Lone Star Republic
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Chapter 31 Rise of Italia
Chapter 31 Rise of Italia
"And now the damned Corsican has gone and proclaimed himself King of Italy. There isn't event an Italy in the first place."- Emperor Francis I 1805
"Some of my fellow bishops have asked me why I chose to become head of Italy. They think that I have don so for my personal gain but that's far from the truth. I only did so because it was my mission from God."- Pope Pius IX 1870
"Gui con i Bornobi (Down with the Bourbons)"- Rallying Cry of Sicilian revolutionaries 1846
What is quite the largest irony in Italian history is that before the 19th century the concept of Italy itself did not exist in the minds of the so called Italian people. While the rest of Europe may have referred to these people as Italians the truth was that the average "Italian" before the 1800's drew their national identity from their local duchy and kingdom rather than their residency on the Italian peninsula. If you asked a man from Naples in 1700 if he was Italian he would take that as an insult and proclaim himself as a Sicilian. Even back then during the days of the Roman Empire that many Italians like to draw inspiration from, the Roman Emperors never once saw themselves as Italians but as Romans first and foremost. The closest thing that could be considered near to the concept of Italy pre-19th century would be the existence of the Visigoths and the Kingdom of Lombardy, though even these didn't suffice as the Italian language proper did not even exist until its standardization by Tuscany in the Medieval era, which was then only used by nobles of Italian states with each region holding a very different dialect. So where did the concept of a united Italy come from then? To answer that question one must look back to the Napoleonic Wars where Italy's formation would arise much the same as the birth of modern Germany. In 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition, Napoleon personally created the Kingdom of Italy, a puppet state covering the Northern Italian territories upon which Napoleon would rule as monarch. The reason for this was not due to any desires to help Italian nationalism, but rather to create a nation that would add more troops to the Grand Armee and help consolidate Napoleon's conquests in the Mediterranean. These developments would have long unforeseen consequences as the people of Italy actually found loyalty to this new kingdom, while the spread of the Italian language through universal education would create the ideal of the Italian nation in the hearts of its people. After Waterloo the Italian nation would be partitioned among the Great Powers with the creation of Sardinia-Piedmont, Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia which would be annexed by the Austrian Empire. The people of Italy were against this partition and after decades of prevention of reform along with the deteriorating economic conditions of the peninsula, the people called for change and for Italy to be united into one nation once more. The key leaders of the Italian unification movement were divided between King Charles Albert of Sardinia-Piedmont, Pope Pius IX of the Catholic Church and the Papal States, and Giuseppe Garibaldi and Mazzini who were two key advocates of unification under a Republican form of government. For many years the status quo was maintained as the reactionary governments of the Italian states would keep a tight control over its people along with assistance from Austria. This would all change in 1846 with the downfall of the French Bourbons which would spark an uprising against the other Bourbon branch in Sicily.
Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Pope Pius IX, Father of the Italian Federation and the Holy Roman Empire
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, named for the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. was an Italian nation that comprised of the Southern half of the peninsula along with the island of Sicily. For many centuries the land was ruled by either the Austrians or the Spanish with the Hapsburg and then the Bourbons sitting upon the throne of Sicily. The Bourbons were overthrown after the War of the Coalition with Bonapartist puppet Joachim Murat coming to power as King of the Sicilies. Nine years later at the end of the war Murat was overthrown by a revolt from the poor class with Ferdinand I reinstalled as King of the two Sicilies. At first everything was alright within the country and peace reigned for the next twenty years. This would all come to an end with the policies of King Ferdinand II. Ferdinand while a liberal and patron of industrialization within Sicily, preferred to retain power strictly for the monarchy and in many senses was just as reactionary as the Tsar or Austrian Emperor. The nobility of the Sicilies had wanted for the Kingdom to have a constitution created with the king having his power limited and divided among the lower and noble class. The first example of Ferdinand's strict rule would be in 1837 when he violently suppressed a demonstration that had the intentions of forcing Ferdinand to adhere to a constitution. For the next nine years the government was in deadlock between liberals and conservatives while the general population was content with Sicily's progress and prosperity. This fragile peace came to a crashing halt in the immediate aftermath of the January Revolution where hundreds of thousands of people took to demonstrations within Naples and Palermo in order to demand greater democratic reforms and an clear division of authority between Naples and Sicily. Emboldened by the success of the Republicans against the French Bourbons, the Sicilians stormed the Capitol in Palermo and took control of the island's government, forcing King Ferdinand to flee to Naples where he created a provisional loyalist government. The nobles of the island of Sicily declared it's independence as the sole Kingdom of Sicily with Ruggero Settimo elected as President. In truth the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily had little power as the loyalist stronghold of Messina could not be conquered, thus preventing the island from being united, in addition a large portion of the military and population came from the Neapolitan branch of the Kingdom, causing many to stay loyal to the Bourbons. The Sicilian revolution however is not to be understood solely for its strategic and direct geopolitical consequences, rather for its effect on the rest of Italy by inspiring nationalism with its proclamations of unity, and encouraging other states to rise up in the calls for greater constitutional freedoms and liberation.
Palermo Uprising (Right). Flag used by the revolutionary Kingdom of Sicily (Left)
The tone of the Italian states in the aftermath of the Sicilian uprising was one of caution. One by one each of the Italian monarchs pledged to create a constitution for their respective nations in order to please the masses and prevent another largescale uprising in Palermo. The most vocal of these was Pope Pius IX who was actively working with Republicans in the Papal States in order to see the creation of an legislative branch that would be made up of elected officials to create laws and uphold the day to day affairs of the state. Pius also called upon a conference to take place within Rome on March 18th with invitations sent to all the prominent statesman and revolutionary leaders around Italy in order to work towards the creation of a hypothetical Italian Confederation in similarity to the German Confederation. The one kingdom where these changes where entirely rejected was the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. Austria had long feared the rise of revolutionary sentiment in its empire due to its multicultural status and the dangers that nationalism could bring upon for Austria proper who was a minority in its own empire. Under the rule of Chancellor Metternich, Austria was the head of the reactionary movement in a Holy Alliance with the states of Prussia and Russia. The revolutionary sentiment began on January 5th when citizens in Lombardy refused to pay taxes to their Austrian overlords. In response Austria tightened its rule on its Italian territories by banning the speaking of Italian in education and government practices, and sending tens of thousands of troops in order to quell dissidence. On March 17th the people of Venice rose up in rebellion against Austria and proclaimed the Republic of San Marco in order to regain Venice's independence that it had lost over forty years ago. When news of this reached Milan, the epicenter of revolutionary activity, the masses took to the streets in large numbers, being further encouraged by the resignation of Metternich earlier that week. The uprising which was later called the Five Days of Milan, was a short and brutal affair with riots taking place all over the city and intense hand to hand combat being underway in the midst of street barricades erected by the revolutionaries. The commanding Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz chose to withdraw from the city on the fifth day due to fears of encirclement and a siege by peasants from the countryside as well as a possible reinforcement from the Piedmontese Army, withdrawing into an area of fortresses known as the Quadrilatero which made up the cities of Verona, Legano, Mantua, and Peschier del Garda. The Revolutionaries had won the day, and in their hands Milan would become a symbol of unity and revolution throughout all of Italy.
Scene from the Five Days of Milan (Right). Italian defense of Venice against the Austrians (Left)
When word reached the Roman Conference on March 24th of the success of the Milanese in expelling the Austrians, as well as the uprising of Venice, the reaction was quite mixed. Many of the Republican revolutionaries such as the Giuseppe's were overjoyed and proclaimed that a war of liberation needed to be fought in order to free their brethren from Austrian tyranny. The Piedmontese under King Charles Albert secretly saw a chance to unify Italy under their rule if decisive action was taken quick enough. The neighboring Italian duchies expressed an urge for neutrality as they would be the first victims of a war with Austria. Pius advocated that while he supported the Italian people looking for independence he urged that caution and diplomacy be used first and foremost before thousands of lives were lost in a bloody conflict. Until then the talks had been going somewhat successful with the idea of an Italian Confederation gaining progress with support gaining from the statesman and discussion being conducted on how Italy could be united in further industrialization and a possible economic union. Now it looked as though these talks would fail with each side going their own separate way and taking action on their own. That is until one lone Austrian would change the fate of Italy. Johann Guggenheim was an radical Austrian preacher for the Lutheran Church who had gone under immense pressure from the Austrian government for his defiance and continued spread of Protestantism within Catholic Austria. In order to gain to strike a blow to the Catholic Church, Johann had traveled to Rome weeks previously in order to plan an assassination of Pope Pius IX, unaware of the ongoing troubles Austria was already having with Italy. On March 25th Johann had planned to shoot the Pope when he would be traveling through the streets of Rome in order to interact with the common masses, leaving him directly open to a possible assassin. What Johann did not know was that earlier that day Pius had invited Mazzini to travel with him through Rome in order to show him the effects of Pius's reforms as well as to discuss the correct course of action for the ongoing Lombardy crisis. When Johann went directly in front of the Pope and aimed his pistol at his holiness, Mazzini took action and jumped in front of Pius so that his life could be spared. Mazzini was hit directly in the rib cages while the nearby group of Roman peasants had converged upon Johann in an large and angry mob for trying to assassinate the Pope. Johann Guggenheim was beaten to death on the spot, his dream of assassinating the Pope being foiled by the actions of one lone Republican. Mazzini was rushed to a nearby Church where doctors were trying to save his life. Unfortunately by the time he came Mazzini had lost too much blood and was on the verge of death. His last words were directed to Pope Pius upon which he said, "Your holiness my time on Earth has come to pass but their is too much work that needs to be done. You must carry the torch and make sure all of Italia is united under one banner." Mazzini was given a funeral the next day being personally conducted by the Pope in Saint Peter's where over 200,000 Romans had gathered to pay their respects. In the viewpoint of the Italians, Johann was a lone assassin that was sent by Emperor Ferdinand in order to target the Pope and Mazzini so as to prevent Italian Unification. Johann had died before he was questioned so no one pointed to his religious reasoning for the assassination, instead pointing towards his Austrian heritage. Disgusted by the actions of Johann and encouraged by his earlier proclaimed vision from God about Italy, Pius called for the Italian states to band together in order to liberate Lombardy-Venetia from the tyranny of the Austrians. One by one each of the Italian states (including both the self-proclaimed Sicilian Kingdoms) joined together in a grand coalition called the "Italian League" with the aim of supporting the revolutionaries and unifying Italy together, war was declared by the League against the Austrian Empire on March 31st, the War of Lombard-Venetian Independence had begun. For Austria this was only the beginning of the what would come to be its darkest point in its history, as events within both Germany and Hungary would tear the Empire apart in revolution on all fronts.
Giuseppe Mazzini 1805-1846. Supporter of Republicanism and Martyr for the Italian Cause (Right). Map of Italian League (Red) against Austrian Lombardy-Venetia (Blue) (Left).
A/N: Next update will cover the German section which will have HUGE changes from OTL's developments. Here is a preview for the next chapters; Chapter 32 Divided Deustchland. Chapter 33 Hungry Hungary. Chapter 34 The Trail to the Oregon War.
"And now the damned Corsican has gone and proclaimed himself King of Italy. There isn't event an Italy in the first place."- Emperor Francis I 1805
"Some of my fellow bishops have asked me why I chose to become head of Italy. They think that I have don so for my personal gain but that's far from the truth. I only did so because it was my mission from God."- Pope Pius IX 1870
"Gui con i Bornobi (Down with the Bourbons)"- Rallying Cry of Sicilian revolutionaries 1846
What is quite the largest irony in Italian history is that before the 19th century the concept of Italy itself did not exist in the minds of the so called Italian people. While the rest of Europe may have referred to these people as Italians the truth was that the average "Italian" before the 1800's drew their national identity from their local duchy and kingdom rather than their residency on the Italian peninsula. If you asked a man from Naples in 1700 if he was Italian he would take that as an insult and proclaim himself as a Sicilian. Even back then during the days of the Roman Empire that many Italians like to draw inspiration from, the Roman Emperors never once saw themselves as Italians but as Romans first and foremost. The closest thing that could be considered near to the concept of Italy pre-19th century would be the existence of the Visigoths and the Kingdom of Lombardy, though even these didn't suffice as the Italian language proper did not even exist until its standardization by Tuscany in the Medieval era, which was then only used by nobles of Italian states with each region holding a very different dialect. So where did the concept of a united Italy come from then? To answer that question one must look back to the Napoleonic Wars where Italy's formation would arise much the same as the birth of modern Germany. In 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition, Napoleon personally created the Kingdom of Italy, a puppet state covering the Northern Italian territories upon which Napoleon would rule as monarch. The reason for this was not due to any desires to help Italian nationalism, but rather to create a nation that would add more troops to the Grand Armee and help consolidate Napoleon's conquests in the Mediterranean. These developments would have long unforeseen consequences as the people of Italy actually found loyalty to this new kingdom, while the spread of the Italian language through universal education would create the ideal of the Italian nation in the hearts of its people. After Waterloo the Italian nation would be partitioned among the Great Powers with the creation of Sardinia-Piedmont, Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia which would be annexed by the Austrian Empire. The people of Italy were against this partition and after decades of prevention of reform along with the deteriorating economic conditions of the peninsula, the people called for change and for Italy to be united into one nation once more. The key leaders of the Italian unification movement were divided between King Charles Albert of Sardinia-Piedmont, Pope Pius IX of the Catholic Church and the Papal States, and Giuseppe Garibaldi and Mazzini who were two key advocates of unification under a Republican form of government. For many years the status quo was maintained as the reactionary governments of the Italian states would keep a tight control over its people along with assistance from Austria. This would all change in 1846 with the downfall of the French Bourbons which would spark an uprising against the other Bourbon branch in Sicily.
Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Pope Pius IX, Father of the Italian Federation and the Holy Roman Empire
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, named for the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. was an Italian nation that comprised of the Southern half of the peninsula along with the island of Sicily. For many centuries the land was ruled by either the Austrians or the Spanish with the Hapsburg and then the Bourbons sitting upon the throne of Sicily. The Bourbons were overthrown after the War of the Coalition with Bonapartist puppet Joachim Murat coming to power as King of the Sicilies. Nine years later at the end of the war Murat was overthrown by a revolt from the poor class with Ferdinand I reinstalled as King of the two Sicilies. At first everything was alright within the country and peace reigned for the next twenty years. This would all come to an end with the policies of King Ferdinand II. Ferdinand while a liberal and patron of industrialization within Sicily, preferred to retain power strictly for the monarchy and in many senses was just as reactionary as the Tsar or Austrian Emperor. The nobility of the Sicilies had wanted for the Kingdom to have a constitution created with the king having his power limited and divided among the lower and noble class. The first example of Ferdinand's strict rule would be in 1837 when he violently suppressed a demonstration that had the intentions of forcing Ferdinand to adhere to a constitution. For the next nine years the government was in deadlock between liberals and conservatives while the general population was content with Sicily's progress and prosperity. This fragile peace came to a crashing halt in the immediate aftermath of the January Revolution where hundreds of thousands of people took to demonstrations within Naples and Palermo in order to demand greater democratic reforms and an clear division of authority between Naples and Sicily. Emboldened by the success of the Republicans against the French Bourbons, the Sicilians stormed the Capitol in Palermo and took control of the island's government, forcing King Ferdinand to flee to Naples where he created a provisional loyalist government. The nobles of the island of Sicily declared it's independence as the sole Kingdom of Sicily with Ruggero Settimo elected as President. In truth the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily had little power as the loyalist stronghold of Messina could not be conquered, thus preventing the island from being united, in addition a large portion of the military and population came from the Neapolitan branch of the Kingdom, causing many to stay loyal to the Bourbons. The Sicilian revolution however is not to be understood solely for its strategic and direct geopolitical consequences, rather for its effect on the rest of Italy by inspiring nationalism with its proclamations of unity, and encouraging other states to rise up in the calls for greater constitutional freedoms and liberation.
Palermo Uprising (Right). Flag used by the revolutionary Kingdom of Sicily (Left)
The tone of the Italian states in the aftermath of the Sicilian uprising was one of caution. One by one each of the Italian monarchs pledged to create a constitution for their respective nations in order to please the masses and prevent another largescale uprising in Palermo. The most vocal of these was Pope Pius IX who was actively working with Republicans in the Papal States in order to see the creation of an legislative branch that would be made up of elected officials to create laws and uphold the day to day affairs of the state. Pius also called upon a conference to take place within Rome on March 18th with invitations sent to all the prominent statesman and revolutionary leaders around Italy in order to work towards the creation of a hypothetical Italian Confederation in similarity to the German Confederation. The one kingdom where these changes where entirely rejected was the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. Austria had long feared the rise of revolutionary sentiment in its empire due to its multicultural status and the dangers that nationalism could bring upon for Austria proper who was a minority in its own empire. Under the rule of Chancellor Metternich, Austria was the head of the reactionary movement in a Holy Alliance with the states of Prussia and Russia. The revolutionary sentiment began on January 5th when citizens in Lombardy refused to pay taxes to their Austrian overlords. In response Austria tightened its rule on its Italian territories by banning the speaking of Italian in education and government practices, and sending tens of thousands of troops in order to quell dissidence. On March 17th the people of Venice rose up in rebellion against Austria and proclaimed the Republic of San Marco in order to regain Venice's independence that it had lost over forty years ago. When news of this reached Milan, the epicenter of revolutionary activity, the masses took to the streets in large numbers, being further encouraged by the resignation of Metternich earlier that week. The uprising which was later called the Five Days of Milan, was a short and brutal affair with riots taking place all over the city and intense hand to hand combat being underway in the midst of street barricades erected by the revolutionaries. The commanding Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz chose to withdraw from the city on the fifth day due to fears of encirclement and a siege by peasants from the countryside as well as a possible reinforcement from the Piedmontese Army, withdrawing into an area of fortresses known as the Quadrilatero which made up the cities of Verona, Legano, Mantua, and Peschier del Garda. The Revolutionaries had won the day, and in their hands Milan would become a symbol of unity and revolution throughout all of Italy.
Scene from the Five Days of Milan (Right). Italian defense of Venice against the Austrians (Left)
When word reached the Roman Conference on March 24th of the success of the Milanese in expelling the Austrians, as well as the uprising of Venice, the reaction was quite mixed. Many of the Republican revolutionaries such as the Giuseppe's were overjoyed and proclaimed that a war of liberation needed to be fought in order to free their brethren from Austrian tyranny. The Piedmontese under King Charles Albert secretly saw a chance to unify Italy under their rule if decisive action was taken quick enough. The neighboring Italian duchies expressed an urge for neutrality as they would be the first victims of a war with Austria. Pius advocated that while he supported the Italian people looking for independence he urged that caution and diplomacy be used first and foremost before thousands of lives were lost in a bloody conflict. Until then the talks had been going somewhat successful with the idea of an Italian Confederation gaining progress with support gaining from the statesman and discussion being conducted on how Italy could be united in further industrialization and a possible economic union. Now it looked as though these talks would fail with each side going their own separate way and taking action on their own. That is until one lone Austrian would change the fate of Italy. Johann Guggenheim was an radical Austrian preacher for the Lutheran Church who had gone under immense pressure from the Austrian government for his defiance and continued spread of Protestantism within Catholic Austria. In order to gain to strike a blow to the Catholic Church, Johann had traveled to Rome weeks previously in order to plan an assassination of Pope Pius IX, unaware of the ongoing troubles Austria was already having with Italy. On March 25th Johann had planned to shoot the Pope when he would be traveling through the streets of Rome in order to interact with the common masses, leaving him directly open to a possible assassin. What Johann did not know was that earlier that day Pius had invited Mazzini to travel with him through Rome in order to show him the effects of Pius's reforms as well as to discuss the correct course of action for the ongoing Lombardy crisis. When Johann went directly in front of the Pope and aimed his pistol at his holiness, Mazzini took action and jumped in front of Pius so that his life could be spared. Mazzini was hit directly in the rib cages while the nearby group of Roman peasants had converged upon Johann in an large and angry mob for trying to assassinate the Pope. Johann Guggenheim was beaten to death on the spot, his dream of assassinating the Pope being foiled by the actions of one lone Republican. Mazzini was rushed to a nearby Church where doctors were trying to save his life. Unfortunately by the time he came Mazzini had lost too much blood and was on the verge of death. His last words were directed to Pope Pius upon which he said, "Your holiness my time on Earth has come to pass but their is too much work that needs to be done. You must carry the torch and make sure all of Italia is united under one banner." Mazzini was given a funeral the next day being personally conducted by the Pope in Saint Peter's where over 200,000 Romans had gathered to pay their respects. In the viewpoint of the Italians, Johann was a lone assassin that was sent by Emperor Ferdinand in order to target the Pope and Mazzini so as to prevent Italian Unification. Johann had died before he was questioned so no one pointed to his religious reasoning for the assassination, instead pointing towards his Austrian heritage. Disgusted by the actions of Johann and encouraged by his earlier proclaimed vision from God about Italy, Pius called for the Italian states to band together in order to liberate Lombardy-Venetia from the tyranny of the Austrians. One by one each of the Italian states (including both the self-proclaimed Sicilian Kingdoms) joined together in a grand coalition called the "Italian League" with the aim of supporting the revolutionaries and unifying Italy together, war was declared by the League against the Austrian Empire on March 31st, the War of Lombard-Venetian Independence had begun. For Austria this was only the beginning of the what would come to be its darkest point in its history, as events within both Germany and Hungary would tear the Empire apart in revolution on all fronts.
Giuseppe Mazzini 1805-1846. Supporter of Republicanism and Martyr for the Italian Cause (Right). Map of Italian League (Red) against Austrian Lombardy-Venetia (Blue) (Left).
A/N: Next update will cover the German section which will have HUGE changes from OTL's developments. Here is a preview for the next chapters; Chapter 32 Divided Deustchland. Chapter 33 Hungry Hungary. Chapter 34 The Trail to the Oregon War.
Well those were an interesting pair of updates, and it seems to me Italy will be one country well ahead of OTL. Good for them, and good for the Pope for helpping to bring it about. I'm sorry to see it is taking a war to do it, but what worked for Germany in OTL will work here I guess. Looking forward to the next two updates so I can try and piece together what Europe is going to look like moving forward. Ok, I lied, the next three, I still want to see the Oregon War.
JJohnson
Banned
Chapter 15 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
"This is a direct violation against the Monroe Doctrine and a Deceleration of War against the United States."- Speaker of the House James K. Polk 1837
"Why did i send Lamar in the first place? Only he is crazy enough to grab California."- President Sam Houston 1837
"We won the war, but at what cost?"- Presidente Valentin Gomez Farias 1837
On April 4th, representatives of five nations, three of which have existed for less than a year, met at the small village of Guadalupe Hidalgo, there began a process of which some would call the "Partition of Mexico". It was obvious to everyone that attended that the Federal regime in Mexico had little to no say in what was about to take place. While they did technically win the war it was only through the French intervention that they managed to capture the capitol at all, in addition even if Farias wanted to continue war against the French, Mexico had little to no available manpower or resources to fight them head on in battle, and unlike the War of independence, the Mexican people were to tired to continue fighting and wanted desperately a return to peace. If Farias expected for the terms to be light then he would've been dead wrong, Baudin used this conference as an opportunity for France to claim permanent dominance over the region by enforcing trade agreements in favor of France, setting up French forts and ports within the region, and supporting ALL claims to Mexico by the rebel nations. The terms of the treaty are as follows:
1. The Federation of Mexico shall recognize the independence of the Republic of Texas, Republic of the Yucatan, and the Republic of the Rio Grande.It was a comprehensive treaty that effectively split Mexico apart and made it subservient to France and its former territories. While it was celebrated within the Republics as a total victory for their part within the wars it brought upon a three decade national trauma within Mexico called "The Generation of '36". Civil conflict would reign within Mexico for the next decade while the Farias regime would dedicate all its resources to improving the domestic situation within the country as well as implementing vast liberal reforms and de-centralizatoin. Eventually a new wave of revanchism and Mexican cultural revivalism would hit the nation in the 1850's and a new Mexian unification movement lead by Benito Juarez would lead the country to the Mexican War.
2. The following territories shall be ceded to the independent Republics:The Republic of Texas shall gain the entirety of Texas, New Mexico east of the Rio Grande river, Alto and Baja California; The Republic of Yucatan shall gain the states of Yucatan, Tabasco, and Chiapas; The Republic of the Rio Grande shall gain the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Durango, and Ne Mexico west of the Rio Grande River. Mexico will give up all claims to these former territories.
3. Mexico shall pay a total of $3,250,000 to the victorious parties; $3,000,000 shall be divided among the Independent Republics while France receives $250,000. If payments are not met by 1856 then a 6.5% interest rate shall be added each year.
4. Mexico shall enter into a Free-trade agreement with the Kingdom of France, this shall remain valid for the duration of the treaty and cannot be revoked.
5. Mexico will allow free access to any and all French troops or ships that desire movement through its territory. Mercantile ships shall be welcome at Mexican ports without payment.
6. Mexico shall pay for all destroyed property in its campaigns within the seceded territories
7. All prisoners of war on both sides shall be released by October 16th.
8. The Independent Republics shall have free fishing rights throughout all oceanic territory that Mexico claims.
9. An economic union called the "Southwest Trade Union" shall be established within the former territory of the Centralist Republic where trade goods will be exchanged without tariffs between the participating nations
10. This treaty shall be ratified within 6 months of its signing.
New Borders according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Cool for the most part; though I'd have given Rio Grande the state of Sinaloa, and Texas gets Chihuahua and Sonora. Both nations would have two shores and be able to get trade deals on both oceans.
Terranova: The full strength of the Texas Navy is listed in Chapter 21 The Guatemala War. In the 8 years since then there has been little change besides the addition of 5 new ships and some conversion to new steam powered vessels. I will include a short section on the current state of the Texas Navy in my Border Wars post. They will have a large role to play in the Mexican War and will have an entire post dedicates to their activities in both the Gulf and the Pacific.
Pieman: War will be necessary no matter who unites Italy as Austria is never going to let them unite or have Lombardy and Venice peacefully. TTL Italy will be one interesting country as while it won't be near the power of Germany or Great Britain, they will be a strong Great Power that has a military that is far more efficient than the pushover OTL Italian Army. Expect a new true Roman Empire. By the end of the Revolutions the consequences will have been so numerous that the sides of the Great War will flipflop and some nations will arise while others will no longer exist. Don't worry we shall come to Oregon soon.
JJohnson: Glad you could join us! I see that the Rio Grande is your favorite part of the timeline, so let me tease you by saying that the fate of the Republic of the Rio Grande will be entirely decided in the future Mexican War.
The reason I didn't give Rio Grande Sinaloa or Texas getting Chihuahua and Sonora is because of the facts that; A: Rio Grande had OTL claims on Chihuahua and Durango. B: Texas already has California which will be far more beneficial to them in the future, the reason the French supported this was because they wanted to cockblock the USA from expanding to the Pacific. C: All of these extraterritorial demands are going way beyond what the rebels should've gotten, if France pushed for more terms than the Mexicans would flat out refuse and the countryside would riot against the new occupiers.
Currently working on Chapter 32, will post sometime tomorrow. Long live Italy!
Chapter 32 Deutschland Divided
Chapter 32 Deutschland Divided
"I don't care if the throne is just some crown from a gutter. The people have chosen me as head of Germany and as Kaiser I shall rule."- Kaiser Wilhelm I 1846
"What do those damn Prussians think, I AM HEAD OF GERMANY! It seems far past time for us to wipe out the Hohenzollern's don't you think."- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"There is, in political geography, no Germany proper to speak of. There are Kingdoms and Grand Duchies, and Duchies and Principalities, inhabited by Germans, and each [is] separately ruled by an independent sovereign with all the machinery of State. Yet there is a natural undercurrent tending to a national feeling and toward a union of the Germans into one great nation, ruled by one common head as a national unit."- New York Times 1846
For the prior near millennia the lands that would eventually be called Germany were united under the leadership of the Holy Roman Emperor. For approximately 844 years the Holy Roman Empire was the central state that would come to define central Europe and to a greater extent the land of the Germanies. However as Voltaire put it the nation was neither holy, nor roman, nor at any point ever an empire. Power had been extensively decentralized between the Emperor and the various nobles and clerics who came to rule the at one point over 300 states of the Empire. Where at one point the Emperor had held supreme power over his vassals, by 1800 his power was only ceremonial and the fealties only on paper. The large amount of independence of the various states would cause great distance to the emperor and the regional developments as well as split of Protestantism versus Catholicism only held to sever the divide. Indeed only the Hapsburg's who had held the throne for the second half of the Empire were any real force of unity, things would continue along the status quo until the rise of Prussia came in the 17th century. Forming out of the remnants of Brandenburg and the Teutonic Order, Prussia was a rising star in European politics that in just under a century managed to assert itself as an equal to Austria in German politics. Many conflicts between the two nations such as the War of Austrian Succession and Seven Years War proved that Prussia was not only Austria's equal, but that it would one day surpass the Hapsburg state. Germany would forever be changed in the Napoleonic Wars when Napoleon invaded the First Reich and managed to conquer it during the war of the Third Coalition. In the aftermath the Confederation of the Rhine was born, a German state that was founded by unifying various provinces of the Rhine together into a loyal vassal that would secure France's eastern border. Much like Italy, Germans found themselves expressing newfound loyalties to the Rhine as they now lived in a nation that served the interests of the German people first and foremost, removing power from the bickering nobles and clerics. A sort of cultural renaissance for German bloomed and nationalism was beginning to take its roots. After Waterloo the Confederation of the Rhine was promptly dissolved by the great powers, in its place came about the German Confederation, an international organization that would replace the HRE and become a place where the various German states could voice its interests and act in coordination. While this was done to appease nationalists the very truth of the matter is that the German Confederation was merely another weakened version of the HRE where Austria would have its sole voice in the matter and try to puppet the German states. Prussia resisted this and went on to spread its own influence primarily in Northern Germany. This resulted in Zollverein, an German economic union that was made up of all German states except for Austria and Hanover, and promoted closer economic cooperation and increasing industrialization. The result was an increasingly unified Germany under Prussia's leadership while Austria was still agrarian and left dealing with its multiple rebellious ethnic citizens. A significant leadership change for Prussia occurred when King Frederich Wilhelm IV suffered a stroke in 1842 and died the next year, leaving his oldest brother Wilhelm as the next king of Prussia. Wilhelm was a staunch Prussian conservative but was open to certain liberal ideals, especially in the fields of military matters and German unification. Wilhelm was an ambitious man that saw his destiny to one day become Kaiser of a united German Empire that would become the powerhouse of Europe. Little did Wilhelm know that he would receive his chance in 1846 when the revolutions spread to Germany and the masses rose up in the name of the fatherland. The first target would be the heart of the German Confederation, Vienna.
