IDEOLOGY AND INTEREST

This chapter describes the ways in which historians have approached the study of Civil War‐era foreign affairs, a topic which has occasioned rich debate among scholars. The traditional interpretation argues that the Union's diplomats successfully prevented foreign intervention in the conflict by appealing to antislavery sentiment around the world, especially in Great Britain, France, and other parts of Europe. Revisionists contend that economic priorities and national self‐interest had a much greater impact than ideological concerns on the diplomatic fortunes of the United States and the Confederacy. The chapter also discusses the “transnational turn” that has influenced the field of Civil War studies in recent years by considering such topics as immigration, public diplomacy, and the history of capitalism.