during the Civil war, France wanted to broker a peace plan, and the UK actually came close to supporting the south, but Russia backed the Union by sending their ships to various American ports...
officially they were neutral, not supposed to take sides, but their presence was interpreted as support for the Union and a warning to other European powers.
more here at GlobalSecurity.org:
Years later, Henry Clews, a banker involved in marketing Union war bonds, accurately characterized the squadron’s visit as a “‘splendid bluff’ at a very critical period in our history.” William Seward, he went on, was “astute enough to see that this visit of the Russian squadron might seem to be what it was not.” Their coming “might have a good moral and political effect in depressing the South and encouraging the North, and causing any foreign powers that might have been considering … recognizing the Southern Confederacy to postpone action.”...
it was a twofer: Their fleet was protected against the UK/French alliance that was threatening war, but it also helped the Union: by raising morale, by protecting San Francisco, which had no other naval protection available against southern raiders or other pirates.
and it led the the US buying Alaska
David T. Gleeson and Simon Lewis wrote " Over the years, popular and scholarly understanding of the visit, which became a disputed topic within the complex history of the two countries’ diplomatic relations, has undergone a significant evolution.
In the earliest American accounts, though the specific circumstances often differed, the prevailing sentiment was that when fears of foreign intervention in the Civil War were at their height, Tsar Alexander II dispatched the fleets as a gesture of friendship and that the action successfully restrained the British and the French."
A fitting climax to this strange paradoxical friendship appeared in the negotiations resulting in a treaty of 1867 for the transfer of Alaska which, although it had been suggested as early as 1845 and contemplated again in 1854 and in 1859, surprised the diplomats of the Old World.
Secretary of State Seward secured a deal to purchase Alaska from the Russian tsar for $7.2 million in March 1867. Although the U.S. Congress initially resisted the idea, citing the price as too high, legislators ultimately agreed to the deal because it blocked a large portion of Great Britain's Pacific access, made Alaska's rich mineral resources available to American entrepreneurs, and provided easier access to lucrative Asian trade. Russia had become increasingly frustrated with the expense and difficulty of supplying its businesses in the Pacific territory, and was thus also satisfied with the sale.
CSpan video discussion here.
Russia is now reverting to their Tsarist past: a dictator strong enough to stop chaos and anarchy and Islamic terrorism, while being suspicious of western benevolance.
Ironically, if Putin was a true communist, the loud mouth left and their minions in the MSM would probably love him.
No comments:
Post a Comment