What was Europe’s importance during the Civil War?

Essentially it was necessary for the South to get diplomatic recognition to put pressure on the north. It was also very necessary for them to import many items they used to import from the north from Europe if they were to survive, of which the most obvious (and notorious) were warships, built in Britain. In 1861 the Confederacy placed an embargo on cotton exports to put pressure on the British and French, whose textile industries depended on American cotton, and offered to lift it if the two countries would recognise them. Napoleon III of France was willing to if Britain would, but Britain, nervous about the Canadian border, the supply of wheat from the US and also philosophically opposed to slavery, refused to do so even though it caused considerable economic distress in Lancashire.

• supplied southern states with supplies
• allowed the construction of English shipyards confederate warships
• southern states grew cotton and exported abroad for profit - England and France needed this for their textile mills.