ABSTRACT
The war between the states never became a war between the nations. The world-wide repercussions of the Civil War abounded, then, in paradox, irony, ambivalence and confusion. When the Civil War began, Napoleon III had some leanings towards the North, based partly on his first-hand knowledge of the United States. Of all the ironies of the Civil War as a world event, Mexico was one of the greatest – and one of the cruellest for the Confederacy. Like their adversaries, the Union leaders were firmly convinced that the war was a matter of consequence to the whole world, completely confident that world opinion would be on their side, and deeply shocked when they found that very often it was not. There were good reasons of self-interest why Britain and France on the one hand and the United States on the other should continue to avoid war with one another.
