“A house divided against itself cannot stand. »1 These words, spoken by Abraham Lincoln, foreshadowed the war which became the bloodiest in the history of the United States. . The Civil War was a brutal conflict between the North and the South; brother against brother. With slavery being the root cause, the Southern states had seceded from the Union and were fighting for their independence. They became the Confederate States of America (CSA) and were a force to be reckoned with. The Union, however, waged a fierce fight to preserve the country. If the Civil War was to be a war of attrition, the North had the upper hand due to its large population, industrialization, raw materials, railroad mileage, and navy. But while the war was short-lived, the South had the great advantages of knowledge of the territory with a friendly population, superior commanders, an adaptable lifestyle and a passion for "The Cause." It took four years (1861-1865) before the Civil War was resolved. The first two years proved successful for the CSA, but as the war dragged on and after the Battle of Gettysburg, the tide turned in favor of the North. Eventually, the seceding states were united into the Union and became part of the United States as we know it today. In 1861, the North had approximately 22 million inhabitants. The South, by comparison, had nine million people, three and a half million of whom were black. Although numbers are not always a deciding factor in war, they certainly affected the outcome of the Civil War. The Union's large population allowed it to have a large army while maintaining enough workers at home to supply the country and the army. When the men of the South went to fight there, it was written that the nation would never again face such a horrible conflict that resulted in the deaths of so many people. Works Citedhttp://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/80676http://homepages.rpi.edu/~fiscap/history_files/monitor.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_Navyhttp://www. Associatecontent.com/article/1219442/advantages_and_disadvantages_of_the_pg2.html?cat=37http://www.gatewaynmra.org/articles/civil-war1.htmhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080521132635AABZ6Bqhttp:// www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/186089http://www.enotes.com/history/discuss/what-advantages-did-north-have-over-south-us-96430http://www.associatedcontent. com/article/1219442/advantages_and_disadvantages_of_the.html?cat=37http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080521132635AABZ6Bqhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_House_Divided_Speech