Stève Sainlaude. France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History. Translated by Jessica Edwards. Foreword by Don H. Doyle.
2019; Oxford University Press; Volume: 125; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ahr/rhz1363
ISSN1937-5239
Autores Tópico(s)Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
ResumoStève Sainlaude has written an important book that anyone interested in the foreign relations of the American Civil War era must read and ponder. France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History is impressively researched in informative and under-utilized sources, resolutely analytical, forcefully argued, and lucidly written. By probing the motives, objectives, and actions of Emperor Napoleon III and his government, Sainlaude illuminates the process by which French foreign policies were formulated and implemented and explains why France remained neutral and chose not to intervene in the epic North American conflict. Sainlaude contends that French foreign policies were ultimately derived from a realistic assessment of the nation’s interests rather than from “sympathy” for either the United States or the Confederacy (98). Ironically, Napoleon often based his foreign policies on “fanciful ideas—if not daydreams” (5). The emperor’s tendency to favor the South over the North ostensibly aligned with his “Grand...
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