The blockade was part of General Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan to put economic pressure on the Confederacy until it returned to the Union. It was the most ambitious blockade ever attempted in world history. In 1861, the Confederate states had little manufacturing compared to the North. They did not have the capacity to make the weapons and ammunition they needed to wage a war. What they did have was cotton, which was highly profitable because they used slave labor. At the time, the South supplied cotton to both England and France for use in their textile mills. The South needed to export cotton to Europe and import arms and food for its army in return. A successful blockade could severely damage the Confederate government's ability to continue fighting.