Intervention for the Union

[Chewy_Granola]

So most AH about the American Civil War revolves around a foreign power intervening on the side of the Confederates. I know that the British and French were not eager to do anything one way or the other without something major happening, but what about the Union's friends. While the ACW is an area of decent knowledge for me, I am not knowledgeable about the diplomatic situation outside of that.

So this is the question: would any power attempt to send troops to support the Union? If so, would Lincoln have accepted? And how would the other Great Powers have reacted?

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Didn't Russia help the Union and even sent some ships to help ?

 

[SenatorErnesto]

I don’t know if any of the great powers would intervene on the Unions side, but plenty of foreigners tried and Lincoln denied them, seeing that it was the Unions duty to win this alone and to accept foreign aid would give unjust legitimacy to the Confederates.

See Garibaldi and the whole elephant thing.

 

[ragnarokalok]

Didn't Russia help the Union and even sent some ships to help ?

Russia sent ships to deter British intervention, and to get them free to manuever in case Britain or France intervened in Poland. They had a decent morale impact, and may have fought a confederate raider off from San Fransisco.

 

[Byzantion]

So most AH about the American Civil War revolves around a foreign power intervening on the side of the Confederates. I know that the British and French were not eager to do anything one way or the other without something major happening, but what about the Union's friends. While the ACW is an area of decent knowledge for me, I am not knowledgeable about the diplomatic situation outside of that.

So this is the question: would any power attempt to send troops to support the Union? If so, would Lincoln have accepted? And how would the other Great Powers have reacted?

What If Brazil intervened with sending troops ?

 

[Arcavia]

Didn't Russia help the Union and even sent some ships to help ?

Russia sent ships to deter British intervention, and to get them free to manuever in case Britain or France intervened in Poland. They had a decent morale impact, and may have fought a confederate raider off from San Fransisco.

This. The Tsar was sympathetic to the US but he knew that Russia was in no position to get involved in avoidable wars. The fleets deployed to NYC and SF were, as mentioned, there to preemptively avoid a British blockade of the Oresund and Dardanelles as well as to indicate diplomatic support for the US.

 

[ChewyGranola]

What If Brazil intervened with sending troops ?

I feel like Brazil would have been more likely to intervene on the Confederate side. Didn't a bunch of ex-Confederates settle in Brazil after the war? And they did keep slavery in practice till the 1880s right?

 

[Virginia Liberal]

I feel like Brazil would have been more likely to intervene on the Confederate side. Didn't a bunch of ex-Confederates settle in Brazil after the war? And they did keep slavery in practice till the 1880s right?

I am not familiar with 1860's Brazil. Do they have the navy to project power up to the Florida coast.

 

[AntonioBarbarian]

I am not familiar with 1860's Brazil. Do they have the navy to project power up to the Florida coast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Brazilian_Navy

Did a quick read, but it doesn't look like it. We had 40 ships in 1864 (down from 90 in 1840), so probably a bit less than that in the years before. Though these ships were pretty modern for the period, nearly all steam, with the Imperial Navy being revanped in the late 50's and early 60's, and we had a decent capability for repairing and building new ships, so that by the time of the Paraguay War we had more than doubled the size of the navy (94 ships in 1870), though a good part of it being French and British built ships. We might be able lend some help to the Confederates if we wanted, but there would be no reason for it.

We did have a small incident in Bahia between the Confederacy and the Union, but it was late in the war and didn't amount to anything on our side. If it did had a diferent outcome it might get us involved, but I doubt we would be able to change anything this late into the war.

Apart from that, by 1864 we were already in the Uruguay War, which would lead directly to the Paraguay, plus, due to the Civil War, we had an increase in our share of the cotton market, so I doubt the government would want to work to diminish that, especially since these plantantions were in the Northeast, which had a significant economic decline since the 17th century.

 

[alexmilman]

This. The Tsar was sympathetic to the US but he knew that Russia was in no position to get involved in avoidable wars. The fleets deployed to NYC and SF were, as mentioned, there to preemptively avoid a British blockade of the Oresund and Dardanelles as well as to indicate diplomatic support for the US.

An additional purpose was to create a potential threat to the British merchant traffic across the Northern Atlantic (one of the reasons why Britain decided not to support the French idea of interference into the Polish Uprising).

Of course, "fleets" is a little bit generous.

The NY squadron included 3 frigates, 2 corvettes and 1 clipper and the SF squadron of 4 corvettes and 2 clippers.

 

[Scott Washburn]

I suppose some Central American countries might favor the Union due to the South's support for filibustering expeditions to grab chunks of land down there. Hard to see what sort of material aid they could provide, though.

 

[Arcavia]

I suppose some Central American countries might favor the Union due to the South's support for filibustering expeditions to grab chunks of land down there. Hard to see what sort of material aid they could provide, though.

Brazil could probably provide some troops at least, though for that to happen you might have to see an earlier abolition of slavery in Brazil.