The American Civil War is one of the most important events in the history of the United States of America. It has been the bloodiest conflict in the nation‟s history, claiming the lives of more than 620,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Civil War is mostly known as a domestic affair of the United States, which is true in the sense that no foreign power intervened in the conflict; however, almost all great powers closely followed the developments, since European powers had trouble expanding their spheres of interest in the Americas. In fact, the Civil War era is a very interesting part of American diplomatic history and provides fine examples of the workings of foreign policy in the 19th century.