The Massive Global Ramifications of a Confederate Civil War Victory

Three plausible outcomes including a new French empire in North America

A Home on the Mississippi (Public domain)

There has been a lot of alternate history discussion about how the United States would look today if the Union had lost the Civil War (including a highly recommended mocumentary covering that exact topic). Much of that discussion looks into potential domestic life, future wars, and the longevity of slavery in the South after the fictitious conclusion of the war. Very little is discussed regarding the state of the international community in the event that the South had won.

And the international outcomes are almost as interesting as the domestic ones.

Having the United States split in two during the 19th century would have sent immediate reverberations through the international community and would have reshaped the world in ways that most people do not think about.

Here are three plausible short term scenarios covering how the international community would have reacted to a Confederate victory.

An enforced two-state solution

From 1861 to 1863, the possibility of British intervention in the war loomed large. Many British officials, especially monarchists and…