Typically, when the American Civil War is studied on a global scale it is to compare itself to other civil revolutions which took place around to globe. For example, how the American Revolution sparked the French Revolution. Yet, the direct impact that the American Civil War have on the global economy is not usually mentioned. One can argue that the impact the American Civil War had on the global economy is just as important as any social revolutions that came from it.<\/p>\n
In the late 1850s the United States was the number one cotton supplier for European countries by a large margin. Further, cotton had become the core ingredient in the world’s most important manufacturing industry, the textile industry. Most of the work that took place in order to harvest cotton was performed by slave labor in the American south. Then this cotton would be sent to Europe for manufacturing. Thus, slaves were a vital component to the world economy in cotton production, At least for the moment.<\/p>\n
At the time of the American Civil War, the North placed a blockade on southern exports, this included cotton. By 1852 cotton imports from the US fell by 96%. This had tremendous global impacts. European textile factories began cutting working days, and some even shutting down due to lack of material. This left many people unemployed, and a crisis erupted. Europe was learning that depending on just one country for materials was not acceptable, and soon started looking for places to receive cotton from. India and Egypt and also Brazil began to fill the voids in cotton that America has created. All did so without the use of slavery. This called into question the necessity of slaves in the cotton industry. As Steven Andreen said in his blog on industrialization, \u201cThe rise of industry and capitalism in the area changed the lives of people of all levels of the economic ladder on both sides of the Atlantic.\u201d <\/a>The impact of the America Civil War changed the lives of slaves by emancipation. It also caused the flourishing economies of Egypt, Brazil, and India to become a word player in the cotton industry.<\/p>\n