so i have read a lot about people wanting to take sides (mostly join the confederates) during the american civil war. the only thing is that i cant figure out what they would hope to achieve, except delay the war and give the south a slightly better chance of retaining its independence.
for starters, simply shipping supplies, guns, and uniforms is not enough. the longer the war lasted the less chance the confederates had of winning, guns dont matter if you no longer have troops to fire them.
the union navy was by no means pathetic, so even getting shipments of anything to the confederates would be risky business, more probly sinking then actually reaching safe shores.
a european nation would actually have to send soldiers to the americas if it wanted to insure that it wasnt wasting its time with the south, meaning those soldiers would face the same dangers from the union navy that the supplies would.
how many men would it take to make a difference? i would say the south would of needed between another 100,000 to 200,000 well supplied men if it desired to fight past 1865. to actually win freedom for the confederacy? they would of needed some 500,000 men.
the union could easily temp your european neighbors into attacking you since you have no just emptied your homeland of its defenses. and imagine how long it would take to have your soldiers return home from the americas when they have to fight through two navies instead of just one.
and, even if you succeed in helping the south achieve its independence, what does anyone expect to gain from it? i doubt the south would of allowed any european ally to retain land in the americas, even at the cost of its own freedom. if you did try to retain land, it would be worthless because of its unstablility. and whos to say that the north doesnt just crush the south in another war a few years down the road, are you going to be able to bail them out every time?
plus, having the confederacy as an ally would not give any european nation any type of significant advantage. it would actually hamper you because the north did most of the overseas trading.
so, it actually leaves only two options. the british could attack from canada, or the mexicans could attack into the west. either option doesnt seem very helpfull since both places are a far way from washington.
for starters, simply shipping supplies, guns, and uniforms is not enough. the longer the war lasted the less chance the confederates had of winning, guns dont matter if you no longer have troops to fire them.
the union navy was by no means pathetic, so even getting shipments of anything to the confederates would be risky business, more probly sinking then actually reaching safe shores.
a european nation would actually have to send soldiers to the americas if it wanted to insure that it wasnt wasting its time with the south, meaning those soldiers would face the same dangers from the union navy that the supplies would.
how many men would it take to make a difference? i would say the south would of needed between another 100,000 to 200,000 well supplied men if it desired to fight past 1865. to actually win freedom for the confederacy? they would of needed some 500,000 men.
the union could easily temp your european neighbors into attacking you since you have no just emptied your homeland of its defenses. and imagine how long it would take to have your soldiers return home from the americas when they have to fight through two navies instead of just one.
and, even if you succeed in helping the south achieve its independence, what does anyone expect to gain from it? i doubt the south would of allowed any european ally to retain land in the americas, even at the cost of its own freedom. if you did try to retain land, it would be worthless because of its unstablility. and whos to say that the north doesnt just crush the south in another war a few years down the road, are you going to be able to bail them out every time?
plus, having the confederacy as an ally would not give any european nation any type of significant advantage. it would actually hamper you because the north did most of the overseas trading.
so, it actually leaves only two options. the british could attack from canada, or the mexicans could attack into the west. either option doesnt seem very helpfull since both places are a far way from washington.
