Thursday, April 19, 2012
Did the south have a chance response
In my opinion using the information that we discussed in class, I don't think that the south had many advantages, for instance being outnumbered by the Union 22 million to 9 million men, and also the lack of railroads that prove to be of much importance when it comes to deploying troops, and re supplying forts with necessities. There was also the problems of slaves living in the south because the confederacy were cautious when it came to arming their slaves and letting them fight in the war, but without the slaves their numbers of men would be cut almost in half. Although the odds were against them they did have advantages that lead the south and also I to believe that they had a chance of winning the war. They had the better generals that could lead them to victory, and the men in the armies were also much more experienced when it came to shooting a gun. Also a big factor that the south thought would help them win the war was cotton. They thought that with cotton, they would have foreign support. The biggest thing that played a part in convincing the confederacy that they had a choice, I think, was their motivation to fight. They looked at the revolutionary war, and saw that they were in a very similar position. the revolutionary war proved to the confederacy that they had a chance in this war. I do not support the idea of slavery, but in the eyes of the south I think that it was a significant factor in their lives that they should battle and fight for. Also for the Union they made the right choice of pursuing war, because they were a new nation, and it would have shown the other world powers that the United states of America was weak, and couldn't even handle one dispute.
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proved that they had a chance not choice.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your statement of how the South did see a chance of winning the civil war by strong military leadership, motivation, and cotton exports. The example of the colonists during the Revolutionary War shows that and yet i believe that the chance very slim. The Union had better overall leadership, mind you, and so would ultimately play a big part unto military campaigning. The dominant state's rights policy in the South gets in the way of what's right and not in decision making. It may not be up to the minds of the generals. Motivation needs to be restored from time to time. Proven in the Revolutionary War, victories like at sea by John Paul Jones regenerated hopes for the colonist soldiers to persevere. Of course the South would win battles but that does not fully restore that motivation when it comes to supplies. Cotton, the key to foreign support, would be harder to tend for during the war. With slaves responsible for such duties as their owners go and fight for slavery, cotton exports may not be working so well. Without such support, there would a shortage of the necessities like food, clothing, ammunition, and money for the soldiers. This may discourage many men when in the North there will be manufacturing facilities in their home-field. Thus, the advantage in the North would be overwhelmingly too great.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jason on the Confederacy advantages because having better generals means having better leadership within your army. Without a good leader, your army will just be chaos. Soldiers won't follow orders or do anything that their generals tell them to do. I also believe that foreign support will be a big advantage for the South to win the war. Cotton was big in the South. Well, for the Union pursuing the war, I kind of disagree with you. I can see why you put that statement, but the North could have handled it a better way. They didn't need war to fix that problem. War doesn't fix anything. Since America was fighting with itself, the war made it worse for America. It might have proved that America could settle its own problems, but what if the problems never occured in the first place? America could just think of a better way to handle its problems and not turn to war everytime.
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