"The latter condition is why the Emancipation Proclamation did so much damage - suddenly, if Britain or France recognized the Confederacy, they'd be supporting slavery, something neither nation was ever going to do. Now the South had to force the North to give up without any hope of outside assistance, a much chancier proposition." (And so on, and so forth.)
Researching European conditions at the time of the Civil War, and unlike during the American Revolution, there were ten kinds of merry hell going on on the continent, and Britain was dealing with crap as well. (The countries being allies and enemies of it, after all.) Even if Britain and/or France had recognized the Confederacy, what help they could supply would be limited at best, since they needed it for their own troops. And half the reason France dumped so many supplies on the rebels in what would become the Fledgling US is they were yanking Britain's chain. (It would be decades before they would even start becoming the allies we know today.)
Part of the reason for the problems? Check out Germany/Prussia's and proto-Italy's history in the middle of the 1800s.
Edited by 69.172.221.8Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
"The latter condition is why the Emancipation Proclamation did so much damage - suddenly, if Britain or France recognized the Confederacy, they'd be supporting slavery, something neither nation was ever going to do. Now the South had to force the North to give up without any hope of outside assistance, a much chancier proposition." (And so on, and so forth.)
Researching European conditions at the time of the Civil War, and unlike during the American Revolution, there were ten kinds of merry hell going on on the continent, and Britain was dealing with crap as well. (The countries being allies and enemies of it, after all.) Even if Britain and/or France had recognized the Confederacy, what help they could supply would be limited at best, since they needed it for their own troops. And half the reason France dumped so many supplies on the rebels in what would become the Fledgling US is they were yanking Britain's chain. (It would be decades before they would even start becoming the allies we know today.)
Part of the reason for the problems? Check out Germany/Prussia's and proto-Italy's history in the middle of the 1800s.
Edited by 69.172.221.8 Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett