France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History by Stève Sainlaude

Abstract

Reviewed by: France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History by Stève Sainlaude David Brown (bio) France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History. By Stève Sainlaude. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. Pp. xviii, 285. $45.00 cloth) The internationalization of the study of the American Civil War shows no sign of slowing. The field took a transatlantic approach in the 1920s, in major works by Ephraim Adams and Frank Owsley among others, that broadened into consideration of the wider European response. Nowadays, culture and ideology are as important as foreign policy and trade. This wide purview is welcome but Stève Sainlaude, associate professor of history at the University of Paris IV Sorbonne, reminds us that there is much still to be learned about traditional Civil War diplomacy in a country where it might be thought there was little left to be discovered. Sainlaude’s revisionist interpretation of Franco-U.S. relations, based on two monographs previously published in French, will become the standard account for years to come. It is remarkable that no historian has until now examined the full range of diplomatic records generated by the French Foreign Ministry at the Quai d’Orsay, especially the bird’s-eye view provided by consuls in the U.S., but Civil War historians will be thankful for Sainlaude’s diligence. [End Page 519] France and the American Civil War is divided into three sections. The first considers French responses to the war and the diplomatic and legal problems that it caused. It probes conversations with Great Britain regarding the blockade, intervention, and shipbuilding but concludes that the U.S. conflict “was not a priority” because both countries faced “more pressing concerns in the European theater” (p. 71). The second considers the political, cultural, and ideological ties between the American South and France, intervention in Mexico, and shifting attitudes toward the Confederacy during the war. It argues that slavery was not particularly significant to French thinking, a position at odds with the existing historiography which contends French liberals were strongly antislavery. Confederate emissaries in Paris, such as John Slidell, gained a reputation as “staunch expansion-ists” that did little to further their case for recognition (p. 124). The final section concentrates on relations with the Union. Like most Europeans, the French were unsure that the Union would endure and there were extended discussions over different kinds of future relations. As in the British case, however, the cotton famine was not as disruptive as feared at the beginning of the war. Other parts of the economy thrived in part to compensate for the downturn in textiles and the unemployed found work in other industries. Historians will learn much that is new in this book, particularly about French diplomacy at home and abroad, French public opinion, the effects of war on the French economy, as well as familiar episodes such as Mexican intervention. Sainlaude confirms that Napoleon was far more favourable to the Confederacy than the Union. Indeed, he believed that his “Grand Design” to check the spread of Anglo-Saxonism was well served by the breakup of the United States. However, Napoleon’s support for the Confederacy was rash and failed to deliver. This was not because he believed British cooperation was essential to intervention—one of this book’s major arguments is that French plans were far less dependent on the British than previously depicted. Confederate hopes were instead dashed by Edouard Thouvene, the Head of the French Foreign Ministry (until late 1862), and [End Page 520] his successor Edouard Drouyn de Lhuys. These very capable diplomats played a pivotal role in policy making. They believed an independent Confederacy would threaten plans in Mexico and that a divided U.S. was not an effective buffer against British imperialism. Both men deftly handled Napoleon’s outbursts during the war and always placed French strategic interests first and foremost. David Brown DAVID BROWN teaches U.S. history at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. He is co-author of A Concise American History (2020). Copyright © 2020 Kentucky Historical Society