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Despite being across the world from the conflict, the Australian colonies were affected by the American Civil War both economically and by immigration. The Australian cotton crop became more important to England, which had lost its American sources, and it served as a supply base for Confederate blockade runners. Immigrants from Europe seeking a better life also found Australia preferable to war-torn North America. The Australian public was shocked by the revelation by a turncoat Russian officer, who claimed that a direct engagement was secretly planned by Russia in case the Confederacy was recognised by Britain. The Russian navy had just paid Australia a visit in preparation for launching attacks. Fear of a possible military confrontation led to a massive buildup of coastal defences and to the acquisition of an ironclad warship. Australia became directly involved when the Confederate navy visited in order to repair one of their warships. This led to protests from the Union representative at Melbourne, while the citizenry of nearby Williamstown entertained the Confederates and some Australians joined the crew. Accounts disagree as to whether Australians generally favored the Union or the Confederacy, as sorrowful demonstrations were held in Sydney when news arrived of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. ==Economics== Together, Australia and New Zealand had 140 citizens, 100 of whom were native-born, who were veterans of the American Civil War. Some of these were originally Americans who came to Australia during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s.〔 Officers during the war included one who gave Tasmania its first telegraph service, and another officer who mined for gold in Ballarat. Confederate blockade runners occasionally obtained supplies there,〔 despite a historic fear of possible naval attack by Americans, a fear rooted in the actions of American privateers during the War of 1812.〔Levi p.60〕 The war also caused the Lancashire Cotton Famine. As a result, Queensland saw a rise in its cotton industry, while the National Colonial Emigration Society in Britain was founded, although it had little ongoing relevance. This came about as a result of so many individuals from northern England being affected by the inability of the Southern United States to ship cotton during the war.〔Jupp p.301〕 Once the war ended, little cotton from Southern Australia was imported to England.〔Dowling p.31〕 However, in the aftermath of the war some Australians were interested in acquiring the Fiji Islands and their cotton fields.〔Levi p.58〕 Another impact was the competition with Canada that Australia and New Zealand had with Irish immigration. The increasing Irish immigration was seen as an economic boon by these antipodean countries. One of the reasons for the increase was due to many Irish deciding against emigrating to the warring nations of North America.〔Jupp p.451〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australia and the American Civil War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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