Explain why the Confederacy lost the American Civil War. (8 marks)

Understanding the causes of Union victory in the American Civil War remains a widely debated historiographical topic. Therefore, in order to determine why the Confederacy lost the war one must assess both military, economic, political and ideological factors. First and foremost, it is clear that the Union had military supremacy. The Southern forces were unable to expel their Northern opponents from within the Southern States, which shows an inability to match, let alone triumph over, Northern military might. This can be seen in foiled Confederate campaigns into both Maryland and Kentucky, and decisive Union victories such as that at Gettysburg in 1863. Indeed, the Southern forces were largely unable to expel their Northern opponents from within the Southern States, which shows an inability to match, let alone triumph over, Northern military might. This is confirmed in the ‘Anaconda’ Plan proposed by General Winfield Scott, which led to a northern blockade of Confederate ports in April 1861. This blockade exposed - and took advantage of - weaknesses in the Southern economy. Prior to the War, Federal policies had increasingly promoted modernisation primarily in the North, and the South was as such smaller, less industrialised and economically inferior in comparison. Even worse, the Southern economy lacked diversification and relied overwhelmingly on the export of the cash-crop cotton as its main source of income. The northern blockade prevented the sale of this cotton and export rates quickly dropped to less than 10 percent of pre-war levels, restricting the ability of the Confederacy to fund its war efforts. Confederacy leaders hoped that the British and French would aid them in their war because of their cotton requirements, however, this was not the case. The Confederacy failed to gain recognition from the international community, which made it more difficult to defeat their stronger, economically dominant enemy. The importance of such recognition should not be understated, for as historian Howard Jones points out, this was a decisive factor in Confederacy defeat.