ABSTRACT
In the eyes of many foreigners, the American contest was something much more than one nation’s conflict over the right to secession or even the future of American slavery. The Civil War is America’s defining crisis. It lies at the heart of the story Americans tell themselves about themselves: a young democracy, riven by sectional conflict over slavery, is plunged into a tragic war with itself. For nearly a century after 1865, with rare exception, historians of the American Civil War served a narrative of national reconciliation. The history of the Civil War remained one of the most fertile fields of historical research. Most historians of the Civil War view it as a military contest with domestic politics and public support as crucial contingencies, and they ignore diplomacy and foreign opinion as peripheral. They assume international recognition ensued from military success, but historically it is more often the other way around.