Map of the Holy Roman Empire 1789 (Right). Kaiser Wilhelm the Great (Left)
Om March 13th, liberal university students would take to the streets in Vienna demanding the creation of a constitution, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, as well as the establishment of a democratically elected legislature. For years the educated class of Austria were becoming increasingly enamored with the ideals of the French Revolution and had desired for change to be enacted within the long autocratic Hapsburg state. When France fell once again to a Republic the people were given a call to arms and thus rose up against the Emperor. Ferdinand acted under the advice of Metternich and meet these protestors with a large force of arms by dispatching several battalions of the Imperial Guard into the capitol. This action did little but increase matter as once again shots were fired unto the civilians as the crowd of protestors tried to make their way into the Imperial Palace, after news of the Vienna massacre spread the working class of Vienna joined in the protest and an armed insurrection was underway in the capitol. The only reason the Hapsburg dynasty did not fall so quickly like the French was due to the high number of conservatives within the capitol as well as the low number of educated working class. Ferdinand attempted to appease the revolutionaries but only managed to anger them further as his "reforms" only created a legislation that strengthened the powers of the nobility and the Emperor. From May to August of 1846 the Imperial family fled to Tyrol as the situation in Vienna was getting worse each day with barricades being erected as well as several riots ongoing near the capitol. Ferdinand then decided to commit to reform by turning the Imperial Diet into a legislative assembly that would be elected by the people, this situation however was not mainly because of Vienna, but rather due to the entirety of the Hapsburg dominion erupting into flames. After the formation of the Italian league and its deceleration of war against Austria, the Italian peoples of Lombardy-Venetia and Slovenia erupted in widescale revolts against Vienna in order to seek unity and independence with their brethren. This was a huge factor in the success of the Italian league as it was treated not as conquerors, but as liberators. In Hungary the Magyar nobles were undertaking change by democratizing the Kingdom of Hungary and enacting legislation within the Budapest Diet that would transform the Kingdom into an autonomous part of the Austrian Empire. This would give Hungary control of its own economic and foreign affairs, and give Hungary its own military. Not everyone was happy within the Kingdom as the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes decided to break apart from Hungary and declare its allegiance to the throne. This led to a 6 month standoff from March to September that would eventually result in the Hungarian Revolution (see Chapter 33). With Austria essentially falling into anarchy, change would soon be sweeping in the German states were Prussia would try to claim its "rightful" position as head of a unified Germany.
Vienna Uprising April 1846
The first German state that would come under revolution would be the small Duchy of Baden in February, where despite being one of the most liberal states within the German Confederation, erupted into massive civil unrest as the mass peasants revolted against the economic inequality and control of the government by the aristocrats. At first things seemed to be going well as Grand Duke Leopold had consented to the adoption of a universal male suffrage system, however Republican unrest continued to grow and Baden erupted into a near state of civil war as Republican Joseph Fickler was arrested by the government, leading to the Hecker Uprising. The revolution spread unto the rest of the German states as one by one each German nation had its populace rise up in support of nationalism and democracy. The situation in Prussia however was quite interesting compared to the other German states. When the people of Berlin marched to the Royal Palace on March 15th to demand that Wilhelm enact greater reforms for the German people, Wilhelm met them at the gates and personally greeted the revolutionaries, inviting them inside the palace to discuss matters of state and the particular demands of the people. The Revolutionaries and Republicans were quite shocked but agreed to enter anyways as this was the only chance that they would have. The meeting lasted for around 4 hours and the Revolutionaries left being satisfied with Wilhelm's promises of freedom of speech, a constitution, and an elected assembly. King Wilhelm however had other plans ongoing that only the closest of his advisors would learn. Wilhelm saw the revolutions as an opportunity to finally unify Germany under Prussia's rule as well as strengthen the monarchy in Berlin by meeting desired reforms that would decrease the power of the nobles yet have many restrictions on them that would give free reign to the monarchy and the military. This form of quasi-democracy that would become known as Prussian Constitutionalism, became the basis for Wilhelm's domestic policies as he worked with the Prussian Diet to enact these various reforms yet still hold power for the upper class. When the people of Prussia learned about this they had quieted down from revolution and cheered that they were finally under the rule of a benevolent "liberal" monarch. Some of the demands were immediately met as Freedom of the Press was instituted and a legislative assembly was announced with new elections designed to take place in December. The Prussian Junkers were at first livid at these changes but backed down as they saw how Wilhelm was gaining the people's support and they were reasoned with by Wilhelm that many of their rights would still be maintained and that they would have active roles in the future Germany. Indeed Wilhelm was already starting to play the Game of Thrones as he mobilized the Prussian army and set about on restoring order to the German states in order to purge the "radical" parts of the revolutions while making sure that the Monarchs of the Germanies would come to a compromise with the democratic movements. In essence Wilhelm essentially saved a majority of German monarchies while making sure that they would enact reforms under his watch, increasing his popularity within Germany and making him a prime candidate for leader of Unification. One area that Wilhelm would not yield to would be the fate of the Poles in the Greater Poland Uprising. Eastern Prussia was almost entirely made up of Polish lands and in the wake of the March Revolution, much of the Polish population rose up in seeking greater autonomy or even independence. A rouge movement of autonomists led by Ludwik Mieroslawski took arms within the Grand Duchy of Posen and sought to create a Polish state that would be completely autonomous within Prussia. When word of this reached Wilhelm he dispatched a division of 20,000 soldiers to the Duchy in order to quell the revolt, resulting in the Battle of Posen where the small and disorganized forced of 5,000 revolutionaries was crushed by the superior Prussian force. Wilhelm in the aftermath promised that the Poles would hold some measure of autonomy but that they would not be allowed Independence, take arms, or take a position as an equal to the main Kingdom of Prussia. Tensions continued in the following months though they would largely dissipate with the Russian Intervention in the First War of German Unification.
Germania by Phillip Viet (Right). Rise of Deutschland by Adolf Strauss (Left)
While the various states of the German Confederation had relented to the demands of constitutionalism in one form or another, one matter was still put on hold that was at the forefront of the German mind, the issue of Unification. The Bundestag of the German Confederation came into session in March and decided that in order to quell the revolts that a new unilateral constitution would have to be made for the states of the Confederation, the Bundestag met with several middle class liberals of the Vorparlament under Carl Mittermaier from March 31st to April 3rd and agreed for a grand national assembly to be enacted that would comprise of representatives from each of the states of the German Confederation, who would be elected in order to decide a constitution. Over the next month a total of 809 deputies would be elected to the constitutional convention with monarchs being given a special seat to attend under the wishes of King Wilhelm (secretly using this clause to personally make his demands and spread influence in the convention). The deputies of the convention would be made up primarily of upper class intellectuals that were doctors, lawyers, professors, and clerics; all were united in their agreement on making a Constitution and working towards a unified Germany. The Convention opened up on May 18th and for the next four months would be met with both progress and deadlock as advances were made in the creation of a Constitution yet the delegates were stuck on the main issue of who would be the leader of Germany, Austria or Prussia. At first many delegates were open to the idea of a Greater Germany under Austrian leadership, however that plan had come under mass criticism as a large majority of the Austrian Empire was either Hungarian or Slavic, bringing in millions of non-Germans into the new German state. Some form of compromised tried to be reached as the Austrian delegates stated they might be willing to join without its German lands. However, these claims would be refuted as Ferdinand issued an proclamation on June 20th that Austria would forever be indivisible and would not desire to join a united Germany, a foolish decision that would forever come to haunt Ferdinand in the future. With Austria rejecting Frankfurt's demands the delegates all turned to King Wilhelm who was taking an active part in the creation of the Imperial constitution and the discussions on German Unification. This man was in the eyes of the Frankfurt Parliament a true leader for Germany, he was willing to work with reform for the sake of the people and gave the attention of Germany first rather than the wills of his state. While the Parliament was underway with its plan for unification and finalization for the constitution, Wilhelm surprisingly began to stall the parliament and the convention would be stopped short of total implementation of its reforms and unification. Wilhelm's reasons for doing so was that he wanted to be declared as Emperor of Germany in Austria's penultimate state of weakness rather than doing it where Ferdinand would be in a position to oppose Wilhelm. The Italians were making gains in the south and unrest was still continuing within the Hapsburg domains, all that was needed was a final spark that would set Austria on the path of ruin and ensure that Wilhelm would rise to leadership of Germany as the undisputed Kaiser. Wilhelm would receive his wish on September 15th when the people of Hungary rose up in a revolt for independence in reaction to the dispatch of Austrian forces to quell the democratic unrest. This gave Wilhelm the go ahead to launch his plans and in cooperation with his allies in the Frankfurt Parliment, the Imperial German Constitution was passed on September 22nd, with the Frankfurt parliament voting in majority to declare Wilhelm as Emperor of the Germans. Wilhelm accepted and was coordinated on November 11th, 1846. The Second Reich was born.
Frankfurt Parliment (Right). Proclimation of Kaiser Wilhelm I, Emperor of the Germans (Center) Flag of the German Empire (Left)
A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have officially crossed the point of no return. Sorry for the 5 day delay as I initially hit a major writers block when writing Germany and had schoolwork coming up during the week. I'll try to make it up to you by completing 33 and 34 during the weekend as well as writing a narrative chapter of some soon to be famous Americans in the beginning of the Oregon War. Thanks once again for patiently waiting for the new update and tell me your opinion of this alternate German Empire. Thank you for reading and "Heil dir im Siegerkranz"!
"I don't care if the throne is just some crown from a gutter. The people have chosen me as head of Germany and as Kaiser I shall rule."- Kaiser Wilhelm I 1846
"What do those damn Prussians think, I AM HEAD OF GERMANY! It seems far past time for us to wipe out the Hohenzollern's don't you think."- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"There is, in political geography, no Germany proper to speak of. There are Kingdoms and Grand Duchies, and Duchies and Principalities, inhabited by Germans, and each [is] separately ruled by an independent sovereign with all the machinery of State. Yet there is a natural undercurrent tending to a national feeling and toward a union of the Germans into one great nation, ruled by one common head as a national unit."- New York Times 1846
For the prior near millennia the lands that would eventually be called Germany were united under the leadership of the Holy Roman Emperor. For approximately 844 years the Holy Roman Empire was the central state that would come to define central Europe and to a greater extent the land of the Germanies. However as Voltaire put it the nation was neither holy, nor roman, nor at any point ever an empire. Power had been extensively decentralized between the Emperor and the various nobles and clerics who came to rule the at one point over 300 states of the Empire. Where at one point the Emperor had held supreme power over his vassals, by 1800 his power was only ceremonial and the fealties only on paper. The large amount of independence of the various states would cause great distance to the emperor and the regional developments as well as split of Protestantism versus Catholicism only held to sever the divide. Indeed only the Hapsburg's who had held the throne for the second half of the Empire were any real force of unity, things would continue along the status quo until the rise of Prussia came in the 17th century. Forming out of the remnants of Brandenburg and the Teutonic Order, Prussia was a rising star in European politics that in just under a century managed to assert itself as an equal to Austria in German politics. Many conflicts between the two nations such as the War of Austrian Succession and Seven Years War proved that Prussia was not only Austria's equal, but that it would one day surpass the Hapsburg state. Germany would forever be changed in the Napoleonic Wars when Napoleon invaded the First Reich and managed to conquer it during the war of the Third Coalition. In the aftermath the Confederation of the Rhine was born, a German state that was founded by unifying various provinces of the Rhine together into a loyal vassal that would secure France's eastern border. Much like Italy, Germans found themselves expressing newfound loyalties to the Rhine as they now lived in a nation that served the interests of the German people first and foremost, removing power from the bickering nobles and clerics. A sort of cultural renaissance for German bloomed and nationalism was beginning to take its roots. After Waterloo the Confederation of the Rhine was promptly dissolved by the great powers, in its place came about the German Confederation, an international organization that would replace the HRE and become a place where the various German states could voice its interests and act in coordination. While this was done to appease nationalists the very truth of the matter is that the German Confederation was merely another weakened version of the HRE where Austria would have its sole voice in the matter and try to puppet the German states. Prussia resisted this and went on to spread its own influence primarily in Northern Germany. This resulted in Zollverein, an German economic union that was made up of all German states except for Austria and Hanover, and promoted closer economic cooperation and increasing industrialization. The result was an increasingly unified Germany under Prussia's leadership while Austria was still agrarian and left dealing with its multiple rebellious ethnic citizens. A significant leadership change for Prussia occurred when King Frederich Wilhelm IV suffered a stroke in 1842 and died the next year, leaving his oldest brother Wilhelm as the next king of Prussia. Wilhelm was a staunch Prussian conservative but was open to certain liberal ideals, especially in the fields of military matters and German unification. Wilhelm was an ambitious man that saw his destiny to one day become Kaiser of a united German Empire that would become the powerhouse of Europe. Little did Wilhelm know that he would receive his chance in 1846 when the revolutions spread to Germany and the masses rose up in the name of the fatherland. The first target would be the heart of the German Confederation, Vienna.
Map of the Holy Roman Empire 1789 (Right). Kaiser Wilhelm the Great (Left)
Om March 13th, liberal university students would take to the streets in Vienna demanding the creation of a constitution, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, as well as the establishment of a democratically elected legislature. For years the educated class of Austria were becoming increasingly enamored with the ideals of the French Revolution and had desired for change to be enacted within the long autocratic Hapsburg state. When France fell once again to a Republic the people were given a call to arms and thus rose up against the Emperor. Ferdinand acted under the advice of Metternich and meet these protestors with a large force of arms by dispatching several battalions of the Imperial Guard into the capitol. This action did little but increase matter as once again shots were fired unto the civilians as the crowd of protestors tried to make their way into the Imperial Palace, after news of the Vienna massacre spread the working class of Vienna joined in the protest and an armed insurrection was underway in the capitol. The only reason the Hapsburg dynasty did not fall so quickly like the French was due to the high number of conservatives within the capitol as well as the low number of educated working class. Ferdinand attempted to appease the revolutionaries but only managed to anger them further as his "reforms" only created a legislation that strengthened the powers of the nobility and the Emperor. From May to August of 1846 the Imperial family fled to Tyrol as the situation in Vienna was getting worse each day with barricades being erected as well as several riots ongoing near the capitol. Ferdinand then decided to commit to reform by turning the Imperial Diet into a legislative assembly that would be elected by the people, this situation however was not mainly because of Vienna, but rather due to the entirety of the Hapsburg dominion erupting into flames. After the formation of the Italian league and its deceleration of war against Austria, the Italian peoples of Lombardy-Venetia and Slovenia erupted in widescale revolts against Vienna in order to seek unity and independence with their brethren. This was a huge factor in the success of the Italian league as it was treated not as conquerors, but as liberators. In Hungary the Magyar nobles were undertaking change by democratizing the Kingdom of Hungary and enacting legislation within the Budapest Diet that would transform the Kingdom into an autonomous part of the Austrian Empire. This would give Hungary control of its own economic and foreign affairs, and give Hungary its own military. Not everyone was happy within the Kingdom as the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes decided to break apart from Hungary and declare its allegiance to the throne. This led to a 6 month standoff from March to September that would eventually result in the Hungarian Revolution (see Chapter 33). With Austria essentially falling into anarchy, change would soon be sweeping in the German states were Prussia would try to claim its "rightful" position as head of a unified Germany.
