Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

History

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Working from a global and transnational perspective, this dissertation is a first attempt to capture the global interactions between three players—the U.S., China, and Britain—during two horrific mid-nineteenth century civil wars. As a crucial global participant in the U.S. Civil War and the Taiping Rebellion in China, Britain applied a double standard of neutrality and exploited opportunities presented by the two conflicts to advance its self-interest. Britain’s involvement shaped the trajectories and outcomes of both wars and turned the two supposedly domestic civil wars into global wars. Britain’s imperialist expansion in China enables us to understand Britain’s contemporaneous neutrality in the U.S. Civil War.

Date

3-26-2024

Committee Chair

Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Available for download on Tuesday, March 25, 2031

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