the concept of waiting and not attacking first was not really supported by the common people of the South (McPherson) Although the South had brilliant military leaders and high morale among its troops, it lacked, being cut-off from England, the industrial and agricultural capability to produce enough food, clothing, shoes, medicine, and ammunition. Furthermore, the South lacked the …show more content…
This battle is arguably the turning point of the Civil War. The Army of the Potomac, under the command of George McClellan, defeated Robert E. Lee’s forces near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862. The bloodiest battle in American military history ended with the “victory” of Abraham Lincoln. Right after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." (National Archives). The Emancipation Proclamation transformed war into a “war for freedom”(National Archives). It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the North both militarily and politically. Furthermore the victory at the Battle of Antietam prevented the Great Britain’s vital recognition of the Confederacy. British recognition would equalize industrial and naval fields of the South with the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • 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
  • Good Essays

    Historians have argued inconclusively for years over the prime reason for Confederate defeat in the Civil War. The book Why the North Won the Civil War outlines five of the most agreed upon causes of Southern defeat, each written by a highly esteemed American historian. The author of each essay does acknowledge and discuss the views of the other authors. However, each author also goes on to explain their botheration and disagreement with their opposition. The purpose of this essay is to summarize each of the five arguments presented by Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, Norman A. Graebner, David Herbert Donald, and David M. Potter. Each author gives his insight on one of the following five reasons: economic, military, diplomatic, social, and political, respectively.…

    • 1300 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Williamson Murray's essay he discusses the struggle between the North and the South. Also how it was the first modern war that was fought using technology and industry on the slaughtering fields. The union lacked a cohesive army and a good plan of attack. Once General Grant was in command for the North, the Confederacy was hopeless to win. The Civil War ravaged armies of the North and South, many Americans lost their lives which made this the most costly of all the wars in American history. The North won the war because they "adapted to the conditions of the war." With the help of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, they came up with a strategy and won the war.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The civil war was Great War that came with many disappointments and great victory. With both of those components in mind you have two think about the battle strategy used by both sides. In this paper I will be talking about the Union’s battle tactics. Both of the sides had two different Generals. On the Confederate side you had General Lee and on the Union side you had General Grant. General Grant was innovative on both a strategic and operational level. During the Civil War, tactics changed as new equipment, especially the grooved rifle and the entrenching tool, gained importance. Grant understood that war could not be a seasonal activity. Until 1864, wars were conducted when the seasons best permitted, or when men could be away from their…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Civil war, which began in 1861, came to an end on May 13th,1865, and the Union claimed the victory. But the South were victorious in many of the earlier battles of the war, but at first they had a strong military leadership. The South’s defeat was due to poor strategy in the military and the appointment of weak generals, many people also believe that political leadership, foreign support, the supply of the army and war economics were reasons they didn’t win.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Time. Time was the key reason for the North's victory and was achieved through a combination of the first and second reasons. As the war progressed the Union's blockade, largely a paper tiger at the beginning due to the fact that the Navy didn't have enough ships to properly enforce it, became a real blockade that slowly strangled the Confederacy to death. And as the war progressed the South, even before the end of the prisoner exchange, was losing men it could not afford to lose to attrition. Supplies and transportation of supplies. As stated in the first reason, the North was less dependant on Europe than the South was for supplies. There should be little doubt that the South was able to manufacture supplies needed to fight the war, but never in amounts it needed. Industry in the North was a bit larger than it was in the South and was thus able to out produce that of the South. But being able to out produce the South was all well and good unless the South could get the supplies to its troops in the field faster. It then became important to capture major railroad junctions and thus cut off the South's ability to move supplies in a timely…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The battle of Antietam was one of the main event which helped in the cause of the end of civil war. The battle itsleft was not that important but the aftermath which made it count. The battle was a draw, one of the most bloodiest battle in one day, losses on both sides."Southern losses were 2700 killed, 924 wounded, and 2000 missing; Union losses were 2108 killed, 9549 wounded, and 753 missing."2 If McClellan had chosen to do so he would have destroyed the army of Lee. But he chose not to do so, instead he held the corps back in reserve, Hill arrived in time to stop the attack from burnside flank, which helped Lee escaped safely accross Potomac. The fact that Lee left the battlefield and abandoned the incursion of Maryland was enough for the Union to claim victory. The victory itself led Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Which was hold back for two months on Seward Suggestion "until you can give it to the country supported by military success."3…

