Assess the reasons why the Union failed to win the Civil War by 1863. and How successful were t - page 5
Keywords: The American Civil war – The war 1861-63
By ROYDS on 29/09/2008
Level: A Level (Year 12) / AS Level
Page Number: 5 of 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
the side of the Union as well with the inspirational leaders of the Confederacy in Virginia and in the West helped counter a lot of the northern advantages and dominance in the balance of power in 1861, which meant neither side was victorious by 1863. However it must be noted that the Union on a tide of victories and having penetrated and taken control of the Mississippi and several other towns and forts, crucial to the southern war effort, the worst was still to come for the Confederates and things would undoubtedly get harder.
2. How successful were the Confederate military forces from 1861 to 1863?
The Confederacy aimed in both the East and West to survive, to survive until Lincoln was hopefully removed. Effectively the Confederacy forces had survived to 1863 so was successful in that sense. Though throughout 1861 – 1863 the Confederacy had been successful, mainly in Virginia particularly under the rule of Robert E. Lee at Chancellorsville there successes were not so everywhere. The Confederacy and the Union too were inconsistent in their victories and military forces did less well elsewhere. Before we can answer the question a balance between successes and failures need to be assessed and how badly the Confederacy’s failures had hit them.
Not to say the Union didn’t have any problems but the Confederacy had many problems at the beginning of the war, which to many would have wrote them off having any successes in a war against the Union. The Confederacy had to start military organisation from scratch and had a very poor manufacturing capacity so equipping its soldiers was a major problem. Healthcare was bad in the Union but worse in the Confederate forces, troops had to scavenge what they could get and disease was a massive killer. Despite these alarming disadvantages the Confederacy actually did very well early on in comparison to later years in the war. Between 1861-62 the Confederates had successes in Virginia at the First Battle of Manassas, (July 1861) Ball’s Bluff, (Oct. 1861) the Shenandoah Valley campaign, (April – June 1862) Seven days, (June – July 1862) the Second Battle of Manassas (August 1862) and at Fredericksburg (December 1862). These were particularly significant as Virginia was of high value to both the Confederacy and the Union as both their capitals Washington (N) and Richmond (S) were within 100miles of each other in Virginia so it meant defeats in
Last 5 comments…
There have been no comments posted for this article, but you need to register if you want to be the first!