Why did The Confederates Lose The War in just 2 Battles? - The American Civil War (1863)

Why did The Confederates Lose The War in just 2 Battles? - The American Civil War (1863)

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#History #Documentary

[Knowledgia]

Be sure to check out the other parts about the American Civil War:

[phillipnagle]

At the onset of the war, the overall Union commander, Gen. Winfield Scott laid out the Anaconda Plan. That plan was to impose a naval blockade hold fast in northern Virginia and put the emphasis on the west, taking the Mississippi River (including New Orleans), then advancing through Georgia and back up to Virginia, in effect squeezing the Confederates like a giant anaconda. Basically this plan worked very well, the Confederate victories in northern Virginia were meaningless. The two most important Union victories of the war may well have been the capture of New Orleans and Shiloh.

[anthonyanderson]

Crazy that arguably the two most important battles of the entire war were going on at literally the exact same time.

[johnbradbury]

Loved the draft riot logic " The draft favors the rich, so let's take it out on the people that have absolutely no power."

[larryshirkey]

the south lost because they didn't have the manpower or the industry the north did. the only chance they had was to win quickly. The emancipation proclamation stopped Europe, specifically Britain, from interfering on the southerners side.

[airriongalloway]

I love how
A lot of these comments are saying it’s not about slavery but their way of life. I’m from Vicksburg and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that it was. Their way of life and economic development and growth depended on slavery the moment that was taken away it collapsed and just like the federal government did and still does came to there rescue by pumping in US tax dollars. Hell people in Vicksburg still drive around with cotton tags on the front of their cars along with confederate flags let’s not forget the giant Cotten stickers that say Old South on their rear windows. As yourself this if the confederate would have would where would America be where would Black Americans be today. America would not exist as we know it. I’m an Army Veteran and so many people say thank you for your service but fly confederate flags on their vehicles and homes. How can you be patriotic to the United States but be a traitor by flying the confederate flag? Beats me with that being said never let anyone tell you it wasn’t about slavery my ancestors were slaves right here in the same city I live in, my grandparents work on a share cropper farm picking cotton, they were also forced to walk on different side walks from white Americans and had to go to different schools and drink from different water fountains never forget. If you don’t believe me visit Vicksburg it’s a great place, it also has the historic National Military Park that goes over the campaign and battles of Vicksburg. One final thing white Americans in Vicksburg did not celebrate the 4th of July for 81 years! But yet a lot of people claim to be proud Americans citizens who just so happen to despise and hate black americans, and also fly the confederate flag. Don’t forget to do your research. 😊

[willforest]

Its a good example of good tactics not being enough to overcome a strategic disadvantage.

[blockmasterscott]

The CSA was like the Japanese military of WW2 in that they could not make up losses in man or material, where if the Union lost a battle, they could come back and fight another day.

For example, Gettysburg was the Confederate version of the Battle of Midway in terms of irreplaceable losses.

[honorless]

In the film "Chatos Land" Jack Palance as a former TX Brigade Capt says it best
"They had more... more men, more guns, more food, more luck. You know, when I look back at it, I know now that it was there for the seeing in '63... except we didn't see it."

[homelessjesse]

Lee, much like Pompey Magnus, will go down in history as one of the most overrated generals.

[MultiLeonard]

Gettysburg is not as consequential as people think it is. If the confederates won they would’ve had such depleted forces that they would have been defeated at DC. Antietam is much more pivotal

[aarondemiri]

They focused on tactics instead of strategy

[jeffreypeterson]

I would add the Battle Puebla between the Mexican army and France during the American Civil War. If the French won the battle, Napoleon III could have circumvented the union blockade, and give the confederates supplies and funds in exchange for cotton and tobacco.

[burrellbikes]

What beyond stupid is how people thought the south was really ever winning the war after 1861. Once the Union army got organized and started pushing southward, all of the armies either struggled or outright lost over and over again. Save one - Lee’s army. The South was really losing that war before Vicksburg and Gettysburg.

[grandadmiralzaarin]

Lee's refusal to contribute troops to aid Vicksburg as well as the delusional focus on risky offensives into Union territory without any realistic chance of strategic gains led to the fall of Vicksburg and later, Lee's myopic obsession with his home state would lead to the collapse of other fronts. Lee's ridiculous attempts to utilize his army in sweeping Napoleonic maneuver battles bled the Army of Northern Virginia white while Joseph E. Johnston's much more viable concept of strategic retreat, opportunistic battle and trading space for time were ignored to the detriment of the entire Confederacy.

[joshdavis]

The funny thing is those two battles didn't actually lose the war for the Confederacy. In mid 1864 with Grant besieging Lee in Petersburg/Richmond, and Sherman making slow progress towards Atlanta; Lincoln actually said he was going to lose reelection if something didn't change. Thankfully Sherman captured Atlanta in September. If Lincoln losses, the new government almost certainly makes peace with the Confederacy, and they win their independence.

[branonlamphere]

50, 000 soldiers died in Gettysburg in 2 days. It took 10 years of fighting in Vietnam to reach a similar count. D-Day and the entire western campaign against Hitler was a joke compared to the carnage at Gettysburg. Damn!!

If anybody wants a second civil war I’d advise against it!!

[phillipsesate]

Anyone else notice the placement for Washington DC was in the wrong spot?

[vehx]

It's wrong to say that the Confederates lost the war just because of Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Rather it's a symptom of poor strategic planning and vision by the Confederates.

The Confederacy has absolutely no plan to prepare for a wartime economy to support it. They thought that the war would end quickly (to be fair the North thought so too initially).

But when the war dragged on they failed to adapt, the North did. For one the South failed to organized any form of systemic smuggling operation to run the Union blockade at any point of time to support it's war economy. Most smugglers brought in luxury items and contrabands like wine and silk in the last few years, not the guns food and machinery that the South needed.

Nor was the South any more competent in securing foreign aid, before the Emancipation Proclaimation. The South had the window of opportunity to buy huge stocks of supplies and weapons from Europe using the 1861 cotton as leverage and when the Union blockade was at it's weakest. However the South was guided by the doomed King Cotton diplomacy and basically tried to blackmail Europe into supporting it by witholding their cotton. Needless to say that did not work out too well.

The South also failed to defend territories that were strategic for it's war effort, it failed to relegate enough forces to defend New Orleans, the biggest port in the South and retake it to open back up smuggling and blockade running.

Even when the North opened 4 southern ports to European trade to ease Europe's concern of a cotton famine, the South did nothing to capitalize on that, well more likely they can't because they burned most of their cotton to create an artificial famine (idiots).

Finally the South was equally incompetent in it's strategy of prosecuting the war. Robert E Lee and by extension the entire Confed government due to his influence was myopically focused on bringing the war to the North and defeating them in a single decisive blow regardless of whether it was in the capacity of the South to do so.

So even in victory, the South paid for it in soldiers that they cannot afford to lose. Even before Gettysburg there were already signs that the Confed's manpower was draining fast because of it's costly tactics.

So Vicksburg and Gettysburg were merely the nail in the coffin for what was a complete failure rivaling that of Hitler's mad rantings.

[skizmondo]

"Part of the Battlefield would shortly be turned into a national cemetary for fallen Union soldiers. Slain Confederates were not so lucky"

"Such is the fate of ALL traitors!" -Primarch of the Dark Angels, First Legion of the Imperium, Lion El'Johnson