There were several reasons for the defeat of the Confederacy, including the lack of an industrial base (Donald 1996, p. 99), an inadequate transportation network (Donald, 1996, p. 99) and feuds among generals (McPherson & Hogue, 2009, p. 365), etc., but the overriding factor was that the Confederacy never became a nation (Donald, 1996, p. 100). That is, they seceded because the Southern states felt they had the right to do so as independent states (Donald, 1996, p. 7). The South lost because it never stopped believing that. No state could count on another to fully support the war. Georgia's governor specifically banned his troops from fighting outside the state for several months. Many governors set limits on how many troops they could spare and where they could be used. States have maintained home guards well beyond actual homeland security needs. The Confederacy was more of a coalition than a Confederation. General Lee spoke of his “country” when he spoke of Virginia (Bowman, 2006, p. 49). This is a simplistic answer to a very complex question that requires much more discussion and investigation. But of course, the factors that came into play in the final defeat of the South are those that are constantly emphasized with great validity: the industrial base of the North; the North's labor resources and the fact that foreign recognition of the Confederacy was denied. Why did the South lose? When the question is asked this way, it presupposes that the South lost the war on its own and could never actually have won it. The South lost because the North had outclassed and outclassed it in almost every way, even militarily (Donald, 1996, pp. 99-100). The North succeeded in bringing its industry to the middle of paper......cago, IL, The University of Chicago Press.McPherson J. & Hogue J. (2009) Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (4th ed .), New York, NY, The McGraw-Hill Company. Bowman J. (2006) The Civil War: The definitive reference including a chronology of events, an encyclopedia and the memoirs of Grant and Lee. East Bridgewater MA, World Publication Group East and JG Press. Donald, D. (1996), Why the North Won the Civil War. Simon and Schuster AdultPublishing Group. McPherson J. & Hogue J. (2009) Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (4th ed.), New York, NY, The McGraw-Hill Company. McPherson J. (1996) Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil WarOxford New York, Oxford University Press.The Columbian Exchange, (2011). Retrieved from http://www.shmoop.com/columbian-exchange.