"If the British Empire invaded the US immediately after" Topic

… the US Civil War would the British Empire have been able to take over and occupy the US?

Interesting question…

link

Amicalement
Armand

Why on earth would the Brits declare war on the US in 1865? They weren't idiots

1862 different question

Might win at sea, but on land they would be more than doubled against a trained army on home turf. Might have lost Canada. Canada does gain independence in 1867.

Strictly speaking, Canada only gains self-government in 1867. Full independence only in 1933, but most history books skip over that bit.

Not interesting just a really dumb question. Forgetting any discussion of motive of which they had NONE by 1865, if they couldn't do it against the rag tag US forces in the AWI or War of 1812, how in God's name were they going to field, equip, transport and land enough troops to take on the SEVERAL 100,000 plus man armies we would have very quickly assembled via railroads to oppose them?

Keep in mind the Union was strengthened, not weakened, by the war and had tremendous military infrastructure by 1865. Makes more sense to ask in 1875, what if a British invasion had coincided with Indian uprisings across the frontier after the army had dwindled to almost nothing scattered across the continent.

But again WHY? England held no George Bush vs Iraq type grudge against the USA!

Go here – link

A very long essay, but of considerable interest inasmuch as it casts a rather different light on Great Britain's geo-strategic approach to the ACW.

For Age of Ironclad gamers, check out especially the arrival of Russian ironclad fleets in both NY and San Francisco in late 1863.

B

Not so sure about the naval side: the North had what might be thought of as a massive coastal defense fleet by the end of the war. We might not have been able to strike England, but for them to try to invade us could have been very bad for them.

Grelber

The war would have been over by 1870 after the American counter-invasion of the British Isles…

The Russians had only two ironclads by 1863; a gunboat of very limited power and a poorly built armoured frigate.

Not exactly a 'fleet' of ironclads !!!

It is ridiculous to suggest that Britain could have conquered the US in 1865, even if they had reason or desire to do so.

It is just as ridiculous to think that the US could raise an army to fight on the other side of the Atlantic. Even if they could develop a navy to defeat the battlefleet in such a short time (virtually impossible) the sheer number of British cruising vessels would make such a passage very near impossible.

God Almighty! An even dumber idea than British intervention during the War itself!

Does this man own an Atlas? Has he no access to Google Maps.

Hey what a Great Idea! ………………

Let's forget the money we are making in an ever expanding Empire, just by turning up and taking it off the natives and start a war with a country that has an Army the same size, if not bigger, than ours.

Recently mobilised and equipped and fighting on home soil where we have around 120,000 regulars spread over the Globe. The only members of which that have seen anything remotely like modern combat was nearly twenty years ago.

Absolutely, Brain Numbingly, Ridiculous!

Strictly speaking, Canada only gains self-government in 1867. Full independence only in 1933, but most history books skip over that bit.

Full independence? When my son gained Canadian [dual] citizenship, he had to pledge allegiance to not the Canadian Government, but Queen Elizabeth II.

There is still a close relationship between the United Kingdom and Canada beyond just allies.

Canada and the UK share a monarch (QEII) but not a government, so we are independent in that regard. Canadians don't swear loyalty to the government, but to the Crown, as the governments are just the servants of the people. And I was wrong on the date, it was 1931 (Statute of Westminster).

This is getting to be a thread-highjack, but the significance is that Canada didn't declare war in 1914, because as a Dominion of the British Empire, that decision was made for us in London. However, in 1939, Canada declared war separately (Ottawa waited a week before declaring war, partly to show it was Canada's decision, and partly to order war material from the USA while we were still technically neutral).