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One War at a Time: The International Dimensions of the American Civil War
by Dean B. Mahin
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Potomac Books (2000-11)
ISBN: 1574883011
EAN: 9781574883015
Dewey Decimal #: 973
Paperback: 344 pages
SKU: 72308000063
Condition: Fine
Comments: 1574883011 New, never read, may have minor wear on cover.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
One War at a Time - Lincoln's axiom for Union diplomacy- refutes the opinion of most historians and biographers that Lincoln played only a minor role in U.S. foreign relations. It reveals his continuing efforts to avoid a war with England or France while using the threat of war to prevent European recognition of Confederate independence. Mahin covers Confederate efforts to obtain diplomatic recognition, the construction of warships for the Confederacy in Britain, the British role in the blockade-running operation, and the postwar "Alabama claims" against Britain. Mahin also provides the first full anlysis of U.S. and Confederate reactions to the French intervention in Mexico and to the efforts to establish an imperial government in Mexico.
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Customer Reviews
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Lively writing, but not overly compelling
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-04-20
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Dean Mahin, in his book One War at a time, examines Abraham Lincoln's involvement in the diplomatic efforts of his secretary of state, William H. Seward. Mahin makes an intriguing claim at the outset of his book - that the policies of the Lincoln administration were largely responsible for maintaining the neutrality of both Britain and France, as Lincoln and his secretary of state William Seward "successfully used the threat of war with the United States to prevent European recognition of Confederate Independence..." Mahin evaluates American diplomacy through the lens of multiple diplomatic crises in an effort to support his thesis. Unfortunately, he does a poor job of demonstrating that the efforts of the Americans had such a significant impact as to prevent either the British or the French from recognizing the Confederacy. Instead, he merely proves that Lincoln's government was often focused on conciliation instead of threatening war. Rather than carefully analyzing the evidence, Mahin tends to focus on the details of the story, which makes for an intriguing read, but not an overly compelling one. The Trent incident, in which an American captain flagrantly violated international law by stopping a neutral vessel outside of territorial waters and seizing two passengers, nearly resulted in a British declaration of war on America. Mahin fails to explain how Lincoln was able to turn this concern into a British fear of war - instead, Mahin says, Lincoln was concerned about how to escape the incident without a loss of national dignity and writes a conciliatory letter to the British government to avoid hostilities.
All told, this was a very entertaining & informational book. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a broad basic history of international relations during the American Civil War from an American perspective (as opposed to a foreign point of view). However, the thesis presented at the outset of the book is not as well defended as I think it should be.
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Not Battles and Leaders
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-06-24
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Battles and Leaders is the mold for Civil War history, what we expect and want. The 3 Fs, fronts, flanks and feints coupled with leaders fill almost all of our books. Politics is limited to the problems Lincoln or Davis have with the states and congress. International relations are limited to the Trent, Maximilian and the Ironclad Rams. This limited treatment works equally well in the nineteenth century as today.
This book is devoted to international relations during the war. Great Britain is the major player, the most troublesome and interesting. France follows Great Britain except for the Mexico adventure. The balance of Europe is not that important to the story but is well covered.
In 1860, Great Britain and American were not close allies. Memories of the revolution and war of 1812 were fresh for veterans and their children. Additionally, America was starting to challenge British supremacy both economically and politically. Seeing two nations where one had been would have slowed or even stopped this challenge. Popular democracy was not a popular idea with the "ruling class" in Britain. The CSA, in spite of slavery, was closer to their idea of how things should be than the universal white male suffrage of the USA. The emerging middle class and the working class admired the USA and were anti-slavery. This forced Palmerston to walk a thin line as he tried to keep from becoming entangled in a class conflict amid a cotton famine.
The author does an excellent job of introducing the major players, their positions and reasoning. In addition, we get the physical limits of trans-Atlantic communication in the world of 1860. This helps us understand the mis-information problem that caused so many problems.
Chapters on the Trent, the Alabama and the ironclad rams detail the inner workings of both governments. All of this plays out against Lincoln's "one war at a time" policy and British fear of American expansion into Canada. The chapter on Canada is one of the best in the book, providing a complete explanation of each side's position and fears.
British blockade-runners, neutrality and the Union blockade are a book length story. The chapter devoted to this subject gives us an impressive amount of statistics and food for thought. The author concludes and supports the idea that British support of block-runners added months to the war by preventing a logistic collapse of the CSA. Union efforts to force Britain to curtail this meet with almost no support. It simply was not in their best interest and they refused to help. However, this did not stop them from publicly deploring the war and the suffering it caused.
French activities in Mexico and their attempts to support the Confederacy form an interesting sideshow. However, their efforts in Mexico and the on going civil war this caused created sever problems for Lincoln as he walked a thin line considering his historic support of Mexico.
The general European chapter quickly tours the continent, giving us an overview of the major nation's attitude toward the USA and CSA. The majority of the monarchies were not in favor of rebellion and had strong anti-slavery populations. This curtailed any idea of support for the Confederacy but did not translate into support for the Union.
The CSA international effort centers on Great Britain and France but includes Mexico and the British colonies in the Bahamas. All of these efforts fail; the why and how makes a good story and is fully documented. The effort was much larger than it seems but suffered from a number of problems. To often the wrong man gets the job. It is questionable if the CSA had the right man for the job or even if the Union had the right man. The critique of Adams, Lincoln and Steward is at odds with many histories but very well supported.
Overall, this is a very strong, well-written history of international relations during the Civil War. While it will not answer the questions about how close war or recognition came, it will provide food for thought on these subjects.
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Very Very Very Good.
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-02-26
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
Well out of the 30 odd books I have read in the last 2 years on the Civil War and politics leading up to the war, this was one of the better books.
It shows Lincoln as an able player in foreign relations that he was.
The style of writing, and the fact that each chapter deals with an almost different topic, makes the book for a very good read. There is no getting bogged down with this book, and this book should end up on you not finished list.
When I about about 1/2 through the book I was already looking to see what about books this author had written.
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Addressing A Neglected Area
Rating (5)
Date: 2000-06-12
17 out of 17 customers found this reveiw helpful
"One War at a Time: The International Dimensions of the American Civil War" sounds a bit pretentious at first glance. However, author Dean B. Mahin met the challenge he laid out for himself by writing one of most comprehensive accounts of Civil War foreign policy ever published. Any reader, novice or expert, will gain fresh understanding of our international policy in that era and a new appreciation of Abraham Lincoln's role in development and execution of that policy. This important book addresses a dimension of the Civil War that has been sorely neglected in the literature that tends to focus on battles and individual leaders. New ground is broken by the author who contends that Lincoln was deeply involved in foreign policy while other historians have often minimized his role. Mr. Mahin is well equipped to tread on this ground because his well researched book reflects the authors' insights gleaned from his forty years of service with Federal agencies including the Department of State and the U. S. Agency for International Development. His research led him to diplomatic correspondence, diaries, letters and speeches and these amply footnoted references support his contention that Lincoln conducted a diplomatic balancing act in his dealing with foreign powers, especially England and France. In particular he deals in depth with French intervention in Mexico and how this was countered. Lincoln's axiom of fighting one war at a time is the unifying theme in these discussions. Further Mahin brings an insightful writing style that lends new understanding to subjects that have been covered by other authors such as the "Trent Crisis" and the "Alabama Claims." His chapter titled "Cotton is King" provides an outstanding summary of Confederate finance, diplomacy and trade of this important commodity. In short, this is a "must-read" book for those who wish to enlarge their understanding of the international dimensions of the Civil War.
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