What were the north and the south's military strategies at the start of the civil war and how and why did they change as the war continued?

Answer 1

The north's Anaconda plan was to try to cut the South in 2. First they would blockade the entire south so they could not trade with the europian countrys and to crush the ecomomy. The South Just wanted to defend there capital Richmond and defend the south and try to hold off the north. They both stuck to there plans and the south successfuly guarded Richmond for most of the war. The North successfully surrounded the south and cut them in two.

Answer 2

At the onset of the US Civil War, neither side had a well defined strategy for winning the war.

This led to confusing, certainly by the commander of the Army of the Potomac, George A. McClellan. The overall consequence was that developing strategies was a building process that took time and shifted along the way.

Certainly both the North and the South knew that the Confederacy would have an overall defensive strategy and offensive would come from counter attacks.

The North had to know that its large navy would be needed to blockade Southern ports.

It probably was also a preliminary strategy for the North of disrupting supply lines and and all types of civilian support by destroying croplands and manufacturing capabilities of the South.

Answer 3

At the onset of the US Civil War, the North sought to follow several imperfectly coordinated military strategies, with one consisting of a direct advance on the South's capital and the other consisting of maritime action: blockading Southern ports and controlling the South's access to the Mississippi River. For the South's part, a direct threat of the North's capital was viewed as a war-winning strategy; otherwise, the South simply hoped to 'hold serve' by forcing the North to engage in fruitless and costly offensive action. In summary, the South understood the value of good defense while the North pressed more for offensive actions. The North's only chance to win was to assault Southern armies and force a Southern surrender.

Answer 4

The North followed a Grand Strategy known as The Anaconda Plan. General Scott formulated it early in the war. It consisted of blockading the Southern seaports and capturing the Mississippi, choking off the South from supplies, communications, and reinforcements. McClellan ignored it in the East, but, consciously or not, Grant followed it his Western Campaigns, tweaking it by adding the capture of the Cumberland and Tennessee river valleys to the original concept. Sherman further elaborated on the plan by adding his March Through Georgia to disrupt communications in the heart of the Deep South using his doctrine of Total War. In reality, the South had no good comprehensive strategy except a vague notion of defensive attrition. It lacked the strategic design of a Fabian Policy. In fact, the South suffered from a patchwork of local defense plans that lacked the capacity to coordinate with one another. Only in Northern Virginia was there anything resembling a dynamic defense to protect the Confederate Capital in Richmond. Luckily for the South, that is the kind of action in which Lee excelled. His spoiling attacks on the Army of the Potomac kept Union forces at bay for three years. Lee was not nearly as effective on the offensive. Both of his invasions of the North ended in failure, partly as a result of lack of resources, and partly because of a lack of strategic foresight.

Answer 5

The North followed Scott's Anaconda Plan which called for the blockade of the southern seaports, and sending an expedition to capture the Mississippi Valley, cutting the South off from the trans-Mississsippi states, preventing the Confederates from getting fresh troops and supplies, and keeping them from exporting cotton and other raw materials. Grant elaborated on the plan by capturing the Cumberland and Tennessee River Valleys, prio to closing off the Mississippi at Vicksburg. Sherman's Total War March Through Georgia destroyed the supplies, materiel, and infrastructure that supported the armies in the field, significantly shortening the war. The South did not have a strategy that allowed for the armies to coordinate with one another.