Horsehockey Walt....one cannot compare a war with an enemy having to send an expeditionary force across the Atlantic with a nation at war with a huge and more powerful neighbor at their doorstep. Not to mention that fortunately Britian was preoccupied on other fronts quite unlike the Union. Colonial resources were miniscule compared to the material stolen from U.S. arsenals by the so-called CSA.
The so-called CSA also expected to start with a fat war chest with monies from northern PRIVATE creditors, which so-called CSA legislation directed be paid to the so-called CSA treasury instead of the lawful creditors.
It -was- widely thought in Europe that the insurection in the so-called seceded states could not be overcome.
Walt
If it was so widely held that the CSA would prevail Walt, why did none of the European powers formally recognize them? No, as usual the truth is the mirror opposite of your opining. The South endured for nearly 5 years against a far more powerful invader because of their spirit and more able military leadership on the whole. Yankees and Southern traitors like you owe your victory to Grant and Sherman...and yes Lincoln...not to a Southern lack of fighting resolve as you falsely pontificate.