France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History (Civil War America) - Hardcover

Stève Sainlaude (author), Jessica Edwards (Translated By) & Don H. Doyle (Foreword By)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1469649942 ISBN 13: 9781469649948

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2019

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1469649942
• ISBN 13: 9781469649948
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304