Vienna Uprising April 1846
The first German state that would come under revolution would be the small Duchy of Baden in February, where despite being one of the most liberal states within the German Confederation, erupted into massive civil unrest as the mass peasants revolted against the economic inequality and control of the government by the aristocrats. At first things seemed to be going well as Grand Duke Leopold had consented to the adoption of a universal male suffrage system, however Republican unrest continued to grow and Baden erupted into a near state of civil war as Republican Joseph Fickler was arrested by the government, leading to the Hecker Uprising. The revolution spread unto the rest of the German states as one by one each German nation had its populace rise up in support of nationalism and democracy. The situation in Prussia however was quite interesting compared to the other German states. When the people of Berlin marched to the Royal Palace on March 15th to demand that Wilhelm enact greater reforms for the German people, Wilhelm met them at the gates and personally greeted the revolutionaries, inviting them inside the palace to discuss matters of state and the particular demands of the people. The Revolutionaries and Republicans were quite shocked but agreed to enter anyways as this was the only chance that they would have. The meeting lasted for around 4 hours and the Revolutionaries left being satisfied with Wilhelm's promises of freedom of speech, a constitution, and an elected assembly. King Wilhelm however had other plans ongoing that only the closest of his advisors would learn. Wilhelm saw the revolutions as an opportunity to finally unify Germany under Prussia's rule as well as strengthen the monarchy in Berlin by meeting desired reforms that would decrease the power of the nobles yet have many restrictions on them that would give free reign to the monarchy and the military. This form of quasi-democracy that would become known as Prussian Constitutionalism, became the basis for Wilhelm's domestic policies as he worked with the Prussian Diet to enact these various reforms yet still hold power for the upper class. When the people of Prussia learned about this they had quieted down from revolution and cheered that they were finally under the rule of a benevolent "liberal" monarch. Some of the demands were immediately met as Freedom of the Press was instituted and a legislative assembly was announced with new elections designed to take place in December. The Prussian Junkers were at first livid at these changes but backed down as they saw how Wilhelm was gaining the people's support and they were reasoned with by Wilhelm that many of their rights would still be maintained and that they would have active roles in the future Germany. Indeed Wilhelm was already starting to play the Game of Thrones as he mobilized the Prussian army and set about on restoring order to the German states in order to purge the "radical" parts of the revolutions while making sure that the Monarchs of the Germanies would come to a compromise with the democratic movements. In essence Wilhelm essentially saved a majority of German monarchies while making sure that they would enact reforms under his watch, increasing his popularity within Germany and making him a prime candidate for leader of Unification. One area that Wilhelm would not yield to would be the fate of the Poles in the Greater Poland Uprising. Eastern Prussia was almost entirely made up of Polish lands and in the wake of the March Revolution, much of the Polish population rose up in seeking greater autonomy or even independence. A rouge movement of autonomists led by Ludwik Mieroslawski took arms within the Grand Duchy of Posen and sought to create a Polish state that would be completely autonomous within Prussia. When word of this reached Wilhelm he dispatched a division of 20,000 soldiers to the Duchy in order to quell the revolt, resulting in the Battle of Posen where the small and disorganized forced of 5,000 revolutionaries was crushed by the superior Prussian force. Wilhelm in the aftermath promised that the Poles would hold some measure of autonomy but that they would not be allowed Independence, take arms, or take a position as an equal to the main Kingdom of Prussia. Tensions continued in the following months though they would largely dissipate with the Russian Intervention in the First War of German Unification.
Germania by Phillip Viet (Right). Rise of Deutschland by Adolf Strauss (Left)
While the various states of the German Confederation had relented to the demands of constitutionalism in one form or another, one matter was still put on hold that was at the forefront of the German mind, the issue of Unification. The Bundestag of the German Confederation came into session in March and decided that in order to quell the revolts that a new unilateral constitution would have to be made for the states of the Confederation, the Bundestag met with several middle class liberals of the Vorparlament under Carl Mittermaier from March 31st to April 3rd and agreed for a grand national assembly to be enacted that would comprise of representatives from each of the states of the German Confederation, who would be elected in order to decide a constitution. Over the next month a total of 809 deputies would be elected to the constitutional convention with monarchs being given a special seat to attend under the wishes of King Wilhelm (secretly using this clause to personally make his demands and spread influence in the convention). The deputies of the convention would be made up primarily of upper class intellectuals that were doctors, lawyers, professors, and clerics; all were united in their agreement on making a Constitution and working towards a unified Germany. The Convention opened up on May 18th and for the next four months would be met with both progress and deadlock as advances were made in the creation of a Constitution yet the delegates were stuck on the main issue of who would be the leader of Germany, Austria or Prussia. At first many delegates were open to the idea of a Greater Germany under Austrian leadership, however that plan had come under mass criticism as a large majority of the Austrian Empire was either Hungarian or Slavic, bringing in millions of non-Germans into the new German state. Some form of compromised tried to be reached as the Austrian delegates stated they might be willing to join without its German lands. However, these claims would be refuted as Ferdinand issued an proclamation on June 20th that Austria would forever be indivisible and would not desire to join a united Germany, a foolish decision that would forever come to haunt Ferdinand in the future. With Austria rejecting Frankfurt's demands the delegates all turned to King Wilhelm who was taking an active part in the creation of the Imperial constitution and the discussions on German Unification. This man was in the eyes of the Frankfurt Parliament a true leader for Germany, he was willing to work with reform for the sake of the people and gave the attention of Germany first rather than the wills of his state. While the Parliament was underway with its plan for unification and finalization for the constitution, Wilhelm surprisingly began to stall the parliament and the convention would be stopped short of total implementation of its reforms and unification. Wilhelm's reasons for doing so was that he wanted to be declared as Emperor of Germany in Austria's penultimate state of weakness rather than doing it where Ferdinand would be in a position to oppose Wilhelm. The Italians were making gains in the south and unrest was still continuing within the Hapsburg domains, all that was needed was a final spark that would set Austria on the path of ruin and ensure that Wilhelm would rise to leadership of Germany as the undisputed Kaiser. Wilhelm would receive his wish on September 15th when the people of Hungary rose up in a revolt for independence in reaction to the dispatch of Austrian forces to quell the democratic unrest. This gave Wilhelm the go ahead to launch his plans and in cooperation with his allies in the Frankfurt Parliment, the Imperial German Constitution was passed on September 22nd, with the Frankfurt parliament voting in majority to declare Wilhelm as Emperor of the Germans. Wilhelm accepted and was coordinated on November 11th, 1846. The Second Reich was born.
Frankfurt Parliment (Right). Proclimation of Kaiser Wilhelm I, Emperor of the Germans (Center) Flag of the German Empire (Left)
A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have officially crossed the point of no return. Sorry for the 5 day delay as I initially hit a major writers block when writing Germany and had schoolwork coming up during the week. I'll try to make it up to you by completing 33 and 34 during the weekend as well as writing a narrative chapter of some soon to be famous Americans in the beginning of the Oregon War. Thanks once again for patiently waiting for the new update and tell me your opinion of this alternate German Empire. Thank you for reading and "Heil dir im Siegerkranz"!
Chapter 33 Hungry Hungary
Chapter 33 Hungry Hungary
"Stupid Austria. If they can't control Hungary then what hope would they ever have of becoming leaders of Germany." Kaiser Wilhelmn I 1846
"Motherfucking Magyars!"- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"Make Hungary Great Again!"- Lajos Kossuth 1846
For over three centuries since 1526, the Kingdom of Hungary had been under effective control of the Austrian Hapsburg's as the lands of the crown of St. Stephen. In the wake of the Ottoman victory at the battle of Mohacs the northern lands of Hungary were partitioned to the Austrian Empire in order to bring the Kingdom under the Holy Roman Empire's protection against the ongoing Ottoman menace. For the next 150 years the Hungarians had been fighting a losing battle against the Ottomans as mile after mile of land would be ceded to the Turks year after year due to continuing victories. In that time though Hungary became an essential part of the Austrian lands and would soon develop as its largest and most prominent economic center. Everything would change after 1683 when the Siege of Vienna turned the tide of war against the Ottomans and the empire which before had been on a continuous victory streak was now suddenly being pushed back all over Europe in a viscous counteroffensive lead by the Catholic Powers. All of Hungary would be reclaimed in 1699 after the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottomans ceding the territories of Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania, and Slavonia to the Austrians; with all but Slavonia coming under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the reconquest though the situation began to worsen for the Hungarians as the elimination of the immediate Ottoman threat caused for the Hapsburg rulers to look inward and begin to consolidate their lands both within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. Still an Hungarian Diet in Pressburg was established and the Hungarian nobles were able to retain their individual rights and autonomy. This would all change in the 18th century as Hungary began to face economic instability with multiple agricultural failures as well as an ever decreasing population. In order to compensate for the population loss the Hapsburg's encouraged multiple Germans and Slavs to colonize the Kingdom, causing the Magyars to become a minority within their own lands. The situation took a turn for the worse when Emperor Joseph II came to power and sought to eliminate the Hungarian nobles power within the Kingdom and consolidate Hungarian rule under direct management from Vienna. German was officially established as the dominant language over all of Hungary and multiple reforms were passed that freed the serfs and gave greater rights to the peasants, infuriating the magnates even further. These various decrees caused a new national awakening within Hungary where the Hungarian culture and language experienced a renaissance in defiance of their German masters, unintentionally causing a renewal in Slavic culture as well in Hungarian lands. When Joseph died his successor Leopold II reintroduced Hungarian autonomy and the rights of the magnates. It was to late however, Hungarian nationalism was introduced to its people and would not falter. For the next 25 years Hungary was in a state of content as the Austrian Empire became focused solely on fighting Napoleon's French Empire. Despite attempts by reactionary Austrians to restrict information of the French Revolution and Enlightenment to the Hungarians, the people of the Kingdom managed to receive these ideals through smuggled books and underground artisans, causing the idea of nationalism, reform, and independence to increase. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the magnates and to a greater extent all of Hungary, went under a massive trend of stagnation as industrialization within Western Europe caused a large recession within Hungary and the Austrian Empire directed power towards the monarchy. In the wake of this crisis a new movement would emerge that came under the leadership of a growing class of intellectual patriotic Hungarians. It was not a matter of if Hungary would rise up, but when.
Since 1811 the Hungarian Diet had becoming increasingly filled with Liberals and Nationalists who desired for Hungary to become on equal footing with the nations of the west and make sure that Hungary would be in a position of even greater power than Austria.The liberal faction under the leadership of Kossuth were discontent with Vienna with acting on their own interests, especially after Ferdinand came to power and began implementing his reactionary policies. The liberals were gaining much headway with the passing of laws in 1839 that made Magyar the official state language of Hungary and effectively freed the peasant class from all obligation to their noble lords. There were 10 main points that the liberals were fighting for in Hungary which included freedom of the press, full autonomy within the nation, establishment of a separate armed forces, religious liberty, and union with Transylvania. Though Ferdinand had tried to resist these changes, including going to some extremes such as arresting Kossuth for sedition, the Hungarians resisted at every opportunity and threatened for full rebellion if they would not be given their rights. An opportunity for Hungary's freedom arose on March 3rd when word of the January Revolution spread to Hungary. Kossuth himself was instrumental in the forming of the Viennese revolutions when he traveled to Vienna in early March and appealed to Ferdinand to listen to the rights of his people and the need for all peoples of the Austrian Empire to receive democracy and autonomy. His words played direct part in inspiring multiple Viennese people to come to the streets in protest of Ferdinand's heavy rule. Mass peaceful demonstrations immediately followed in Budapest and the Emperor consented to the Hungarian liberals 10 points, essentially creating an independent Hungary that was only under the jurisdiction of the Emperor of Austria. A new government was formed in Budapest under the new rule of Prime Minister Lajos Batthyany, with the newly popular elected Hungarian Diet devoting itself to the implementation of the April laws, a series of reforms that the liberals had been fighting for as part of their party platform. New tensions would rise though as the ongoing war with the Italians caused conflict with Hungary as the Hungarians sought to control their own armies and refused to participate in the conflict, in direct defiance of the Emperor and Austria's foreign policy. In addition the now powerless magnates where plotting to regain their old authority along with separatist movements in Croatia advocating for a separate kingdom within the Austrian Empire apart from Hungary. The clock was ticking to a future civil war.
Lajos Kossuth, Father of modern Hungary, freedom fighter, and one of the most influential statesman of the 19th century(Right). Sandor Petofi reciting the National Poem to the crowds of Budapest (Center), First session of the new Budapest Diet on April 1st, 1846 (Left).
In the aftermath of the rise of the April government within Budapest the noble magnates of Hungary flocked to the banner of Croatian count Josip Jelacic, Josip was a strong supporter of Croatian nationalism and with Hungary having control of Croatia, sought to use this as his chance to regain power for the nobles as well as appeal to the Austrian's for his country to receive equal autonomy. A massive army was growing within Croatia with many Hungarian magnates offering their support to Josip's new army with "volunteers" of their former peasants along with large donations of their wealth to the cause in exchange for guaranteed protection of noble rights. Ironically this was all going on at the same time the Italian league was making advances in Lombardy only dozens of miles away. Batthyany had traveled to Vienna in July in order to ask that Jelacic be removed from power and the threat of an Croatian invasion be removed, even promising to dispatch Hungarian forces to help out with the war effort in Italy. In response however the King demanded that the Hungarian government not form an army and instantly dissolve any current armed forces for them to come under the control of the Austrian high command. Jelacic took this as an opportunity and on August 11th launched an invasion of Hungary with the intent of overthrowing the Budapest government, without the consent of the Emperor. The Romanians of Transylvania in the meantime used this as an initiative to reunite with their brethren in Hungary and took a simultaneous invasion of the state as well. The final sparks of revolution would be lit when Ferdinand was forcefully abdicated due to his mental health and failures in dealing with Italy, internal revolutions, and the German Unification crisis. He was succeeded by his nephew Franz Joseph who was somehow even more of a reactionary than his uncle. Franz sought for the people of Hungary to submit to direct Hapsburg rule once and for all and appointed Count Franz Phillip von Lamberg as head of all of Hungary's national armies. When the man arrived in Budapest he was brutally assaulted and murdered by an angry mob of Hungarians who saw this as an direct violation of their sovereignty. This was the last straw for Vienna and on September 1st, Franz Joseph dissolved the Hungarian Diet and rejected the April laws reforms. Seeing as how they had the choice of either submission or violent repression, Batthany chose for Hungary to follow Austria no longer and on September 14th called for a deceleration of Independence from the Hapsburg's which was formally approved the next day on the 15th. Facing a war on three fronts Lajos Kossuth was sent throughout the countryside in order to appeal to the masses for recruitment into the new Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Kossuth's strong oratory skills was immensely helpful in causing recruitment to increase with tens of thousands of Hungarians joining in a matter of weeks. The first major battle of the Revolution occurred in the Battle of Pakozd on September 29th near the town of Sokoro where Jelaic sought to wipe out the infant Revolutionary Army once and for all before it became a major threat. Initially the battle looked in favor of Croatia with their army containing 40,000 troops and 100 artillery cannons versus the Hungarians 27,000 troops and 82 artillery canons. The battle however went to the Hungarians tactically as the Creation army was incredibly disorganized and sought to attack the flanks of the Hungarian army one at a time with little coordination between the individual regiments. Each time they attacked the Hungarians held on and inflicted massive casualties on the Croatian army while taking few losses. The battle ended in a total Hungarian victory as Jelaic retreated from the battlefield with the Hungarian forces under Major General Janos Moga giving chase. While Jelaic managed to escape near half his army was captured by the Hungarians in the process. The overall result of the Battle of Pakozd was a Hungarian victory with the Hungarians taking only 324 dead, and 556 wounded. While the Croatians suffered devastating casualties with 1612 dead, 1945 wounded, and 18,782 taken prisoner. The battle had a huge effect on the Hungarian morale as the public turned in full support for independence and the Revolutionary Army exploded in recruitment, every one of its men believing in the righteousness and guarantee of their victory. Despite the success of the battle, Prime Minister Batthyany chose to resign on October 2nd due to his failure to find a compromise with the Emperor. In his place the popular Kossuth was chosen as Regent-President and began organization of the Republic's new government. The rise of Hungary had begun.
