AHC/WI: British join ACW, US still wins

Since France will probably have bigger internal problems OTL, they will probably lose the Franco-Prussian War a lot faster. Then Kaiser Wilhelm II might fire Bismarck and invade France, and since Great Britain just fought a war with the United States, it will not be able to defend France from Germany. Add an Irish revolt in Ireland against Great Britain, and things might end up really bad for both Great Britain and France.

I personally do not see any reason for France to support the CSA considering that it has nothing to gain from supporting the CSA, it recently failed in Mexico, and it has bigger problems in Europe itself (German unification and Prussian military aggression)

Prussia hasn't even fought Austria by the ACW, there's no way they're going to be attacking France before forming the North German Confederation. Personally I can't really see the UK actually going to war (especially not post-EP, that's completely ridiculous) but if they did I'd expect the French to follow suit, and then I see the US being pretty unable to beat the CSA.
 
The North seized a British ship, an illegal action. It could actually do the opposite, depending on what moves the British make.


I know that it is completely irrelevant in this situation but I still chuckle at how irritated the Brits got considering their actions in WWI.:p
 
What if the British join the American Civil War, but the US still wins?

Anglo-American relations are poisoned for decades.

And how could this happen?

Well, one obvious possibility is that Britain enters the war, and then backs out quickly. Perhaps the CSA Ambassador to Britain makes a speech congratulating Britain on not being swayed by demented abolitionists.

The Trent Affair was almost certainly the closest Britain came to intervening in the war.

One little-known point: the Affair occurred during the winter, when the St. Lawrence was frozen shut. Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada, but to get there, they had to cross the U.S. Which they were allowed to do.

A second point: if Britain declared war on the U.S., a vast number of American privateers would swoop out to attack British shipping. British shipowners had a collective heart attack at the thought.
 

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
Lol, so England declaring war on the U.S. is now not only destroying the Union, but saving France as well. Does it mean India is still a British colony, the Boers are brought to heel, and Frenchmen dine regularly on their estates in Algeria and Vietnam today as well?

It's something of a commonplace on this site that Nap III was getting an itchy trigger finger leading up to the FPW because he'd had no major foreign policy successes. Intervening in the ACW and possibly securing French interests in Mexico would give him that foreign policy success which can be pointed to as a legacy and justify Bonapartist succession. It would also draw French attention and resources away to more lucrative prospects in the new world, so that perhaps Nap III wouldn't care so much about what's happening in Germany.
 
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