Blue And Gray Diplomacy

In this examination of Union and Confederate foreign relations during the Civil War from both European and American perspectives, Howard Jones demonstrates that the consequences of the conflict between North and South reached far beyond American soil. Jones explores a number of themes, including the international economic and political dimensions of the war, the North's attempts to block the South from winning foreign recognition as a nation, Napoleon III's meddling in the war and his attempt to restore French power in the New World, and the inability of Europeans to understand the interrelated nature of slavery and union, resulting in their tendency to interpret the war as a senseless struggle between a South too large and populous to have its independence denied and a North too obstinate to give up on the preservation of the Union. Most of all, Jones explores the horrible nature of a war that attracted outside involvement as much as it repelled it. Written in a narrative style that relates the story as its participants saw it play out around them, Blue and Gray Diplomacy depicts the complex set of problems faced by policy makers from Richmond and Washington to London, Paris, and St. Petersburg.

In this examination of Union and Confederate foreign relations during the Civil War from both European and American perspectives, Howard Jones demonstrates that the consequences of the conflict between North and South reached far beyond American soil. Jones highlights the mixture of reasons for European interest in the war, which ranged from self-interest to fear that an intervention would cause war with the Union. Most of all, he explores the horrible nature of a war that attracted outside involvement as much as it repelled it. Written in a narrative style that relates the story as its participants saw it play out around them, Blue and Gray diplomacy depicts the complex set of problems fared by policymakers from Richmond and Washington to London, Paris, and St. Petersburg.

“A heartening reminder that politicians, at their best, can rise above petty rivalries and jealousies to serve a larger cause.” —Don H. Doyle, author of The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War The Civil War marked a significant turning point in American history—not only for the United States itself but for its relations with foreign powers both during and after the conflict. The friendship and foreign policy partnership between President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William Henry Seward shaped those US foreign policies. These unlikely allies, who began as rivals during the 1860 presidential nomination, helped ensure that America remained united and prospered in the aftermath of the nation’s consuming war. In Lincoln, Seward, and US Foreign Relations in the Civil War Era, Joseph A. Fry examines the foreign policy decisions that resulted from this partnership and the legacy of those decisions. Lincoln and Seward, despite differences in upbringing, personality, and social status, both adamantly believed in the preservation of the union and the need to stymie slavery. They made that conviction the cornerstone of their policies abroad, and through those policies, such as Seward threatening war with any nation that intervened in the Civil War, they prevented European intervention that could have led to Northern defeat. The Union victory allowed America to resume imperial expansion, a dynamic that Seward sustained beyond Lincoln’s death during his tenure as President Andrew Johnson’s Secretary of State. Fry’s analysis of the Civil War from an international perspective and the legacy of US policy decisions provides a more complete view of the war and a deeper understanding of this crucial juncture in American history.

From French intervention in Mexico to British interests in the Caribbean, the impact of the Civil War extended far beyond military campaigns in Virginia, diffusing widely into the Atlantic world. Revised to take into account the outpouring of scholarship on Civil War diplomacy that has appeared since the book was first published, The Union, the Confederacy, and the Atlantic Rim features essays by acclaimed historians Howard Jones, R. J. M. Blackett, Thomas Schoonover, and James M. McPherson.

The Routledge Handbook of American Military and Diplomatic History provides a comprehensive analysis of the major events, conflicts, and personalities that have defined and shaped the military history of the United States. This volume, The Colonial Period to 1877, illuminates the early period of American history, from the colonial warfare of the 17th century through the tribulations of Reconstruction. The chronologically organized sections each begin with an introductory chapter that provides a concise narrative of the period and highlights the scholarly debates and interpretive schools of thought in the historiography, followed by topical chapters on issues in the period. Topics covered include colonial encounters and warfare, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, diplomacy in the early American republic, the War of 1812, westward expansion and conquest, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. With authoritative and vividly written chapters by both leading scholars and new talent, this state-of-the-field handbook will be a go-to reference for every American history scholar's bookshelf.

American Civil Wars takes readers beyond the battlefields and sectional divides of the U.S. Civil War to view the conflict from outside the national arena of the United States. Contributors position the American conflict squarely in the context of a wider transnational crisis across the Atlantic world, marked by a multitude of civil wars, European invasions and occupations, revolutionary independence movements, and slave uprisings—all taking place in the tumultuous decade of the 1860s. The multiple conflicts described in these essays illustrate how the United States' sectional strife was caught up in a larger, complex struggle in which nations and empires on both sides of the Atlantic vied for the control of the future. These struggles were all part of a vast web, connecting not just Washington and Richmond but also Mexico City, Havana, Santo Domingo, and Rio de Janeiro and--on the other side of the Atlantic--London, Paris, Madrid, and Rome. This volume breaks new ground by charting a hemispheric upheaval and expanding Civil War scholarship into the realms of transnational and imperial history. American Civil Wars creates new connections between the uprisings and civil wars in and outside of American borders and places the United States within a global context of other nations. Contributors: Matt D. Childs, University of South Carolina Anne Eller, Yale University Richard Huzzey, University of Liverpool Howard Jones, University of Alabama Patrick J. Kelly, University of Texas at San Antonio Rafael de Bivar Marquese, University of Sao Paulo Erika Pani, College of Mexico Hilda Sabato, University of Buenos Aires Steve Sainlaude, University of Paris IV Sorbonne Christopher Schmidt-Nowara, Tufts University Jay Sexton, University of Oxford

The U.S. South is a distinctive political and cultural force -- not only in the eyes of Americans, but also in the estimation of many Europeans. The region played a distinctive role as a major agricultural center and the source of much of the wealth in early America, but it has also served as a catalyst for the nation's only civil war, and later, as a battleground in violent civil rights conflicts. Once considered isolated and benighted by the international community, the South has recently evoked considerable interest among popular audiences and academic observers on both sides of the Atlantic. In The U.S. South and Europe, editors Cornelis A. van Minnen and Manfred Berg have assembled contributions that interpret a number of political, cultural, and religious aspects of the transatlantic relationship during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The contributors discuss a variety of subjects, including European colonization, travel accounts of southerners visiting Europe, and the experiences of German immigrants who settled in the South. The collection also examines slavery, foreign recognition of the Confederacy as a sovereign government, the lynching of African Americans and Italian immigrants, and transatlantic religious fundamentalism. Finally, it addresses international perceptions of the Jim Crow South and the civil rights movement as a framework for understanding race relations in the United Kingdom after World War II. Featuring contributions from leading scholars based in the United States and Europe, this illuminating volume explores the South from an international perspective and offers a new context from which to consider the region's history.

Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy from the Revolution to Secession covers the period from 1776, when the nation declared its independence from Great Britain, through 1861, when the Civil War presented the biggest challenge to the continuation of the “republican experiment.” Probably the most common misconception about the diplomatic history of this period is that American leaders tried to stay isolated from world events, when in fact the early United States was part of “one grand, interwoven tapestry” of nations. The Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy from the Revolution to Secession relates the events of this crucial period in American history through a chronology, an introductory essay, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on key persons, places, events, institutions, and organizations. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about American diplomacy.