Canadian reaction to British aCW intervention

In otl a section of the British establishment wanted to go to war on behalf of the treasonous rebellion

I also note that LARGE numbers of Canadians joined the Union army in otl.

so could Britain lose Canada?
 
What's your POD? Given that Britain didn't want anything to do with the CSA IOTL -- even during the Trent crisis, most of the war party in Great Britain were against the idea of co-operating with the Confederacy -- going to war on their behalf seems unlikely, to say the least. You'd probably need a POD in which Britain felt threatened somehow by the USA, such that they judged splitting off a large chunk of American territory would be necessary to secure their interests. But the only way America realistically *could* threaten Britain would be by invading and occupying Canada. This, of course, is likely to make the Canadians quite hostile to the USA, so in any plausible "Britain allies with the CSA" scenario the Canadians are far more likely to be cheering Britain on than threatening to rebel.
 

frlmerrin

Banned
I also note that LARGE numbers of Canadians joined the Union army in otl.

Did you also note that they (BNA citizen fighting under Union colours) sent representatives to see Lincoln to petition him to resolve the Trent Affair peacefully as they would be unable to continue to fight for the Union should it go to war with Britain?
 
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What's your POD? Given that Britain didn't want anything to do with the CSA IOTL -- even during the Trent crisis, most of the war party in Great Britain were against the idea of co-operating with the Confederacy -- going to war on their behalf seems unlikely, to say the least.
People have provided some crazy quotes from Seward towards Britain. I could certainly see the Union declaring war on Britain if Seward were in charge.

I could also see Britain declaring war over the Trent Affair if things went badly downhill. It would require tremendous idiocy on the part of the US for that to happen, or slightly smaller amounts of idiocy on both sides.

But, in any case, Britain would NOT be fighting FOR the CSA, but only as, at best, a co-belligerent.

Opposition to slavery was too high in Britain for declaring war in support of slavery to ever get through Parliament.
 
People have provided some crazy quotes from Seward towards Britain. I could certainly see the Union declaring war on Britain if Seward were in charge.

I could also see Britain declaring war over the Trent Affair if things went badly downhill. It would require tremendous idiocy on the part of the US for that to happen, or slightly smaller amounts of idiocy on both sides.

But, in any case, Britain would NOT be fighting FOR the CSA, but only as, at best, a co-belligerent.

Opposition to slavery was too high in Britain for declaring war in support of slavery to ever get through Parliament.

I suppose the UK might support the Confederacy if America had been threatening them somehow -- say if Buchanan or someone had tried to unify the country against a common enemy, and had made credible threats about declaring war on the British. Countries are often willing to ally with unsavoury regimes in the interests of national security, after all.
 
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