Why did Confederate leaders expect Great Britain and France to help them in the war, and why did the South fai

Answer 1

They were hoping that Britain would want to see the U.S. divided. The problem was the British were not too keen on the idea of slavery, so it was difficult for them to back the South. I'm not sure about France, I would expect France would have had a similar moral aversion to slavery (especially given their recent revolution and rejection of their Monarchy). Plus a stronger U.S. would help keep Britain in check.

As to why the South failed, they were an agricultural society, very little heavy industry. Wars are industrial operations. The other problem is they never really attacked Northern cities (they tried to capture D.C., but that probably would not have done much). Imagine if they had burned Philadelphia and New York the way Sherman burned Atlanta. They would have destroyed a lot of industrial capacity and would have broken the North's will to continue to fight.

Answer 2

The confederate leaders fully expected Britain or France to intervene on their behalf mainly because of economics. Both of these countries depended almost completely on the south for cotton. The south made huge profits off of their slave powered cotton industry. To put more pressure on Britian and France the south cut cotton trade by nearly 90% with the two countries. The confederates believed that without cotton, their two economies faced ruin. This nearly worked, with the south defeating badly the north's huge armies at the start of the war, it seemed likely that one of these two countries or both would intervene on the side of the south. The reason this did not happen is that beginning with Gettysburg, the european countries could see that the confederate states were not going to win the war. This meant that not only did Britian not have to recognize the south and create a world conflict, but also they didnt have to make allies on the side of slavery. All along the south believed that they were fighting the second American revolution and surely europe would intervene like in the first revolution. Without France on the side of the colonies, we wouldve had little chance against Britian. Therefore without foreign recognition the south new that defeat was propable.

Answer 3

That's a bit of a conundrum, basically because Great Britain and France were adverse to slavery. In fact the Royal Navy assisted our Navy in blockading the slave ships as pirates on the open sea, making it a capital crime if you were caught. The deal was the hopes that the trade established by the Southern cotton industry with Great Britain prior to the war would continue, and help finance their war with the North. Instead the British put sanctions on the Southern Confederate States, and a good 40% of their revenue was lost.

Answer 4

Short answer: the south believed Britain needed cotton for it's textile industry so badly that it would break the Northern blockade to get it... France was expected to follow suit. However, when the war started Britain had excess stocks of raw cotton, and a couple years of crop failures made them more dependent on Northern foodstuffs than Southern cotton... "Old King Cotton is dead and buried, Brave Young Corn is King" went the song...
Eventually, the cause of the North became associated in the mind of Europe's peoples with the cause of freedom and the end of slavery, and that was the end of the South's hope for recognition and aid.

Answer 5

the British and the French depended on the south for cotton but before war the two countries saw what was coming and stocked up on cotton and when that supply ran low they sought other countries for their cotton needs such as Egypt. the South failed because of Gettysburg...The south had a small group of Officers to observe southern actions and before they came to an agreement the south lost Gettysburg and all credibility. also Britain and France did not want to risk their ships against the northern blockade, it wasn't worth it..

Answer 6

Because of their intrest in supplying slaves into the market, and because England and France were big importers of cotton and the south was big importers at that time of guns and cannons and other merchandise, needed to win. The north cut off supplys to the south by forceing shipments ceased or destroyed. It wasn't as much expectation as it was a partnership. Slave mistreatment wasn't isolated to the southern states of America as is mostly accepted as history. Only 6% of all Africans taken actually landed in America, most were dropped of it Latin-America and other places south of America.

Answer 7

Spain and France only helped to gain new territories. The war was against Great Britain.

Answer 8

Because they thought those importers of cotton would help them defend the main source of that raw material. BTW the French did help, even if they were mercenaries.
The South failed because of blockades of their shipping lanes and harbors.

Answer 9

they wre hoping that they could pressure them through their huge supplies of cotton, cuz they had a huge demand for cotton
but great britain simply decided to grow the cotton elsewhere, and started growing it in india (by taking away croplands, causing a widespread famine killing millions and sinking millions more into poverty)