Until Every Drop of Blood Is Paid: A More Radical American Civil War
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A lot of the 48ers and other nationalists who came over pre-ACW and enlisted in the Union and Confederate armies (Germans, Irish, Hungarians, Polish, etc) saw the war in similair vein to the conflicts they fought back in their home countries.
I'm far from an expert on this period of time, but from the reading I've done on the history of socialism in the States, the Republican party seemed to contain a number of interesting socialist-adjacent currents (perhaps the inverse of the Locofocos of the Democrats) as well as the big industrialist wing. It was less the Marxian-style socialism of Europe and more the individualist, part-utopian/part-anarchist strain you saw with sections of the Free Soilers that championed Robert Owen's theories, Thoreau, Lysander Spooner, William Batchelder Greene, and the Grangers. Maybe a scenario where the Democratic Party dies hard post-war and a larger involvement of foreign socialists in the Union war effort could even lead to the Republicans splitting into an industrial party of business and an eclectic "American Laborism" party based on the Free Soil legacy.
That's a good deal in the future though - there's a whole war ahead of us.
Someone mentioned the natives. Why would they all be out for blood when the Lakota War didn't begin until 1862 and the Cheyenne War till 1864?
Now granted, my brain processes things literally so maybe this is what was meant and not literal blood, but I think they would be out for a strong bargain instead. In other words, you give us what we want and we will volunteer to fight for you. And, Lincoln might give it to them. They have to realize that the Confederacy has no way to help them and that if the union does lose they will be the targets of their anger anyway. Best to strike a deal while they can.
If the number of volunteers increases substantially later in the war perhaps my ancestor from Switzerland or France depending on what the document says, it was right on the border, might volunteer to. He came in 1864 and married in 1862 and we know he had to register. This would probably happen only after important things to him like getting married.
Now granted, my brain processes things literally so maybe this is what was meant and not literal blood, but I think they would be out for a strong bargain instead. In other words, you give us what we want and we will volunteer to fight for you. And, Lincoln might give it to them. They have to realize that the Confederacy has no way to help them and that if the union does lose they will be the targets of their anger anyway. Best to strike a deal while they can.
If the number of volunteers increases substantially later in the war perhaps my ancestor from Switzerland or France depending on what the document says, it was right on the border, might volunteer to. He came in 1864 and married in 1862 and we know he had to register. This would probably happen only after important things to him like getting married.
I don’t think that Lincoln will want them as volunteers in Virginia maybe in the west as otl and no matter what native Americans will be screwed and they fought for both sides in otl which I won’t except to be much different. Also there were a ton native Americans wars in this period which could be moved up just because of heightened tension and a couple were in the war which If the native Americans had been more united they could have done much better example Dakota war. Also I didn’t really mean it for blood but to push there advantage and demand concessions or will come for u
Well things are different and getting the Natives to help out in exchange for deals would help out. Maybe the above wars would be averted?
Banks on Lincoln wanting them anywhere nearby, which given the US's track record with treaties and Indians..... not happening.
In meridie est destrui!
Speaking for myself, I would like to see August Willich get some attention in this TL. He's a really fascinating figure; he was one of the leading communist, or proto-communist if you like, figures at the time of the 1848 revolutions, and was so radical in his ideology that he even called Karl Marx himself out to a duel because he didn't think Mark was radical enough! What's most important in the context of the ACW is that Willich was also a professional, highly skilled soldier who raised a regiment in Indiana from the German immigrant population, then rose to command a brigade which became, under his leadership, one of the best in the Army of the Cumberland; he shone at Chickamauga and, in particular, Chattanooga (some sources say it was his brigade that kicked off the Confederate rout at Missionary Ridge by continuing to advance from their original objective without explicit orders to do so). OTL, he was invalided out after being severely wounded at Resaca during the Atlanta Campaign, but may have a different fate TTL. If more left-wing volunteers come over from Europe to join the Union Army, Willich might even be able to make a division out of them, and might, if he makes it through the war, end up commanding one of the postwar occupation districts, which would give him a good laboratory for running Reconstruction along Marxist lines.
Hey, maybe some Moroccan volunteers could sail over and help out? The Moroccans are ancestral US allies, after all, and reaffirmed their alliance during the war- hell, in 1862, when some Confederate diplomats made some insulting remarks toward the US flag while on the soil of the US Consulate, and the US Consul-General asked the Moroccan Police to arrest the diplomats... they did so without question, and put the diplomats on a prison transport to be sent to Boston. They consistently told the Confederacy to get bent, and it would be interesting to see some volunteers sail over and assist their ally in their nationwide struggle.
Morocco is still dealing with the aftermath of their loss in the Spanish-Moroccan War in 1860. They're not really in much shape to send help to their American friends, except maybe some token units and diplomatic support.
I think Engels leading a brigade is too... out there to be plausible. But I'm really interested in Willich. He indeed seems like a very interesting figure, and I can see him easily raising to prominence ITTL. As for volunteers of other countries, there will be Irishmen, Germans, 48ers, and others. I don't know much about Morocco, but I'll try to research a little and see if volunteers from there are possible.
As for Native American affairs... there will be a mini-update about them. I don't think they could have a decisive effect on the war, though they may have some role in Kansas where the Topeka Free-Soilers are basically staging a coup against the Lecompton Legislature. Lincoln, despise his progressive racial views when it came to African-Americans, still believed the West should be for White farmers to settle and that Native Americans were uncivilized and ignorant. They may attempt to exploit the US government's relative weakness and strike deals in exchange of joining the Union Army.
As for Native American affairs... there will be a mini-update about them. I don't think they could have a decisive effect on the war, though they may have some role in Kansas where the Topeka Free-Soilers are basically staging a coup against the Lecompton Legislature. Lincoln, despise his progressive racial views when it came to African-Americans, still believed the West should be for White farmers to settle and that Native Americans were uncivilized and ignorant. They may attempt to exploit the US government's relative weakness and strike deals in exchange of joining the Union Army.
Maybe this could result in more tolerance of Islam within the United States with the Moroccan volunteers?
Drop this guys, seriously. I love Garibaldi as much as anyone else, but I have concluded that him as a Union general is simply not possible, and have said so multiple times. Garibaldi demanded to be made Commander in-chief of the Union armies, and to make it a war for abolition from the start. At this critical time Lincoln simply can not make emancipation a war goal. Kentucky and Missouri lie on the balance. Can you imagine how disastrous it would be if Lincoln declared that an Italian -a foreigner- was going to command the Union Army and use force if necessary to abolish slavery? Kentucky secedes, Missouri follows through and pulls Kansas along, and the already weakened administration is shattered. Garibaldi will not accept a command if abolition is not made a war goal, and Lincoln can not fulfill this requirement.
That's gonna be really cool, especially if he gets enough volunteers from the First International abroad ITTL to make his own division like @joea64 pointed out.
I wonder if the Native American elements that went for the Confederates in our American Civil War would be more hesitant to hitch their wagon to a more radical Confederacy or less hesitant because of their early success. One hopes more of the crack Cherokee tribesmen side with the Union like Chief John Ross instead of Stand Watie's Confed volunteers ITTL.
EDIT: Of course, I'm not saying that folks like Stand Watie, who lived through the Trail of Tears, didn't have very good reason to hate the US government even if backing the Confeds is a bad way to go about dealing with the situation.
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