Rise of Imperial France: Through the 19th Century and Beyond

What if Napoleon's French Empire was able to defeat its enemies and last through the 19th century.. and beyond..? This alternate history will show what might have happened.



1806: British Dominance of the Seas


The year 1805 was both a good year and a bad year for Imperial France. Napoleon Bonaparte, now Emperor of the French, trounced the traditional armies of Austria and Russia. The words "Ulm" and "Austerlitz" haunted and laughed at the Austrians and Russians, while they sang praise to the French. However, Napoleon's great victories over his continental counterparts were not the only things fresh in the minds of the French people. On October 21, 1805, the great British admiral, Lord Horatio Nelson, took his fleet of 33 ships and decisively defeated 41 French/Spanish ships under Admiral Villeneuve of France and Admiral Gravina of Spain. In a true display of the Royal Navy's might, Nelson tore apart the Franco-Spanish fleet, with Gravina dying of wounds and Villeneuve being taken prisoner. A bullet almost hit Nelson during the battle, but it missed and flew by his head instead. Aware of the danger, Nelson moved to a different position on his ship and led his fleet to victory. It was one of the worst, if not the worst, French naval disaster in all of history. Nelson returned home after the battle, becoming a national hero.

With the French and Spanish navies demoralized by the humiliating defeat at Trafalgar, the Royal Navy continued to smash and defeat French fleets time and time again. Inexperienced French officers, marines and sailors coupled with their much better British counterparts led to the near-destruction of the French Navy. By mid 1806, the French Navy was only a collection of small privateer warships and sloops. The British were truly masters of the sea now.

At the same time, France had won its war against Austria and Russia. Austria and France signed the Treaty of Pressburg, taking Austria out of the war. After the Battle of Austerlitz, the Russians returned home and were pretty much out of the war as well. On July 12 of 1806, Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of scattered German states. A month later, the Holy Roman Empire dissolved and became Austria only. Napoleon, knowing that the Austrian/Russian resolve to fight was not yet totally broken, predicted another war. Napoleon decided that he would not want another front in a future war, so on August 21, France and Prussia signed a treaty of non-aggression. This worked out to the benefit of both nations. France, with it's troops experienced yet exhausted from fighting, would have one less front to worry about in a future war. Meanwhile, Prussia would not have to worry about an invasion coming directly from Napoleon's newly created Confederation of the Rhine, meaning they could sit back and grow stronger and watch as the Russians and Austrians were weakened by France.

When the news of the non-aggression pact reached Britain, Russia and Austria, the respective nations were furious. However, they finally decided to stop pestering Prussia to join them. The Russians and Austrians had hoped for Prussia to join the Coalition, but seeing as how the Prussians signed a pact, the two nations decided to gear up and prepare for another war more slowly.

1807-1809: Rebuilding the French Navy

By now, Great Britain was the only major nation still at war with France. The British enjoyed a period of uninterrupted naval superiority over France and her allies, blockading many French ports. Napoleon and his armies returned home to France, and Napoleon finally decided to reform the French Navy. The Emperor and his men went over the main weak spots of the French Navy: inexperienced sailors and inferior tactics. So, France began to train new sailors and officers, hoping they would prove to be more competent crews. Veteran Spanish admirals and officers were hired to train the French, since the Spanish Navy was one of the strongest years before. In February of the year 1807, Emperor Napoleon launched and sponsored a massive wave of pro-French and pro-Napoleon propaganda through France, Spain and the Confederation of the Rhine. This propaganda shifted the allegiances of hundreds of French royalists hiding in France and Spain. Former royalist-French admirals, officers, generals and veteran soldiers joined the imperial cause and decided to proudly serve under the tricolor of blue, white and red. Royalist France had a strong navy, that had given the British a run for their money in the days of pre-revolutionary France. The officers and admirals of that navy now willingly and proudly began training France's latest generation of seamen. French naval academies opened up throughout the nation, despite the British blockade of several ports. During March of 1807, Napoleon commissioned the building of several new French warships in the ports that were free from blockade.

By the spring of 1809, the French Navy was reformed and revolutionized, much like the French Army was revolutionized following the creation of Republican France. With several brand new ship of the lines and fresh, competent sailors, the remodeled French Navy was ready for it's first real test.

The French port of Toulon had been blockaded by Horatio Nelson's fleet for years, with the blockade starting in 1803. However, in 1805, Nelson left Toulon and sailed to Trafalgar. Now, Toulon was blockaded by a relatively small fleet of 14 British ships commanded by a mediocre admiral, Admiral Morgan. Seeing this as an opportunity to test the new power of the French Navy, Admiral Louis Cartier took his fleet of 18 ships and sailed to Toulon, where he engaged the British on April 17, 1809.

The two opposing sides at the Battle of Toulon, 1809:

Great Britain
8 British ship of the lines
6 British frigates

versus

France
9 French ship of the lines
9 French frigates

Admiral Morgan was alarmed to see such a large force of French warships, thinking the French only had a few privateer ships. Nonetheless, the disastrous French defeat at Trafalgar was still fresh in the minds of the crews of the Royal Navy. Admiral Morgan famously wrote a letter to the king of Great Britain, saying "I have been approached by a large force of French warships. I shall be back at Portsmouth with 18 extra ships by July."

Unfortunately for Morgan, his promise to the King was not to be fulfilled. On that fateful day, Morgan's fleet was defeated, albeit rather narrowly. The French captured two British ship of the lines, while losing 3 of their own. Cartier's fleet sank another two ships, as well as a frigate. By the end of the battle, Morgan only had 3 frigates and 4 of his warships intact, while the French had 5 frigates and 7 warships intact. Morgan's damaged fleet scattered, alleviating the blockade of Toulon. Cartier sailed back into the port and made repairs to his ships. When he got off his ship, he was hailed as a hero by the people of Toulon. There were several reasons as to why the French won that battle.

First off, the new French crews were much more competent than their predecessors. They had a good grasp of naval warfare, and knew exactly what to do. Another contributing factor was the tactics the French used. Traditionally, French ships always aimed for the sails and masts of their enemies to demobilize their opponents, so the French could sail away and fulfill their missions. The British had always aimed for the hulls and crews of their enemies, preferring to sink their opponents to ensure naval dominance. Admiral Cartier decided to follow the British example and used the same tactic, resulting in more damage to the British ships and more casualties when compared to previous battles between the two traditional rivals. Finally, the third contributing factor to the French victory was the arrogance of the British. The British thought they would score an easy victory, and fought half-heartedly against their counterparts. The combination of these three factors ultimately led to the French victory at Toulon.

The outcome of Toulon shocked the people of the British Isles. Some Brits were very surprised at the victory, but most calmed down after a while and called it luck. Meanwhile, the French celebrated, but realized the navy still needed new ships and better crews, seeing as how it was a close victory. Still, to many in France, this was a sign of a new era for the French Navy.
 

Red Horse

What kind of propaganda did Nappy use to convince the royalists so easily?
 
What kind of propaganda did Nappy use to convince the royalists so easily?


Napoleon's propaganda combined with other factors led to the large amounts of Royalists to serve under the Tricolor.

First off, Napoleon's great victories at Ulm and Austerlitz made the French people happy. Napoleon exaggerated the details of his victories (which he did IOTL), which made the French people see him as a hero, a genius, a god even. Napoleon took advantage of this, everywhere in France, Napoleon was seen as a national hero and ultimately was seen as a good thing for France. Obviously this isn't all that convinces the royalists, but they begin to see that under Napoleon, a lot of the people of France are happy.

Second off, Napoleon's crowning as Emperor did two things. First, he created a much more stable government. No more Reign of Terror or repeated change of national leaders. This contributes to the happiness of the French people part. And since he was now Emperor, France was an absolute monarchy again. Some of the Royalists (definitely not a large amount, but a few) were glad to have a monarch again, and defected to the imperial side, happy to not be around crazy revolutionary republicans.

Another contributing factor was the great success of Napoleonic armies. After fighting three wars, a lot of the Royalists were tired of getting trounced time and time again by the post-revolutionary French armies. Some of the Royalists embraced the saying, "if you can't beat them, join them".

Yet another factor was the training of new French seamen. After the first two wars, there were no doubt a large number of Royalists who wished to defect to the revolutionary/imperial side, however most would not dare to return because they would be seen as too traditional, too old-school and also as enemies by the people of France. With the new French seamen in need of experienced officers and admirals to train them, many of the Royalists found their chance at redeeming themselves and joining Napoleon by training the new seamen.

All of these factors combined with Napoleon's wave of pro-French/pro-Napoleon propaganda just pushed it over the top and made a bunch of the Royalists defect to the imperial side. People just stopped and looked at the propaganda, the seamen that needed to be trained, the unsuccessful counter revolution, the happiness of the French people, and just joined Imperial France. This is especially true for the naval officers and admirals. In the timeline, I'm not saying that all of the Royalists just dropped their weapons and went over and gladly trained the new French sailors, but rather there were a large amount of former officers/admirals who finally gave in, defected, and decided to train the sailors. Of course, there was a bit of tension and mistrust between them and the rest of France at first, but after a while of dedicated training and teaching, they became accepted.

EDIT: Thank you for the question, by the way! After posting this, I was thinking that the propaganda and the Royalists defecting part was sounding a little bit ASB. I really was hoping for someone to ask a question about that so I can explain. Hopefully this will help you guys understand why, and make it sound less ASB-y.
 
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Alcsentre Calanice

Gone Fishin'
Is Napoleon acting differently in this TL? Or does he the same things on the continent (war in Spain, war against Austria in 1809, war in Russia in 1812)?
 
Rebuilding the French Navy in this era would face several considerable obstacles.

Firstly, moving the necessary wood and other supplies to build the ships was very very difficult - roads were almost unusable for the purpose, leaving rivers and coasts the only viable routes. (Britain was vastly better equipped with internal waterways). Some of the goods largely needed to be shipped in from the Baltic (even by the British).

Needless to say, the British interdicted such trade by any means they could - which were considerable.

Secondly, ship-building is a fairly major industrial effort by the standards of the time and the British had spies (as did the French, for that matter). It's not impossible for new docks to be established for the purposes of building up a fleet but the likelihood of it not being noticed - by spies or even simply by ships sailing close to shore and studying a port by telescope - is pretty slim.

Thirdly, training crews for ships requires a couple of things very difficult to obtain under blockade - which any port noted as constructing warships would be as a matter of course. Specifically, the ships would need to put to sea so the crews could handle them under the right circumstances - at shore or in sheltered waters simply doesn't suffice. Ships setting out to do this, with raw crews, were targets the Royal Navy would have loved to grab.

I don't want to try to wreck your timeline, but these are obstacles that don't seem to be sufficiently addressed. Possibly the successful French squadron was built at Baltic ports? I'm not sure where the borders were at this point, but it's possible that might have put them out of reach long enough to complete the ships and get the crews trained.
 

Faeelin

Banned
Lots of royalists did return to France under Napoleon, actually. I don't see that as ASB so much as being unclear how this differs from OTL.
 

Alcsentre Calanice

Gone Fishin'
Lots of royalists did return to France under Napoleon, actually. I don't see that as ASB so much as being unclear how this differs from OTL.

Napoleon actually tried to reubuild the navy after Trafalgar, but this force lacked of good commandants and well trained sailors.
 
Is Napoleon acting differently in this TL? Or does he the same things on the continent (war in Spain, war against Austria in 1809, war in Russia in 1812)?

This is going to be addressed in the next update.


Rebuilding the French Navy in this era would face several considerable obstacles.

Firstly, moving the necessary wood and other supplies to build the ships was very very difficult - roads were almost unusable for the purpose, leaving rivers and coasts the only viable routes. (Britain was vastly better equipped with internal waterways). Some of the goods largely needed to be shipped in from the Baltic (even by the British).

Needless to say, the British interdicted such trade by any means they could - which were considerable.

Secondly, ship-building is a fairly major industrial effort by the standards of the time and the British had spies (as did the French, for that matter). It's not impossible for new docks to be established for the purposes of building up a fleet but the likelihood of it not being noticed - by spies or even simply by ships sailing close to shore and studying a port by telescope - is pretty slim.

Thirdly, training crews for ships requires a couple of things very difficult to obtain under blockade - which any port noted as constructing warships would be as a matter of course. Specifically, the ships would need to put to sea so the crews could handle them under the right circumstances - at shore or in sheltered waters simply doesn't suffice. Ships setting out to do this, with raw crews, were targets the Royal Navy would have loved to grab.

I don't want to try to wreck your timeline, but these are obstacles that don't seem to be sufficiently addressed. Possibly the successful French squadron was built at Baltic ports? I'm not sure where the borders were at this point, but it's possible that might have put them out of reach long enough to complete the ships and get the crews trained.

Well, at this point, France is basically what it looked like before Napoleon's conquests, with the exception of having a bit of northern Italy. France has allies in Spain, the Batavian Republic, and all of the German states that make up the Confederation of the Rhine. France also has a non-aggression pact with the relatively large Prussia. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the French could have built ships and trained their crews at free ports in Spain, Holland or any of the few ports that the Confederation had. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Confederation bordered the Baltic, meaning they had a few ports there.) No matter how strong the Royal Navy is, I don't see it being able to blockade every Spanish, Dutch and Confederation port a well as blockading all of the French ports as well. There are also Spanish ports in the Spanish colonies. I also don't think it's a stretch to say that the Spanish, Germans and the Dutch obliged to let the French build/train at some of their free ports, seeing as how most of France itself was blockaded.
 
Cool now there are two French TL's in AH.com. Mine and your one will be following this one with great interest we need more france tls.
 
1809: Freeing the Mediterranean Ports


The Battle of Toulon was a much needed boost to French naval morale. Cartier's victorious fleet, once repaired, waited in the waters of Toulon for another squadron of new French ships to bolster his fleet. The French had been building their new ships and training their new crews in several areas, notably Spanish ports, a few Dutch ports, and most importantly the Baltic ports that the Confederation of the Rhine had to offer. The Baltic ports were virtually untouched by the Royal Navy, making it an excellent place to train and build. However, the British soon caught on to the French act. Fleets and squadrons of British ships attacked several Spanish and Dutch ports, although the Baltic ports were still left alone. This slowed down the production of new French warships, but by the time the British caught onto the act, Cartier's fleet of 12 ships had become a strong fleet of 23 ships, with 13 ship of the lines and 10 frigates. This was by no means a large enough challenge to the massive Royal Navy, which had more ships than the rest of Europe's navies put together. However, Cartier decided he should be able to at least alleviate smaller British blockades of France's Mediterranean ports. On July 16, Cartier took his fleet and sailed to Corsica, where he fought two battles against the Royal Navy. The Battle of Bastia saw the Royal Navy suffer a humiliating defeat against Cartier's fleet. The victory could be attributed to a lucky shot. One of the French gunners was able to score a shot against the magazine of the British flagship. The resulting explosion killed 48 British sailors as they were blown back and hit with flying pieces of wood. The British admiral, Admiral Davis, was near the explosion when it happened, and was killed by the flying debris as well. The flagship quickly surrendered, and Cartier was able to mop up the rest of the confused British ships. At the end of the day, the 11 British ships all either surrendered or sunk. Cartier's brilliant (and lucky) victory paved the way for the future liberation of several French Mediterranean ports.

1809-1810: Trouble on the Continent


By late 1809, Russia and Austria finished preparing their armies for a second assault on France. Russia amassed 150,000 troops for the war, while Austria raised a new army of 210,000. On November 15, Austria declared war on France, while Russia declared war two days later. Austria had lost a large amount of land in 1806 due to the Treaty of Pressburg, and was looking to take those territories back. On November 21, the Fourth Coalition was created, with Russia, Great Britain, and Austria being the only combatants. Opposing the Fourth Coalition was France, Spain, the Confederation of the Rhine, the Batavian Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. Altogether, Coalition forces numbered 380,000, while the French side numbered 305,000.

Austrian and Russian attacks on the French border proved to be unsuccessful. Napoleon led his army of 70,000 men and attacked an Austrian force that was besieging the city of Innsbruck. Napoleon decisively defeated the Austrians on December 17, forcing them back in Austrian territory. From there, a series of small skirmishes between the French and the Austrians led to the Austrian army slowly becoming smaller and smaller. Finally, the French crushed the traditional Austrian army again at the Battle of Villach, where a French corps under Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout was able to defeat a larger Austrian contingent. When the Austrians had retreated near Vienna, Napoleon moved north with reinforcements from France. His army now numbered 67,500, and he met a Russian force of 72,000 at the Austrian city of Salzburg on February 19, 1810. Napoleon's wits and military knowledge helped him score a decisive victory over the Russians at the Battle of Salzburg. Over 35,000 Russians were killed in the battle, mostly by close-range canister fire and the brilliant maneuvering of the French cavalry. The disastrous defeat of the Russians led to the Treaty of Vienna, 1810. It was signed on May 12. The terms of the treaty were as follows:

1. Russian/Austrian hostilities against France would stop.
2. An alliance between Russia and France would be created, to help each other against potential threats (namely the Ottomans and the British)
3. Austria would recognize all conquests by France in the previous wars, and pay a large indemnity to France. Austria would also reduce it's military size to 140,000.
4. Russia and Austria would join the Continental System, ceasing all trade with Great Britain.

