Was anyone else fascinated by Priest's take on an extended Civil War?
A quick summary in case this looks like long boring history babble: I think that in Priest's alternate history the Confederacy won the battle of Gettysburg and thus won over British support.
Priest gives just enough details about how the conflict differs from the actual historical one to lead me to several conclusions as to how the Confederacy has survived as long as it has in her timeline. The two key bits of information I'm most drawn to are that: 1. Stonewall Jackson survived the battle of Chancellorsville (as mentioned in Boneshaker) and 2. The British are providing aid to the Confederacy (mentioned in both books I believe).
These two points are actually linked in my interpretation of Priest's history because of how they are linked in actual history. Stonewall Jackson was one of the Confederacy's best generals and often trusted with the most vital tasks in an engagement by General Lee. Jackson was accidentally killed by his own troops after scouting at the battle of Chancellorsville (an otherwise resounding victory for the South). The next summer the Army of Northern Virginia marched through Maryland and into Pennsylvania where the battle of Gettysburg was fought. On the second day of the battle, Lee ordered his troops to take an elevated position called 'Little Round-top' which would have given his artillery a clear line of fire along the entire Norther line. This attack, however, was repulsed by a last minute bayonet charge.
There have been numerous 'what if' scenarios stating that if Jackson had survived Chancellorsville and been at Gettysburg, he would have taken Little Round-top, thus allowing the Confederates to win the battle (or at the very least, not lose) The battle, however, ended in a Union victory and the South never launched an offensive of this scale again. Additionally, this battle contributed greatly to the British's decision to refrain from involving themselves in the war.
I suspect that (unless its mentioned otherwise and I'm oblivious) in Priest's history Gettysburg was a Confederate victory thus assuring the British that supporting the South would not be a waste of resources which in turn caused the war to drag on into the 1870s.
I'm not a history buff, but I was intrigued by the differences in Priest's alternate history, and it makes a lot more sense to me now. There were some minor details concerning the slaves that didn't really make sense--in Dreadnought, Mercy mentions that the slaves had been freed for several years by 1860 by some of the border states, followed by the Deep South. It just seemed that Priest took a less oppressive view of slavery in the US. Maybe there was some kind of explanation in the book that I missed?
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