Civil War

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Civil War

In the beginning, the union and the confederacy did not expect to find much opposition and thus looked forward to quick victory. The two sides were of the view that their inherent recourses would provide a much-needed upper hand for victory in the war. The victory of the confederacy was mainly reliant on the foreign economies of southern cotton, the professional training attributed to the generals serving in the south, the ability of most of the white sojourners to skillfully ride and use horses and firearms and the advantage of having only to mount a defensive warfare strategy. The north depended on its advanced technology because of its developed industrial production and a wide source of work force.

However, the final victory by the union was mainly attributed to several factors that had political, economic and social factors. In the political realm, the union enjoyed a favorable political stability that included a centralized, strong Federal government leadership headed by President Lincoln. The union had a centralized political government that deliberated on issues concerning the people. The centralized government worked with the military leadership in designing and implementing effective strategies that led to the final overpowering of the confederate defense force (Savage, 78).

The union also enjoyed favorable economic climate. The union comprised of states that were much industrialized than the confederate states. The sales from the industrial products provided the much-needed funds for the acquisition of firearms and salaries for the union soldiers. The industries also played a crucial role in enabling the union to design and produce efficient and effective technological warfare that was much more superior to the south. The south was weak in terms of technological advancement because the states mainly relied on farming in order to meet their economic requirements. This rendered the union with an upper hand over south.

The victory of the union was also dependent on the social factors. The south was dealt a heavy blow after the abolishment of slavery. This is because the south relied heavily on the slaves as a source of cheap labor. The industrial advancement of the union states had attracted multitudes of job seekers who went to these cities in search of employment. The large population supplied the military with a large pool of workforce who were ready to fight for the union. The large pool of human labor provided the union military with invaluable intellectual skills and ideas that helped in the designing of strategic military tactics that finally led to the south’s defeat.

The victory relied upon the design of efficient offensive strategies and locating army generals who could execute these strategies. The daring offensive tactics of the army generals led by Lincoln that were mainly focused on Virginia worked a great deal in defeating the confederacy’s military power and stopping the supply of recourses to the confederacy armies that were based in other parts of the south (Current, 45).

It took the union indelible leadership from the military in designing and adopting strategies of total war. The generals behind these war strategies included General Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan. The union military was therefore, able to diminish the already limited confederate army and the destruction of the limited recourses and infrastructure that the south the south was heavily reliant on. The union also went ahead to abolish the slavery system in the south and in the process winning the support of many of the equality advocates.

Works cited:

Current, Richard. Lincoln‘s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy. Oxford, England: OxfordUniversity Press, 1994. Print.

Savage, Kirk. Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves: Race, War, and Monument in Nineteenth-Century America. Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1997. Print.