Battle of Pakozd (Right). Flag of the newly formed Hungarian Republic (Left)
"Stupid Austria. If they can't control Hungary then what hope would they ever have of becoming leaders of Germany." Kaiser Wilhelmn I 1846
"Motherfucking Magyars!"- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"Make Hungary Great Again!"- Lajos Kossuth 1846
For over three centuries since 1526, the Kingdom of Hungary had been under effective control of the Austrian Hapsburg's as the lands of the crown of St. Stephen. In the wake of the Ottoman victory at the battle of Mohacs the northern lands of Hungary were partitioned to the Austrian Empire in order to bring the Kingdom under the Holy Roman Empire's protection against the ongoing Ottoman menace. For the next 150 years the Hungarians had been fighting a losing battle against the Ottomans as mile after mile of land would be ceded to the Turks year after year due to continuing victories. In that time though Hungary became an essential part of the Austrian lands and would soon develop as its largest and most prominent economic center. Everything would change after 1683 when the Siege of Vienna turned the tide of war against the Ottomans and the empire which before had been on a continuous victory streak was now suddenly being pushed back all over Europe in a viscous counteroffensive lead by the Catholic Powers. All of Hungary would be reclaimed in 1699 after the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottomans ceding the territories of Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania, and Slavonia to the Austrians; with all but Slavonia coming under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the reconquest though the situation began to worsen for the Hungarians as the elimination of the immediate Ottoman threat caused for the Hapsburg rulers to look inward and begin to consolidate their lands both within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. Still an Hungarian Diet in Pressburg was established and the Hungarian nobles were able to retain their individual rights and autonomy. This would all change in the 18th century as Hungary began to face economic instability with multiple agricultural failures as well as an ever decreasing population. In order to compensate for the population loss the Hapsburg's encouraged multiple Germans and Slavs to colonize the Kingdom, causing the Magyars to become a minority within their own lands. The situation took a turn for the worse when Emperor Joseph II came to power and sought to eliminate the Hungarian nobles power within the Kingdom and consolidate Hungarian rule under direct management from Vienna. German was officially established as the dominant language over all of Hungary and multiple reforms were passed that freed the serfs and gave greater rights to the peasants, infuriating the magnates even further. These various decrees caused a new national awakening within Hungary where the Hungarian culture and language experienced a renaissance in defiance of their German masters, unintentionally causing a renewal in Slavic culture as well in Hungarian lands. When Joseph died his successor Leopold II reintroduced Hungarian autonomy and the rights of the magnates. It was to late however, Hungarian nationalism was introduced to its people and would not falter. For the next 25 years Hungary was in a state of content as the Austrian Empire became focused solely on fighting Napoleon's French Empire. Despite attempts by reactionary Austrians to restrict information of the French Revolution and Enlightenment to the Hungarians, the people of the Kingdom managed to receive these ideals through smuggled books and underground artisans, causing the idea of nationalism, reform, and independence to increase. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the magnates and to a greater extent all of Hungary, went under a massive trend of stagnation as industrialization within Western Europe caused a large recession within Hungary and the Austrian Empire directed power towards the monarchy. In the wake of this crisis a new movement would emerge that came under the leadership of a growing class of intellectual patriotic Hungarians. It was not a matter of if Hungary would rise up, but when.
Since 1811 the Hungarian Diet had becoming increasingly filled with Liberals and Nationalists who desired for Hungary to become on equal footing with the nations of the west and make sure that Hungary would be in a position of even greater power than Austria.The liberal faction under the leadership of Kossuth were discontent with Vienna with acting on their own interests, especially after Ferdinand came to power and began implementing his reactionary policies. The liberals were gaining much headway with the passing of laws in 1839 that made Magyar the official state language of Hungary and effectively freed the peasant class from all obligation to their noble lords. There were 10 main points that the liberals were fighting for in Hungary which included freedom of the press, full autonomy within the nation, establishment of a separate armed forces, religious liberty, and union with Transylvania. Though Ferdinand had tried to resist these changes, including going to some extremes such as arresting Kossuth for sedition, the Hungarians resisted at every opportunity and threatened for full rebellion if they would not be given their rights. An opportunity for Hungary's freedom arose on March 3rd when word of the January Revolution spread to Hungary. Kossuth himself was instrumental in the forming of the Viennese revolutions when he traveled to Vienna in early March and appealed to Ferdinand to listen to the rights of his people and the need for all peoples of the Austrian Empire to receive democracy and autonomy. His words played direct part in inspiring multiple Viennese people to come to the streets in protest of Ferdinand's heavy rule. Mass peaceful demonstrations immediately followed in Budapest and the Emperor consented to the Hungarian liberals 10 points, essentially creating an independent Hungary that was only under the jurisdiction of the Emperor of Austria. A new government was formed in Budapest under the new rule of Prime Minister Lajos Batthyany, with the newly popular elected Hungarian Diet devoting itself to the implementation of the April laws, a series of reforms that the liberals had been fighting for as part of their party platform. New tensions would rise though as the ongoing war with the Italians caused conflict with Hungary as the Hungarians sought to control their own armies and refused to participate in the conflict, in direct defiance of the Emperor and Austria's foreign policy. In addition the now powerless magnates where plotting to regain their old authority along with separatist movements in Croatia advocating for a separate kingdom within the Austrian Empire apart from Hungary. The clock was ticking to a future civil war.
Lajos Kossuth, Father of modern Hungary, freedom fighter, and one of the most influential statesman of the 19th century(Right). Sandor Petofi reciting the National Poem to the crowds of Budapest (Center), First session of the new Budapest Diet on April 1st, 1846 (Left).
In the aftermath of the rise of the April government within Budapest the noble magnates of Hungary flocked to the banner of Croatian count Josip Jelacic, Josip was a strong supporter of Croatian nationalism and with Hungary having control of Croatia, sought to use this as his chance to regain power for the nobles as well as appeal to the Austrian's for his country to receive equal autonomy. A massive army was growing within Croatia with many Hungarian magnates offering their support to Josip's new army with "volunteers" of their former peasants along with large donations of their wealth to the cause in exchange for guaranteed protection of noble rights. Ironically this was all going on at the same time the Italian league was making advances in Lombardy only dozens of miles away. Batthyany had traveled to Vienna in July in order to ask that Jelacic be removed from power and the threat of an Croatian invasion be removed, even promising to dispatch Hungarian forces to help out with the war effort in Italy. In response however the King demanded that the Hungarian government not form an army and instantly dissolve any current armed forces for them to come under the control of the Austrian high command. Jelacic took this as an opportunity and on August 11th launched an invasion of Hungary with the intent of overthrowing the Budapest government, without the consent of the Emperor. The Romanians of Transylvania in the meantime used this as an initiative to reunite with their brethren in Hungary and took a simultaneous invasion of the state as well. The final sparks of revolution would be lit when Ferdinand was forcefully abdicated due to his mental health and failures in dealing with Italy, internal revolutions, and the German Unification crisis. He was succeeded by his nephew Franz Joseph who was somehow even more of a reactionary than his uncle. Franz sought for the people of Hungary to submit to direct Hapsburg rule once and for all and appointed Count Franz Phillip von Lamberg as head of all of Hungary's national armies. When the man arrived in Budapest he was brutally assaulted and murdered by an angry mob of Hungarians who saw this as an direct violation of their sovereignty. This was the last straw for Vienna and on September 1st, Franz Joseph dissolved the Hungarian Diet and rejected the April laws reforms. Seeing as how they had the choice of either submission or violent repression, Batthany chose for Hungary to follow Austria no longer and on September 14th called for a deceleration of Independence from the Hapsburg's which was formally approved the next day on the 15th. Facing a war on three fronts Lajos Kossuth was sent throughout the countryside in order to appeal to the masses for recruitment into the new Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Kossuth's strong oratory skills was immensely helpful in causing recruitment to increase with tens of thousands of Hungarians joining in a matter of weeks. The first major battle of the Revolution occurred in the Battle of Pakozd on September 29th near the town of Sokoro where Jelaic sought to wipe out the infant Revolutionary Army once and for all before it became a major threat. Initially the battle looked in favor of Croatia with their army containing 40,000 troops and 100 artillery cannons versus the Hungarians 27,000 troops and 82 artillery canons. The battle however went to the Hungarians tactically as the Creation army was incredibly disorganized and sought to attack the flanks of the Hungarian army one at a time with little coordination between the individual regiments. Each time they attacked the Hungarians held on and inflicted massive casualties on the Croatian army while taking few losses. The battle ended in a total Hungarian victory as Jelaic retreated from the battlefield with the Hungarian forces under Major General Janos Moga giving chase. While Jelaic managed to escape near half his army was captured by the Hungarians in the process. The overall result of the Battle of Pakozd was a Hungarian victory with the Hungarians taking only 324 dead, and 556 wounded. While the Croatians suffered devastating casualties with 1612 dead, 1945 wounded, and 18,782 taken prisoner. The battle had a huge effect on the Hungarian morale as the public turned in full support for independence and the Revolutionary Army exploded in recruitment, every one of its men believing in the righteousness and guarantee of their victory. Despite the success of the battle, Prime Minister Batthyany chose to resign on October 2nd due to his failure to find a compromise with the Emperor. In his place the popular Kossuth was chosen as Regent-President and began organization of the Republic's new government. The rise of Hungary had begun.
Battle of Pakozd (Right). Flag of the newly formed Hungarian Republic (Left)
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All right, three Europe updates that have altered the face of the continent forever. I've already commented on Italy, but now we have Germany united decades ahead of schedule and in a fashion that doesn't involve kicking the tar out of France. If I had to guess this will lead to a longer lived Second French Empire, and possibly a monarchist France into the 20th century. Of course there could be something else that causes France to go republican again, but if the Bonepartes can hold on for two generations I give it even money they keep the throne this time.
Hungary's revolution and you saying its rise at the end of the last update leads me to believe they fend off the invasions and eventually make a name for themselves, and good for them. Of course between them, Germany and Italy this throws the existing balance of power way off in Europe and London will not be happy about that. If I had to guess the aftermath of this is where we will see the ground work for the Great War alliance begin to take shape in Europe, but this is only a heck of a guess on my end. Anywho, a pair of good updates, and now onto the Oregon war!
Oh, now you'll need to forgive me if I overstepped my bounds, but I made an effort to map your timeline in the Worlda format. If there is anything that needs changed let me know, but I think this is your world as of the last update...
Hungary's revolution and you saying its rise at the end of the last update leads me to believe they fend off the invasions and eventually make a name for themselves, and good for them. Of course between them, Germany and Italy this throws the existing balance of power way off in Europe and London will not be happy about that. If I had to guess the aftermath of this is where we will see the ground work for the Great War alliance begin to take shape in Europe, but this is only a heck of a guess on my end. Anywho, a pair of good updates, and now onto the Oregon war!
Oh, now you'll need to forgive me if I overstepped my bounds, but I made an effort to map your timeline in the Worlda format. If there is anything that needs changed let me know, but I think this is your world as of the last update...
With Germany being united without the Franco-Prussian War the Bonaparte's will certainly be able to hold onto power for a longer time. Granted this will not mean that Germany and France will not have a rivalry as future events I write will pit them against each other as well as still having the decades old resentment from the Napoleonic Wars and France's fear of the rising power on its Eastern border. The main difference this time though is that France will not have an utter desire to kill Germany over Alsace-Lorraine, in this timeline it's going to be Britain who will be public enemy No.1. For now France isn't going to play a role in the revolutions as it's trying to bring back stability and forming the government in Paris. They will reenter European politics once the Empire is founded in a few years.
You're damn right London isn't going to be happy about this. The actions of the revolutions will have major consequences as Britain will be forced to intervene and take attention away from focusing entirely on America. Like Mosley said earlier this is the beginning of Britain's unnecessary interventions in the continent that will change it's foreign policy for the worse. The groundwork for the Great War alliances is being set but they will not have taken in full effect until the 1870's.
You in no way overstepped your bounds as this is a pretty good high quality map of the TL. Overall I'm happy when fans of Lone Star Republic will submit posts such as the maps or Herrick's wikiboxes as it helps make my job a whole lot easier and also makes me happy that the world I created only two months ago is becoming more alive. Overall you got the situation right. Some of the South German states won't be entirely happy or willing for German unification but I'll cover that in my next German post.
No. California will not become independent because as of right now they have too low of a population to rebel against Texas and they are pretty okay with their situation since the Commonwealth system gives them greater autonomy then both Mexico and the United States. Also if they tried to become independent now they would be invaded and taken over by either Mexico or the United States. The TL has the tag Texan California so California will stay as a part of the Republic of Texas all the way to modern day.
Chapter 34 The Trail to the Oregon War
Chapter 34 The Trail To the Oregon War
"Many people ask me what I believe to be the start of the fall of the British Empire. To be perfectly honest while there are many points in the decadence of Victoria's reign that lead to the horrors of the Great War, I firmly believe that one can find the roots of the elitist colonial movement with the Oregon War. Though the Americans did rebel against us they did so for democracy and freedom from a tyrannical King. We should've allied with our former children to combat against the spread of Napoleonic France instead of driving America into its corner. But this was not meant to be. Fueled by greed for land, colonies, and prestige, we went to war where there could've been peace and prosperity. War all for the pride and glory of the incestuous Lords of London." History of the English Speaking Peoples by Lord Protector Oliver Mosley 1926
"For many years I and my predecessor President Johnson have tried to use reason and negotiations to deal the matter of the Oregon dispute with England. We offered millions of dollars, compromises of land, and guarantees of peace on the Canadian border. Each time we were rejected so that the elitist nobles of London could block the Pacific, our God-given right and manifest destiny to expand. Let it be known that we were not the first ones to spill blood. That the British chose to become the aggressors by attacking our troops on U.S soil and massacring men of the United States Army. The time of negotiations is over! I now call for congress to declare war against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland so that we may drive the monarchist menace from our northern borders and guarantee peace for the American peoples for generations to come!- President William Harrison 1846
"It is time we put those bloody Americans in their place once and for all. To war fair Britannia! Godspeed and victory with thee."- Queen Victoria 1846
In the past eighty years in the United States history two wars had been fought against the nation of Great Britain. The American Revolution ended in a total victory for the Americans with the thirteen colonies managing to receive independence as well as territory leading all the way to the Ohio River. The War of 1812 was rather inconclusive but can be considered by some to be an American victory as the British policy of impressement had ended and the nation would once more resume its trade without threat of attack. Peace continued for the next three decades and had the Oregon War not commenced then it would have been very possible for both the United States and Great Britain to enter into an alliance someday. Sadly this would not be the case as North America would once more erupt into he fires of war. Unlike other conflicts though the war did not merely start over a simple deceleration for conquering territory, rather due to an unfortunate series of events that would make the United States demand for British blood.
