Answer: The confederacy needed access to the manufactured goods of Great Britain and France.
Step-by-step explanation:
Small armies and foreign aid
Militarily, the south hoped to preserve its small armies while doing enough damage to erode the Unions will to fight. Politically, it hoped to win formal recognition from Britain and France. Trade with these nations was crucial to the south, since the supply of manufactured goods from the North was now cut off. By the same token, the European textile industry was dependent on southern cotton. Confederate leaders reasoned that if the war dragged on, French and British mills would run out of raw cotton. Therefore, these countries might be willing to provide military aid to the south.
So the confederate strategy was more passive than the Unions strategy and was based on gaining foreign military aid and preserving its small armies for a prolonged war to erode the unions will to fight.