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Radio War Nerd #327 — The US Civil War, Part 9: War on the Water (Patreon)

Published:
2022-04-29 13:27:37
Edited:
2022-04-29 13:49:15
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

Recorded: April 25, 2022

In this 9th installment in the War Nerd's US Civil War series, we look at the naval side of the war: Confederate privateer Rafael Semmes' CSS Alabama, the great river wars, and the mother of all ironclad battles.

Maps & Illustrations:

*Union blockade

*Rafael Semmes

*Manet

Previous RWN US Civil War episodes:

*EP #295: The US Civil War, Part 1: Count Adam Gurowski*EP #297: The US Civil War, Part 2: Bleeding Kansas*EP #300: The US Civil War, Part 3: First Battle of Bull Run*EP #303: The US Civil War, Part 4: McClellan, Treason & The Battle of Antietam*EP #307: The US Civil War, Part 5: Vicksburg*EP #311: The US Civil War, Part 6: Buchanan's Treason & The Mormon War*EP #315: The US Civil War, Part 7: German '48ers, with Matt Christman*EP #323: The US Civil War, Part 8: Thomas, Hood & Southern Honor

Buy John Dolan's book "The War Nerd Iliad" & his audiobook "Pleasant Hell".

Total time: 1:39:48

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here 

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Comments

Cloven Sunfish

As for why the ruling classes of Great Britain and France were sympathetic to the Confederacy, you can't discount how important raw cotton was to their economies - especially Great Britain. The antebellum years in Great Britain were characterized by the horrific wage slavery in textile mills and factories as detailed in Friedrich Engels' The Condition of the Working Class in England. Those workers were at one end of the cotton exploitation chain with chattel slaves in the American south at the other end. Remember that the south was by far the dominant global supplier of raw cotton before the war. It's easy to see how the upper classes in Great Britain and France, whose wealth depended in part on the profits derived from processing raw cotton in mills and factories, were eager to return to the antebellum status quo and keep the white gold pouring in. These figures are from Sven Beckert: "In 1861, the flagship of global capitalism, Great Britain, found itself dangerously dependent on the white gold shipped out of New York, New Orleans, Charleston, and other American ports. By the late 1850s, cotton grown in the United States accounted for 77 percent of the 800 million pounds of cotton consumed in Britain. It also accounted for 90 percent of the 192 million pounds used in France, 60 percent of the 115 million pounds spun in the Zollverein, and 92 percent of the 102 million pounds manufactured in Russia." British capitalists were aware that over-dependence on US southern cotton was a liability, and in Empire of Cotton Beckert details their frequent handwringing over slave revolts, real or imagined. Several exploratory attempts were made in the antebellum years by British cotton interests to establish US-style plantation agriculture in India, but these met with little success. Since America went almost overnight from being the world supplier of cotton in 1860 to exporting virtually no cotton in 1862, alternative production schemas were rapidly developed in Egypt and India. The modern reputation for Egyptian cotton as a high-quality commodity was built during the US Civil War.

Aaron Sewards

Hurrah! I’m doing some painting and this is great timing, let’s go!

NYCM&AHole

And fire in the sky! Dun dun dunnnn dun dun nuhnuh ::deep purple riff::

NYCM&AHole

Lol I hadn’t even listened to the ep when I wrote that

Gareth Hedges

Very excited to listen tonight. Love naval gazing

NYCM&AHole

I thought John was calling the French ship the GWAR

Gengeros

Hoping the 1863 deployment of the Russian imperial fleet to NYC is brought up in this episode. It was key in detracting British or French from getting involved.

CR

42:00 - the Civil War shows that evil will always win because good is dumb. Anyway, it’s easy to be magnanimous and gracious when you win. Just ask the Vietnamese.

William

RE: some of the conversation towards the last 5 min - Seems like some of the great military minds come into their own through the wars and struggles, not through the academy route. Are there enough to talk about to make an episode?

Ander Pierce

Greenpoint, Brooklyn, accolades include hosting the RWN and building The Monitor. What a wonderful place!

Aaron Ross

Cant wait to listen. Ive been on a major submarine kick recently

a clash of purple

I've visited the Mariners' Museum in Newport News where the Monitor's turret and guns are on display. It's an impressive sight. If anyone reading this ever finds yourselves in that part of Virginia, you should pay it a visit. Unfortunately I can't really recommend visiting most of the Civil War battlefields unless you like looking at empty fields and old fences. Without the thousands of men shooting at each other there isn't really anything to see.

a clash of purple

The Union wasn't good, they were just less evil. The Northern ruling class had no more interest in the project of emancipation than Southern slave-owners did. As Gary has been at pains to emphasize during this series, any good that came out of the Civil War was in spite of pretty much everyone in a position of leadership around the world, not because of them.

David Andrews

Excellent, creative topic and very well presented.

Russell Chandler

Loyal listeners from the Tidewater Autonomous Zone humbly request all further shows observe the correct pronunciation of “Norfolk.” Forget the “l.” Just get it out of there. It’s “NOR-fik”/ “NOR-fuk.” Or the old timers say “NAWL-fik.” Thanks.

Jimothy Realname

I'm starting to think that western governments do actually have a plan to solve global warming, and it involves a full scale nuclear first strike

xxx

Elaborate please

Doug Cartel

I heard that French warships in the Crimean war had bolted railroad ties to the hull as their own attempt at up-armoring their ship.

Jimothy Realname

Nuclear winter counteracts global warming (partially)

radiowarnerd

I think I ran out of time to cover the Hunley. Sorry about that.

radiowarnerd

Yeah. That's true. My main impression as a kid visiting Gettysburg was 'There sure are a lot of bugs in the East.'

radiowarnerd

We're going for total authenticity then and will just say 'Nerk'.

radiowarnerd

Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't heard about that!

John Teoli

Loved hearing the story behind the titular boat of Titus Andrinicus's "The Monitor"