Lone Star Republic

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 35 Liberation of Lombardy

"The Italian Army is one of the finest armed forces in all of the world. For the past seventy years we have acted as the elite legions of Rome, uniting all of our people and establishing dominance across the Mediterranean. With the success of the Tenth Crusade we have become defenders of the holy land. France and Germany may take us on, but they'll have to go through hell if they want to get anywhere near Rome."- Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna 1916
"Come my brothers! Abandon your Austrian oppressors and join us in the grand crusade to unite all of Italia."- Giuseppe Garibaldi 1846
"Day 36. The Italians refuse to abandon the siege and are constantly bombarding us with artillery fire every hour. Their ranks grow more and more everyday as all of Italy seems to fall in bed within the leauge. Half of the time the Italians we're fighting aren't even outside but within the walls, with the populace growing more agitated every day. I would pray to God but it seems the Holy Father is on Italy's side."- Captain Erich Maximoff 1846

At the start of the Lombard-Venetian War of Independence both sides were evenly matched against each other. The professional troops of the Italian league comprised of over 115,000 men with the greatest portion being from Sardinia-Piedmont who contributed over 50,000 of these armed forces. While the Italians could draw from large sources of manpower they were not the most professional or elite force within Europe, that distinction going to Prussia and Great Britain. In addition very few soldiers were veterans of the Napoleonic Wars and while they were united in the cause of a united Italy there was still many regional divisions within command and the cooperation of the troops. On the side of the Austrian army was a 100,000 men force led by Josef Radetzky. On paper the Austrians were superior with their large pool of officers, heavy amount of artillery and rifles, and large amount of veterans from the Napoleonic Wars. Had the war been going at any other time the Austrians would have succeeded but with the beginning taking place in 1846, the empire was currently under much strife with revolution. Across the army mass insubordination took place as Hungarians withdrew to their homeland, democrats refused to fire a shot against revolutionaries, and the Italian troops flocked to the rebel banners en mass with an estimated 10,000 soldiers defecting to the league in the conflict. With Austria being multi-national there were many different languages that were spoken through the enlisted ranks which made communications and orders quite difficult. For now in the beginning it was a race against time to see who could take the tactical advantage in Northern Italy first, the Italian organization of their forces, or Austria successfully suppressing its dissident forces.

King Charles Albert of Sardinia-Piedmont (Right) Giuseppe Garibaldi (Center) Josef Radetzky (Left)

The first side to take decisive action in the war was the Piedmontese with their main army under the personal command of King Charles Albert. On April 4th the Piedmontese vanguard entered into the city of Milan where they liberated the head of the revolution much to the delight of the native Italian populace. From there a main base of operations was established with Piedmontese forces rolling in the surrounding countryside to liberate it from what little Austrian resistance there was left. For the next month the Piedmontese army waited in Milan as the rest of the Kingdom mobilized in order to enlarge the army and be prepared for a possible prolonged war. The reason for this lull in advance was due to the desire to continue Italian resistance within Austrian occupied lands, with more people joining the movement as the revolutionaries in Milan under Garibaldi continued to spread their rhetoric. Further east the Papal armies and those of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, were securing the borders and slowly moving into Lombardy in order to apply the same strategy. The main goal of the Papal army along with Sicilian reinforcements at the time was to make slow advances in order to connect a supply line with the Republic of San Marco, both forces waited for an advance in order for their respective nations to mobilize as the distances where longer in the two kingdoms. The Austrian army during all this did not sit idly by and chose to consolidate their main citadels at the Quadrilatero. West and North of Venetia, Radetzky was busy dealing with Italian movements in Tyrol and Slovenia, due to the role of the Italian populations as minorities these uprising were quickly quelled. Despite the difficulties faced by Radetzky with the ongoing unrest in Austria he was able to consolidate their positions and receive reinforcements from the Austrian side of the empire, primarily the Slavs from Bohemia and Slovakia. During the first month many skirmishes and small battles took place on the front lines with most initial victories going to the Austrian forces.

Borders of War at the end of April 1846. Italian territory in Green, Austrian in Red.

