American Civil War: North's Victory and Key Factors

This essay examines the American Civil War, focusing on the North's victory. The paper highlights the North's advantages, including a larger population, industrial capacity, and naval power, as well as the South's strategic errors. It discusses factors such as the Union's control of railroads and shipping, and the moral cause of the Emancipation Proclamation. The essay contrasts the Union's success with the Confederacy's missteps, particularly in military strategy. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of the North's industrial strength, government, and the use of black soldiers in their victory. The South could have won the war if it had planned a more productive strategy other than fighting militarily.

Running head: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
American Civil War
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1AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
American Civil War has a great impact on the American polity and society. It was a
significant event in the American history and is considered to be one of the most traumatic
experience ever endured by any of the generation of Americans. It was the intention of the
North to maintain United States as an undivided and single nation. On the other hand, the
South wanted to succeed the war with the Union army for protecting the right to own the
slaves. This paper shall elaborate on highlighting the reasons behind the victory of North in
the Civil war and the major factor in the victory of the North over the south. With the same, it
shall also shed light on what could have happened to cause a different outcome to the war.
The possible contributors to the victory of the North over the South were that the
North had a population of more than 22 million against that of the 9 million of the South
population and that too, of whom, half of the percentage were slaves. With the same, the
North were more industrial than the South and they produced 94% of the pig iron and 97% of
the firearms of USA. They also have more varied and richer agriculture as compared to the
South. Furthermore, the Union has a larger navy that blocked all the efforts from the trade
with European countries to Confederacy. The confederacy hope that Britain and France
would come to their help as they need cotton. But, those countries had sufficient cotton and
they need more of the northern cottons. According to Tal (2014) was the north that controlled
both the railroad and the shipping avenues that allowed them for trading and getting the
supplies quickly. Moreover, the union has more support than the South (Hess, 2017). There
were four loyal slaves and not everyone in the Confederate states were supporting the
Confederate and also there were many people who supported Union at that time. With the
same, it is also to be mentioned that there were many slaves who fled away to the Union
armies and provided more manpower to them. The offensive war strategy used by Robert Lee
had a high cost in the casualties and this damaged and completely destroyed a significant
portion of the army under confederate. Other than this, there were several factors that made

2AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
the North win over the South. The industrial economy of the North, unlike South, was not
based on environment. Also, they had several railroad links which would transport their
uniforms and the supplies faster than that in the South. They already has an established
government in power. Also, according to Orr (2018), “The North's moral cause through the
Emancipation Proclamation given to the war by President Lincoln which encouraged
international support to the North”. It is also to mention that the North was known to recruit
black men into the Union army right after the approval of the Emancipation Proclamation. It
was copied by the South later but it was not that successful like in the North.
To cause a different outcome of the war, i.e. victory of South over North, the Thirteen
Colonies could beat the strongest power of the world in the year 1776, then, the Confederacy
could have defeated the North and its Union army in the American Civil war (Ostrowski,
2017). Notwithstanding this fact, they made several mistakes which quickly reduced their
opportunities or the chances of securing their freedom and independence. There were many
factors that contribute to the defeat of the confederate but the biggest one was the fault in
their strategy. A better strategy for the South would have been for Robert Lee for emulating
George Washington. They did not understand what was understood by George Washington,
i.e. “they could win by simply not losing”. The Confederate tried to win the war by means of
military help and therefore, they lost.
Hence, it is to be concluded that the field of American Civil War history has
highlighted more interpretative disputes as compared to most of the other historical events.
However, the North and the Union army have potential success factors that have aided to
their success in the war. Right from having being more industrially powerful to their strategy
of hiring black men to their Union army, all the characteristics of the North are solid enough
to win the war over the South. Notwithstanding this fact, the South too could have won the
war if it could plan a more productive strategy other than fighting militarily.

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References:
Hess, E. J. (2017). The Early Indicators Project: Using Massive Data and Statistical Analysis
to Understand the Life Cycle of Civil War Soldiers. Civil War History, 63(4), 377-
399.
Orr, T. J. (2018). Two Against Lincoln: Reverdy Johnson and Horatio Seymour, Champions
of the Loyal Opposition by William C. Harris. Journal of Southern History, 84(2),
462-463.
Ostrowski, J. (2017). Was The Union Army's Invasion of the Confederate States a Lawful
Act? An Analysis of President Lincoln's Legal Arguments Against Secession.
In Secession, State, and Liberty (pp. 155-190). Routledge.
Tal, N. (2014). The American Civil War in British Military Thought from the 1880s to the
1930s. Civil War History, 60(4), 409-435.