re: Was it possible for the South to win the Civil War?

Britain/France would have preferred a Southern victory in their own self interest. Opens up the cotton trade with the southern states which had been tampered with by northern Industrialists (taxing exports forcing the south to sell cotton up north rather than overseas).

Plus it would have just been a shrewd foreign policy victory to split a potential rival (the US) in half and play it against itself.

However those countries had already abolished slavery, so with the emancipation proclamation being issued, officially and retroactively making this a war about slavery rather than slavery plus other reasons, the European powers backed off.

The Civil War was really a war to get a central bank reinstalled in the united states of America.

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1. Recognition by and alliance with either Great Britain or France

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It was actually encouraged by moneyed interests from Europe and GB and France were going to help the south. That is until Russia said you help the south and we are going to war you in Europe. The Russians even sent their fleets to the U.S. as a show of support and threat to GB and France.

Lincoln's military leaders were terrible. At one point Lincoln started leading the military and turned things around and further inspired his troops. The original military commander of the North would not go on the offensive even though he was advantaged with men and equipment.

But since this was a war to get a central bank in the US and Lincoln found a great work around with his greenbacks he had to be put down. The South didn't do it so he was assassinated. Central bank was ratified shortly after Lincoln's death.

Top Story of Abraham Lincoln- Full Documentary - 45 minutes

Win Gettysburg. They win the war. It still kills me that on the first day of battle they didn't take more ground. Take culps hill the first day and you got it made.

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That's weird, I don't think we've ever had a thread like this before here...

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HAHAHAHAHAHA

If the South woulda won...

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This is 100% because they didnt have Stonewall Jackson there. Losing him is what lost the war. Robert E Lee even said as much.

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Stonewall may have delayed the inevitable but he would not have won the war.

The Union had multiple armies running roughshod through the confederacy. Coupled with the naval blockade it was a matter of time before resources ran out

The Civil War results parallel early WWII battles. The side with the most resources and manpower prevailed over better generals would had superior tactics.

The true turning point in the war in the East was the Battle of the Wilderness. Once again, the AoP headed south and was tactically beaten by the ANV despite heavily outnumbering it. However, Grant was the first Union commander to realize that just because he had suffered a tactical defeat did not necessarily also mean he had suffered a strategic one. Instead of doing what every Union commander up to that point had done and retreating back north, he regrouped and attempted to get around Lee's flank, and he continued to do the same after every battle. From the Wilderness through to the Siege of Petersburg fighting was almost constant, and it was that constant fighting that gradually destroyed the ANV. Attrition did what maneuvering could not.

When you look strictly at military and economic factors then there was no way the South could win; however, when you considered political and human factors there was a chance.

It was all about the will to fight. If the North ever got to the point where politically the president couldn't keep the support of the people to keep the South in the Union, then the South could win.

Lincoln was smart to change the focus from fighting to keep the South in the Union to a fight to end slavery.

The only chance the South had of winning the war was to make the North sick of the war, and ready to quit. The men, the arms, the munitions, the ships, and economic factors were all on the North's side and when the battles became more modern (meat grinders) the North would eventually prevail as they did.

If the Confederate Army was better organized at the beginning and was able to follow up on their early victory at Manassas, and maybe bring Britain in then it may have been possible. However, the army was not strong enough to make an early, swift move against Washington and overestimated Britain's dependence on southern cotton.

They were winning until Gettysburg