Civil War and the Loss of the South "In all history, no nation of simple farmers has ever successfully waged war against a nation of mechanics... You are doomed to fail. " Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman to a Southern friend. "Why did the North win the Civil War?" is only half of a question in itself, because the other half is “Why did the South lose the Civil War?” To this day, historians have tried to pinpoint exactly why the South lost the war. Some historians blame Confederacy leader Jefferson Davis; however others believe it was the Union (North) cutting numbers. Advantages and disadvantages are abundant on both sides of the issue, but the most dominant arguments as to why the South lost the war would be the fact that states' rights prevented the unification of the South, Jefferson's poor leadership Davis and his inability to collaborate with the South. his generals, the South failed to gain the recognition of European nations, the superior resources of the North made the outcome inevitable, and the South's morale toward the end of the war. First, the South could not have won the Civil War because state's rights prevented the South from unifying. The same issue that created the Confederacy helped destroy it. In declaring war, the South faced political and governance problems that greatly complicated its economic mobilization problem. No one would deny the problematic effects of conflict generated by divergent ideas about how to best protect freedom and organize Southern society for the war effort. The people of the South insisted on maintaining their democratic liberties in times of war, which proved fatal for the South. They had to contend with a “confederation of particularistic politicians [who] could hardly be expected to readily adopt those centralist policies that victory required” (Donald, p. 26). Individual state governors fought bitterly with Jefferson Davis to prevent him from consolidating power to fight the war. They held back troops and supplies while the Confederate Congress spent its time arguing over states' rights instead of waging a war for national survival. Many internal conflicts in the South were gaining and weakening the unity of the South. Internal conflicts led Confederate officials to choose between moving troops from the coasts and strengthening their armies, or leaving the... the inevitable and moral outcome of the South towards the end of the war. The Civil War was a difficult time for both the North and the South, but the question of its outcome was obvious from the beginning. The North was guaranteed a decisive victory over the ill-equipped South. Northerners, prepared to shoulder the deficit of the war, were surprised to find that they were experiencing a huge industrial boom even after the first year of the war. For the South, however, the war was a draining and debilitating leech, sucking the territory of any semblance of economic formidability. The debate continues as to whether or not the South could have won the Civil War. It's always going to be a bunch of "what ifs?" Works Cited Beringer, Richard. et al. Because the South lost the Civil War. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986. Boritt, Gabor S. Why the Confederacy Lost. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992Donald, David. et al. Why the North won the Civil War. London: Collier MacmillanPublisher, 1960.Gallagher, Gary. The Confederate War. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.