Confederate Adventures in Mexico?

Wolfpaw

Banned
In almost every CS-victory TL, the Confederates always try to grab some land off of Mexico, usually Chihuahua and Sonora (because that's how Turtledove does it).

Now, I don't think that the CSA would have much success against Mexico, especially over such vast territory. And as has been pointed out numerous times, neither state is especially conducive to slavery.

So what if the CS focused any potential adventurism on Mexico's Gulf coast rather than its northern deserts?
Matamoros and the cotton-rich Río Salado valley of Tamaulipas are right across the border. If the CS acts swiftly enough, they may be able to hold the Salado and either attach it to Texas or make it its own territory.
 
In almost every CS-victory TL, the Confederates always try to grab some land off of Mexico, usually Chihuahua and Sonora


Hence why IMHO people need a new hobby if they are willing to steal from "the master of alternate history" for good ideas. There is a whole range Confederate scenarios one can come up with.

I'm doing research currently for an alternate history novel where the American Civil War happens 20 years earlier, under President Polk's watch.

A main character will be Captain Robert E. Lee.

I do think that it is entirely plausible for such a civil war to happen in the context of the time(1840's), considering Southern sentiments over Texas and the possibility that it either A) Never gets annexed or B)becomes a free state/or territory.

that is just one creative Confederate scenario that I have come up with. :D


As for the C.S.A annexing parts of Mexico or buying or taking Cuba from Spain...ASB.

Lets focus on the former one. Although they could buy off large tracts of land from Mexico, that right there is the problem. If push comes to shove and the Second American Civil War occurs like in How Few Remain, the South will suddenly find itself with a easily flanked, stretched out defense across the new Mexican territory/northern border. The whole war could hinge on the possibility of a successful Union thrust into C.S.A Mexican territory.

as for Cuba, I don't really see a problem with it except for the fact that it mirrors real life way to much. The C.S.A buying or annexing Cuba is the exact same thing the USA did, only i the AH under a different flag. It just bugs me that the CSA would emulate OTL USA to the letter.

I like my Confederacy with around 13 states and no extra territory, scrambled with a side of Southern hog bacon. :)



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It definitely does. The only reason Chihuahua and Sonara are so popular is because of Timeline 191, where the CSA buys them to build a transcontinental railroad of its own

They're also pretty empty, with little central government control over them.

However, I do think the Gulf Coast would be a likely target for an imperialist-minded Anglo-American state. I've often thought places like Veracruz would be target in a British America timeline.
 
Here's a better idea. Why doesn't the CS just leave Mexico alone and co-operate with a European nation to build a canal through either Panama or Nicaragua? It saves them the trouble of a long and costly war, and then defending their new territories, and it gives them a link to the Pacific ocean that will provide a huge boost to their port cities.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Veracruz always seems to have been the keyhole to Mexico. I agree with Socrates in that an imperialist Anglo-American state would likely have an armed presence in Veracruz, probably in San Juan de Ulúa.

The idea of the CS whoring itself out to European powers to do the gruntwork for a trans-Isthmian canal is a pretty alluring one, I must say.
 
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again, why would you want empty Mexican territory that you can't defend well? What was Turtledove thinking?
Transcontinental Railroad not dependent on the Damn Yankees. In peace time worth it, in war time not

As for why this not a canal, in timeline 191 the US made sure that if they weren't getting a canal no one was
 
I really am of the opinion that any ventures beyond the initial C.S.A borders are for the most part unrealistic. Mexico is a no go, while Cuba always makes me wonder if America would somehow try to muck up the process of the C.S.A acquiring it.

The Panama canal falling into Confederate hands would be most likely prevented by the powerful presence of the US Navy, which could crush the CSA navy any day.

There really isn't much for the C.S.A to do besides build up a domestic economy, army, and navy and hope that the Union does not invade. Possibly they could get a guarantee of independence from France/UK/both, but an alliance seems unlikely for as long as they have slaves.

In real life a WWI scenario on American soil would be disastrous for the C.S.A, who would like in the 1860's be mostly on the defensive, and what little offensives it could make into enemy territory would not get very far, and could possibly undermine it just as Gettysburg did in 1863.
 
You guys keep saying that the CSA could do these things and they obviously would because they are much more economically sound and logical. But when in history has any leader chosen to take a logical step rather than one that gives them big chunks of land on a map and wars to brag about. OTL leaders very rarely act with the kind of rational thought process AH leaders supposedly would use.
 
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