MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY
But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy those others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine. - A Canticle for Leibowitz
It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we would grow too fond of it. - CSA General Robert E. Lee
Extracted from The War of 1861-67: A Popular History (Stefani Germanotta; Published 2019)[1]
The American Civil War of 1861-1867 has to be seen as part of a much larger movement in the development of nationalism and liberalism, just as it has to be seen within the wider context of the Great War of 1862-1870. It was, in essence, the last stand of a benighted aristocracy against the triple forces of liberalism, nationalism, and industrialisation; not just any war, but a change in the very direction of the world. The destruction these two wars wrecked was not confined to any one class or nation - all of Europe was involved in the Great War, and all the Confederates defending Richmond suffered when the Greencoats[2] swept in.
The War began, like all others, with a gunshot - a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, which they saw as a symbol of the Federal Government they hated. Things quickly went out of hand, and before long the battle-lines had been drawn. The early battles of the war were far from decisive. But what happened in late 1861 proved to change the fate of the whole world. A British mail carrier, the Trent, was siezed by Union forces due to two Confederate diplomats aboard. The incident quickly began military preparations on the Franco-British side.
In Russia, on December 25th, Tsar Alexander II (also known as the Great, or the Constitutionalist) declared that, because Lincoln's struggle to free the slaves and his own to liberate Russia's serfs were kindred causes, he would, in the event of war 'stand by Lincoln and the Union, come the opening of Hell'. It is unknown whether these words strengthened Lincoln in his choices, but it is known that on December 27th, after weeks of struggling with himself, Lincoln declared war on the United Kingdom[3]. The next few days were packed with activity. Russia declared war in turn. France declared war on the Union and Russia. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia. In Prussia, Bismarck[4] saw a chance to begin his farsighted plan - the unification of all Germans into a single state.
Prussia then declared war on France. Austria decided, irrationally, to declare war on Prussia, perhaps to regain its old territory of Schlesien or Silesia. In a matter of days, the concord of the Nineteenth Century had been irrevocably broken. Hell had now been set loose on Earth.
[1] Yes, I know, Lady Gaga is a historian ITTL.
[2] TTL 19th Century American term for Russian soldiers, refers to the colour of their uniforms.
[3] POD #1
[4] POD #2 - Bismarck becomes Prussian foreign minister a year earlier.