us civil war - factors influencing outcomes Flashcards
how did political leadership influence the union victory?
Lincoln - eloquent in expressing war aims, better communicator, more skillful in keeping political factions working together
Davis - Lee could think of no one in the south that could do a better job than Davis. Often charged with failing to manage country’s economy and finances, as they printed too much money. But they maintained over 3% of its population under arms, which is much higher than north. But, they managed and organised supplies well.
how did the relationship with the cabinet influence union victory?
Davis made 16 changes in 4 years, but the military, cabinet and senators all had experience when going into car.
Lincoln was seen as inspiring and managed his Generals and military strategy more effectively than Davis. Greater acceptance of strong federal power in the centre.
how did military leadership impact the union victory?
Confederacy - Lee and Burnside was seen as invincible, but was dismissed at Gettysburg
Union - Grant followed success with Sherman, but Grant was credited with turning around the Union’s fortunes and ensuring victory.
how did military strategy help support a union victory?
Confederacy – Lee bled confederacy to death, but a purely defensive strategy wouldn’t have been more successful. Their retreats led to disastrous sieges and surrenders. But, he won major campaigns and if other confederate generals had fought as well, the war may have ended differently.
how did resources impact union victory
Union – outnumbered soldiers 2:1, industry could produce over 30x firearms
Confederacy – collapsed under the strain of war, they increasingly lacked supplies.
how did missed opportunities support a union victory?
- Confederacy had taken advantage of key opportunities such as the chance to attack Washington after the First Battle of Bull Run
- the chance to secure British support before the Emancipation Proclamation
how did public support impact the union victory?
C - the casualties and economic hardship it brought ate away at Confederate will as the war progressed.
U – support grew, notably after Emancipation Proclamation, evidenced by the strong support for Lincoln in the 1864 election.
how did the lack of nationalism impact union victory?
Some scholars (for example, Beringer, Hattaway and Still) claim that the Confederacy did not generate a strong sense of nationalism
If the nationalist spirit had been strong enough, the argument goes, Southerners would have waged a savage guerrilla war after April 1865.
The lack of nationalism argument, however, is not convincing. The strength of patriotic feeling in 1861 produced 500,000 volunteers for military service.
Far from explaining Confederate defeat, nationalism helps to explain why Southerners fought as long as they did. Northerners almost threw in the towel in the summer of 1864 when they suffered casualty rates that Southerners had endured for more than two years.
how did religious doubts impact union victory?
Southeners began to wonder if God was really on their side.
Southern chuch leaders supported the confederate cause
During the war, religious revival movement swept through confederates army
Played a vital role in sustaining southern will.
how did divisions within the confederacy impact union victory?
many groups within the South became disenchanted as the war progressed. Two-thirds of the Confederacy’s white population were non-slaveholders who may have come to resent risking their lives and property to defend slavery
McPherson found little if any evidence of class division in the letters of Southern soldiers.
how did the strength of confederate will impact union victory?
Even in 1864–5, letters, diaries and newspapers reveal a tenacious popular will rooted in a sense of national community.
What is remarkable about the Confederacy is not its internal weaknesses but its staying power and the huge sacrifices that so many of its people made. The most sobering statistic is that half of the Confederacy’s soldiers were killed or seriously wounded.
how did the strength of union will impact the union victory?
Civilian morale was helped by the fact that life during the war went on much the same as usual. Northern losses were (relatively) less than those sustained by Southerners.
In 1864, 78 per cent of Union soldiers voted for Lincoln, proof that soldier morale still held strong. Union victories from mid-1863 onwards helped to sustain that morale.
how did lee and the confederate morale impact the union victory?
His success sustained Southern hopes
The importance of the Army of Northern Virginia was such that few Southerners contemplated resistance after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, despite the fact that he surrendered only a fraction of Southerners under arms in April 1865.
why would britain support the confederacy?
- ideal trading partner from whom Britain could buy cotton
- Union blockade could cause shortage of cotton and create hardships in areas where cotton mills provided employment
- North was seen as aggressor and looking to force states in or out
- Slave states in N and S, backing confederacy may not have be seen as backing slavery
- Influential newspapers backed Confederacy
why would Britain not support the confederacy?
- Many British firms and individuals were invested in northern economy such as railways.
- Anti-slavery feeling
- Cost of difficulty of fighting a war across the Atlantic
- Could put British Canada at risk if Britain ended up at war
- If they remained neutral, it could sell arms and loans to both sides.
what was the confederate cotton embargo
an unofficial cotton embargo was implemented and this was to force the UK government to recognise the confederacy or see UK’s cotton industry collapse
Russel, the foreign secretary for Britain, was angered by this and refused to support
Britain then found new markets for cotton
what is the trent affair?
november 1861 - confederate comissioners to Britain boarded a ship called Trent in Cuba
USS San Jacinto stopped Trent and removed the commissioners on board
Russel, UK Foreign Secretary, demanded them to be released
Britain got their fleet ready, sent soldiers and stopped exports of war materials.
US government admitted they committed an illegal act and released them
what role did Britain play in ships?
The confederacy started buying British built fast ships in order to run things pass the Union Blockade
Britain also built the confederacy warships which were used to attack Union merchant shipping, yet they did not arm these
what was the role of African Americans in the war?
enlistment was initially resisted by Lincoln as he feared it might upset the unity of the Union
Frederick Douglas said that the AA population should play its part in the war that aimed to end slavery
Confiscation Act 1862 - ex-slaves were used as labourers supporting the Union army but not front-line troops
More AA troops in the Union Army than the total of men in the Confederate Army
there was a significant boost as white Northerners were reluctant to fight
March 1865 - confederate troops passed a law allowing 300,000 slaves to be enlisted as troops.
what were the reasons for passing the emancipation proclamation?
- Lincoln was seen as an abolitionist
- could be used as a decision made to win the war
- relations with the UK - they didn’t want to get involved if slavery was a moral factor as they didn’t agree with it
what was the emancipation proclamation 1863
recognise and maintain the freedom of people and will do no acts to repress this
what was the impact of the emancipation proclamation
- transformed the nature of the civil war
- fit and necessary war measure
- south ignored it
historiography for this section
David Potter: ‘if the union and confederact had exchanged presidents, confederacy may have won its independence
James mcPherson - found very strong patriotism in letters by Southern soldiers