Due to the recent militarization that President Harrison had put the United States through, 3,000 troops were deployed to the Oregon country under the command of Colonel Stephen Kearny. Kearny was a veteran officer of the War of 1812 and has been widely recognized as the father of the US cavalry for his role in creating cavalry combat doctrine among the plains of North America. The official role of Kearny's forces was to stay below the 49th parallel and protect American settlers from the threat of Indian attacks on their journey to the Pacific. Their unofficial role assigned by Washington was to stand watch for any British incursion into American territory and be able to completely take control of the Oregon country in a time of war. Until 1846 the Americans and the British had engaged in several small skirmishes and disputes but there was little bloodshed that happened, that is until May of 1846. on May 1st, 1846 a small American settlement of about 30 settlers was attacked and massacred by an Indian war band believed to be apart of the Chinook tribe. In retaliation a US cavalry unit of 100 men chased after the rouge Indian warband all the way to their home camp which was across the 49th parallel. Around 5:00 P.M a British scout force had seen the American unit crossing the border and had presumed that the Americans were launching an attack on the British encampments. The riders headed out to the main British fort across from Vancouver Island which housed 750 troops. The commanding officer Colonel George Anderson decided to take action on his own and dispatched 300 of his troops to deal with the Americans. The next day the American cavalry had finally caught up with the Indian warband and had commenced a small battle to annihilate the party. All 50 of the opposing Indians were killed while 6 Americans were killed with 13 wounded. The Americans having been satisfied with their mission being completed decided to head back across the border and return to camp. What they did not know was that they were being followed by the British party who had planned a surprise attack. Around 4:30 P.M the Americans had crossed the 49th parallel and made base at a small cabin outpost that was used by the army as a way point for supply gathering and was clearly in American territory. This knowledge was uncommon to the British who still suspected they were operating in British lands. Around 6:30 P.M the British force of 300 launched a surprise attack on the American forces who were caught unaware due to their intentions to rest and attend to the wounded. The resulting battle was one sided as the British fought with unrelenting fury against the surprised Americans and mowed down many who had taken up arms. Approximately 26 more Americans would die that day with 17 being wounded and the rest but 6 troops being held as prisoner. The last 6 had managed to escape on horseback in order to alert Kearny that the British had attacked American troops on their territory. When they told their tale to Kearny the man was enraged that the British would massacre his men shortly after completing a battle and that American lives had been lost on their own soil. Deciding to take independent action, Kearny sent a single platoon with instructions to head west in order to inform Washington of the massacre and Kearny's plan to attack the remaining British in Oregon in retaliation. He had assumed that Harrison would want him to commence war in retaliation. On the British side of the camp Colonel Anderson was visibly appalled by the actions of his men since they had found out from interrogating the prisoners that the Americans had only crossed the border to attack a hostile tribe and that they were had attacked the US troops on the American side. In order to clear up the situation and prevent war Anderson sent a squad to the Americans in order to explain their side of the story and give back the prisoners. When the squad was dispatched on March 13th they had found the American forces only 3 days later to discover that the American army had gathered in full force and was ready to invade Canada. When the Americans saw the British scout force they instantly attacked with dozens of men and completely mowed down the British forces, leaving no one alive before they had a chance to explain their actions. Kearny then decided to move the Army of the West to attack the Vancouver garrison, who were unaware of the approaching American army. 8 days later on May 24th all 3000 of the American forces had reached Fort Vancouver and began an immense artillery barrage with their 20 artillery canons. This attack caught the British garrison by surprise who were currently off duty due to it being a Sunday. The barrage continued for 4 hours straight and had killed off 1/4th of the garrison with most of the defenses being destroyed. After getting his men into position Kearny called for a charge and launched the infantry straight at the for while the cavalry flanked the entrances in order to prevent any escape. The Battle of Vancouver would last for the rest of the day as the American army fought viciously in close combat with the British garrison inside the fort and then proceeded to cut down any organization with fast tactical maneuvers by the cavalry. At the end of the day 52 American lives were lost with 73 wounded. The British suffered more previous casualties with 340 dead, 236 wounded and the rest taken prisoner. Among the lives lost were Colonel Anderson. Afterwords Colonel Kearny ordered the rest of the army to secure the surrounding British Oregon in order to secure it as an American occupied zone for future negotiations. Meanwhile and off duty British squad was at a nearby farmhouse where they proceeded to observe the ongoing battle. In the aftermath with the fort fallen this small group of men led by Sargent Victor Hawkins vowed to return back to Toronto in order to warn the Canadian authorities that they were attacked by the Americans on British soil.
US Cavalry in the Aftermath of the Battle of Vancouver (Left) Fort Vancouver (Center) Colonel Stephen Kearny (Right)
By mid-July word had reached both America and Canada of the attacks by both sides on the border, each nation was convinced that they were wrongfully attacked by an aggressive expanding neighbor on their border and that the dead needed to be avenged. Within both nations however there were factions that had wanted for peace. On the Canadian side most of the population were nervous about going to war as the US was far superior in both industry and population. While they were able to successfully defend their nation last time it was mainly due to the incompetence of the US military and its poor organization. Since then the American forces had increased greatly and the nation was more connected with the usage of railroads, allowing for greater movement of troops and resources within the United States. Still the threats by the British forces with charges of treason along with mass demonstrations by Canadian patriots would keep the country on the path to war. Immediately after the colonial government began plans for war, news was sent to Britain in order to warn them of the coming storm and ask them for reinforcements. Meanwhile Quebecois patriots who were veterans of the Lower Canada rebellions were secretly gathering and plotting. They saw this war as a chance for liberation from the British tyrants from their American cousins who had managed to do so only eight decades before. Representatives were sent to Washington in order to ask for support while they planned for the new rebellion to commence. On the American side the public was increasingly going towards war while in congress there were still many who wanted to avoid war through negotiations. Both the South and New England faction were wary of war with Great Britain as it would disrupt their trade with the South's export of cotton and New England's of manufactured goods. Both regions had relied heavily on British imports also and New England would be the first one to suffer under a British invasion. With this opposition violence erupted in the United States Congress with New York Senator Daniel Dickinson at one point assaulting South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun with Calhoun being accused of cowardice for not wanting to fight the British and attempt negotiations. The matter was ultimately resolved when President Harrison appeared before a joint session and asked for congress to give a decleration of war against the United Kingdom for violating American sovereignty and attacking US troops on American soil. Most congressmen relented due to pressure from their respective representative counties and states and thus war was declared on July 20th with a congressional approval of 195-35 in the Senate and 41-11 in the Senate. The Oregon War had commenced.
In terms of strategy for the beginning of the war the two sides would differ immensely. The Canadians would prefer to take a defensive approach as they were in noway able to launch an invasion of the massive United States. Instead differing to fortify their positions and launch raids across the border while they awaited for reinforcements from Britain. The American side differed greatly as they had wanted to end the war as soon as possible in order to prevent a large-scale invasion from the superior Royal Navy. In order to achieve this Harrison and the Department of the War had come up with the Carolus plan, named after Swedish King Charles XII. Currently the United States had around 15,000 regular troops on the border compared to the Canadians 10,000 and had planned to launch a blitzkrieg attack in coordination with an additional 20,000 militia from the surrounding states while the rest of the nation began recruitment. The Army would be divided into four groups with Army Group West (5000) Central (10,000) New York (12,500) and Maine (7,500) West would launch attacks on the Canadian border west of the great lakes and then invade eastward toward Ontario, while Kearny's Army of the west would head back to them after securing the Oregon country and arriving with additional reinforcements from the Midwest. Central would launch an invasion of Southern Ontario once the Great Lakes fleets had successfully secured control of Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron. Before total naval superiority would be achieved they would be in charge of defense of Michigan and Western New York. Army Group New York would take the most defensive position in the beginning by securing the border of the state with both Ontario and Quebec. Once all Canadian attacks had ceased the army would then be given the go ahead to invade Quebec and target first Montreal and then Quebec City, hopefully launching a rebellion of Ontario in the process. Finally Army Group Maine would quickly launch a rush into New Brunswick to secure the area against an invasion. If the British Navy was to arrive then they would stay away from Nova Scotia and focus on securing Maine. Finally the US Navy would begin the first months of the war destroying whatever fleets the British would have in Canada while launching activity against British colonies in the Gulf. When the Royal Armada would arrive in force the Navy would resume a defensive position on American shipping and the coastline. It was a very daring plan that would need the upmost time and speed if the United States was to secure Canada and increase the Army to at least 150,000 to prepare for a future British Invasion. The War to decide the fate of North America was now under way.
Theater of Operations under the Carolus Plan. Black Represents troop movements while Green represents US Navy control and movements.
"Many people ask me what I believe to be the start of the fall of the British Empire. To be perfectly honest while there are many points in the decadence of Victoria's reign that lead to the horrors of the Great War, I firmly believe that one can find the roots of the elitist colonial movement with the Oregon War. Though the Americans did rebel against us they did so for democracy and freedom from a tyrannical King. We should've allied with our former children to combat against the spread of Napoleonic France instead of driving America into its corner. But this was not meant to be. Fueled by greed for land, colonies, and prestige, we went to war where there could've been peace and prosperity. War all for the pride and glory of the incestuous Lords of London." History of the English Speaking Peoples by Lord Protector Oliver Mosley 1926
"For many years I and my predecessor President Johnson have tried to use reason and negotiations to deal the matter of the Oregon dispute with England. We offered millions of dollars, compromises of land, and guarantees of peace on the Canadian border. Each time we were rejected so that the elitist nobles of London could block the Pacific, our God-given right and manifest destiny to expand. Let it be known that we were not the first ones to spill blood. That the British chose to become the aggressors by attacking our troops on U.S soil and massacring men of the United States Army. The time of negotiations is over! I now call for congress to declare war against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland so that we may drive the monarchist menace from our northern borders and guarantee peace for the American peoples for generations to come!- President William Harrison 1846
"It is time we put those bloody Americans in their place once and for all. To war fair Britannia! Godspeed and victory with thee."- Queen Victoria 1846
In the past eighty years in the United States history two wars had been fought against the nation of Great Britain. The American Revolution ended in a total victory for the Americans with the thirteen colonies managing to receive independence as well as territory leading all the way to the Ohio River. The War of 1812 was rather inconclusive but can be considered by some to be an American victory as the British policy of impressement had ended and the nation would once more resume its trade without threat of attack. Peace continued for the next three decades and had the Oregon War not commenced then it would have been very possible for both the United States and Great Britain to enter into an alliance someday. Sadly this would not be the case as North America would once more erupt into he fires of war. Unlike other conflicts though the war did not merely start over a simple deceleration for conquering territory, rather due to an unfortunate series of events that would make the United States demand for British blood.
Due to the recent militarization that President Harrison had put the United States through, 3,000 troops were deployed to the Oregon country under the command of Colonel Stephen Kearny. Kearny was a veteran officer of the War of 1812 and has been widely recognized as the father of the US cavalry for his role in creating cavalry combat doctrine among the plains of North America. The official role of Kearny's forces was to stay below the 49th parallel and protect American settlers from the threat of Indian attacks on their journey to the Pacific. Their unofficial role assigned by Washington was to stand watch for any British incursion into American territory and be able to completely take control of the Oregon country in a time of war. Until 1846 the Americans and the British had engaged in several small skirmishes and disputes but there was little bloodshed that happened, that is until May of 1846. on May 1st, 1846 a small American settlement of about 30 settlers was attacked and massacred by an Indian war band believed to be apart of the Chinook tribe. In retaliation a US cavalry unit of 100 men chased after the rouge Indian warband all the way to their home camp which was across the 49th parallel. Around 5:00 P.M a British scout force had seen the American unit crossing the border and had presumed that the Americans were launching an attack on the British encampments. The riders headed out to the main British fort across from Vancouver Island which housed 750 troops. The commanding officer Colonel George Anderson decided to take action on his own and dispatched 300 of his troops to deal with the Americans. The next day the American cavalry had finally caught up with the Indian warband and had commenced a small battle to annihilate the party. All 50 of the opposing Indians were killed while 6 Americans were killed with 13 wounded. The Americans having been satisfied with their mission being completed decided to head back across the border and return to camp. What they did not know was that they were being followed by the British party who had planned a surprise attack. Around 4:30 P.M the Americans had crossed the 49th parallel and made base at a small cabin outpost that was used by the army as a way point for supply gathering and was clearly in American territory. This knowledge was uncommon to the British who still suspected they were operating in British lands. Around 6:30 P.M the British force of 300 launched a surprise attack on the American forces who were caught unaware due to their intentions to rest and attend to the wounded. The resulting battle was one sided as the British fought with unrelenting fury against the surprised Americans and mowed down many who had taken up arms. Approximately 26 more Americans would die that day with 17 being wounded and the rest but 6 troops being held as prisoner. The last 6 had managed to escape on horseback in order to alert Kearny that the British had attacked American troops on their territory. When they told their tale to Kearny the man was enraged that the British would massacre his men shortly after completing a battle and that American lives had been lost on their own soil. Deciding to take independent action, Kearny sent a single platoon with instructions to head west in order to inform Washington of the massacre and Kearny's plan to attack the remaining British in Oregon in retaliation. He had assumed that Harrison would want him to commence war in retaliation. On the British side of the camp Colonel Anderson was visibly appalled by the actions of his men since they had found out from interrogating the prisoners that the Americans had only crossed the border to attack a hostile tribe and that they were had attacked the US troops on the American side. In order to clear up the situation and prevent war Anderson sent a squad to the Americans in order to explain their side of the story and give back the prisoners. When the squad was dispatched on March 13th they had found the American forces only 3 days later to discover that the American army had gathered in full force and was ready to invade Canada. When the Americans saw the British scout force they instantly attacked with dozens of men and completely mowed down the British forces, leaving no one alive before they had a chance to explain their actions. Kearny then decided to move the Army of the West to attack the Vancouver garrison, who were unaware of the approaching American army. 8 days later on May 24th all 3000 of the American forces had reached Fort Vancouver and began an immense artillery barrage with their 20 artillery canons. This attack caught the British garrison by surprise who were currently off duty due to it being a Sunday. The barrage continued for 4 hours straight and had killed off 1/4th of the garrison with most of the defenses being destroyed. After getting his men into position Kearny called for a charge and launched the infantry straight at the for while the cavalry flanked the entrances in order to prevent any escape. The Battle of Vancouver would last for the rest of the day as the American army fought viciously in close combat with the British garrison inside the fort and then proceeded to cut down any organization with fast tactical maneuvers by the cavalry. At the end of the day 52 American lives were lost with 73 wounded. The British suffered more previous casualties with 340 dead, 236 wounded and the rest taken prisoner. Among the lives lost were Colonel Anderson. Afterwords Colonel Kearny ordered the rest of the army to secure the surrounding British Oregon in order to secure it as an American occupied zone for future negotiations. Meanwhile and off duty British squad was at a nearby farmhouse where they proceeded to observe the ongoing battle. In the aftermath with the fort fallen this small group of men led by Sargent Victor Hawkins vowed to return back to Toronto in order to warn the Canadian authorities that they were attacked by the Americans on British soil.
