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This is based on ideas I got from this thread, while doing this one.

Starting in 1861:

Napoleon III has a Foreign Minister who's not only sympathetic toward the CSA (unlike Edouard Thouvenel of OTL) but is eager to assert France's role on the world stage, not unlike Napoleon himself -- which entails weakening the United States as much as possible to give them a free hand in their Mexico intervention, as well as future interventions throughout the Western Hemisphere. This would mean France would likely have a closer alliance to Britain, whose PM the Viscount Palmerson thought along similar lines.

As it happens, in OTL an Anglo-French alliance of sorts was behind the initial phase of the Mexican invasion (Britain pulled out), as well as behind interventions in propping up the Qing Dynasty and Shogun against more modern rebels. Adding to this, ITTL, the nations recognize the CSA and declare war on the US by the end of 1861 when the Union seeks to enforce the blockade against their ships.

If the January Uprising of Poland started a couple of years earlier, that could prove tempting for an Anglo-French alliance to exploit as well, especially if Austria was interested. The resulting struggle could easily drag in the Ottomans, especially if Russia proves hungry to undo losses from the Crimean War.

Then there's Italy and Germany -- the former may be tempted to take advantage of perceived overextension by seeking an assault on the Papal State, while the latter may do the same with the Schleswig-Holstein (both earlier than OTL). If Austria and/or France seeks to stop them, the war could extend even further.

So -- in OTL alone you have an Anglo-French alliance, networking in Spain and Austria, as well as the Qing, the Shogun, and the Second Mexican Empire. Suppose these networks come to include the CSA, and could also potentially include Polish Rebels and the Ottoman Empire -- against which you would have the United States, Mexico, Russia, Italy, Germany, and rebels in China and Japan (the Taiping, Chosu, etc).

My big idea is that the networks are thus expanded and formalized into global alliances -- for example, say that Britain and France hold a summit, inviting Austria, Spain, maybe the Confederacy, etc -- to coordinate their efforts, in an effort for the first two (or one of them) to maximize their influence. If their targets seek to form a counter-alliance, you'd have a war extending across (at least) three continents.

Just to make it more interesting still -- I'm also thinking of how these alliances could integrate what becomes the War of the Triple Alliance of OTL (1864-70, Brazil intervention in Uruguyan Civil War leading to alliance of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina against Paraguay).

So -- what do you think? How plausible does it seem?
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