Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
historyNov 7, 2018pending

Union Diplomacy, Part 2: The Trent Affair

About this episode

Season 3, Episode 30. After months of growing tension between the United States and Britain, a single event nearly plunged the two countries into war. When a Union naval officer illegally boarded a British mail ship and arrested two Confederate diplomats, many British leaders saw it as a deliberate provocation, engineered by William Seward, to provoke Britain into a war over its Canadian territory. After news of the arrest reached London, tempers were so high that many people, in reflection, believe that the only thing that prevented war was the delayed communication between the two countries that came from a broken telegraph cable. 

Chris Calton recounts the controversial history of the Civil War. This is the 30th episode in the third season of Historical Controversies. You may support this podcast financially at Mises.org/SupportHC.

Get every episode summarized

Each time Historical Controversies publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

Hosts & guests

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

Union Diplomacy, Part 2: The Trent Affair

Historical Controversies

0:00
0:00

More episodes

More from Historical Controversies

View all episodes →