The impact of the Civil War was felt far beyond American shores. Many
sites associated with the war remain in Britain and France--the two
countries most affected--and traces of it can still be found in such
unlikely places as Sweden and Turkey. Both Union and Confederate agents
sought support overseas, aided by local sympathizers. Some Victorian
Britons, despite their disdain for slavery, saw the South as an
incipient nation struggling for recognition, like the Italians or the
Poles, but linked to Britain by ties of blood, language and history. The
sinking of the CSS Alabama by the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg
brought the war to the European coastline. Ten years after Appomattox,
veterans from both North and South found themselves on the same side in
the Egyptian army. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book
examines the international side of the Civil War.