to defend its own interest, by mobilizing 80% of its military-age white men, fight a defensive war on its own territory. Despite that, the South also enjoyed a superiority of experienced military leaders. They argued that the Civil war was fought on behalf of states’ rights rather than slavery. The Union held The Union held 23 states, including four border slave states, while the Confederacy included 11 states. They expected support from Britain and France because of those nations’ dependence on southern cotton for their textile industries. The Union’s industrial force was a deciding factor in a long war of attrition.