"The victory of the Union in the Civil War was inevitable" How far do you agree with this view

Morale was another factor that determined the outcome of the war and it was heavily linked with leadership.  The Confederates were extremely proud of Lee, so morale depended on him and his victories.  After his defeat at Gettysburg, Lee wanted to resign and morale had dropped very low.   It was the other way round for the Union where morale increased overwhelmingly after the appointment of Grant and the victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg.  Morale is important for the outcome of war as this gives people (on both home front and war front) the determination to keep going and keep succeeding.  When Southern morale dropped tremendously, the Confederacy may have sort of ‘given up hope’.  At this point we see the chances of Union victory being even higher.  

Although in my point of view, the Union was most likely to win, the Confederacy had one strength over the Union, a united war aim.  All seceding states were slave holding states and wanted to remain so.  They were also eager to have laws that suited them and to run the Confederacy how they liked.  This motive kept the troops fighting and determined to get exactly what they wanted.  The North did not have a strong or united view what they were fighting for most wanted the South to come back and join the Union and some were concerned about slavery.  Lincoln at the start was unsure about making slavery a war aim as some states in the Union were slave holding states, such as Maryland.  Not having a united war aim was not a major concern as the Union had bigger battalions compared to the South.

The amount of battalions is linked with leadership because it is very important to have large manpower and a large number of supplies, but it is more important the leader knows how to use them.  For example generals like Hooker, who had an army that outnumbered the Confederacy still managed to lose at the battle of Chancellorsville.  Fortunately for the Union Grant knew how to use the army and ammunition effectively allowing victories especially at Vicksburg.  The Confederacy were running out of supplies and Davis was reluctant to use slaves for fighting until 1865, so manpower also running out. It was difficult to fight on the war front without essentials like shoes.  They did not even have uniforms at the beginning of the war, resulting in great Confederate losses for example the death of Jackson who was a southern hero but was mistakenly shot by his own men.  This shows how unorganized and inefficient an army can be without supplies and ammunition.  This was an advantage for the Union over the Confederacy, again another factor that made the Union more likely to win.

One of Grant’s strategies was called War of Attrition, this meant that the Union should keep fighting and pushing the Confederacy back until the last man standing.  This suggested that the Union would obviously win because their manpower was larger than the Confederacy so the last man standing would be a Northerner.

All the factors made it inevitable for the Union to win.  Although the leadership was good on both sides, what complemented the Union leadership was large manpower and high morale, which showed that the Union was in a better position of winning.  The war of attrition strategy was also very good and it showed that in the end the Union would always win.