A Weird Empire

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I've always found the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s to be a bizarre episode in history. Did Napoleon III really think this would work?

In any case, I was describing the Second Mexican Empire to my wife tonight. I said, "Of course, the only reason the French could get away with this was the American Civil War. The Monroe Docrtine would have meant that France's moving troops into an independent country in the Americas was a cause for war, except that half of America was already fighting the other half, so we were really in no position to fight France as well."

I paused for a moment, and then added, "Although, of course, that fact wouldn't have stopped everyone on Fox News from condemning Lincoln as 'weak' and possibly a French-allied traitor if he had failed to do so."

Comments

  1. Josiah Neeley12:29 PM

    Of course in 1861 Seward advocated war with France (or possibly Spain, he wasn't picky) as a way to bring North and South together against a common foe. If only Fox had been around to support the idea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah6:30 PM

      That would have been pre-Civil-War?

      Delete
  2. Samson Corwell2:01 PM

    I'd like to get your opinions on Lincoln and the Civil War sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Samson Corwell2:02 PM

    The Monroe Doctrine was always one of my favorites.

    ReplyDelete

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