Napoleonic South America

Been reading a couple of books recently, currently "Sharpes Devil", that mention the plot to rescue Napoleon from St Helena and take him to South America to lead the rebel forces and new republics, to create some kind of United State of South America. Cochrane, the ex-British admiral in charge of the rebel navy, along with many other rebels was so disappointed with the leaders of the various anti-Spanish rebellions, they felt that Napoleon was the man to unite the continent and create some kind of utopia. The plan involved some kind of swap being made at St Helena.

It never came off as the ship, from the new Republic of Chile sent to rescue him, got there just as he was about to die. Now if it was anyone other than Cochrane who had planned the rescue I would have said it was an ASB-type plan but that man had the ability to do the impossible...

But what if he had still been healthy and the rescue made? Could he had created a united South America? Would he stop there or try and expand northwards? More importantly, would the European powers have let him? Would we have seen a British army sent to defeat him? Maybe evenbe even a Royalist French army supporting them? Of course Spain would want its colonies back. There would be a base in Brazil so you've got Portugese troops already. Could the USA get involved? I can't see them really wanting a powerful nation creeping northwards towards it.

What would the war's objectives be? For the British it could be-To simply defeat Napoleon and hang him from the nearest tree, to stop the threat once and for all but leave South America independent? The French and Spanish would want Napoleon out the way and Spain back in control.

Is this an idea worth running with? I'll be off-line for a few days but maybe when I'm back I'll have a few better thought out ideas...
 

Hendryk

Banned
I say give it a try. Bolivar, after all, managed to raise quite a lot of support a mere couple of decades later with his Bonapartist policies and ambitions, so I'm curious to see how it would turn out with the real McCoy, so to speak, in charge. Bonus points if you make South America a united empire and world power by the 20th century.
 
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