An estimated 300 to 1,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters battled 1,800 US troops and 1,000 pro-government Afghan militia in a 5 kilometer by 9 kilometer valley. The imminent end to the war in Afghanistan has brought up Operation Anaconda, a large battle in the the Shahi-Kot Valley in Paktia Province, Afghanistan that lasted from March 2 to March 16, 2002. However, it took 21 long months of war after the Union had the blockade in place and controlled the Mississippi River to force the Confederate States of America to capitulate.Īs a side note, when Grant took over as commander of all Union forces in 1864, he continued the Anaconda approach by synchronizing the actions of all five Union field armies, further putting pressure on the Confederacy from all directions.

Furthermore, when Vicksburg fell to General Ulysses Grant in 1863, the Confederacy was split in two and the Union dominated the Mississippi River until the end of the war.

The blockade, when implemented, weakened the Confederacy by reducing its exports of cotton by 95% from pre-war levels, devaluing the Confederacy’s currency, and damaging its economy. Historians are divided on the effectiveness of the Anaconda Plan. It would take several years to develop the resources to execute the plan properly.

There were only two problems in 1861 (when the plan was proposed) - the Union lacked a Navy big enough to blockade the ports and didn’t have an Army and Navy capable of conducting the attack down the Mississippi. Designed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, it envisioned a naval blockade of Confederate ports followed by an attack down the Mississippi River to secure the river and divide the Confederate States of America in two. The original Anaconda Plan was a Union Plan to defeat the Confederacy in the U.S.

Anaconda has become a metaphor in war and business for actions or a plan designed to constrict or suffocate an adversary. There are four species of the anaconda with the green anaconda being the largest of the four. The anaconda is a large, non-venomous snake that overcomes its victims first by asphyxiation, then by crushing and eating them.

Anaconda plan civil war