Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Masters of the World

Well. A Napoleonic Europe, with a grand federalized system as he promised. It’s a lot harder than it looks, thanks to the fact that “wherever you find a tub of water, you find an English ship”.

First, we must have Napoleon decide to abolish Prussia and Austria. This is not quite as hard as it appears. He thought about it in OTL, and it was only thre threat from Russia and his inferiority complex which stopped him.

So, Napoleon, in the winter of 1807, reduces the Hohenzollern dynasty to East Prussia. To add insult to injury, let us make East Prussia a vassal of the newly revived Kingdom of Poland.

After the battles of 1806,notably Frieldand, Alexander is powerless to stop the Emperor from marching to the Vistula. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk[1] restores Poland to its 1792 boundaries, with the Saxon King.

1807 sees the French in Poland. He actually manages to reach Minsk, and occupies Riga on the Baltic. Reflecting in the winter of 1807, he decides that the Grand Army will need more supplies. A march on Moscow, at least now, is out of the question.

The Kingdom of Poland gets its 1772 borders in the East, and France gets Riga and the Hinterland.

He also finished off Austria. By ceding Hungary to a local noble,a long with the historically Hungarian territories, he can assure himself a buffer in the region. Bohemia would be given to Berthier. The Illyrian provinces become a theoretical part of Metropolitan France a few years earlier.

Thanks to the butterflies, the British do bombard Constantinople. There’s a major war, but the Brits have more pressing matters, and the Turks have no logistic ability. However, a delayed war in Spain means that there is no Penninsular campaign, and also no British expeditions, which go haring off against targets like Montevideo. At least not at this point. They manage to hold Cairo, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. And as Wellesley says, “What is there to Egypt but the Nile?” A joint Russo-Britannic naval expedition convinces the Sultan that the Bosphorus is to be open to all warships, and pulls him into the Allied Camp.

Spain

Portugal is invaded, as in OTL. Fernando forces his father to abdicate. This smarter Napoleon places his brother on the throne later in 1808. This is a long and bloody guerilla war, as in OTL. Napoleon, in 1810, manages to drive the British out of Portugal, and this ends the peninsular war [2].

Without the war of 1809, and the Grande Armee in the East, Spain and Portugal are finally subdued in 1812.

Britain

No, it’s not an invasion. But a series of bad harvests[3] result in riots; the Continental System damages British trade, as it was doing OTL. The Peace of Brussels (1813) confirms French hegemony on the continent. England must content itself with Egypt, India, The Dutch East Indies, and South Africa.

Russia

“He who is Afraid is Half-beaten”-General Suvorov

Russia has been hurt by the loss of Poland and Riga. But the Empire is undergoing several major reforms. First and foremost are those of Tsar Alexander, including a… constitution [4]. There is some popular participation in legislation, a progressive income tax on nobles, limited self government, and more promotions based on merit. Codification of law takes place in 1812, resulting in the Noble Uprising. The uprising takes place in the Ukraine, and Alexander ultimately turns against the ideals of nobles. He earns the title Emancipator by freeing the serfs in 1820.

In the war against Turkey, Russia annexes Kars, occupies Trebizond temporarily, and reestablishes the Danubian Principalities under Russian vassalage.

Latin America

“Live or die with honor and glory. He who is brave, follow me”- Bernard O’Higgins, President of Chile

Revolutions break out across Latin America. In 1811, Mexico declares its independence, making the de facto de jure. Revolutioanries occupy Buenos Aires, forming El Repubublica De La Plata. The Kingdom of Brazil is established by the Portuguese King, and is an ally/puppet of the British Empire.

Mexico is rather more complex. That Hidalgo ends messily needs not be discussed at length; but Jose Morelos gets a bit more support than OTL, from the US and Britain.

Finally, the British stab Morelos in the back, and cut a deal with the Creoles and mestizos. Mexico is ruled by a revolutionary junta, which soon becomes a military dictatorship. (that sound you heard were several people losing their heads).

In Brazil, King Joao ends the tariffs with Britain, a proviso for his support, Britain is opened to foreign immigration (such as it is), and manages to rule, despite some unrest. Wheat mills, gunpowder mills, glass manufactories, and various other occupations banned by the crown previously are legalized.

Chile is very interesting. Historically, Bernard O’Higgins was forced to flee in 1814, when royalist reinforcements arrived. Now that Spain is under Bonaparte’s heel, he succeeds that year. Huzzah for the Republic! In addition, the lack of stigma of having an Argentine army save the day lets him rule the country longer than OTL; he dies in 1830, beloved by his nation.

Venezuela is a mess. The three cities of Guyana, Marcaibo, and Coro, accept Joseph’s rule [5]. Imperial troops manage to subdue the region, giving the Grand Empire territory in the New world.

Thoughts on what colonies the Briitsh kept? I imagine a French East Indies, a British India and Ceylon. But do the Brits give back Cape Town? My thought is no.

The US

No war of 1812; the British are forced to give in to Madison’s demands for shipping. This is where things get weird.

No war of 1812 means continued American immigration into Upper Canada; we can postulate that, by 1830, there is a sizeable pro-annexation faction.

This also means that there’s less industrial development in New England, and no “Era of Good Feelings”. Tecumseh gets to get killed by the US army under Harrison in 1811, as in OTL.

The US still looks at Canada with the desire to conquer it [6]. There is, as yet, no Canadian desire of nationalism.

Near War and Peace

Napoleon glares across the Channel, more or less constantly. The Imperial navy is revived in 1812. He listens to a varied number of ideas on how to cross the Channel. In 1816, he falls in love with the idea of steamships, like Fulton proposes to him. The Charlemagne leaves the docks in Brest in 1817.

Several weeks later, the HMS Henry V pulls out of the docks in Kent. A catamaran steamship, it shadows the Charlemagne for several weeks. Britain has several more invasion scares, and eleven other steampowered warships are built.

There is also a great deal of intrigue in Sicily. The British have propped the Bourgons on the thrones, protected by the infamous walls of wood. From there, there is the possibility of British warships menacing Genoa, Venice, Touloune, Barcelona, and the other ports of the Mediterranean territories. Ambassadors continually try to bribe the Bourbons, but when Ferdinand IV considers going over to the French, the British bombard Messina and occupy his palace.

He gets the hint.

The Death of Charlemagne

Napoleon, by Grace of God Protector of the Eastern Confederation, Overlord of the German Confederation, King of Italy, Defender of Christendom, Protector of the Republic, Emperor of Europe, and Emperor of France, passes away in 1819.

It takes Britain all of five minutes to offer Lucien, Napoleon’s brother, support for the crown. It takes another five weeks to reach him in Patterson, NJ [7]. Moreau, also in exile in America, gets shipped back.

Meanwhile, Joseph departs Madrid for France. The Spanish rise in revolt. Again. Eugene receives a summons from his mother to come protect her. He travels to France with 30,000 men as an “honor guard”. Murat, King of Naples, marches into Italy, with British support. The British promise him that they will give him a free reign in Italy. He declares war upon Eugene, who upon Napoleon’s death became King of Italy, and occupies Rome. He is urged on by his wife, Caroline Bonaparte. Bernadotte, in Sweden, curses that he didn’t stay in France, but does nothing

Louis Bonaparte, the King of Holland, supports Eugene, because he is married to his sister Hortense. Poor Joseph is found dead, and everyone blames Bourbon/Jacobin/British/Russian agents. Also blamed is Murat, thanks to skilfull maneuvering by Eugene/Lucien and Louis. Lucien convinces Louis that he’s better off in Holland, as does the appearance of a British armada off of Amsterdam. The British land at Walcheren, and manage to invade Zeeland before being driven out by the Dutch in 1821.

Meanwhile, Eugene-Lucien-Louis form an alliance against Murat. Eugene’s army defeats Murat’s in the battle of Ancona, in 1822, and retakes Rome in July. A British army occupies Naples, reinstalling the Bourbons in the place of Murat. Caroline flees to her brother Lucien, who wears the Imperial Purple.

The revolts in Spain take several more years to suppress, of course. And there’s the whole deal about Alexander’s invasion of Eastern Europe.

The Invasion of Poland

Meanwhile, Alexander, Czar of all Russias, had been busy. He occupied Riga upon hearing of Napoleon’s death, and reoccupied the Baltic provinces. The French troops are shipped home by the British fleet, leaving Alexander to invade Poland.

Poland is very different than the Poland of 1792. The Kingdom of Poland, in its constitution, granted full suffrage, abolished serfdom, established several thousand public schools, and generally did all those nice things that you’d like to see in a Napoleon Europe, instead of thousands of men dying to subdue Venezuela [8]. The Ples raise an absurd number of men, 210,000 as they did in OTL for the Empire, and Alexander wisely concludes a peace on the basis of the restoration of the Baltic provinces.

The Future of the Grand Empire

Past this point, things get hazy. Predictions of a European Union are… optimistic. The official language of the Empire, in documents, was French; the Confederation of the Rhine is going to be under pressure to follow suit, and be good little Imperial subjects, like the Flemish and Savoyards.

The problem is that Protector of the Rhine isn’t going to play well in Bavaria when the Bavarians raise thousands of men on their own, as they started to do. In addition, Napoleonic Europe, for all its benefits, was a police state; documents for travel, censored press, that kind of thing. It was also very anti-union. So in addition to ethnic problems, it has difficulties industrializing, although this will be less.

The third possibility is that his successors do manage to adapt, and Europe becomes a centralized state with the paradox of liberalism and oppression that the Grand Empire had OTL. Britain is reduced to a marginal power, if not subdued outright.

The fourth, and utopian option, would be an early EU. The various kingdoms agree that a nominal emperor and de facto independence is best for peace. He mediates conflicts, and ensures the Empire is united on foreign affairs. The police state is unlikely to go away, but Europe will be more peaceful and prosperous.

Comments? Now, maybe I’ll explore a Bonaparte as the Emperor of the Second Reich.

http://www.napoleonseries.org/reference/diplomatic/naples.cfm

[1] Sue me.

[2] In OTL, Napoleon lacked the patience to see the war to the end, literally. He got tired of the sieges and countersieges, despite winning, and left. Here he stays longer, and triumphs over Wellington.

[3] Happened OTL too. Napoleon sold grain for specie, which saved Britain from

famine in 1809.

[4] Called off OTL when the French invaded, and because the nobles didn’t like Speranski.

[5] Mind, this is done more because they will not submit to the tyrannical rule of Caracas.

[6] Being good Americans, they want to, ah, free Canada from the tyrannical rule of Britain. Honest. And get cheap land, to stop the supply of guns to the natives.

[7] The hope is that Lucien can woo the Jacobin sympathizers, such as remain.