Much like the American Revolution, the Civil War appeared to be a contest between two unequal sides. The North had a greater advantage than the South in most aspects. However, the few Southern advantages were strategic enough to nearly bring victory and her independence.
Side-by-side comparisons will appear for the North and the South. Determine whether each is an advantage for the Union (North) or the Confederacy (South), and click on the appropriate flag.
Translating the North's numerous advantages into victory proved much harder than anticipated. To win, it had to get the South to see the hopelessness of its cause and surrender. The longer the war lasted, the more the manpower and resource advantage of the North would take its toll on the South, and eventually it would collapse. This squeezing of the South became known as the Anaconda Plan.
The South, on the other hand, had two main paths to victory. First, it could simply outlast the North and hope she grew tired of fighting. The second path was to get the support of England, which could immediately reverse the Northern advantages.
To learn more about each plan of victory, click on the images below.
Sources of images used for this section as they appear, top to bottom: