The 1860s is rightly called 'The Age of War'. Military historians have long poured over the conflicts of that decade, and political historians often find themselves faced with the question of why. Why was their so much bloodshed, so much conflict, why then and not earlier ? Or later perforce ?
The threads of conflict are not hard to distinguish, despite the fact that in the nature of things they all become entangled.
On the one hand, US adventurism into Central America had its origins in a wish not to drive the main parties apart on the issue of slavery. Thus, President Clay's adventure in the Yucatan, as a distraction to the vexed question of Texas, and thus William Walker's expedition to Nicaragua a decade later building upon the blocks already laid down. Central America provided an outlet for US energies, an outward focus that was sanctioned by the government and where a man could, if he were lucky win fame and fortune for himself. Set against this, the confusion that was California, and the wars against the Indians did not have the same appeal.
On the other hand was the position of the two major European colonial powers of their age. The one, Britain, finding her place again in international affairs under the leadership of Labouchere and Disraeli. The other, France, continuing a trend that had begun even with Charles X's expedition to Algiers, but had been laid down the more firmly with Louis Philippe I's backing for Mohammed Ali's Egypt. More recently, France's support for Said against the Ottoman and Russian forces had seen that conflict end as a tactical draw. The Ottomans had regained Syria, but French forces helped Egypt to hang onto the Lebanon, and French support for Greece had won it new provinces in Epirus and Thessaly. A draw of that kind would satisfy nobody, and many commentators observed that another round was in the offing sooner or later.
A resurgance of British power, a final soothing of many of the wounds from the civil war of the mid 1830s, all this brought renewed optimism to the country, to her traders, and to her people. To many a traditionalist the sign of a happy and successful country was a large and powerful navy, one used to enforce Britain's interests abroad, whether in direct conflict, as in the battle for Miskitia, or by the support of an ally, as in the support given to the younger Lopez in Paraguay. The renewal of conflict in South America surprised few people. For years it had seemed as if the Argentines had been biding their time, waiting for an opportunity to strike back, reclaim their lost provinces and drive back with upstart Paraguayans. In 1862 that time appeared to have come, but Britain and France coming to the aid, not just of Paraguay but of the sorely pressed nascent Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia, had dealt the Argentines another heavy blow. More land lost to Paraguay, a settlement of disputes with the Mapuche on their terms, and the devastation of their economy. With informal conflict against Chilean forces a part of the picture, and the resentment of the Empire of Brazil at Paraguayan aggrandizement, the British establishment of garrisons and bases in the South was no surprise.
Russia, generally eyeing the 1850s War of the Eastern Mediterranean as a successful venture, appeared to have continued to go from strength to strength, with incursions against the Central Asian states of Khiva, Bokhara and Khokand beginning to threaten their long-term viability, and gains made at China's expense helping to weaken the crumbling edifice of Manchu power. In addition, the suppression of a revolt in Herat, and intrigues in both Persia and Afghanistan seemed to indicate the continued rapid growth of Russia-in-Asia.
But the rest of Europe had not stood still. 1846 had seen the risings in Cracow and Galicia, leading immediately to the extinction of the Free City of Cracow, but more long-term, once Metternich finally shuffled out of the limelight into retirement in the mid 1850s, to the general emancipation of serfs within the Austrian Empire. A constitutionalist trend, originating in the upheavals that had rippled across the Italian peninsular in 1848 and resulted in the Italian Confederation under Pope Pius IX, finally had its wash upon the shores of Vienna, with the issuing of a generous and on the surface a liberal constitution by the Emperor Ferdinand.
These twin forces, of emancipation and of an apparent advance for liberalism, had in turn their effect upon the Poles of Russia. A general uprising soon spread to the other area of Europe where proud nations now seemed to be suborned to Russia, namely the Rumanian Principalities, nominally suzerain to the Ottoman Empire but in effect vassals of the Russian Empire. The advance of Russian forces into the Principalities alarms the court in Vienna, and an Austrian mobilisation and ultimatum eventually effects their withdrawal. But the situation in Poland is not to be solved with words or threats, but only with action.
French support for the Poles, volunteers allowed passage through Austria, or through Prussia, and diplomatic recognition for their envoys brought with it an increase in Franco-Russian tension. The death of Said of Egypt, and an Ottoman invasion hoping to take advantage of the instability in the region, brought swiftly upon its coat-tails a renewal of the Franco-Russian war of the previous decade. As King George of Greece mobilised his army and advanced into Macedonia to his doom, France's Mediterranean Fleet linked up once again with the Egyptian navy. Ismail's armies advanced into Palestine to meet the oncoming Ottomans, and French marine forces were landed once again in the Lebanon.
War was once more upon the Eastern Mediterranean, and in the Balkans the Greek campaign quickly became a march of tragedy. Austria acted swiftly to mobilise against Serbia, to send warships to sail off the Montenegrin and Ionian coasts and to impose their neutrality upon the conflict, lest ethnic tensions spread into the Habsburg empire.
But it was the death of King Frederik X of Denmark that plunged Northern Europe into crisis, and would turn one war into a General European War. With Prussia seeking agreement from the German Confederation for action in regard to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, France which had already begun to deploy forces to the Baltic, and was in negotiations with Sweden, concluded a secret treaty with Prussia. Banking on British inaction, France agreed to act in consort with Prussia against the Danes, providing the naval dimension to the Prussian army, whilst Prussia agreed to declare war unilaterally, and provide access for French forces across Prussia to Poland in the event of victory over Denmark, which had to come first.
Danish efforts to negotiate or agree an armistice were swept aside as Prussian army units advanced from the South, and French forces were landed in Jutland. With the French fleet off Copenhagen and the main Danish army forced into surrender, the new monarch, King Christian was forced to sign a humiliating peace, ceding Schleswig and Holstein to their independent claimant, under Prussian suzerainty. Whilst the diet of the German Confederation was full of protests and anger, Prussian victory could not be denied.
For their part, Prussia honoured the agreement fully. With Paris the first to recognise the terms of thier victory, Prussia admitted French forces across its territory and into rebel-held areas of Poland. French naval forces and additional divisions landed in Sweden, and in Summer 1864 a joint Franco-Swedish landing on the Southern Baltic coast brought much-needed relief to the hard-pressed Poles.
Thus began two years of bloody war in Europe, whilst in the Americas, 1864 saw the election of the Radical Charles F Adams to the presidency, and after the initial promise of workers' rights and land reform, became bogged down in the question of slavery. Initially raised by the uncertainties in Mexican California, the issue gained a head of steam all of its own after the 1866 elections returned strongly abolitionist delegates from the North. With an abolitionist foisted on him as a running mate, and various policies suggested in Congress, Adams appeared to enter the 1868 election campaign with a serious problem. But as divided and divisive as the Radicals were, the Democrats found themselves hopelessly split. Unable to get a coherent message across, and increasingly schisming into Northern and Southern factions, the Democrats fell apart in the polls, and a victory for Adams became inevitable.
Secession movements began to gather strength across the slave-holding South. Wariness of the Radicals' workers programmes turned to outright hatred and open clashes in the streets as the crisis escalated. True to his family origins, Adams' concern was to neither see the nation divided nor to see it plunged into war. But inaction and vacillation were not what the situation needed. With the election won but formal inauguration still some months off, the Southern states acted. Still Adams resisted calls to arms, despite Ordinances of Secession in several states. Only when the federal capital itself seemed threatened by the debates in Virginia and Maryland, did Adams allow his Vice President, Charles Sumner to persuade him to act in force. By then it was too late to prevent a general war.
Grey Wolf
The threads of conflict are not hard to distinguish, despite the fact that in the nature of things they all become entangled.
On the one hand, US adventurism into Central America had its origins in a wish not to drive the main parties apart on the issue of slavery. Thus, President Clay's adventure in the Yucatan, as a distraction to the vexed question of Texas, and thus William Walker's expedition to Nicaragua a decade later building upon the blocks already laid down. Central America provided an outlet for US energies, an outward focus that was sanctioned by the government and where a man could, if he were lucky win fame and fortune for himself. Set against this, the confusion that was California, and the wars against the Indians did not have the same appeal.
On the other hand was the position of the two major European colonial powers of their age. The one, Britain, finding her place again in international affairs under the leadership of Labouchere and Disraeli. The other, France, continuing a trend that had begun even with Charles X's expedition to Algiers, but had been laid down the more firmly with Louis Philippe I's backing for Mohammed Ali's Egypt. More recently, France's support for Said against the Ottoman and Russian forces had seen that conflict end as a tactical draw. The Ottomans had regained Syria, but French forces helped Egypt to hang onto the Lebanon, and French support for Greece had won it new provinces in Epirus and Thessaly. A draw of that kind would satisfy nobody, and many commentators observed that another round was in the offing sooner or later.
A resurgance of British power, a final soothing of many of the wounds from the civil war of the mid 1830s, all this brought renewed optimism to the country, to her traders, and to her people. To many a traditionalist the sign of a happy and successful country was a large and powerful navy, one used to enforce Britain's interests abroad, whether in direct conflict, as in the battle for Miskitia, or by the support of an ally, as in the support given to the younger Lopez in Paraguay. The renewal of conflict in South America surprised few people. For years it had seemed as if the Argentines had been biding their time, waiting for an opportunity to strike back, reclaim their lost provinces and drive back with upstart Paraguayans. In 1862 that time appeared to have come, but Britain and France coming to the aid, not just of Paraguay but of the sorely pressed nascent Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia, had dealt the Argentines another heavy blow. More land lost to Paraguay, a settlement of disputes with the Mapuche on their terms, and the devastation of their economy. With informal conflict against Chilean forces a part of the picture, and the resentment of the Empire of Brazil at Paraguayan aggrandizement, the British establishment of garrisons and bases in the South was no surprise.
Russia, generally eyeing the 1850s War of the Eastern Mediterranean as a successful venture, appeared to have continued to go from strength to strength, with incursions against the Central Asian states of Khiva, Bokhara and Khokand beginning to threaten their long-term viability, and gains made at China's expense helping to weaken the crumbling edifice of Manchu power. In addition, the suppression of a revolt in Herat, and intrigues in both Persia and Afghanistan seemed to indicate the continued rapid growth of Russia-in-Asia.
But the rest of Europe had not stood still. 1846 had seen the risings in Cracow and Galicia, leading immediately to the extinction of the Free City of Cracow, but more long-term, once Metternich finally shuffled out of the limelight into retirement in the mid 1850s, to the general emancipation of serfs within the Austrian Empire. A constitutionalist trend, originating in the upheavals that had rippled across the Italian peninsular in 1848 and resulted in the Italian Confederation under Pope Pius IX, finally had its wash upon the shores of Vienna, with the issuing of a generous and on the surface a liberal constitution by the Emperor Ferdinand.
These twin forces, of emancipation and of an apparent advance for liberalism, had in turn their effect upon the Poles of Russia. A general uprising soon spread to the other area of Europe where proud nations now seemed to be suborned to Russia, namely the Rumanian Principalities, nominally suzerain to the Ottoman Empire but in effect vassals of the Russian Empire. The advance of Russian forces into the Principalities alarms the court in Vienna, and an Austrian mobilisation and ultimatum eventually effects their withdrawal. But the situation in Poland is not to be solved with words or threats, but only with action.
French support for the Poles, volunteers allowed passage through Austria, or through Prussia, and diplomatic recognition for their envoys brought with it an increase in Franco-Russian tension. The death of Said of Egypt, and an Ottoman invasion hoping to take advantage of the instability in the region, brought swiftly upon its coat-tails a renewal of the Franco-Russian war of the previous decade. As King George of Greece mobilised his army and advanced into Macedonia to his doom, France's Mediterranean Fleet linked up once again with the Egyptian navy. Ismail's armies advanced into Palestine to meet the oncoming Ottomans, and French marine forces were landed once again in the Lebanon.
War was once more upon the Eastern Mediterranean, and in the Balkans the Greek campaign quickly became a march of tragedy. Austria acted swiftly to mobilise against Serbia, to send warships to sail off the Montenegrin and Ionian coasts and to impose their neutrality upon the conflict, lest ethnic tensions spread into the Habsburg empire.
But it was the death of King Frederik X of Denmark that plunged Northern Europe into crisis, and would turn one war into a General European War. With Prussia seeking agreement from the German Confederation for action in regard to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, France which had already begun to deploy forces to the Baltic, and was in negotiations with Sweden, concluded a secret treaty with Prussia. Banking on British inaction, France agreed to act in consort with Prussia against the Danes, providing the naval dimension to the Prussian army, whilst Prussia agreed to declare war unilaterally, and provide access for French forces across Prussia to Poland in the event of victory over Denmark, which had to come first.
Danish efforts to negotiate or agree an armistice were swept aside as Prussian army units advanced from the South, and French forces were landed in Jutland. With the French fleet off Copenhagen and the main Danish army forced into surrender, the new monarch, King Christian was forced to sign a humiliating peace, ceding Schleswig and Holstein to their independent claimant, under Prussian suzerainty. Whilst the diet of the German Confederation was full of protests and anger, Prussian victory could not be denied.
For their part, Prussia honoured the agreement fully. With Paris the first to recognise the terms of thier victory, Prussia admitted French forces across its territory and into rebel-held areas of Poland. French naval forces and additional divisions landed in Sweden, and in Summer 1864 a joint Franco-Swedish landing on the Southern Baltic coast brought much-needed relief to the hard-pressed Poles.
Thus began two years of bloody war in Europe, whilst in the Americas, 1864 saw the election of the Radical Charles F Adams to the presidency, and after the initial promise of workers' rights and land reform, became bogged down in the question of slavery. Initially raised by the uncertainties in Mexican California, the issue gained a head of steam all of its own after the 1866 elections returned strongly abolitionist delegates from the North. With an abolitionist foisted on him as a running mate, and various policies suggested in Congress, Adams appeared to enter the 1868 election campaign with a serious problem. But as divided and divisive as the Radicals were, the Democrats found themselves hopelessly split. Unable to get a coherent message across, and increasingly schisming into Northern and Southern factions, the Democrats fell apart in the polls, and a victory for Adams became inevitable.
Secession movements began to gather strength across the slave-holding South. Wariness of the Radicals' workers programmes turned to outright hatred and open clashes in the streets as the crisis escalated. True to his family origins, Adams' concern was to neither see the nation divided nor to see it plunged into war. But inaction and vacillation were not what the situation needed. With the election won but formal inauguration still some months off, the Southern states acted. Still Adams resisted calls to arms, despite Ordinances of Secession in several states. Only when the federal capital itself seemed threatened by the debates in Virginia and Maryland, did Adams allow his Vice President, Charles Sumner to persuade him to act in force. By then it was too late to prevent a general war.
Grey Wolf