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Why the South Lost the Civil War

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Why the South Lost the Civil War
When the Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union Army General, Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, many considered the Civil War to be over. The fact that the North was victorious over the South was accepted and the process of reconstruction began in America. It was never openly discussed on why the North defeated the South. However, the question began to slowly arise over time on why the South lost the Civil War. Many historians have become interested in this question and many reasons have been given on why the South lost the Civil War. Lack of manpower, shortages of supplies, and inferior leadership and government were the three main reasons on why the South was defeated in the Civil War. With a shortage of supplies due to lack of industrial bases, the South suffered greatly in the Civil War, ultimately causing their loss. The North’s ability to bring its industry to manufacture supplies allowed it to gain and maintain its dominance over the South. The South, having just 20,000 factories, was no competition for the North, which had 105,000 factories. However, the South at one point did have an opportunity to gain more supplies through foreign aid, which might have caused the Civil War to have a different outcome if the South would have received that aid. Britain and France were willing to give the South money, food, drugs, weapons, and many more supplies. However, the South practiced the institution of slavery, which prevented European aid. Because the middle-classes of France and Britain were against the “peculiar institution”, they chose to side with the North, rather than the South. The South’s deficiency of materials ultimately caused them to lose the Civil War because they were often not prepared for battles and did not have the necessary supplies to compete with the North’s numerous weapons from their large industries. With numbers that could not compete with the North, the South’s lack of
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