French Interest in the American Civil War

[tyrex]

It's sure that in France this war is seen as a war to abolish slavery. For us southerners fight to keep it alive and northerners to bring it down.
But strangely we know more of Lee than about Grant (well for those who know about Civil War). For us Lee remains a melancholic picture of honor, loyalty and fight against the odds. He's a true romantic picture. And we are found of romantic character.

an educated man, with a degree from one of the big Paris "hautes ecoles",

Well nobody should ask such thing to a student of "Hautes ecoles". Alas our high schools are just prone to format the minds. The syndrom of "pensée unique" is too much the apanage of those peoples. Polytechnique, ENA or Ecole des Mines produce only people thinking the same way and generally totaly incapable of thinking in innonvative ways. Well it's my opinion but when you see our "greats" leaders in economical and political matters...they all come from the same mold of our Hautes Ecoles. And they aren't very efficient in any ways (but digging in deficits)
In most ways our elite lacks an opening of minds. And it's the same in History. We're probably the only people in the world who celebrates theirs defeats and never theirs victories. We've got a tragicomic exemple in 2005 when our gouvernement send a CV to celebrate the defeat of Trafalgar but no one to the celebrations of one of the greatest victory of France Austerlitz. As you see our elite are near ineptitud when it come to history

[Chaplain Lovejoy]

Years ago, I had a buddy who was a Revolutionary War reenactor. He related to me his surprise one day at crossing paths with some French guys who were American Civil War reenactors, being members of a CSA regiment in France. Is there really much ACW reenacting going on in France?

On the sidebar of reenacting: Recently, remnants of Hurricane Ike came through my area and knocked out power to 800,000 residents. One result, among other things, was that I couldn't make coffee. But the guy behind me is a Civil War reenactor, and he has loads of nineteenth-century camp equipment. So he pulled out his old-fashioned coffeepot and we made coffee with his propane grill. Hmmm! [thread hijack discontinued]

[andatiep]

I think the main explainations of the ACW interest in France posted here cover the topic.
I will then just add only some personnal one (maybe shared) :

It may be a paradox, as a frog', i currently do prefer playing the Secession War rather that Napoleon's Campaign because that war have more social & political sens for me.

Napoleonic war's are only again old imperialistic wars between powerfull european royal dynasties.
The wars of the French Republic against all the royal dynasties of Europe (1792-1802), that makes more sens to me. But when Napoleon betrayed the Republic and put again its own nobility and dynasties to rule the European countries the Republic did just free from their kings, that make less romantic roleplay and sens to me.

I know that the war aim of the US Northern government and of the most part of the (white) population was defenetly not to free the slaves. What interest me, it is the way the minority of white people who wanted it managed that it becames a political objective for most of the northern people all along the XIX century till the second part of the Secession War. That was a big historical challenge, from the US independance war in 1776 till the end of the Secession War in 1865. Almost a century of political fight, which ended by a military fight.

I do know that there is some major CSA leaders, like Lee, who may have prone to abolish slave once the CSA would be independant (but would they ever have won against the hudge plantation's owners lobbies?). I personnally don't like big powerfull countries and prefere decentralized powers and governments. So i would prefer the principe of States Rights versus Federal Rights. Except that democratic states rights is legitim only if the whole population have the right to vote, so including the slaves (and I'm not sure about the black population support of the secession if the new CSA did not abolish slavery...).

The interest of the French "educated" people for the US American Revolution is born thanks to the concrete philosophical and political exchanges and solidarity between their new "open minded" and "humanist" XVIII's century bourgeoisie. Not because the king Louis XVI decide once again a new war with Britain using the opportunity to have new allies.
As French, i still feel now that the american revolutionnary contributed also politically to the French Revolution and to the creation of the French Republic.
If you ask them, most of the French people would naturally say that the spirit of the American and French revolution include the end of slavery, everywhere, always.
That's why the american "revolutionary" fight, political or military, against slavery is for me one of the main keyword of the French interest on ACW. In many points, this conflict is for some French people the final story of the american revolution of 1776.
It's not a war started for freedom, but it's a war which leaded to (more) freedom and the revolutionary abolitionists did know it with their will of "finishing the job of the founders".

