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Do you think the Confederacy felt they ever had a chance of winning the Civil War?

kgoodyear 6 Dec 18
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If they had been able to get help from England, they could have won. They had the cotton to export. England had the heavy artillery, but the North was able to blockade their ports, and the English never did anything to help break the blockades.

BD66 Level 8 Dec 18, 2018
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I'm sure they believed victory would be easy and swift. Their way of life was on the line. In the end the country was never healed and the hate and resentment lives on.

I believe the country is too monogamous for there to still be hate and resentment between the North and the South. Sure, on the first standard deviation of a bello curve but not as a whole. I was born in the North and I love the South--everything about the South (save for the religion).

@kgoodyear I have a problem with the racism and the religion.

@silverotter11 I am afraid you will find both anywhere. I believe it is part of false hope and an easy answer.

0

Which part of the confederacy?

explain

@kgoodyear you got your generals, your senators, your mothers, your farmers.
I doubt they were all of the same mindset.

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Pretty obviously you don't start a war unless you think you are going to win it. However as a casual observer it seems to me that the South's strategy was all wrong. They didn't need to win, they only needed to not loose. Not loosing would have been best achieved by fighting a defensive war. Attacking the North only stiffened the North's resolve.
Had the South done no more than defend it's territory it is likely that public support for the war in the North would have been luke warm at best. Fighting on it's own ground would have given the South substantial logistical advantages. The South would also have been in a much better position to be seen as a legitimate Government by one or more European countries.

I hadn't thought of it that way. That's interesting!

Not so obvious. The Confederacy never expected a win. They were fighting for a stalemate and then some sort of negotiations (for some independence, for many reunification with slavery) Many Texas lawmakers, especially, knew the cost of going it alone.

0

I remember watching the Ken Burns long documentary on the Civil War. There were several occasions where a Confederate General would have made huge advances if he had gone over one more hill or didn't back down. Don't remember his name, but he lost multiple opportunities to have the South win.

I watched that documentary many years ago but no way I could watch it again.

@maturin1919 Excellent documentary but it was just way too intense for me.

@maturin1919 His documentaries were early versions of binge-watching. You had to invest several nights to it, but you saw it all the way through in maybe a week.

@maturin1919 You are right. I recently watched it and will admit I shed several tears at the very end and I don't usually shed tears.

0

Jefferson Davis was a hotheaded and arrogant man. His own Secretary of State, Robert Toombs of Georgia, warned him precisely what would happen if he ordered an attack on Fort Sumter. But Davis was supremely confident in victory and gave the order anyway. If the Confederacy had kept its cool and sued for independence, a sympathetic US Supreme Court would have given it to them. Davis's reckless stupidity was unequaled until December 7, 1941.

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I'm sure they did when the war began and there ideals would spread through out the country. However, they wrong and we see the after effects even today.

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Of course they did. As far as they were concerned, god was on their side... :/

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In warfare the ONLY winners are the Arms Manufactures.

4

yes of course they did. for a while there it looked as if they might, too. the real problem is that some people think they're still fighting it, fighting to reestablish slavery and all. trump and his trumpkins are not helping to disillusion them, either.

g

4

Judging by the number of Confederate flags flying here in Middle Tennessee, I'd say that some people do not consider the war to be over yet. 😟

@creative51 I have asked several people why they fly Confederate flags. Their response is usually that it is a symbol of Southern pride. I suspect, though, that they are hiding their white supremacy from me. Sensible people know that the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism, white supremacy and slavery. Ugh.

The Southern Poverty Law Center marks my town as a center for the KKK. They do not come out in the open, but I can see signs of racism here and there.

@creative51 Well said. I agree completely.

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