14. Great Britain supported the Confederacy
The formation of the Confederate States government in 1860 led to the immediate dispatch of emissaries to Europe. Confederate representatives in Spain, Belgium, Great Britain, France, and even the Vatican sought to gain recognition of Confederate independence. All failed. At the time the Civil War began, American cotton sold at an all-time high. Confederate leaders hoped the European demand for cotton would provide an immediate source of revenues, as well as an impetus to remain a trading partner with the South. Confederate leaders also recognized that British ships visiting Southern ports were unlikely to be molested by the US Navy. Cotton shortages in British mills reached crisis proportions in 1862, with many mill workers out of work from lack of product. Nonetheless, many mills refused to process American cotton delivered by blockade runners. They supported Lincoln’s position on slavery.
Great Britain’s shipyards built blockade runners to smuggle goods to and from the Confederacy. They also built commerce raiders for the Confederate States Navy. British military professionals traveled to America as observers during the war, a practice common among nations of the 19th century. But the Southern stance on slavery prevented the Confederates from receiving any formal support or recognition of Confederate independence. After the war, international arbitration decided in favor of the United States, and Great Britain paid reparations for the damages caused by the warships they built and sold to the Confederates. British merchants, through smugglers, sold arms and munitions to the Confederacy. The same merchants, through open trade, sold arms and munitions, as well as other goods, to the United States. After the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, support for the South in Europe dwindled.