USA VS France 1865-1869?

What happens if after the end of the American Civil war in April of 1865 that the USA goes to war with France and Imperial Mexico? Who would be the military leaders on both sides? What type of land battles would there be? Would the navies get involved? If I remember right the USA had the biggest ad maybe the best military in the world at the end of the Civil War. Would France even have a chance? Would other nations get involved?
 
Why is the war breaking out?
I'm sure that after the Civil War nobody wants to go fight overseas without a very good reason so you'd to provide one.
 
There was a rather long thread (with tons of fun semi-trolling from Dure) that covers this exact scenario. I think it was named Franco-American War and something else, do a search. The short answer is yes, France has a chance, but only in a Pyrrhic sense, needing major commitment in the Western Hemisphere at a time when Europe was boiling over, and victory would gain nothing in the long run.
 
The reason for the war was that France all ready had an Army in Mexico. They had set up a puppet state under Maximilian. The US could not enforce the Monroe doctorine during the Civil War. But when the Civil War came to an end. I believe General Sheridan was sent to Texas with 50,000 troops. So What happens if Sherman and Sheridan take the army of Tennessee (65,000 troops) along with say 20,000 Southern volunteers under Longstreet and Hampton. The go the same route has Cortes and Scott. Could France and Imperial Mexico stop them? Who would be in command of the French-Mexican forces. How good was the French Foreign Legion?
 
Would be interesting to see this develop into (or be the result of) an European war, with the USA, Prussia and Italy fighting France and a vengeful Austria.
 
The USA is not going to be pulling Stars and Stripes Forever in 1865 with the South in ruins. In that case, any foreign adventurism might well provoke a much nastier version of the OTL 1866 attempt to undo the 13th Amendment without outright saying so and that would have all kinds of possibilities. For one thing, the French might well win if an attempt by the ex-Confederate diehards to exploit this war provokes an extremely ugly reaction between the Union and the ex-Confederacy.
 
A war with France in 1865 over Mexico would be awful short. With the military and economy fully mobilized and battle-hardened?
 
A war with France in 1865 over Mexico would be awful short. With the military and economy fully mobilized and battle-hardened?

And a bit exhausted as well. Plus, in 1860, France was still ahead of the USA in industrial production (France had 7.9% of world manufacturing while the USA had 7.2%). Furthermore, in 1860 the French army numbered 608,000 men, and though they couldn't all or even most be sent to the New World, that's still a force the US would have trouble contending with.
 
And a bit exhausted as well. Plus, in 1860, France was still ahead of the USA in industrial production (France had 7.9% of world manufacturing while the USA had 7.2%). Furthermore, in 1860 the French army numbered 608,000 men, and though they couldn't all or even most be sent to the New World, that's still a force the US would have trouble contending with.

The French couldn't afford to send more than a tiny fraction of that force, nor did they have the means to maintain it. They were as well operating over the Atlantic, and the US military was more advanced in doctrine, military technology, training, etc. The adjacent US had all these advantages plus the immense benefit of factions within Mexico eager to kick out Maximilian. Considering how fragile Max's regime was, and how quickly Napoleon cut and ran when the pressure was on (this was, after all, merely a sideshow), a fairly small US commitment would have caused the end of the scheme.
 
Napoleon III, who was all for recognizing the Confederacy, wouldn't do it unless Britain did as well. So if he's not willing to take on the US in the middle of the Civil War, why's he going to do so afterwards?

The United States is going to be in no condition to wage an overseas war for sure in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.
 
I think naval action is really the extent of this war. France can't exactly maintain a large invasion of the USA and the Americans can't and won't invade other countries just after an exhausting civil war. I doubt many Americans would be okay with invading French colonies like Martinique and Guiana when the Confederacy had just put down and the country needed to be put back together.
 

Typo

Banned
The French are humiliated, and possibly avoids the debacle with Prussia.

The Union Navy could pretty much stop the French from operating near the coast of the western hemisphere, the South is too crushed to exploit it for the moment, and the Union army would crush the numerically inferior French in Mexico with the support of the Mexicans.
 
Here is the thread you mention, I think.

Yeah that's the one. One of those rare instances where 67th Tigers' Britwanking and reverse wanking of the U.S. with the exception of that exceptional American McClellan didn't keep him from putting his knowledge of the era to reasonably unbiased use.

The basic strategic situation strongly favors the U.S. By 1865, Max has already pissed away what goodwill he had from anyone, and only the French troops are keeping him on his throne, and they were steadily losing against the Juaristas. The rate they were losing at is about to get much worse as all the extra weapons from the demobilized American regiments make their way South, and we are only talking OTL. Nappy already has more troops than he can afford tied up in the Western Hemisphere and the situation in Europe is about to get much more fluid as Bismark's machinations proceed.

Nappy would be insane at this point to do anything else other than back down as OTL and give Max up for lost. If on the other hand, he does go insane, pretty much his only option is to go for a coup de main and hope to win quickly then get his troops and ships home. This means an all out attack to sweep the USN from the seas and take Key West, then follow up with a loose blockade, which depending on how far the USN's demobilization has gotten, may take up to half his modern seagoing fleet or more. Perhaps follow up with raids on the coast and attempt to incite insurrection in the South and hope a war-weary U.S. is willing to give in quickly. Then pump a few more corps into Mexico and drive Juarez underground.

Full success means a nice shot of prestige, which unfortunately won't last long, as partisans continue to harry his forces in Mexico and U.S. still supplies them under the table no matter what the Peace Treaty says. Sooner or later, those troops will be needed at home at which point Max collapses and any troops left may face a Dien Bien Phu.
 
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