US Cavalry in the Aftermath of the Battle of Vancouver (Left) Fort Vancouver (Center) Colonel Stephen Kearny (Right)
By mid-July word had reached both America and Canada of the attacks by both sides on the border, each nation was convinced that they were wrongfully attacked by an aggressive expanding neighbor on their border and that the dead needed to be avenged. Within both nations however there were factions that had wanted for peace. On the Canadian side most of the population were nervous about going to war as the US was far superior in both industry and population. While they were able to successfully defend their nation last time it was mainly due to the incompetence of the US military and its poor organization. Since then the American forces had increased greatly and the nation was more connected with the usage of railroads, allowing for greater movement of troops and resources within the United States. Still the threats by the British forces with charges of treason along with mass demonstrations by Canadian patriots would keep the country on the path to war. Immediately after the colonial government began plans for war, news was sent to Britain in order to warn them of the coming storm and ask them for reinforcements. Meanwhile Quebecois patriots who were veterans of the Lower Canada rebellions were secretly gathering and plotting. They saw this war as a chance for liberation from the British tyrants from their American cousins who had managed to do so only eight decades before. Representatives were sent to Washington in order to ask for support while they planned for the new rebellion to commence. On the American side the public was increasingly going towards war while in congress there were still many who wanted to avoid war through negotiations. Both the South and New England faction were wary of war with Great Britain as it would disrupt their trade with the South's export of cotton and New England's of manufactured goods. Both regions had relied heavily on British imports also and New England would be the first one to suffer under a British invasion. With this opposition violence erupted in the United States Congress with New York Senator Daniel Dickinson at one point assaulting South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun with Calhoun being accused of cowardice for not wanting to fight the British and attempt negotiations. The matter was ultimately resolved when President Harrison appeared before a joint session and asked for congress to give a decleration of war against the United Kingdom for violating American sovereignty and attacking US troops on American soil. Most congressmen relented due to pressure from their respective representative counties and states and thus war was declared on July 20th with a congressional approval of 195-35 in the Senate and 41-11 in the Senate. The Oregon War had commenced.
In terms of strategy for the beginning of the war the two sides would differ immensely. The Canadians would prefer to take a defensive approach as they were in noway able to launch an invasion of the massive United States. Instead differing to fortify their positions and launch raids across the border while they awaited for reinforcements from Britain. The American side differed greatly as they had wanted to end the war as soon as possible in order to prevent a large-scale invasion from the superior Royal Navy. In order to achieve this Harrison and the Department of the War had come up with the Carolus plan, named after Swedish King Charles XII. Currently the United States had around 15,000 regular troops on the border compared to the Canadians 10,000 and had planned to launch a blitzkrieg attack in coordination with an additional 20,000 militia from the surrounding states while the rest of the nation began recruitment. The Army would be divided into four groups with Army Group West (5000) Central (10,000) New York (12,500) and Maine (7,500) West would launch attacks on the Canadian border west of the great lakes and then invade eastward toward Ontario, while Kearny's Army of the west would head back to them after securing the Oregon country and arriving with additional reinforcements from the Midwest. Central would launch an invasion of Southern Ontario once the Great Lakes fleets had successfully secured control of Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron. Before total naval superiority would be achieved they would be in charge of defense of Michigan and Western New York. Army Group New York would take the most defensive position in the beginning by securing the border of the state with both Ontario and Quebec. Once all Canadian attacks had ceased the army would then be given the go ahead to invade Quebec and target first Montreal and then Quebec City, hopefully launching a rebellion of Ontario in the process. Finally Army Group Maine would quickly launch a rush into New Brunswick to secure the area against an invasion. If the British Navy was to arrive then they would stay away from Nova Scotia and focus on securing Maine. Finally the US Navy would begin the first months of the war destroying whatever fleets the British would have in Canada while launching activity against British colonies in the Gulf. When the Royal Armada would arrive in force the Navy would resume a defensive position on American shipping and the coastline. It was a very daring plan that would need the upmost time and speed if the United States was to secure Canada and increase the Army to at least 150,000 to prepare for a future British Invasion. The War to decide the fate of North America was now under way.
Theater of Operations under the Carolus Plan. Black Represents troop movements while Green represents US Navy control and movements.
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For those of you who have read Chapter 34 I have edited the map of the American Invasion plans and replaced the incomplete and jumbled mess with a full version. Sorry for the mistakes with the first one but I was working on the post very early in the morning and experienced difficulties uploading the map initially due to the file being to large for a post. I was too tired to change it entirely so I cut it into 4 separate pieces to fit. For now here is the American strategy for the Oregon War. Next post will be a short narrative that will introduce familiar Civil War faces to the Oregon Conflict.
Sorry about that I changed the number to 20 artillery canons. I'm not an expert on military formations or anything and in my mind I was thinking of 3-4 people per canon for all 150 canons. Thanks for the heads up.
Lone Star Special: Off to War
Off to War
July 20th, 1846. 4:00 P.M. Washington D.C
'Damn the British! Damn them to a thousand hells for putting us in this situation.' These were the thoughts of young congressmen Abraham Lincoln as he made his way out of the Congressional Chamber where they had just held a joint session between the House of Representatives and the Senate. The topic was of course the issue of Oregon as the recent actions of the British which included the massacre of a US cavalry force on their soil had been the source of cries from the war hawks to launch an invasion of Canada and receive what was "rightfully" America's. Lincoln the entire time had been hoping that maybe the issue could be resolved peacefully in negotiations as the man while not a soldier, knew that any war going up against the might of the British Empire was pure suicide in and of itself. Unfortunately this turned out to be a pipe dream when President Harrison himself, the head of Lincoln's party the Whigs, appeared before the session and demanded that a deceleration of War be made upon the United Kingdom. The man had droned on for an entire hour about various things such as the injustices of the British crown, their exploitation of the colonies, the need to liberate Quebec, our right to expand to the Pacific, etc. etc. To an outsider it would seem that William Harrison had prepared a long speech for the sake of publicity but Lincoln knew better. He knew that the purpose of making his war speech an hour was to settle in the congressman's minds that the United States would be going to war, subconsciously encouraging them to vote for the war. Unfortunately, it worked as it forced Lincoln who was a pacifist before to vote for the war. It was not as if Lincoln changed his entire political viewpoint then and there but rather the fact that as Harrison was making his speech Lincoln looked around the room and saw that many of the representatives were slowly being turned to the Pro-War faction as their eyes were filled with bloodlust and a desire to beat Britain once more. Why Lincoln voted for the war was mainly to keep his congressional seat more than anything else as him voting against it would ruin his entire political career. His home state of Illinois was long opposed to the Canadian threat and with the undeniability of the massacre taking place they would surely vote Lincoln out of office if he refused. While that in and of itself may look selfish to many, Lincoln did it so that his presence in congress could help the Whig Party in future struggles after the war, such as the inevitable slavery debate that would come after a hypothetical annexation of Oregon. 'If only I could act as bravely as those who chose to stand by their beliefs and voted in opposition. But I'm just a lowly congressman from Illinois, it's not like I will ever have the power to change America for the better.'
Afterwords Lincoln made his way over to the congressional bar that was found within the left side of the building where he saw fellow Illinois representative Stephen Douglas. In many ways the two men were complete polar opposites of each other. Lincoln was a loyal Whig while Douglas was a diehard Democrat. Lincoln was a rather tall man at 6 ft. 4 and spoke softly in a clam rational manner, Douglas had a height of a foot less and spoke with a greater passion and fire than Lincoln could ever hope to inspire. Walking over to the bar Lincoln was noticed by Douglas who waved him over to come and join him, Douglas was currently drinking a glass of whiskey. "Abe! Come over here why such a long face we should celebrate. We're finally going to show the British what for and win our birthright of Oregon." "You seem to be in awfully high spirits considering we're in a state of war." "Well why not? We defeated the British twice before we can do it again."
'Fool. It's that exact same mentality that is going to take our country on a path to ruin someday.' Lincoln then sat down and ordered a glass of Ale. "You do seem to forgot Stephen that the last two wars weren't won by our martial prowess alone. The Revolution was only won thanks to the intervention of France and Spain, without them we'd all be British right now. And I don't really think that the War of 1812 can be considered a victory. It was at best a draw and to the British only a sideshow with Napoleon rampaging all over Europe. Now we have no allies and Britain has its sole attention on us this time around, it's going to be anything but easy." "Oh come on I wouldn't be so sure about that. We've changed much since the last war, our army is larger and the North more industrialized, if we strike hard and quick enough than we can do it. Besides you yourself voted for the war if I remember" 'Yes but it's not like my veto would even matter in the grand scheme of things.' When the bartender returned with the ale Lincoln took a large shot for himself. Mary never really approved of men who consumed too much alcohol but Lincoln figured that if the country was going to go to shit than you might as well have one last drink before everything hits the fan. Douglas then chose to change the subject.
"So Abe since we're going to be going off to war anyways what exactly are you going to do in the conflict? Thinking about taking one of those offers of command?" To be honest Lincoln had been thinking of that himself since news of the Battle of Vancouver had reached Washington. He knew that he was no military genius to simply take a politician's path to officership, yet Lincoln had served in the Illinois militia in the past and had gained some valuable experience from his days taking part in the Black Hawk War. Mary herself was very against the idea as she had pleaded that he should stay in Washington so that their sons young Robert and the small infant Edward would not lose their father. Yet Lincoln had pointed out to her that there was a strong chance that Illinois would be invaded anyways and he did not want to lose their homes to the British. "Actually I have been thinking quite a bit on the offer. Recently I was approached by President Harrison himself who offered me the position of Lieutenant Colonel and a post within the new Army Group Central. Got any offers yourself?"
"Me? Oh heavens no. I'm too damn short for the army to want as a soldier or leader of men, I'm not Napoleon after all. No, what I'm thinking of is staying within Washington during the fight, you know helping to keep congress running in war time. If all goes well I'll probably continue my run for the senate this time of year. James Semple isn't going to run for reelection and the other highly popular candidates will be off in the fight. If I'm chosen as Senator then I'll even have a part to play in the future peace treaty, not that I want the war to last that long that is." 'Of course you would stay behind in Congress while everyone else is fighting and dying.' It wasn't that Douglas was a corrupt or vile man, rather that his ambition was as large and egocentric as a Roman. He always sought to make himself the center of attention during the congressional debates and hadn't made it a secret that he desired the White House after Harrison left office. 'If we lose then he may even get his chance.'
"Well best of luck to your current adventures Abe. May you bring our nation much glory and honor in the fight against the English scum." Douglas said raising his glass in a mock toast. "And to you as well Stephen, may our oh so glorious future leader keep the dogs of Washington in line." Lincoln returned to which Douglas laughed at. "Cheers! To the conquest of Canada and the strength of the Union Forever!" "Union Forever."
July 24th, 1846. 7:30 P.M. Army Group New York, 40 miles Northwest of Albany, New York.
Captain Robert Edward Lee was currently sitting in front of a campfire trying to write a letter to his wife Mary who he had sent back home to Virginia earlier along with the kids when he had gotten a wind of the upcoming war. As of right now Lee was a member of General Scott's staff and had been involved in the past few days of planning for their future invasion of Canada. Currently the British hadn't made a move into New York yet but Lee knew that the current peace was only temporary and that the limey's were soon to strike any day now. As head officer of the artillery and engineering department Lee was in charge of setting up defenses for the New York forces while simultaneously training the artillery officers for the upcoming battle with the British. Lee had been doing a good job so far and had drilled his men into an efficient fighting force. This was helpful in that it took Lee's mind away from thoughts of the upcoming battlefield that he would soon take part in any week or so from now. When Lee had graduated West Point he was no fool to the dangers of war. Anyone could die at any time whether they be the highest general or the lowliest private. However when Lee joined that was long before he had met Mary and started a family with her. Now as he was about to do his duty their was no guarantee that he would ever make it back, thus causing his current situation right now. 'Dear my beloved Mary, if you are reading this then by now we will have gone into battle and the fighting will begin, if I should fall then I ask of you to take care of the children and...' 'Dammit this is something that needs to be done, why the hell can't I come up with the proper words.' It was probably because Lee himself did not want to accept the possibility of death, he would fight on for sure but he would be damned if some backwards Canadian would manage to launch a stray shot and take his life. As Lee was contemplating this a slightly tipsy Second Lieutenant was making his way towards him, the man was somewhat of a slacker in Lee's mind, never wanting to take his job too seriously and looking forward to the end of his four year term. 'Honestly a disgrace as a fellow West Point graduate, what was his name again, ah yes Grant.'
Ulysses S. Grant then made his way over too Lee in a unbalanced and lopsided manner, "Mind if I have a sit here sir? I would go back to my own tent but as you see I'm currently in a bit of a condition and I wouldn't want to walk in any of my subordinate's quarters." "Go ahead the campfire is open to everyone." "Much obliged, Captain." With that Grant collapse and sat next to Lee on a log. "You know you should really refrain from drinking. We could be given the order to march tomorrow and I don't want any of the officers to act like a fool in front of the enlisted men. I mean you graduated from West Point just like me for Christ's sake, where's you dignity?"
"I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable of holding down my liquor. And it's because these are our final days here at camp that I intend to enjoy myself. If I'm going to go off and die in a foreign land for the sake of trees and beavers then I might as well make some happy memories before I leave this Earth. Isn't that why your writing to the misses after all?" Grant said pointing to the letter in Lee's hand. Lee could not exactly argue with him after that. When he looked at the faces of those under his command he knew the odds were that he would see many of them dug in a grave in the future, it wouldn't exactly hurt for someone to have some moments of peace before the battlefield. "Besides while I may not have wanted to attend West Point in the first place it's because of my time at the school that I fully intend to win this war so that after I can go home and become a successful businessman. Hell I've got a wining strategy all planned out in the back of my mind."
Lee perked up his attention at this. While he didn't really think that Grant would come up with a sound strategy, as a member of the Staff Lee always tried to get his superiors to understand his input and even took the opinions of his own men into consideration when he came up with plans. So while he thought the mans claim was outlandish he as a fellow officer had to at least give him a chance. "Well then Lieutenant, please enlighten us exactly of how you plan to beat the largest empire on the face of the Earth." "Alright then, just give me a pencil and some papers and I'll show you just how I can win the war." With that Grant then spent the next thirty minutes detailing his plan which was a surprisingly detailed and well thought out strategy. Unlike the Carolus plan that the army was using what Grant called was for a single large offensive against Quebec with around 2/3rds of the might of the current forces stationed in the North. The rest of the army meanwhile would be stationed at Michigan and Maine in order to protect the border. The army would then commence warfare in a quick strike taking out the cities of Montreal and Quebec before the Canadian forces could be raised in retaliation. After that the army would be split off in half to deal with both the invasion of both Southern Ontario and the Maritime Provinces. Once all of Canada was conquered then the entire United States military would be divided into three with one force overrunning the west, the other occupying Canada, and the last dedicated to protecting the Eastern seaboard from British invasion. Lee noted that in Grant's plan he had relied largely on the railroads for transportation and supplies while combating the enemy with large waves of assaults to be supported by constant artillery barrages while the cavalry encircled the enemy in a pincer movement to cut off escape.
