What have US Civil War historians claimed is the best single reason for the Union's victory?

Answer 1

In the late 1950's a gathering of historians were asked to name a single major reason why the Union defeated the Confederacy. Although any single reason can be challenged, the overall agreement among most of them was that in a combined fashion, all the individual reasons factored into the Southern defeat. As a result of this historical conference, five reasons in particular had the most support.1. The performance of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his failure to handle the various threats the South faced was a key factor in the defeat. That Davis became the defacto general in chief, stands out, and few can give Davis high marks when he tried to combine his duties as president and top military commander.

2. The superior Union diplomacy that kept the European powers from officially recognizing the Confederacy is another factor. Although it is recognized that England and France were huge supporters of the Confederacy, an official recognition of the South's defacto independence, would have allowed the South to seek European help in formulating a "peace conference". The Southern economy was very important to Europe. They would have every reason to intercede.

3. The economic supremacy of the North produced the inevitable results. The economics of an strong industrial base and millions of workers in the North, was simply too much for the South to handle.

4. The Northern victory was based on the superior size of Union armies, combined with the so-called "defensive-offensive" battle strategies of the South which depleted the Southern armies regardless of the fact the South was led by competent and in some cases higher quality generals.

5. The failure of the Davis administration to abandon its democratic ideals ( for whites ) left the South open to constant criticism from Southern governors. Cotton shipments were unregulated for example and the conscription laws were called "unconstitutional" by many Southern governors.

Davis did not rule with a heavy hand in comparison to the Lincoln administration's censorship and frequent abandonment of habeas corpus.

None of these five reasons, even in combination can reveal the true ultimate cause of the Northern victory. The result has been the publication of over 60,000 books on the US Civil War.