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States Civil War was the final turning point in creating the country that is established in today’s era. Starting in the 1830’s, as the Northern and Southern states conflicts grew with aggression and disagreement, the push for the civil war would be inevitable. Slavery being the top disagreement between the two, other conflicts arose; such as, ideals between abolitionist and southern politicians. Historical events, taking place in order to establish the chain reaction that lead to the Civil War; such as, The election of 1860, Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott Decision, and The Kansas-Nebraska Act. Irrepressible conflict quickly appeared over the disagreeing ideals of how these two co-existing economies could not become one.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On April 6, 1862 Confederate soldiers attacked the Union. Lets look closer into this battle to see what happened. The Union was forced out of their camps. The Confederate Offensive threatened to overwhelm Ulysses S. Grant’s entire command. In the afternoon they established a battle ground. As the battle raged on many were wounded or dead. Weapons helped the Confederates surround the Union troops and capture, kill, or wound most. On April 7th the Confederate forces were weakened. This resulted in Beauregard’s army needing to run and escape the field. Grants counter offensive was successful in pushing the Confederates back. The battle had a large number of troops totaling to a total of 110,053 troops, 65,085 from the Union and 44,968 from…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Civil War has arguably been the most important event that America has undergone. The United State’s Civil War, also known as the War between the States, was fought from April 1861 until April 1865. The war was fought over the issues of slavery and the states’ rights. The Springfield, Spencer, Napoleon, and Gatling gun all helped the North and South in winning the Civil War. A large reason the North defeated the South was because of their advantage in weaponry.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is often assumed that the civil war was based solely on the existance of slavery in the south. This assumption is generally made by people who are not fully educated on the topic, and are unable to fully understand each of the different factors that led to the civil war. While slavery did play an important role in the disunion of the north and south, the war itself was caused by disunion and disunion alone (Schweitzer, Jeff). The largest factors leading to the war composed of state's rights, followed by disagreement on tarriffs. The primary difference between the north and south was not the fact that the north wanted to abolish slavery, but more of the fact that the south was primarily agriculturally based around cotton. The north were industrialized and would typically manufacture the cotton (Foote, Shelby 26).…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil War Dbq Analysis

    • 1706 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Union had a much more developed and strong government and various technological advantages over the Confederacy. For example, the North had over triple the amount of factories that the South had, six times the workers in those factories, and over double the railroad mileage compared to the South (Source 5). Contextually, these advantages in manpower and technology in the North were long term consequences of the North taking advantage of advancements in technology and having a solidified government in comparison to the South, which stuck with a plantation model based on growing cotton and had little to no government after their secession from the Union. The North’s dominance over technology and manpower gave them a more stable base of resources going into the war than the South, which basically only had cotton and not enough food or manpower. The Union’s use of their technological power gave them the ability to win battles by a landslide and leave cities as large as Atlanta, Georgia completely leveled in the wake of military advancements such as General Sherman’s March to the Sea (Source 7). The photo of the destruction left by the Union army shows the capability of the technology that they possessed in comparison to the Confederacy, and how organized the Union army was because of their strong leadership. Contrastingly, Confederate leadership was…

    • 1706 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American civil war was primarily a fight between two sides over numerous contradictory ideals. The civil war’s seeds started to grow when Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States of America which in turned caused tensions to rise. Unlike the peaceful ending of the Mexican Revolution, the American Civil War ended with the Battles of Palmito Ranch and Appotmax and the capture of Confederate President Davis. The end of this long, bloody conflict helped add three new amendments to the Constitution. Finally, the result of the American Civil War answered whether the United States would be an undividable country and whether it was truly…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    But the South had many advantages and proved to be a formidable opponent. In the beginning of the war, the armies of the North and South were of comparable size and the Confederacy had strong leadership of highly trained officers. Of the nations 8 top military schools, 7 of them were in the South. General Robert E. Lee, was a brilliant leader and successfully utilized the Confederate tactic of adopting a defensive strategy to prevent the North from penetrating their territory while diminishing Union manpower with small concentrated forces. After blockades of the South were declared by President Abraham Lincoln, Confederate general Josiah Gorgas, responded by directing the…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is often said that hindsight is 20/20 vision, but some major historical events are surrounded by controversy, one of which is the Civil War: was it repressible or irrepressible? It was irrepressible because the north and south were too culturally different for a compromise to work. The south believed slavery was an essential part of their economy and often advocated for strong state’s rights. The north was steadily industrializing with the increasing textile mills and growing urban population as well as beginning to see the horrors of slavery. The limits of the fragilely strung together Union were tested in the expansion westward and eventually some southern states began to secede. Compromises such as the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska Act only held off the conflict, and many believe the final straw that broke the back of the Union was Lincoln’s election and the dealings of Fort Sumter.…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays