<P> Without firing a gun, without drawing a sword, should they make war on us, we could bring the whole world to our feet...What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years?...England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world with her save the South . No, you dare not to make war on cotton . No power on the earth dares to make war upon it . Cotton is king . </P> <P> Cotton diplomacy, the idea that cotton would cause Britain and France to intervene in the Civil War, was unsuccessful . It was thought that the Civil War caused the Lancashire Cotton Famine, a period between 1861--1865 of depression in the British cotton industry, by blocking off American raw cotton . Some, however, suggest that the Cotton Famine was mostly due to overproduction and price inflation caused by an expectation of future shortage . </P> <P> Prior to the Civil War, Lancashire companies issued surveys to find new cotton - growing countries if the Civil War were to occur and reduce American exports . India was deemed to be the country capable of growing the necessary amounts . Indeed, it helped fill the gap during the war, making up only 31% of British cotton imports in 1861, but 90% in 1862 and 67% in 1864 . </P> <P> Additionally, the main purchasers of cotton, Britain and France, began to turn to Egyptian cotton . The Egyptian government of Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges . After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports, sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's occupation by the British Empire in 1882 . </P>

Who introduced mass production of cotton cloth to the us