| January 18 |  |
Editor says, what if the former belligerents of the American Civil War clashed at the Versailles Peace Conference over the same issues? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1919, the first day of the Great Power negotiations in the Salle de l'Horloge at the French Foreign Ministry ran into immediate trouble with the Union and the Confederacy sharply disagreeing over territory and self-determination, the very same disputes that had raged at the conclusion of the American Civil War.
Hampton Roads, Redux by Michael N. Ryan, David Atwell & EdBecause at that same stage at Hampton Roads, the Union was expected to press the South to accept the loss of the States of Delaware, Maryland and Missouri. Instead, not only had Washington demanded that East Tennessee, North and West Virginia join the Union as new Northern States, but they wanted a few West North Carolina counties too because they had strong Unionist populations there. Somewhat disingenuously, Washington had also let Southern delegates discover that the White House had resisted calls for Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama plus parts of the Carolinas coastline.
Almost sixty years later, the Confederate delegates on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris sensed the same victor's logic in French Plans to dismember the German Reich. Then, like now, the net result of acquiescence to those requests for more than the "occupied territories" would be to make the defeated nation ungovernable. Because the Western Allies demands represented a barely disguised attempt to prevent future conflict by cutting the country in half, making sure the economy would no longer be viable.
And thus the Confederates objected on principle to the French demands using the same language they had forcefully articulated at Hampton Roads in rejecting the Union's outline proposals. Due to the insistence of her British allies, under the final settlement the CSA "only" lost the "occupied territories" comprising a northern strip in Virginia, Western Virginia, plus the northern half of Arkansas and also parts of the coastline of the Carolinas and the Southern tip of Florida which the Union had occupied as part of their amphibious operations. And the Confederates were banking on her old allies pressing the same logic at Versailles.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Versailles, Civil War, 1865, 1919, Great War.
~ First there are several spelling errors you need to fix, please proof read next time. Fixed - apologies and thanks. Ed Second at Versailles presumably the Union and Confederacy would not have been fighting on the same side, if the Confederates fought with the French and UK then the Union presumably fought with the Germans are remained neutral. Clarification would be helpful on the status of all the parties involved. I dont have all the answers sir, part of the discovery process is to invite opinion as to how these circumstances could have arisen, thats all the fun :-) Third Germany had only been a unified nation for a few decades at this point in history, making it back into several competing states would not be an unrealistic proposal. Interesting insight - thanks
~ "New Northern Stations?" Fixed - thanks. Ed
Comment from Arlena Arteaga Kelly on Facebook: There would still be no peace in the Middle East...
~ Or in the Balkans...
~ Frankly, I dought the south would have any sympathy for Germany, the Brits who had been kissing cousins to the Germans for generations and only recently ended their relationship certainly showed no such feelings. Much of the Southern leaderhship was very very Anglo minded like many of the New England establishment. I do not doubt they would still be angry for losing so much territory from their 'Sovereign' states but then again they certainly had no such problem from making the United States give them up. They would also be very angry for being denied access to the unsettled territories out west since Cotton and Tobacco are very heavy soil exausting crops.
I wonder if with this line of alternate history the Confederate delegation might demand the League of Nations try to force the North to 'return' these territories. World War II almost broke out between Britain and the United States back during the twenties but sane minds prevailed and the first naval disarmerment treaties were negotiated.
Still with the way you have things going, I suspect the North would also have kept that little isthumus of Virginia dangling from Maryland into the bay.
~ I find myself wondering how Delaware ended up part of the CSA. It wasn't one of the Confederate states in the 1860s, and it's hard to see how a Confederate victory would have persuaded (or forced) it to switch its allegiance. Am I missing something?
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
