The history of the victory of the Confederate States of America

Last year i wrote this documentry about the history of the Confederate States if theyed won the Civil War. Here is the 1st part of it & i'd like to see what opinions others have.

Events bringing the United Kingdom into the war
On April 6, 1862 the leader of the KGC (Knights of the Golden Circle) George W. L. Bickley met with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Vise President Alexander H. Stephens, & Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin to plan a way to pull the United Kingdom into the war in favor of the Confederacy. George Bickley devised a plan to send
undercover agents into the U.S. portraying Union officers & to attack Canada making the U.K. declare war on the U.S.
On June 18,1862 John Wilkes Booth under the alias Captain Gabriel Morgan lll arrives for his command of the cavalry unit outside of Lockport, NY close to the Eire Canal. On July 1,1862 Lambdin P. Milligan under the alias Colonel John Adams McGregor reaches a cavalry outpost in the Washington Territory 25 miles north of the community of Seattle.
On August 3,1862 Booth & Milligan tell the troops under them that a British ship attacked & sunk a U.S. ship in the Atlantic on July 5,1862 they were to raid settlements in Canada the following day. In the early morning before dawn on August 4,1862 Booth leads 500 men across the Eire Canal & attacks the town of Hamilton, Ontario killing over 200 civilians & troops before heading back across the border. On the same day Milligan leads 450 men across the border to attack the town of Hope, British Columbia killing over 120 troops & civilians before recrossing the border.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Since the leaders of the British government are not complete idiots, they will see through the Confederate plot quite easily. Thus it will be the South, rather than the North, which will incur the wrath of the British. Rather than declare war on the Union, they will econimically retalitate against the Confederacy by cracking down on the blockade runners, tightening up the export of weapons to the Confederates, and seizing the commerce raiders being built in British ports.
 
Anaxagoras said:
Since the leaders of the British government are not complete idiots, they will see through the Confederate plot quite easily. Thus it will be the South, rather than the North, which will incur the wrath of the British. Rather than declare war on the Union, they will econimically retalitate against the Confederacy by cracking down on the blockade runners, tightening up the export of weapons to the Confederates, and seizing the commerce raiders being built in British ports.

I'm hesitant to sound contrary, but how would they see through it so easily?

Eventually (and probably not far off eventually), sure. And that will be...very bad for the CSA.

As for a response to the original post, after some thought:

I'm more inclined to think the first reaction would be one of those "demand reparations" sort of things (since they won't have any way of knowing immediately it was the CSA).

Though thinking of about that brings up a problem: Where are "Milligan" and "Morgan" getting the men for their raids?

Especially "Milligan" (Using quotes just to emphasize that these are their alias names). Raising four hundred men with horses and rifles wouldn't exactly escape notice by the (Federal/US) authorities in the area. That's half a regiment.

And I'm not sure if there's that much of a presence of the Knights in Washington. And what cavalry unit is Booth/"Morgan" taking command of?
 
I've always wondered about all of the thoughts about the South winning the war via British intervention for unless there was major provocation, the politically astute British at the time would see it's not in their best long term interest to make an enemy of the North. This realization would come to fruition in WW1 for it's unlikely the industrialized North would be motivated to enter WW1 on the side of the allies.
 
Though thinking of about that brings up a problem: Where are "Milligan" and "Morgan" getting the men for their raids? Especially "Milligan" (Using quotes just to emphasize that these are their alias names). Raising four hundred men with horses and rifles wouldn't exactly escape notice by the (Federal/US) authorities in the area. That's half a regiment. And I'm not sure if there's that much of a presence of the Knights in Washington. And what cavalry unit is Booth/"Morgan" taking command of?[/QUOTE said:
I hadn't put more thought into writing it down because it had slipped my mind but I had thought of them taking command of some US units that havent gone to fight the Confederates yet. And the KGC had planned it for months before actually goin through with it.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I'm hesitant to sound contrary, but how would they see through it so easily?

By having half a brain.

Palmerston, Gladstone, et al, would basically say: Look, the North is desperate to keep us out of the war and the South is desperate to get us in. Why on Earth would Union forces launch an attack on Canada in response to a make-believed ship sinking in the Atlantic? And why is the Lincoln administration claiming that they have no idea what caused the raid, while doing their best to arrest the people responsible? The explanation that makes the most sense is that it is some sort of Confederate plot.
 
Herricks said:
I hadn't put more thought into writing it down because it had slipped my mind but I had thought of them taking command of some US units that havent gone to fight the Confederates yet. And the KGC had planned it for months before actually goin through with it.

There aren't any regular cavalry units in Washington (OTL - and changing this would take some effort given their historical deployment) - not sure about volunteers, but I can't think of any there either, and Booth coming out of nowhere to take command of any half-ready cavalry outfit in NY doesn't make much sense. I mean, he could show up, sure, but who would accept him?

Anaxagoras said:
By having half a brain.

Palmerston, Gladstone, et al, would basically say: Look, the North is desperate to keep us out of the war and the South is desperate to get us in. Why on Earth would Union forces launch an attack on Canada in response to a make-believed ship sinking in the Atlantic?

For the same reason we launched an invasion of Canada in response to impressment on the high seas fifty years earlier?

See below for why I basically agree with you other than on how fast it would go - somehow I got the impression your "see through it easily" meant "immediately". If that's not the case, we're not in disagreement.

And why is the Lincoln administration claiming that they have no idea what caused the raid, while doing their best to arrest the people responsible? The explanation that makes the most sense is that it is some sort of Confederate plot.
An attempt to cover up something? Assuming that its taken as an American raid which the government wants to deny being responsible for, which doesn't sound like the response the US would make to being attacked. Not sure if they would see it like that right away - I'm not sure how they thought an American response to such an incident being believed to happen would look.

Honestly it would be a lot better (if the author wants to go with this as a way to get Britain in the war on the CSA's side) if the Confederates had this attack on Canada during the Trent Affair tension, when tensions are high enough that you could push things over the brink before the "Wait, this doesn't make sense." thought has a chance to be voiced.
 
No offense, but this is kind of silly.

Others have pointed out the problems regarding the flawed view of international politics given in the OP...so I'll touch on something else.

Booth and Milligan raise what amounts to a regiment in scope. To raise a force this size one needs financing (gathered through agents with links to the South) and a political backer to get the unit recognized and make the brevet rank of Colonel official as well as men to fill out the muster.

Sure it might be possible to find a politician dumb enough to back these two "unknown" wanna be regimental commanders. But what if they actually had to meet their benefactor face to face? Do they have political connections in the North? No. And boy isn't it strange that one of them has a striking resemblance to that famous actor who has known Southern sympathies?

By 1862 Booth was very well known in the North. He did most of his acting in cities like Chicago, New York and Boston. Its almost impossible to believe that no one would catch on.

Here's Booth with his brother and another actor, playing the part (ironically) of Brutus.

booth-brothers.jpg
 
This is very iffy. Not all the union troops are going to make it across the border. Just a little casual chatter with prisoners will alert their captors that all is nt what it seems. Britain is unlikely to react swiftly and will undoubtedly investigate when they smell a rat. The Confederate's best hope is to disown the scheme.
 
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