Did any foreign country intervene in any way in the US Civil War?

[wholetruth00]

[NNN0LHI]

1. You mean like with the death squads like we are training in Iraq?

I don't think so.

Don

[seemslikeadream]

2. I don't think so but

at that time it probably had to do with cotton and wheat rather than oil.

[dmosh42]

3. I believe there was something about England..

England was trading for cotton and other 'southern' merchandise. Supposedly they were going to finance some of the confederate debt, until the union forces managed to blockade many ports.

[Prism]

4. We very nearly went to war with England

Early on a Sunday, so my recollection is a bit hazy, but there was plenty of diplomatic wrangling between England and the U.S. over a variety of issues. One of them involved Southern ships being armed in Britain to be used against the Northern blockade. One ship (I forget the name) would have been a severe danger to the blockade and Lincoln's government threatened war during the diplomatic crisis.

(It may be useful to note, Secretary of State Seward actually thought a war with England would reunite the country in the fervor against a common enemy).

England was very much prepared to twist the knife in the American Republic's back, which is why many historians surmise the Emancipation Proclamation was timed just so. By making the issue of the war slavery, England was neatly removed (Britain couldn't morally countenance fighting on the side of slavers when they themselves had abolished the practice, even though they desperately wanted to recognize the South as an independent nation).

That did not stop, however, some in the British navy from becoming veritable pirates in the Francis Drake tradition. Another diplomatic crisis broke out when a Confederate sought refuge on a British ship, and the Union boarded it to remove him.

England was very much involved, and the Lincoln administration had to do a very complicated dance to keep them from becoming overt allies of the South. Lincoln was wise enough to know war with England would certainly be the end of the nation, though many in his Cabinet were advocating it at the time.

It's not much studied, but Lincoln's foreign policy during the Civil War is a fascinating read if you can find a few books on it.

[leftofthedial]

5. England supported the South

cotton supplies and all that

until the North imposed a blockade

[DavidDvorkin]

6. The blockade did not stop Britain

The American government was convinced that the British navy could sweep the blockade aside easily, if they chose to.

Lincoln's government was able to help arrange other suppliers of cotton for England's mills -- mainly Egyptian cotton, I think. That eliminated the pressure the mill owners were putting on the British government.

[Lurking Dem]

7. Britain and France

both came very close to entering the war (for the South). Their refusal to abandon slavery sealed the South's fate, however. I think if the Confederacy had been willing to give up slavery, both of them would have come to her aid.

Some 50,000 Brit volunteers joined forces on both sides in the war.

[leftofthedial]

8. true

I posted the shorthand version