"By God man this plan is actually brilliant! How the hell can you claim to be wanting to leave the army when you have such a talent for warfare? I think even General Scott would want you on his staff." "Don't flatter me too much Captain. Whenever I am given a task I put my mind to it and see that it is a complete success. Even if I never wanted to join the army originally I do plan to at least go out in style and triumph. The only problem is those idiots in high command put me in an infantry regiment as a quartermaster when I'm a cavalrymen for crying out loud. I should be leading the charge against the enemy not peeling potatoes and counting loafs of bread." "Well if you want I can put in a good word for you with the general and asked that you be placed in the staff as an adjutant to the Quartermaster General." "Really? You'd do that for a man like me?" "You may be a drunkard Grant but your mind is sound and it would be a waste not to have you take part in the planning. The only problem is that your strategy has a few key flaws that need to be corrected." "Bullshit, my plan is perfect! I'd like to see you do better Richmond.""Gladly." With that the two men spent the next two hours talking about various parts of warfare such as tactics, strategy, weaponry, and even naval plans. They continued their conversation until the senior officers ordered for the men to get rest and then they both went their separate ways, promising to continue their discussions another day while Lee would keep his promise to speak to the General. What both men didn't know at the time was that this would be the start of a lifelong friendship that would forever change the United States Army.
July 20th, 1846. 4:00 P.M. Washington D.C
'Damn the British! Damn them to a thousand hells for putting us in this situation.' These were the thoughts of young congressmen Abraham Lincoln as he made his way out of the Congressional Chamber where they had just held a joint session between the House of Representatives and the Senate. The topic was of course the issue of Oregon as the recent actions of the British which included the massacre of a US cavalry force on their soil had been the source of cries from the war hawks to launch an invasion of Canada and receive what was "rightfully" America's. Lincoln the entire time had been hoping that maybe the issue could be resolved peacefully in negotiations as the man while not a soldier, knew that any war going up against the might of the British Empire was pure suicide in and of itself. Unfortunately this turned out to be a pipe dream when President Harrison himself, the head of Lincoln's party the Whigs, appeared before the session and demanded that a deceleration of War be made upon the United Kingdom. The man had droned on for an entire hour about various things such as the injustices of the British crown, their exploitation of the colonies, the need to liberate Quebec, our right to expand to the Pacific, etc. etc. To an outsider it would seem that William Harrison had prepared a long speech for the sake of publicity but Lincoln knew better. He knew that the purpose of making his war speech an hour was to settle in the congressman's minds that the United States would be going to war, subconsciously encouraging them to vote for the war. Unfortunately, it worked as it forced Lincoln who was a pacifist before to vote for the war. It was not as if Lincoln changed his entire political viewpoint then and there but rather the fact that as Harrison was making his speech Lincoln looked around the room and saw that many of the representatives were slowly being turned to the Pro-War faction as their eyes were filled with bloodlust and a desire to beat Britain once more. Why Lincoln voted for the war was mainly to keep his congressional seat more than anything else as him voting against it would ruin his entire political career. His home state of Illinois was long opposed to the Canadian threat and with the undeniability of the massacre taking place they would surely vote Lincoln out of office if he refused. While that in and of itself may look selfish to many, Lincoln did it so that his presence in congress could help the Whig Party in future struggles after the war, such as the inevitable slavery debate that would come after a hypothetical annexation of Oregon. 'If only I could act as bravely as those who chose to stand by their beliefs and voted in opposition. But I'm just a lowly congressman from Illinois, it's not like I will ever have the power to change America for the better.'
Afterwords Lincoln made his way over to the congressional bar that was found within the left side of the building where he saw fellow Illinois representative Stephen Douglas. In many ways the two men were complete polar opposites of each other. Lincoln was a loyal Whig while Douglas was a diehard Democrat. Lincoln was a rather tall man at 6 ft. 4 and spoke softly in a clam rational manner, Douglas had a height of a foot less and spoke with a greater passion and fire than Lincoln could ever hope to inspire. Walking over to the bar Lincoln was noticed by Douglas who waved him over to come and join him, Douglas was currently drinking a glass of whiskey. "Abe! Come over here why such a long face we should celebrate. We're finally going to show the British what for and win our birthright of Oregon." "You seem to be in awfully high spirits considering we're in a state of war." "Well why not? We defeated the British twice before we can do it again."
'Fool. It's that exact same mentality that is going to take our country on a path to ruin someday.' Lincoln then sat down and ordered a glass of Ale. "You do seem to forgot Stephen that the last two wars weren't won by our martial prowess alone. The Revolution was only won thanks to the intervention of France and Spain, without them we'd all be British right now. And I don't really think that the War of 1812 can be considered a victory. It was at best a draw and to the British only a sideshow with Napoleon rampaging all over Europe. Now we have no allies and Britain has its sole attention on us this time around, it's going to be anything but easy." "Oh come on I wouldn't be so sure about that. We've changed much since the last war, our army is larger and the North more industrialized, if we strike hard and quick enough than we can do it. Besides you yourself voted for the war if I remember" 'Yes but it's not like my veto would even matter in the grand scheme of things.' When the bartender returned with the ale Lincoln took a large shot for himself. Mary never really approved of men who consumed too much alcohol but Lincoln figured that if the country was going to go to shit than you might as well have one last drink before everything hits the fan. Douglas then chose to change the subject.
"So Abe since we're going to be going off to war anyways what exactly are you going to do in the conflict? Thinking about taking one of those offers of command?" To be honest Lincoln had been thinking of that himself since news of the Battle of Vancouver had reached Washington. He knew that he was no military genius to simply take a politician's path to officership, yet Lincoln had served in the Illinois militia in the past and had gained some valuable experience from his days taking part in the Black Hawk War. Mary herself was very against the idea as she had pleaded that he should stay in Washington so that their sons young Robert and the small infant Edward would not lose their father. Yet Lincoln had pointed out to her that there was a strong chance that Illinois would be invaded anyways and he did not want to lose their homes to the British. "Actually I have been thinking quite a bit on the offer. Recently I was approached by President Harrison himself who offered me the position of Lieutenant Colonel and a post within the new Army Group Central. Got any offers yourself?"
"Me? Oh heavens no. I'm too damn short for the army to want as a soldier or leader of men, I'm not Napoleon after all. No, what I'm thinking of is staying within Washington during the fight, you know helping to keep congress running in war time. If all goes well I'll probably continue my run for the senate this time of year. James Semple isn't going to run for reelection and the other highly popular candidates will be off in the fight. If I'm chosen as Senator then I'll even have a part to play in the future peace treaty, not that I want the war to last that long that is." 'Of course you would stay behind in Congress while everyone else is fighting and dying.' It wasn't that Douglas was a corrupt or vile man, rather that his ambition was as large and egocentric as a Roman. He always sought to make himself the center of attention during the congressional debates and hadn't made it a secret that he desired the White House after Harrison left office. 'If we lose then he may even get his chance.'
"Well best of luck to your current adventures Abe. May you bring our nation much glory and honor in the fight against the English scum." Douglas said raising his glass in a mock toast. "And to you as well Stephen, may our oh so glorious future leader keep the dogs of Washington in line." Lincoln returned to which Douglas laughed at. "Cheers! To the conquest of Canada and the strength of the Union Forever!" "Union Forever."
July 24th, 1846. 7:30 P.M. Army Group New York, 40 miles Northwest of Albany, New York.
Captain Robert Edward Lee was currently sitting in front of a campfire trying to write a letter to his wife Mary who he had sent back home to Virginia earlier along with the kids when he had gotten a wind of the upcoming war. As of right now Lee was a member of General Scott's staff and had been involved in the past few days of planning for their future invasion of Canada. Currently the British hadn't made a move into New York yet but Lee knew that the current peace was only temporary and that the limey's were soon to strike any day now. As head officer of the artillery and engineering department Lee was in charge of setting up defenses for the New York forces while simultaneously training the artillery officers for the upcoming battle with the British. Lee had been doing a good job so far and had drilled his men into an efficient fighting force. This was helpful in that it took Lee's mind away from thoughts of the upcoming battlefield that he would soon take part in any week or so from now. When Lee had graduated West Point he was no fool to the dangers of war. Anyone could die at any time whether they be the highest general or the lowliest private. However when Lee joined that was long before he had met Mary and started a family with her. Now as he was about to do his duty their was no guarantee that he would ever make it back, thus causing his current situation right now. 'Dear my beloved Mary, if you are reading this then by now we will have gone into battle and the fighting will begin, if I should fall then I ask of you to take care of the children and...' 'Dammit this is something that needs to be done, why the hell can't I come up with the proper words.' It was probably because Lee himself did not want to accept the possibility of death, he would fight on for sure but he would be damned if some backwards Canadian would manage to launch a stray shot and take his life. As Lee was contemplating this a slightly tipsy Second Lieutenant was making his way towards him, the man was somewhat of a slacker in Lee's mind, never wanting to take his job too seriously and looking forward to the end of his four year term. 'Honestly a disgrace as a fellow West Point graduate, what was his name again, ah yes Grant.'
Ulysses S. Grant then made his way over too Lee in a unbalanced and lopsided manner, "Mind if I have a sit here sir? I would go back to my own tent but as you see I'm currently in a bit of a condition and I wouldn't want to walk in any of my subordinate's quarters." "Go ahead the campfire is open to everyone." "Much obliged, Captain." With that Grant collapse and sat next to Lee on a log. "You know you should really refrain from drinking. We could be given the order to march tomorrow and I don't want any of the officers to act like a fool in front of the enlisted men. I mean you graduated from West Point just like me for Christ's sake, where's you dignity?"
"I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable of holding down my liquor. And it's because these are our final days here at camp that I intend to enjoy myself. If I'm going to go off and die in a foreign land for the sake of trees and beavers then I might as well make some happy memories before I leave this Earth. Isn't that why your writing to the misses after all?" Grant said pointing to the letter in Lee's hand. Lee could not exactly argue with him after that. When he looked at the faces of those under his command he knew the odds were that he would see many of them dug in a grave in the future, it wouldn't exactly hurt for someone to have some moments of peace before the battlefield. "Besides while I may not have wanted to attend West Point in the first place it's because of my time at the school that I fully intend to win this war so that after I can go home and become a successful businessman. Hell I've got a wining strategy all planned out in the back of my mind."
Lee perked up his attention at this. While he didn't really think that Grant would come up with a sound strategy, as a member of the Staff Lee always tried to get his superiors to understand his input and even took the opinions of his own men into consideration when he came up with plans. So while he thought the mans claim was outlandish he as a fellow officer had to at least give him a chance. "Well then Lieutenant, please enlighten us exactly of how you plan to beat the largest empire on the face of the Earth." "Alright then, just give me a pencil and some papers and I'll show you just how I can win the war." With that Grant then spent the next thirty minutes detailing his plan which was a surprisingly detailed and well thought out strategy. Unlike the Carolus plan that the army was using what Grant called was for a single large offensive against Quebec with around 2/3rds of the might of the current forces stationed in the North. The rest of the army meanwhile would be stationed at Michigan and Maine in order to protect the border. The army would then commence warfare in a quick strike taking out the cities of Montreal and Quebec before the Canadian forces could be raised in retaliation. After that the army would be split off in half to deal with both the invasion of both Southern Ontario and the Maritime Provinces. Once all of Canada was conquered then the entire United States military would be divided into three with one force overrunning the west, the other occupying Canada, and the last dedicated to protecting the Eastern seaboard from British invasion. Lee noted that in Grant's plan he had relied largely on the railroads for transportation and supplies while combating the enemy with large waves of assaults to be supported by constant artillery barrages while the cavalry encircled the enemy in a pincer movement to cut off escape.
"By God man this plan is actually brilliant! How the hell can you claim to be wanting to leave the army when you have such a talent for warfare? I think even General Scott would want you on his staff." "Don't flatter me too much Captain. Whenever I am given a task I put my mind to it and see that it is a complete success. Even if I never wanted to join the army originally I do plan to at least go out in style and triumph. The only problem is those idiots in high command put me in an infantry regiment as a quartermaster when I'm a cavalrymen for crying out loud. I should be leading the charge against the enemy not peeling potatoes and counting loafs of bread." "Well if you want I can put in a good word for you with the general and asked that you be placed in the staff as an adjutant to the Quartermaster General." "Really? You'd do that for a man like me?" "You may be a drunkard Grant but your mind is sound and it would be a waste not to have you take part in the planning. The only problem is that your strategy has a few key flaws that need to be corrected." "Bullshit, my plan is perfect! I'd like to see you do better Richmond.""Gladly." With that the two men spent the next two hours talking about various parts of warfare such as tactics, strategy, weaponry, and even naval plans. They continued their conversation until the senior officers ordered for the men to get rest and then they both went their separate ways, promising to continue their discussions another day while Lee would keep his promise to speak to the General. What both men didn't know at the time was that this would be the start of a lifelong friendship that would forever change the United States Army.
So the war started do to both sides not know what the other was up to and what side of the 49th they were on, Britain has to keep an eye on Europe while all this is going on, Lincoln is off to fight, and Grant and Lee are becoming friends. The Oregon War is off to a great start.
Now to get down to brass tacks, for the US to do its best in this war it need to take advantage of speed. The US does have a larger population and a much shorter supply line, but Britain has a better over all army at the moment. Given time the US can become thier equal (and Texas can be used to keep supplies coming if Britain gets a blockade going), but the sooner the US occupies Canada and sets up an independent Quebec,* the sooner Britain will come to the table. Either a modified Carolus plan, or the one Grant put forward should do the job, but the US needs to move.
Item two, you hint at something interesting when you say Grant and Lee form a life long friendship. Now it is possible the in the coming civil war each go there seperate ways and then make up (If memory serves Grant and Longstreet weren't on bad terms after the war), but it may be possible Lee sides with the north in your timeline. I'll wait and see myself, but I expect something more than just drinking buddies to come of this.**
Anywho, good updates.
*You said something about plotters going to Washington, and it'll give the US a good ally while relations with Texas are in the dumps. Plus it is probably easier than annexing the thing.
**Although I'm sure President Johnson wouldn't mind them coming to The President's Pub and buying a few rounds.
Now to get down to brass tacks, for the US to do its best in this war it need to take advantage of speed. The US does have a larger population and a much shorter supply line, but Britain has a better over all army at the moment. Given time the US can become thier equal (and Texas can be used to keep supplies coming if Britain gets a blockade going), but the sooner the US occupies Canada and sets up an independent Quebec,* the sooner Britain will come to the table. Either a modified Carolus plan, or the one Grant put forward should do the job, but the US needs to move.
Item two, you hint at something interesting when you say Grant and Lee form a life long friendship. Now it is possible the in the coming civil war each go there seperate ways and then make up (If memory serves Grant and Longstreet weren't on bad terms after the war), but it may be possible Lee sides with the north in your timeline. I'll wait and see myself, but I expect something more than just drinking buddies to come of this.**
Anywho, good updates.
*You said something about plotters going to Washington, and it'll give the US a good ally while relations with Texas are in the dumps. Plus it is probably easier than annexing the thing.
**Although I'm sure President Johnson wouldn't mind them coming to The President's Pub and buying a few rounds.