The Treaty infuriated the British Parliament, as well as the King himself. In just a few short months, the balance of power in Europe shifted. Imperial France was now allied with Imperial Russia, and Austrian power was majorly reduced. On top of that, two of Britain's largest trade partners stopped trading with them. At this point, Napoleon was master of Europe, save for Portugal, Great Britain, and a few other small states.

With the two largest threats to Napoleon subdued, he set his eyes on Portugal, who viciously opposed the Continental System. And so began the preparation for the invasion of Portugal.
 
1810: The Invasion of Portugal


The summer of 1810. By this point, Napoleon and his glorious French armies had subdued Austria, made an alliance with Russia, and kept the peace with Prussia. The only real threats to France were now Great Britain, Portugal and Sweden. Napoleon figured that the Russians would deal with Sweden, so he set his eyes on Portugal, who opposed Napoleon's Continental System, a plan to economically weaken Great Brtiain. Northern Portugal was a mountainous and rocky area, while southern Portugal was filled with open, rolling plains. Napoleon knew that the Portuguese, with such an expansive colonial empire, were a very proud people. The only way to subdue the Portuguese would be to have the Spanish augment the French armies and help quell local rebellions in the conquered areas.

Under Louis-Nicolas Davout, the "Iron Marshal" and the hero of the Battle of Villach, a force of 35,000 French soldiers marched into Spain. There, they met up with the Spanish army under General Solano. Spanish forces numbered 32,000, and the entire invasion force was 67,000 men. On August 28, the combined army marched into Portugal.

The Portuguese government had repeatedly called for the drafting of militia and the recruitment of a regular army to defend against the French. However, their orders fell on deaf ears. By the time the Franco-Spanish invasion force had arrived, the Portuguese army was a pathetic and unorganized force of militia. Some brave Portuguese generals and officers had tried to fight the invaders, but were easily defeated by the experienced French and the determined Spanish. With no will to fight nor an army to even fight with, the Portuguese looked doomed. They immediately called for help from their allies, Great Britain. Alarmed at the French advance into Portugal, and worried about the Portuguese fleet being captured by France, the British immediately began to prepare an army to send to Portugal.

The British, however, were too late in their preparations. On September 14, French and Spanish troops marched into Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The royal family had fled to Brazil, and the morale of the entire nation was shattered. In less than a month, Portugal had been defeated and occupied by Franco-Spanish forces.

Before the invasion, the French and the Spanish had agreed to dividing up Portuguese territory. The northern part, which was originally supposed to be called the Kingdom of Northern Lusitania, was given to Spain instead. The rest of Portugal remained as the Kingdom of Portugal, but it was now a vassal state of France, much like the Batavian Republic. The French installed a new king, while the old king and royal family of Portugal set themselves up in Brazil.

During the Invasion of Portugal, and after, Napoleon highly considered taking over Spain. Certainly, with the large amount of French troops there, and the quality of Davout's men, the French would be able to easily defeat any Spanish army. The Spanish fleets would also become French fleets, and help rebuild the French Navy.

However, much much earlier in Napoleon's career, he had once said to himself that Spain would "be a tough nut to crack", and the Emperor decided to listen to his past self. Spain would prove to be a good ally. Gradually, Napoleon's opinion of Spain changed. Questions and thoughts began appearing in his head, such as "what if the French officers helped train and modernize the Spanish army?". He eventually decided to do just that- beginning in November, the French army's various generals, officers and marshals began to help train the Spanish armies in better tactics, formations and drills. The Spanish were supplied by France with better cannons and muskets, modernizing the traditional Spanish army. This act greatly improved the relations between Imperial France and the Kingdom of Spain, much to the horror of the British.

Now that Portugal was subdued, Imperial France only had one major rival- it's old enemy, Great Britain. Various talks and conferences between France and Russia led to an agreement. Russia would subdue and keep the Swedish busy, while the French and the Spanish would focus on the British. The Napoleonic Wars were about to reach it's final- and bloodiest- stages.
 
AWESOME UPDATE AWESOME UPDATE AWESOME UPDATE

Well done keep up the great job cant wait for the new update well done again. PS PM me if you want any help with anything
 
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