Comparative Strengths and Weaknesses
- The Union (North) had clear material advantages: a larger population (22 million vs. 9 million), industrial capacity, extensive railways, and control of the navy, giving it the ability to blockade Southern ports and sustain long campaigns.
- The Confederacy (South) had strong military leadership, greater knowledge of local terrain, and the advantage of fighting a defensive war, which required holding territory rather than conquering it.
- The Confederacy’s major weaknesses included limited industrialization, few railroads, scarce food supplies, and dependence on cotton exports, which lost value when the Union blockaded southern ports.
- The Union’s main weakness was initially poor military leadership and low morale early in the war, combined with political divisions over emancipation and the draft.
Economic Resources and War Strategies
- The Union implemented the Anaconda Plan, designed to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, effectively strangling the Confederate economy.
Definition
Anaconda Plan
The Union’s military strategy during the Civil War to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, cutting off Confederate supplies and trade to slowly “squeeze” the South into surrender.
- The Confederacy relied on “King Cotton Diplomacy”, hoping European nations (especially Britain and France) would intervene to protect cotton supplies; however, this strategy failed as Europe found alternative sources.
- The North’s war economy thrived through industrial mobilization, the use of greenbacks (paper currency), and expanded rail infrastructure, while the South faced hyperinflation and resource shortages by 1864.
Definition
Greenbacks
Paper money issued by the U.S. government during the Civil War to finance the war effort, not backed by gold or silver but by federal credit.
