Question

how did the south plan to win war.

Answer 1

By winning battles that forced the Union soldiers out of the Confederate states, and waging war into Pennsylvania and other bordering Union states until the Union agreed to allow secession.

Answer 2

The South only had to turn back Union advances until Britain or France might help convince the North to end the war or to provide military aid to the South. They hoped for foreign aid and hoped that a lack of military success would force the public to put pressure on Lincoln to end the war. The South also tried "cotton diplomacy" by putting a pinch on British mills who, the South thought, would need cotton from the Confederacy. This site will have more information.
sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html

Answer 3

MrV is quite correct. The Confederacy hoped to gain an advantage by getting Britain to enter the war on the side of the South. Thanks in large part to the good sense of Queen Victoria, it never happened.

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