Secession was not wrong, it was just wasted on the CSA.
Any other secessionist movement with that much support as they did, would have won easily. The foreign intervention would have happened.
No argument from me about that (the wasted part, anyway). Any other secessionist movement with that much support as they did, would have won easily. The foreign intervention would have happened.
Well, South Sudan, Darfur, Biafra, and all the rest. Foreign interventions aren't that common, unless something happens that other countries can't or won't turn away from -- I guess that was the case with Former Yugoslavia.
Recognition may or may not have come. Actual foreign military intervention probably wouldn't have happened. And if it did, it would have had the effect of turning many Americans against the rebels. Consider the effect of French intervention in Mexico at about the same time.