The Intervention Coalition was being secretly assembled, while the American Civil War continued. If they knew that whoever won would have to face suppression by the four great powers, it was doubtful either the North or South would still be so eager.
Of course, that was merely wishful thinking. With the war having reached this stage, neither the North nor the South had any choice left but to keep fighting.
Looking at it from another angle, with the four great powers there to cushion the blow, even if they lost, they would not be stripped down to their underwear. Their mindset would probably be much calmer.
When the war first broke out, every country supported the Southern Government. Once the Southern Government gained the upper hand, everyone promptly turned around and began selling arms to the Northern Government.
It was precisely because everyone played a balancing game between North and South that this civil war had lasted until now. Otherwise, if the four countries had thrown their full weight behind one side, the victor would likely have been decided in the first year.
By cobbling forces together, Britain, France, Austria, and Spain had gathered over a hundred warships and 260,000 troops. If they had not prepared in advance, no one would have believed it.
And these were merely the mobile forces they could deploy, not the full extent of the four countries' strength in the Americas.
If they truly went all out, never mind Britain, France, and Spain, which had operated there for years—even Austria, which had only recently gained a foothold in the Americas, could scrape together more than a hundred thousand soldiers.
Every colonist was a soldier—this was why Europe's great colonial empires had been able to grow so strong. Otherwise, if they relied solely on government troops