by James Marsh

Created on: July 14, 2008

The following paragaphs will disscuss if or not the idea that the north won because it had greater resources can be accepted as a true statement of why the North won the American civil war.

I think that the north won for a number of reasons the fact that they had greater resources is undoubtedly one factor which contributes to their victory but not the strongest. It is clear that having greater resources helped the northern army but still they lost most of their battles and were facing defeat at some point in the war. This shows that other factors contributed to the Northern victory. For example the south was divided in itself with why they were fighting some were against slavery others such as many people from Virginia just did not like the idea of their state being invaded.

I disagree with the interpretation because of the following point; the battles were won with numbers and good generals however the boots for example of the men if they were of a low quality the soldiers may be able to travel or fight for long which may have been an important factor of the war because the north could drive their harder and longer then the southern army's. But this still would not have made much difference because the South were defending and generally didn't have long to travel to fight.

However the North had great advantages over the Southern armies. Such as a powerful and well spoken president to lead them. Also there is the religious belief that America should be united as one. This was a powerful resource because religion was very strong and that to have god on their side many Northerners believed this would secure their victory. If that wasn't enough President Lincon passed the emancipation proclamation which freed the slaves, which meant that the Northerners were fighting for something more then a union, they were fighting to free men and they believed it was a worthy and Christian thing to fight for.

If a historian is to consider that slaves was a resource which I don't then freeing slaves and letting them join the army would be a major factor in the North's victory. The freed blacks were full of a determination and a wilfulness to be seen as men. Not just for themselves but for their race, this made them fight better because they had a great incentive to fight. They were fighting for their freedom and their very right to exist they were the ultimate "resource" to use against the southern armies. If the slaves are to be considered as a resource then I agree with the view that the north won because of its greater resources.

One of the Northerners greatest resources were railways which meant that they could transport weapons, men and food weather they wanted to, however many railways were blocked or blown up by Southerners. Despite the attempts made the railway proved an effective mode of transport and a key resource to the Northern army.

A great resource of the Northern army is their economy was far greater then the southern economy because it only had slavery to sustain it. Whereas the North had a richer economy and could afford to feed and cloth their soldiers to a better standard then the Southern armies. Also they had generally better trained soldiers. Many of the Southern n soldiers were just local farmers with little training and discipline.

In concluson if a resource includes strong beliefs good leaders and slaves as resources then the resources of the northern army did help to win the war. However it is hard to determine what actually is counted as a resource and it is hard to tell what effect the resources had on the Southern opposition it is hard to determine how effective the use of the resources were.

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