The Impact of the American Civil War on the Neighbors: Part One

As the Union and Confederacy were struggling against one another, the Western world was watching the conflict with very interested eyes.  New military technologies were being used that were shredding apart the old traditions of line warfare, and foreign tacticians got to see this in living example (too bad every one forgot that by the First World War).  Democratic government was also being put to the test, and the American experiment was seriously called into question.  While some foreign powers sided with the Confederacy mainly out of economic benefit, there were no doubt many who wished to see the grand experiment of 1776 fall into disrepair, especially after the crushing of many leftist uprisings in 1848.  Closer to home, though, the worlds of Mexico and Canada had many more reasons to pay attention to what was happening in the divided states.

By the time the southern states started to secede from the Union, Mexico had undergone a civil war of its own, the Reform War.  This was fought over the power that the Roman Catholic Church had over the land, which was quite substantial.  By March of 1861, the liberal faction in the war had won, religious liberty was declared law, and Benito Juarez was elected President, the first full-blooded native North American to be head of state on the continent following European colonization.

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Problematically, however, was that neither side of this conflict was entirely righteous.  While religious liberty was promoted and maintained, this would come to mean the start of a full-on war against the Catholic Church and the introduction of semi-dictatorial Marxism to the country, both of which issues would reach a peak in the 1920's.  (More on this later).  Of course, Mexico has since remained largely Catholic and Mexican communism is an entirely different animal from most strains of Marxism, but this sort of political change was enough to agitate the Europeans, and by the next year, France had invaded Mexico, was repelled, and returned in greater force so that Mexico found itself under the leadership of Maximilian I, who took the title "emperor of Mexico" after the French had seized the country in a second invasion of 1863.

In the meantime, Mexico found itself with an increase in commerce from the direction of Texas.  The Confederacy was effectively blockaded by the Union at most of its water ports, and soon sleepy Brownsville found itself the major hub of international trade, as cotton could no longer be shipped out of New Orleans, Mobile, or other ports that used to handle the exchange.  For a while, the border on the Rio Grande actually became a bit amiable again, and the goods were flowing freely.  At the same time, the diversion of American interests into their internal division was probably a very good thing for a Mexico which had been weakened by a civil war of its own, to say nothing of being invaded by the French, a clear violation of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine.

So, what did the American Civil War do for Mexico?  It kept the country independent, even as it was struggling for that right.  By the time the Union had prevailed, the United States did indeed turn its attention southwards, but not as a conqueror.  In 1866, President Andrew Johnson instead sent 50,000 troops to deploy along the Rio Grande, both as a warning to the French to get the heck out, and as a front to supply Juarez's forces.  In 1867, the Mexican people had once again won their freedom, and the American forces made no effort to take advantage of the situation, probably because freedom had just taken on a very fresh and powerful meaning for the re-United States.

On the far side of the land, things played out very differently.  Ever since 1815, an uneasy peace had been maintained between Canadians and Americans.  Commerce and lives had started to flow in both directions across this frontier, but the promise of war was never far away.  Come by next Saturday to see how the American Civil War impacted Canada.