Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was the American Revolution. The American Civil War typically refers to the conflict of 1861-1865.
"War of Northern Aggression".
“The Recent Unpleasantness,” as a certain Great-Aunt used to say.
What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
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Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#92Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#93Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#94Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#95The Civil War in America absolutely dominated the British national conversation, especially in the early years of the war. Politicians followed the conflict closely, and there were even several debates in Parliament over British policy toward the conflict. Frequently discussed was a line that a lot of Americans would recognize today, of "when should Britain get involved??" because of the destructiveness of the confli…
It's interesting how difficult it is nowadays to field a million man army
It was not so easy back then as well. They had draft riots in New York City, which had to be suppressed by regular Union regiments. There were also deserters and bounty jumpers.
The South had trouble to support their armies. Lee basically planned the Gettysburg campaign to live of the land. Soldiers were happy because they had enough to eat. A lot of soldiers lacked shoes.
Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#96The Civil War in America absolutely dominated the British national conversation, especially in the early years of the war. Politicians followed the conflict closely, and there were even several debates in Parliament over British policy toward the conflict. Frequently discussed was a line that a lot of Americans would recognize today, of "when should Britain get involved??" because of the destructiveness of the confli…
> 6. There were tons of ironclads already in European fleets, there had just never been a fight between ironclads! Europeans watched the Monitor v. Merrimack battle & adapted their fleets & battle doctrines accordingly. These were very different sorts of ironclads. The British and French ironclads mostly resembled traditional ships, at least at first glance. They had steam engines but also retained their masts, and h…
For a visual example, this was an American Civil-War era ironclad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Baron_DeKalb.jpg
This was a British oceangoing ironclad, launched in 1860: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMSWarrior.JPG
The difference in seaworthiness is abundantly clear. These American ironclads were more akin to gunboats, and mostly used on rivers (fighting for control of the Mississippi was a huge deal in the war). They were built comparatively cheaply, for a specific, immediate conflict. They often only had steam engines and lacked the endurance for transoceanic travel.
The British ironclads were built to project imperial power across the globe. The continued use of sail was important to extend endurance to reach far away places.
Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#97I think the real answer and probably why the article is a bit light on actual anecdotes, is that Britain or its military at the time probably didn't think much of it all, especially from a military point of view. Plus they were super busy with imperial concerns, especially in the British Raj post-1857 rebellion. The U.S., although gaining steam economically (pun intended), was still a backwater, rural, nation isolate…
Not true. By 1860, the US was of comparable size to the UK and France, and had a similar GDP per capita to the UK. De Tocqueville‘s “Democracy in America” had introduced Europe to America’s prosperity in the 1830s and 1840s, so it wasn’t unknown.
The war might not have been militarily relevant to Europeans, but that doesn’t mean people weren’t paying attention. The US was as big and as rich as the European powers at that point. It’s like today: If France broke out in a civil war it would be all over the news 24/7.
Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#98Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
America and Russia had a great relationship until the end of WWI. The Bolshevik’s set this in stone towards the end of the civil war when the entente (specifically Britain) opened dialogue towards a trade deal. Lenin used them as the great other, despite knowing they wanted normalized relations, and then the USSR taking Eastern Europe sealed the deal. Self determination was US policy at that time (and kind of ever si…
> The Bolshevik’s set this in stone towards the end of the civil war... I'm not sure about the events that you're referring to. The Treaty of Riga was in 1921, the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement was signed in 1921 as well, the USSR was only declared in 1922, and the UK recognized it in 1924, the same year in which Lenin died. In fact, related to the Trade Agreement he complained: > The British government has handed us…
No, we don't forget about revisionist history. We view it with an appropriately skeptical eye.
The Telegraph article has a quote from a historian:
> "There was no mention of this in any of the three contemporaneous diaries, two British and one French - including that of Drax," he said. "I don't myself believe the Russians were serious."
You also seem unfamiliar with the purpose of NATO. Wikipedia:
> NATO is a system of collective security: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. It was established during the Cold War in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union.
Re: What did British officers think of the American civil war as it was happening?
#100The Civil War in America absolutely dominated the British national conversation, especially in the early years of the war. Politicians followed the conflict closely, and there were even several debates in Parliament over British policy toward the conflict. Frequently discussed was a line that a lot of Americans would recognize today, of "when should Britain get involved??" because of the destructiveness of the confli…
It should be understood that the british empire was at the peak of economic dependence on the raw material coming from the "new world" at the onset of the civil war; in particular, cotton exports for consumption by british textile mills [1]. > By the late 1850s, cotton grown in the United States accounted for 77 percent of the 800 million pounds of cotton consumed in Britain. It also accounted for 90 percent of the 1…
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