Why Did The Union Win The Civil War

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The Civil War was a critical event in the history of the United States and the war shapes how our nation works as a whole today. The cause of the war was deeply rooted in the issues of slavery and sovereignty. This made the South split from the North wanting to keep slavery in place resulting in the Civil War. The war was fought between 1861 and 1865 separating the Northern States, the Union, and the Southern States, the Confederacy. The three main reasons that led to the success of the Union in the Civil War were the Union's industry, leadership, and strategy allowing them to have a hard-fought victory. The Union’s technology is one of the main reasons they won the war. The Union had a network of telegraphs but the South didn’t because, as …show more content…

This affected the war by commanding soldiers on exactly where and how to attack the Confederacy. At the beginning of the war, the Union had George McClellen as the chief general. He planned to keep the South happy however, since they were in a war there was no good way to do that making his war plans bad and unsuccessful. McClellan was a bad general because he wouldn’t forcefully attack the Confederacy so Lincoln had to do something. Lincoln grew unhappy with him as the war went on because he had shown repeatedly that he couldn’t continue his winning streak in the small battles against the Confederacy. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the war, the Confederacy gained the upper leg by having general chief Robert E. Lee. He was a general who built strong troops regardless of the people, he gave them a reason to fight knowing that they would be stuck with the Union and have to end slavery after losing. In the middle of the war, Lincoln made the political movement of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation allowed for free blacks in the North to fight in the war. Near the end of the war, Lincoln decided to get rid of McClellan and replace him with William Sherman. He made the war as difficult as possible for the South. Destroying railroads and cutting off supply trains. The Confederacy eventually gives up the battle in Atlanta burning their buildings and …show more content…

At the beginning of the war, General Whitfield Scott had a three-step plan for first blocking off the Southern seaports, then gaining control of the Mississippi River, and lastly capturing Richmond, Virginia the Confederate capital forcing them to surrender to the Union. The first step of blocking the ports was to prevent the South from exporting crops to England in exchange for weapons and military supplies. The second step, gaining control of the Mississippi River, was an attempt to divide the Confederacy in half making it harder to aid troops in Richmond. The final part of Scott’s plan was to capture Richmond, essentially forcing the Confederacy to surrender with nothing left. Lincoln wanted to adopt the plan, however, his cabinet didn’t. While this plan wasn’t adopted a very similar plan was eventually made and put into place by General Grant. The cut-off of the coast was first put into place, then Grant was able to capture the Mississippi River with both sea and land forces from the Union. Then the Union went east in movements that weren’t a part of the original plan. After this Sherman began his march from Chattanooga to Georgia gaining more Union territory until he reached Atlanta cutting the South almost in half. The capture of Richmond was achieved in this plan helping the Union still win, beating Lee’s troops, and forcing the Confederacy to surrender back to the Union making the