What is a disadvantage faced by the Confederacy in the civil war?

Answer 1

There were a number of reasons why the Confederacy was at a disadvantage when it came to fighting the Civil War.

1) The Confederacy was made up of agrarian states, which were forced to industrialize in order to produce weaponry and compete with the Union.

2) The Confederacy was, ironically, forced to centralize government control of the states in order to successfully conduct a war. Doing so was in conflict with the Confederate ideal of "states rights" over a centralized government.

3) The Confederacy was not, in fact, totally united in the decision to secede from the Union, creating disagreement in the Southern States about the major underlying principle of the war.

4) The Confederacy struggled to recruit enough volunteer soldiers to successfully fight the war and had to resort to a military conscription law (a draft) to fill its ranks. This fact created further disunity in the states. It also highlighted the hypocrisy of the Confederacy in promoting state's rights, yet forcing men to fight in a centralized army.

Answer 2

The Confederacy had an agrarian economic base, as compared to the industrial base of the North; they could produce more cotton, but the north could produce more weapons. The North also had a larger population. As a further Confederate disadvantage, it proved to be possible to incite slaves to rebel against their owners. Considering all the disadvantages that the Confederacy had, it is remarkable that they held out as long and put up as much of a fight as they did.

Answer 3

Union:

1. The task of doing the invading.

2. Having to face natural riders and shooters led by some outstanding Generals.

3. Having to occupy vast amounts of territory.

4. Having to face a General Election in mid-war, which could have got Lincoln turfed out.

Confederacy:

1. Almost nil manufacturing industry.

2. Failure to attract overseas support, following Lincoln's issue of the Proclamation.

3. Smaller population from which to recruit.

4. A President who was out of his depth, in both the military and political agendas.

Answer 4

Their economy was largely based on slavery, which was an inefficient method of production, and left little room for change and moves away from a basically agrarian society. This reduced their potential for producing war-winning weapons, etc. In addition, the disgust of the civilized world at the Confederacy's slave-holding status prevented the formation of strong alliances with the European powers of the time.

Answer 5

their population was five and a half people, 9,000 miles of railroad tracks, had to start producing its own confederate money and were made of paper so some people started printing their own money, they had no right to secede so they were rebels, value of firearms were $ 73,000.

Answer 6

No coordination of separate field armies; lack of industrialized base; blocked from outside trade by union navy

Answer 7

Sllavery, tarriffs, sugarcane and crop sales, over 50% wealth from slavery