One of the reasons why the North (Union) won the Civil War was that it had a larger population than the South. The population of the Union was about twice that of the South (Confederacy). The North had more people to fight in its army as compared to the South (Stilwell, 2020). Any casualties from the war could quickly be replaced with more people from the general population. Additionally, having more people in the North meant that the Union could collect more taxes to facilitate the war (Stilwell, 2020). Unlike the North which could tax more people, the South could only levy taxes on a small population, which means it was not financially prepared for the war. Consequently, the North won the war due to the size and financial strength of its population.
In addition to having greater manpower, the North had a stronger manufacturing capacity than the South. By 1861, the North’s manufacturing industry was better established than the South (Hall et al., 2019). In contrast, the Confederacy’s economy was structured around agriculture rather than manufacturing. It had to import the materials, such as guns, that it could not manufacture within the eleven confederate states from Europe. Consequently, the North could produce more arms than the South and had greater power.
The third reason why the North won the Civil War lies in the strength of its Navy. Since the Union Navy had more guns than the South Navy, it blocked ports in the South from operating. The South could not export cotton to Europe or import essential commodities, which left the confederacy states stranded (Parish, 2020). The North’s interference with the South’s Naval activities adversely impacted the amount of resources available to the South, leading to the Union’s victory.
References
Hall, A. B., Huff, C., & Kuriwaki, S. (2019). Wealth, slaveownership, and fighting for the confederacy: An empirical study of the American civil war. American Political Science Review, 113(3), 658-673.
Parish, P. J. (2020). The American Civil War. Routledge.
Stilwell, B (2020). 6 simple reasons the union won the civil war. Millitary.com.