Lincoln's Diplomacy

[Anita]

(01-22-2014 09:41 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I think so. He sent Simon Cameron over to be Minister to Russia. The Russians were so worried about what we might do to them next, that they offered Seward Alaska as a piece offering (plus Russia badly needed the money)

Gene, I highy recommend this article "U.S. Civil War: The US-Russian Alliance that Saved the Union" by Webster G. Tarpley. It can be found at http://www.voltairenet.org/article169488.html

It's a wonderful example of Lincoln's brilliance in understanding the vulnerabilities of key world players to his advantage.

To whet your interest: " ...The Russian-British rivalry was of course the central antagonism of European history after the Napoleonic era, and the Russian attitude towards London coincided with the traditional American resentment against the former colonial power."

"...Turning to the conflict of 1861-65, Thomas points out that “in the first two years of the war, when its outcome was still highly uncertain, the attitude of Russia was a potent factor in preventing Great Britain and France from adopting a policy of aggressive intervention.” (Thomas 129) He shows that the proposed British-French interference promoted by Lord Russell, the Foreign Secretary, in October 1862 was “deterred at this time mainly” by the Russian attitude, and cites Russell’s note to Palmerston concluding that Britain “ought not to move at present without Russia.” [5] (Thomas 132)

"...On September 22, 1862, Lincoln used the Confederate repulse at Antietam to issue a warning that slavery would be abolished in areas still engaged in rebellion against the United States on January 1, 1863. The Russian Tsar Alexander II had liberated the 23 million serfs of the Russian Empire in 1861, so this underlined the nature of the US-Russian convergence as a force for human freedom. This imminent Emancipation Proclamation was also an important political factor in slowing Anglo-French meddling, but it would not have been decisive by itself. The British cabinet, as Seward had predicted, regarded emancipation as an act of desperation. The London Times accused Lincoln in lurid and racist terms of wanting to provoke a slave rebellion and a race war."