140th anniversary of the death of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee

The Telegraph ^ | October 10, 2010 | Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.

[rockrr]

Any one of those three would have rolled right over the confederacy. The thing you are neglecting is the fact that the north pulled its punches, at least initially, in the Civil War. The concept of brother killing brother was abhorrent to most of them and it took them time to get their “head in the game”.

European countries would have no such compunctions or constraints. Plus they wouldn’t be at personal risk like the citizens of the north were. Not to mention the likely aid of a bunch of pissed off northerners.

Probably more like five years tops and they would have been owned. Bagged, tagged, and plundered.

All because of stupid pride.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

As to our nation being overwhelmed in wars had the Union not survived, that's nonsense. No European or Asian power ever directly threatened the U.S. territory until late in the last century

So Britian was not an European power in 1812?

[central_va]

Probably more like five years tops and they would have been owned. Bagged, tagged, and plundered. All because of stupid pride.

Are you that stupid? Really? The P.A.C.S. was the second most powerful army in the world. During the US Civil War foreign military attaches from all over Europe studied the Confederate Army to learn from them. The Confederate Army could have destroyed any European army of the time.

Waterloo? What a joke. The civil war had 30 Waterloo sized battles.

[hellbender]

That was long before the South seceded. And the U.S. Navy (built largely at the instigation of the Federalist Yankees) didn't do a great job of protecting the South (taking MD as being part of the South) in that war, did it?

With all its power, Britain could not subdue the colonies even in the late 18th century, when they had a tiny population. By the mid-19th century, no European power could have conquered any part of the U.S.

[hellbender]

Utterly ridiculous. Spain was a lame corrupt old man by then, evicted from most of its American colonies. France was mainly a continental land power with no large power base in the New World. To conquer the South would have required huge force projection, which no Euro power could afford. Remember that the great Napoleon couldn't even subdue Haiti! The North had the manpower on the ground in this continent and they also had the navy to blockade the South and run up its waterways, yet it took a colossal effort and enormous expenditure to win that war.

The idea that the North pulled its punches is absurd. They immediately invaded deep into the South. The battle of Shiloh in early 1862 was nearly down to the border of Mississippi. Most of the Southern generals were not very good, and the South was not able to mount serious warfare initially, either.

The North, with all its huge advantages, thought it would "roll over" the South. Bull Run taught them a lesson about that.