since i believe you are asking about the civil war, their most significant disadvantages were that they relied on foreign trade to get items that they need, but when the north cut off trade with europe, the south quickly started running out of items that they needed. another disadvantage was that they had almost no factories in the south to use to produce guns and ammo. a third disadvantage was that the north had approx. 18 million people who could fight, while the south had less than 6 million men to use to fight with.
