Victorious CSA and 'Emperor' Maximillian

[President Ledyard]

Let's assume (pick your favorite post-1861 POD that doesn't involve outright European intervention) that the CSA manages to secure its independence from the USA by 1865.

Are they supportive of this French misadventure or outright hostile towards the new regime?

In my opinion, the are supportive, given the aristocratic outlook of the southern planters, reliance on European markets for cotton exports, and the likely fact that the USA will support of Juarez and other rebels after the Civil War has concluded (enemy of an enemy is your friend reasoning - the CSA doesn't want a hostile power on its southern flank after all).

Or do they take advantage of the chaos to secure a Pacific Coast?

Much less likely in my opinion. The CSA is likely wartorn and not ready for another war - esp one with fronts so far from 'civilization.'

 

[zoomar]

Actually, I see Imperial Mexico flourishing as a French satellite (helped along of course by the French victory at Sedan in the War of Prussian Succession) and eclipsing the CSA as the "other" major regional power in North America after the USA. By 1920, Mexico has re-occupied New Mexico, annexed the ill-fated Second Texas Republic, occupied former Confederate Indian Territory, and has its eyes squarely set on Louisiana and the Mouth of the Mississippi River. Only its nominal alliance with the USA keeps the faltering Confederacy from falling completely under French and Mexican domination.

 

[The Gunslinger]

It depends... If Mexico and France can somehow get involved in the war and get really lucky, then perhaps has a whack at getting the Gasden purchase back as well a San Diego. Which means the CSA has a friendly neighbour in case the Americans come back for another war. Instead of an all powerful CSA, we might we might see sort of an Entente relationship between them, kind of like England and France.

 

[Max Sinister]

Mexico didn't pay for the French... in fact the war was so costly, the French empire used all available resources (money, weapons) secretly to prevent the French from finding out how expensive the war really was. I don't know about valuable resources in Mexico then either... and Maximilian wasn't the right kind of ruler, too: The Conservatives in Mexico (who were pro-Monarchist) didn't like him because he was more of a liberal, and the Liberals didn't like him because, well, he was an emperor.

 

[David S Poepoe]

I see the CSA and Imperial Mexico getting along together because they have to in order to counterbalance the US. Unless Mexico does sell territory, a la Turtledove, to the CSA I don't see the Southrons getting a Pacific port - and I'm not necessarily convinced that they need or want one. Without doubt the Caribbean will be the immediate source of economic rivalry between the CS and Mexico. With the exception of Nicaragua, for Walker's legacy, I see most of Central America being dominated by Mexico.

The CS will be looking towards the US and Europe primarily for markets. Exactly why there is speculation that Mexico will expanding northward is beyond me and demonstrates more a high level of imagination than anything ground in economics. One might as well consider a Mexican moon shot in 1905. Mexico really has got to get its house in order and that hasn't quite even happened up to this date.

 

[Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy]

Might the CSA use skillful diplomacy to get certain local leaders to secede from Mexico and become puppets or even join? I know they tried.

 

[Viriato]

Well in OTL many Confederate emigrants ended up in Mexico after 1865 including officers and such. Although Maximilian's Mexico never officially recognised the Confederacy, they were quite friendly and many Confederates were drawn to the aristocratic nature of the Mexican court. There are many letters of women from the confederacy who were very close to Maximilian's court. There are many primary documents that give accounts of the admiration many Confederates has for this monarch and his court. So my assumption is that they'd be allies. Plus the need for expansion of slave territory that had occurred up until 1848 was now a moot point, since the south no longer needed to guarantee that there was parity in the number of slave and free states (because of the senate).