(If this actually happened, my bad).
The Mexican-American war was a conflict which defined a continent and the two powers involved in it, both of which were upstarts which had overthrown their colonial owners long before, and had run into conflict with European powers subsequently before going to war with one another. If America won, it meant they would expand their nation by a vast swath. If Mexico won, it meant they would maintain their nation and it's vast territory, and much more potential. Whichever power won was also going to discover the wealth of the West and California. And the West became integral to American identity, and it was really a conflict which set America fully on a Manifest destiny path which would lead it to become a superpower.
What if European powers had intervened in the Mexican-American war, as much as we often speak of them intervening in the Civil War.
The Mexican-American war was a conflict which defined a continent and the two powers involved in it, both of which were upstarts which had overthrown their colonial owners long before, and had run into conflict with European powers subsequently before going to war with one another. If America won, it meant they would expand their nation by a vast swath. If Mexico won, it meant they would maintain their nation and it's vast territory, and much more potential. Whichever power won was also going to discover the wealth of the West and California. And the West became integral to American identity, and it was really a conflict which set America fully on a Manifest destiny path which would lead it to become a superpower.
What if European powers had intervened in the Mexican-American war, as much as we often speak of them intervening in the Civil War.