When they learn it, most of the French people are surprised to see that there were still slavery in the USA in ...1861. That's why French people often take the shortcut to see the Blue as the "good" and the Gray as the "bad".
Even if it's not so far, the French Republic decided to free the slaves in 1794. It became effective in Louisiane in 1803 (after the delayed retrocession agreement with Spain).
Napoleon restablished eventually the slavery and finally sold Louisiane in 1804, so slavery came back in Louisiane soon with the USA rules (like Texas, since the republic of the US of Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, almost too decades before Alamo).
The second French Republic decided again to free the slaves in 1848 in its territories. Napoleon III tolerated it once again from 1851 to 1870.
The French "support" to the CSA was not only the Napoleon III geostrategic imperial interests policy, it also fit to the bonaparte familly opinion : they don't care at all about the immorality of slavery, somehow like the northern Democrat Party. If the US Secession War happened when France was still in 2nd Republic, the French "support" would depend more likely on the slavery policy of Washington and Richmond (BTW: let's think about it for VGN events & scenarios).

So one of my interest in ACW is the "Revolutionary war" aspect of this conflict.
But what revolution ? Pemberton1 said for example :

"[...] French that enjoy historic fanatasies about this second American Revolution".

For most of the French ("educated", concerned, Historians, etc.) the term "Second Revolution" can be confusing :

- The reason of secession of General Lee - the States' Rights - (supposing from what we know from him that he personnally would probably include later the slaves as full citizen of this States with Rights) could be seen as a "second american revolution". Because he wanted to change/leave the federal constitution into a confederal constitution, by revolutionary secession war if needed. It's still hard for a French to understand this but he could : you have to know that French Republic had also its division and violent fights between pro-centralized and pro-decentralized constitution during the Revolution (and that is also more or less hidden by our "official" history). But France was already so used to absolute centralized monarchy that our pro-decentralized power supporters where only called ...the "fédéralistes" (we even didn't reach the concept of confederalism...:neener !

- But the reason of secession of the pro-slavery lobbies ruling most of the southern States governments are, anyway for most of the Frenchies, a typical conservativ, archaical counter-revolution. When we see that most of the French (or French linked) who fought with CSA army had names like "de Polignac", let us smile . It's not surprising : that's sounds really like the big old military nobility families of "Ancien Regime" in exil which fought against the French Revolution and Republic with european monarchs and later joined the bonapartists.

As far as i know, there is one of the US "father founder" who was a true revolutionary, abolitionist, confederate : Martin Luther (http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_9_1s8.html). The forgotten soul of CSA's honorable cause ?
If american congressmen would have listen to that guy in the 1780's, well, USA would have save many troubles...
...and maybe we would have copy/paste the debate and the model here in the 1790's and got also our Reb's fighting the centralized parisian supremacy for a French Confederal Republic ?!

[Colonel Dreux]

It does not surprise me that the Frenchies would have a passing interest in ACW - Remember that Liosiana was once part of France. Also the Cajun popualtion were as far as I have been informed originally from from French Canada and had been deported there by the Brits to make way for those that they wanted shot of in Britland. So in one way or another a lot of men of French ancestry would have fought in the ACW.

Yep, my people (mother's side)... Creole and Cajun.

[wiskey78]

But I to found it suprising when I first found this game that there war any interest in the American Civil War in Europe. I consider myself a well versed student of history compared to the average person who cares nothing of it but, while my mind can be stimulated by the wars of Napoleon that is due to the fact that at least half of the histories of those wars are written in english. I cant see myself or any american going to franco-prussian war re-enactments or playing a franco-prussian war video game it would be of no interest to me it is entirely alien to me.