a) Why, in the civil war, despite inferior resources, was the south able to resist the North
for so long?
In the beginning of the civil war from 1861-62 the confederate army had their fair share of
wins and this was due to a variety of factors both social and military factors.
The south was inferior politacaly as their president at the time, Jefferson Davis,
hadn’t the slightest idea of how to lead contra to the North who had Abraham Lincoln who
was a strong leader and modivational speaker which led to a strong army and strong
resilience. The south was also inferior in weaponry, the northern troops had much superior
weapons and large amounts of ammunition which the south did not have as they had to
ration the use of ammunition. Another way in which the south was infiror was in the amount
of soldiers, the south had around 600,000 men in the beginning of the civil war whereas the
north had an estimate of 2 million men which shows a strong imbalance in numbers
OK but you are not required to write this much about the South’s inferiority. The questions
is more about their strengths and why they were able to resist for so long
lthough, the south was so inferior they had strong military generals and statagists
A
like General E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson who had great understanding of war and because
of their strategic know-how they had one various wars in 1961 such as the first battle of bull
run where the union troops retreated and were left humiliated and ashamed due to the
resilience of the southern troops. Linked to this a social factor which aided the southern
resilience was that the southern troops were more motivated to fight as they were fighting
for their lifestyle of slavery and freedom. They also had the support of their families and
friends who were encouraging the confederate army. Whereas, the union troops fought
because they were told to or because they were conscripted and therefore, they lacked
motivation in the war which also contributed to their losses in the wars.
Excellent answer and you group both reasons under social reasons which shows good
organization.
Although, the confederate army won many battles in the beginning of the war, the
army did struggle with lack of food, efficient health care for the injured and exhaustion from
walking, fighting and running. Later, the anaconda plan created by the union stopped the
confederate army from being able to sustain themselves and it was there that they began to
lose their winning streak. However, their resilience and strong military leadership helped
them carry on fighting for the southern way of life.
To conclude, there were important factors which led to the south being able to resist
the north in the beginning of the war which includes: Strong military leadership and
incredible motivation and resilience to fight for their lifestyle.
You get 7 marks out of 10 as you do well in explaining Southern SOCIAL strengths but you
spend too much time and space writing about Southern weaknesses which is not what the
question is about.
b) ‘ The constitutional amendments of 1865-70 were revolutionary in their impact’ How
far do you agree.
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