In 1860 the United states of America cracked in two, the South, appalled by the result of the election which led Abraham Lincoln to take office, seceded from the North and created the Confederacy of the United States. Lincoln the much loved Republican is in the history books as one of the most inspirational leaders of America became the President of the Union. While on the 9th February the Confederate convention unanimously elected Senator Jefferson Davis as provisional President. Davis became, and remained to Northerners, the original wrongdoer. Later generations of liberal progressives would consider him an American Hitler.
The American Civil War militarily and politically won by the Union, however socially it can be argued that the South won the war. The North was able to defeat the South in the war and preserve the United States as a country but not much changed after the war for over 80 years. I agree that the South was able to preserve most of their way of life minus the actual ownership of the slaves even though they lost the military war. The North was able to use its manufacturing, trade and number of troops to defeat the South. During the 1800’s over eighty percent of the Unite State’s manufacturing capacity was in the North, this allowed the Union to produce far more in the way of war material than the Confederacy.
Traditional history holds that the South was defeated by overwhelming Union manpower and resources. That same history states that the South only lasted as long as it did (four years) because of the brilliance of the South’s (and even America’s) greatest general, Robert E. Lee (Thomas, 1995). The fact is the South could have won the Civil War. History shows many wars have been won by the weaker opponent. The American Revolution demonstrated that a vastly inferior American army (with no Navy) was able to outlast and when needed decisively fight and beat the most powerful army (English) in the world.
It was only a few days until the NLF troops had been beaten back and the American troops once again occupied Saigon and their own embassy. The Americans were not Militarily defeated, in actual fact defeating and killing 58,000 north Vietnamese troops (Wiest, 2008) however this attack is ranked high above others as the start of the downward spiral that ended the war. Despite the offensive by the North Vietnamese forces the standoff had not changed anything, Lawrence in, the Vietnam War a concise international history, claims it “merely changed the nature of the stalemate” and that the Tet offensive was “confirming opposition to the war among American public.” (Lawrence, 2008 P116). The North Vietnamese forces being able to take and hold the supposed hub of American power in Saigon, to then have the image of the Vietcong on the roof waving the flag of the opposing army is crushing blow to the American public. This Kind of image and media brought about the anti war movement that believed the war was a ‘quagmire’ and needed to be
Most of the time, the occurrence of nationalism was seen only on Independence Day. As you can see, the years from 1817-1925 were not “Good Feelings” at all. Sectionalism was outstanding for American over a long period of time after the War of 1812. The Northern states were without slaves, while the entire Southern states were populated with slaves (with the exception of Missouri after the Missouri Compromise was passed). In the election of 1820, there was an increased amount of nationalism because it was a 2-man race between James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.
Why the South Lost the Civil War Upon the aftermath of the Civil War, and centuries following, Americans have tried to analyze the downfall of the Confederacy. Like all other wars, the American Civil War was very complex and there is no clear cut answer as to why the South lost. A question of leadership, supplies, and sheer numbers are all possibly contributing factors to the South’s demise. Regardless, the four years of engagement wreaked havoc on the country, killing over a half a million people, doing both physical and emotional damage. For any cause to succeed, it is guaranteed to need exceptional leadership.
So, there were not enough people to fight for the South in the War. Although the South had excellent commanders like Lee, it lacked the number of factories and industries in order to produce the needed War materials. Therefore, the North won the American Civil War because of their strong economy, their superiority in military and political leadership, the Confederate’s loss of will to win the War, South’s failure to use the resources properly, and some strategies that were formulated by North’s commanders to defeat the South. The secession of the South from the Union led the Civil War between these two brotherly states. Lincoln’s election as a president in 1860 triggered the Southerners decision to secede believing that Lincoln would restrict their rights to own slaves.
The buildup seemed to take forever, but Pershing eventually commanded an army of over 20 divisions. The battle referred to as the Second Battle of the Marne was the turning point in the war and America had a large part of the victory in repulsing a last gasp offensive by the Germans. Germany felt they could win a major battle with a diversionary tactic, but, neither the French Army nor the American Army of 85,000 men with them fell for the feint. Germany figuratively had all their eggs in this basket and realized with this defeat the war was effectively over. The Americans were perhaps lacking in battle experience, but were fresh and described as belligerent – in other words they were spoiling for a fight.
Now and Then From the beginning of recorded time a deep-seated desire to compete has lived within every man. The cavemen judged their worth according to their strength, medieval knights were shown great honor for overcoming their opponents in the joust, and the Wild West showdown left the best man standing. The need to be superior is as strong in today’s society as it was thousands of years ago. The 1920s ushered in the greatest form of competition the world had possibly ever seen, called “The Great American Pastime”- baseball. Since then American culture has witnessed changes in science, entertainment, and technology, but none so impacting on the world of sports as those in realm of baseball.
The opinion of “why” the North won when the South had fewer loss of men was answered in many different ways. Many can say the North won because of them wanting freedom for all, but that does not change the amount of people fighting on opposite sides. The North had more men to fight in the war, so even though the South suffered less loss of men it still did not even out the numbers, not to mention the North was continually enrolling more men to fight during the course of the war. Another reason could be the loss of Stonewall Jackson and the confidence that took from the confederate soldiers. I also think that the North gained major strength after the win at Gettysburg.