Anaconda Plan

E70372

The Anaconda Plan was the Union’s early Civil War strategy to blockade and economically constrict the Confederacy, likened to a snake slowly suffocating its prey.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf American Civil War strategy
Union strategy
military strategy
aimedAt blockading Southern coastline
cutting off Confederate trade
restricting Confederate access to supplies
splitting the Confederacy along the Mississippi River
alsoKnownAs Scott’s Great Snake
blockadeScope entire Confederate coastline
blockadeType naval blockade
conflict American Civil War
country United States
criticizedBy Northern press
criticizedFor being overly cautious
being too slow
depictedIn 1861 cartoon "Scott’s Great Snake"
designedByPosition General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army
effect contributed to Confederate economic hardship
helped prevent European intervention
limited Confederate imports of war materiel
restricted Confederate cotton exports
goal avoid large-scale frontal assaults
economically weaken the Confederacy
force Confederate surrender with minimal bloodshed
limit foreign recognition of the Confederacy
hasPart control of the Mississippi River
division of the Confederacy
economic strangulation of the Confederacy
naval blockade of Confederate ports
implementedBy Union Army
Union Navy
influenced Union naval strategy
Union riverine operations
metaphor snake slowly suffocating its prey
namedAfter anaconda
opposedTo Confederate States of America
proposedBy General-in-Chief Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
riverControl Mississippi River
major Western rivers
startTime 1861
strategyType economic warfare
war of attrition
theater Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of Mexico
Mississippi River Valley
timePeriod early American Civil War
usedBy Union

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Winfield Scott
notableIdea
Winfield Scott
notableWork

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