The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy

by Hubbard, Charles M.

• ISBN13: 9781572330924
• ISBN10: 1572330929
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Tennessee Pr

Summary

Of the many factors that contributed to the South's loss of the Civil War, one of the most decisive was the failure of Southern diplomacy. In this penetrating work, Charles M. Hubbard reassesses the diplomatic efforts made by the Confederacy in its struggle to become an independent nation. Hubbard focuses both on the Confederacy's attempts to negotiate a peaceful separation from the Union and Southern diplomats' increasingly desperate pursuit of state recognition from the major European powers.

Drawing on a large body of sources, Hubbard offers an important reinterpretation of the problems facing Confederate diplomats. He demonstrates how the strategies and objectives of the South's diplomatic program -- themselves often poorly conceived -- were then placed in the hands of inexperienced envoys who were ill-equipped to succeed in their roles as negotiators.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	xiii
The Diplomacy of Secession	1	(7)
The Failure of Diplomacy Produces War	8	(9)
The Burden of Cotton	17	(12)
Poorly Chosen Diplomats Produce Poor Diplomacy	29	(19)
Interrupted Momentum and Disrupted Strategy	48	(18)
A New Initiative in Europe: The Blockade	66	(21)
Benjamin Takes Control of the State Department	87	(15)
Will the Emperor Help Obtain Recognition?	102	(12)
The Lost Diplomatic Opportunity of 1862	114	(11)
The Diplomacy of Finance and the Erlanger Loan	125	(12)
The Burden of Multiparty Diplomacy: The Roebuck Initiative	137	(12)
The Burden of Southern Honor: The Diplomatic Break with Great Britain	149	(7)
France, Mexico, and Frustrated Confederates	156	(9)
The Desperate End Game	165	(12)
The Legacy of Failure	177	(6)
Notes	183	(34)
Bibliography	217	(24)
Index	241