Overview

France's involvement in the American Civil War was critical to its unfolding, but the details of the European power's role remain little understood. Here, Steve Sainlaude offers the first comprehensive history of French diplomatic engagement with the Union and the Confederate States of America during the conflict. Drawing on archival sources that have been largely neglected by scholars up to this point, Sainlaude overturns many commonly held assumptions about French relations with the Union and the Confederacy. As Sainlaude demonstrates, no major European power came closer than France to intervening in the American conflict by siding with the Confederacy, and none had a deeper stake in the outcome. Reaching beyond the standard narratives of this history, Sainlaude delves deeply into questions of geopolitical strategy and diplomacy during this critical period in world affairs. The resulting study will help shift the way Americans look at the Civil War and extend our understanding of the conflict in global context.

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9781469649948

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Reviews

A concise, readable, and informative monograph. . . . [Sainlaude's] work provides a useful look at the diplomacy that secured the Union victory and began the shaping of a newly modern world.--The Journal of America's Military Past A marvelous book that contains fascinating analysis about French diplomacy during the U.S. Civil War. . . . This is a volume that will appeal to anyone interested in diplomacy and foreign relations during this period.--Civil War Monitor Provides a much-needed counterpoint to the prevailing view that French diplomacy during the American Civil War had an influence clearly secondary to Britain's and looked to its neighbor across the channel to lead the way on U.S.-Confederate policy matters. . . . Highly original, nuanced, and deeply persuasive.--Civil War Books and Authors Explores in considerable detail the intentions and actions of multiple diplomatic officials, especially foreign ministers.--Choice Reviews American scholars will find a different perspective on the Civil War's international effects as told from the viewpoint of one of the outside powers whose approach was more complex than they may have previously believed.--America's Civil War

A marvelous book that contains fascinating analysis about French diplomacy during the U.S. Civil War. . . . This is a volume that will appeal to anyone interested in diplomacy and foreign relations during this period.--Civil War Monitor Provides a much-needed counterpoint to the prevailing view that French diplomacy during the American Civil War had an influence clearly secondary to Britain's and looked to its neighbor across the channel to lead the way on U.S.-Confederate policy matters. . . . Highly original, nuanced, and deeply persuasive.--Civil War Books and Authors Explores in considerable detail the intentions and actions of multiple diplomatic officials, especially foreign ministers.--Choice Reviews American scholars will find a different perspective on the Civil War's international effects as told from the viewpoint of one of the outside powers whose approach was more complex than they may have previously believed.--America's Civil War

Explores in considerable detail the intentions and actions of multiple diplomatic officials, especially foreign ministers.--Choice Reviews American scholars will find a different perspective on the Civil War's international effects as told from the viewpoint of one of the outside powers whose approach was more complex than they may have previously believed.--America's Civil War

Author Information

Steve Sainlaude is associate professor of history at the University of Paris IV Sorbonne. Jessica Edwards is an independent translator. Don H. Doyle is McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina.

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