CSA relations with the Austrian empire

atlantis

Sergeant Major
Joined
Nov 12, 2016
The confederates acquired some ordinance both artillery and small arms of Austrian make. What else do we know of that relationship and was there any possibility of acquiring naval craft from Austrian shipyards on the Adriatic sea.
 
The confederates acquired some ordinance both artillery and small arms of Austrian make. What else do we know of that relationship and was there any possibility of acquiring naval craft from Austrian shipyards on the Adriatic sea.
By the same token the Austrian Empire was thrilled to sell Lorenz rifles to the Union by a factor of approximately 226k to 100k to the Confedracy per history.net " The Lorenz rifle Austria's deadly emissary.'.
Austria was like all the other West European countries in being happy to sell weapons to whoever they wanted as long as it's cash and carry.
Leftyhunter
 
By the same token the Austrian Empire was thrilled to sell Lorenz rifles to the Union by a factor of approximately 226k to 100k to the Confedracy per history.net " The Lorenz rifle Austria's deadly emissary.'.
Austria was like all the other West European countries in being happy to sell weapons to whoever they wanted as long as it's cash and carry.
Leftyhunter
I expected better of them, that they would stand with a new young nation yearning for freedom.
 
The Austrian Empire was an empire and probably not all that interested in young nations yearning for freedom. This yearning for freedom could apply to parts of the Austrian Empire. Austria also had soldiers in Mexico during this period helping to establish a Mexican Empire.
 
The confederates acquired some ordinance both artillery and small arms of Austrian make. What else do we know of that relationship and was there any possibility of acquiring naval craft from Austrian shipyards on the Adriatic sea.

On 4 March 1863 Minister John Slidell wrote to Secretary of State Benjamin in a coded message from Paris that “The partner of a large banking house in Vienna recently called to see me, he says that the Austrian Government has some very superior war steamers which can be bought thoroughly armed and ready for sea with the exception of the crews. I shall advise Mr. Maury [Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury] to look at them.” No Austrian warships were sold to the Confederacy, and I am unaware of any further action regarding this correspondence. (N.O.R., II. 3, 706)

I expected better of them, that they would stand with a new young nation yearning for freedom.

LOL. The Austrians dealt with the Confederates only to the extent that they needed the foreign exchange.

Having experienced a series of separatist revolutions in its provinces, the Imperial Austrian government established a policy of not recognizing revolutionary governments. Minister Resident Hülsemann in Washington directed Austrian consulates in the South to take no action which could be viewed as recognition of the Confederacy or succession, and consistently referred to the Confederates as “rebels” in his despatches and compared Jefferson Davis to King Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont-Sardinia, writing that “both take what belongs to others, the latter without taking existing treaties into account and the former without taking account of the United States Constitution.” The Austrian government’s decision not to treat with the Confederates in 1861 even extended to the mails. Federal Consul Canisius in Vienna advised Secretary Seward on 30 November 1861 that no letters addressed to the Confederates States of America would be accepted for carriage in the Austrian mails.

Then there was the Germanic distaste for slavery. Despite the American belief that the Austrian Empire was an autocracy, slavery did not exist there. In an 1829 decree, Kaiser Francis I had declared that persons who were regarded as slaves abroad should be freed as soon as they entered Austrian territory, or even boarded an Austrian ship.

What nation yearning for freedom?

Regards,
Don Dixon
 
I don't think the Austrians cared two cents about the CSA or USA. I'd bet all they knew was a part of the USA seceded and both sides wanted to buy guns and so forth. Just a case of "show me the money" and no sympathy for either side.

(Kind of ironic that, and that the CSA's uniforms were patterned off of Austrian rifle ones and the flag designer supposedly combined the Stars & Stripes with a historic, now modern Austrian banner.)

Austria had a LOT of other things to worry about:
1. Russia
2. Prussia
3. the Balkans
4. Their own secessionists along with anarchists
5. Italy
6. France
7. Emperor's brother deciding to play Emperor of Mexico

And so many more issues. The "War for Confederate Independence" as one Prussian called it, had no bearing on all those pressing issues.
 
compared Jefferson Davis to King Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont-Sardinia, writing that “both take what belongs to others, the latter without taking existing treaties into account and the former without taking account of the United States Constitution.”

Never knew this. Kind of funny and hypocritical when one remembers Austria's terrible habits with the territory of others. Mainly in Italy and the Balkans.
 
I don't think the Austrians cared two cents about the CSA or USA. I'd bet all they knew was a part of the USA seceded and both sides wanted to buy guns and so forth. Just a case of "show me the money" and no sympathy for either side.

(Kind of ironic that, and that the CSA's uniforms were patterned off of Austrian rifle ones and the flag designer supposedly combined the Stars & Stripes with a historic, now modern Austrian banner.)

Austria had a LOT of other things to worry about:
1. Russia
2. Prussia
3. the Balkans
4. Their own secessionists along with anarchists
5. Italy
6. France
7. Emperor's brother deciding to play Emperor of Mexico

And so many more issues. The "War for Confederate Independence" as one Prussian called it, had no bearing on all those pressing issues.
Probably this.
 
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