The Civil War

In the Civil War the North had many advantages over the South. The South was outnumbered, out supplied, and pushed into a corner using military tactics. Many things changed because of the Civil War. The military tactics used by the North changed how war was fought from then on. Many changes were made politically; some were only temporary, while others were permanent. After the war was over, the country was reunited and the image of the soul and duty of our country redefined. But it wasn’t easy.

While both the North and the South had stable and confident economic systems, the North was much more industrialized and diversified and with a better transportation system they not only had the ability for mass production but also the means for speedy and efficient mass transportation. The Northern states contained 27.1 thousand miles of railroad, which lines of communication followed. This advantage of widespread communication allowed the Union Army to be more efficient and organized. The Southern states only had nine thousand miles of railroad and nowhere near the diversified industrial power of the North. From population to finance, agriculture, and livestock, the trend was consistent. The North was more powerful.

The North also had a better-established government. The South had to build their government from scratch and was lacking everything from money, to government officials, to furniture for their offices. Many of the political policies and laws implemented during this time were only temporary but others had very lasting affects. The draft was first introduced by the South and then adopted by the North during the Civil War. After the country was reunited the draft law stayed and has been with us ever since. Because many of the Southern Democrats were eliminated as competition to the Republicans the Congress became Republican dominated. This Republican dominated Congress had passed many laws and policies during the time of the Civil War that still stick with us today such as Internal Revenue Tax and the IRS.

Both the Union and the Confederacy had good military leaders who used and/or invented promising war tactics. The North used a strategy known as the Anaconda Plan. This is where the Union Forces would surround the Confederacy, cut its trade, divide it into two at the Mississippi River, and squeeze it to death. At first the Anaconda Plan was ridiculed, because both sides were originally stuck on old fashion tactics of using mass troops to attack a certain point. When both sides found the new technology in weaponry, made this old strategy suicide the Anaconda Plan was implemented. New technology caused old war tactics to change. Another strategy, I personally like to call “The Jaw” was demonstrated by the brilliant Robert. E. Lee from the South. One war tactic used by Ulysses S. Grant from the North in The Siege