General Sherman took Atlanta using a strategy of total war, destroying infrastructure and resources to weaken the Confederacy, and then marched his troops to the sea unopposed. His March to the Sea cut off Confederate supply lines and demoralized the South, contributing to the Union's eventual victory in a pivotal campaign of the Civil War. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to weaken the Confederacy by undermining its economic foundation and gaining political and moral support from Europe, though it also increased Northern resolve to end slavery.