Lost Cause narratives typically portray the Confederacy's cause as noble, and its leaders and armies as exemplars of old-fashioned chivalry, whose defeat by the Union armies was because the South's greater military skill and courage was overwhelmed by the North's numerical superiority and immense industrial power. Proponents of the Lost Cause movement also condemned the Reconstruction which followed the Civil War, claiming that it was a deliberate strategy by Northern politicians and speculators to exploit the South economically and to gain political power. The Lost Cause theme has also evolved into a major element in defining gender roles in the white South, in terms of preserving family honor and chivalrous traditions. The Lost Cause idea has also inspired the construction of numerous Southern memorials, as well as the shaping of religious attitudes.