As May began each side took to the offensive in order to gain the initial momentum of the war and prevent a full invasion of their lands. The Piedmontese marched eastward with the objectives of the fortresses of Verona and Peschiera in their mind. The Austrians diverted their forces to meet the Piedmontese advance in order to retake Milan. Both sides met success and defeat as the Piedmontese won the battle of Pastrengo where they managed to overwhelm the Austrian army in a 4:1 superiority, after this the left flank of the Piedmontese army diverted there forces to Peschiera in order to siege the fort. Another army led by Charles Albert made its way further east in order to assault the fortress of Verona to consolidate the north. On May 6th the Piedmontese assaulted Verona with both sides having an army of 33,000, resulting in much failure due to the main force of the Austrian army being stationed in the fort as well as the positioning of multiple canons across the walls to deflect all Piedmontese attacks. The assaults where a disaster with 385 Piedmonts KIA, 776 WIA, and 421 POW. The Austrians overall suffered lighter casualties with 110 KIA and 292 WIA. Among the side of the Austrian defenders was Archduke Franz Joseph. After the assaults failed and the Piedmontese retreated, Radetzky lead the Austrians to charge in order to push the Italians back and win some much needed morale for the Austrian army. What resulted was the Battle of Mincio on May 8th with the Austrian army advancing en mass on the Piedmontese troops in an organized and multi-flank charge, pushing them across the Mincio river. The Piedmontese suffered more casualties with 560 KIA, 808 WIA, and 444 POW; Austria having a casualty list of 197 KIA, and 252 WIA. With Western Venetia now secured Radetzky had raised the morale of his troops considerably and continued moving west to free Peschiera from siege and capture Milan, afterwords he would turn southwards and eliminate the Papal presence outside the fortress of Mantova to cut off access to San Marco. For the next twenty days each side played a game of cat and mouse until the Battle of Curatone on May 28th where the Piedmontese were once again pushed backwards after another Austrian defeat. Radetzky cornered Charles Albert and his forces around the city of Goito on May 30th. Here the Austrians advanced but were unable to overcome the Piedmontese as they had set up defensive positions at this location within the last month and had a superior artillery advantage. Near the evening the Austrians had managed to break through the left flank when Italian reinforcements had come from the South led by General Julius Veneziano of the Papal States in coordination with additional brigades from the Sicilies. With the arrival of reinforcements the Italians were able to fill the gaps in its defenses and push the Austrians back behind their starting lines. Radetzky chose to retreat the next day when word came that both the forts of Verona and Mantova had surrendered to the Italian forces. The Battle of Goito was the first major victory for Italians of the war as while they had taken heavier casualties with 634 KIA along with 506 WIA compared to Austria's 268 KIA, 324 WIA and 135 POW; they had managed to strategically push the Austrians out of Lombardy permanently and regain the offensive momentum.

Battle of Goito (Right). Borders of War at the end of May 1846

For all of June the allied Italian armies continued to overrun much of Venetia with the aid of tens of thousands of volunteer revolutionaries who joined their ranks. The Italians gained another substantial victory at the Battle of Cuzstoza on June 9th where they had broken up an Austrian gathering to counterattack into Lombardy and had inflicted enormous casualties with over 2,000 Austrian casualties compared to the Italians 754. Towards the end of the month the Austrians were pushed back across the Adige river with the forts of Verona and Legnago being actively siege while the Romans and sicilians were pushing actively into Venice with the Ventian revolutionaries encouraging cities across the Kingdom to rise up in revolt and head west in order to link up with the Western Italian armies, resulting in the remaining half of the Quadrilatero being encircled with over 50,000 Austrians cut off from greater forces. At sea meanwhile a great armada of the Italian league had formed with over 100 ships being directed by Sicilian Admiral Romano Girardelli. The Italian fleet had been assembled over the past two months within Naples and made their way towards the Adriatic where they would make an effective blockade with the Austrians. This would have a huge longterm strategic impact on the war as the Unification of Germany under Prussia three months later would essentially cut off Austria from most of the outside world. With the uprisings in Venice many of the Austrian navy defected to the Italian cause while the remainder was essentially destroyed in the Battle of Istria where a 50 ship strong fleet of the Italians basically crushed all but 3 of the remaining 22 Austrian forces in port. Unintentionally the blockade of Austria would also help the Austrian cause as Croatia swore their loyalties to Vienna, causing their ports to be actively blockaded.

Battle of Castoza (Right) Battle of Istria (Center) Borders of War at the end of June 1846 (Left)

July became the greatest success for the Italians in the early stages of the war as Radetzky retreated with the remaining 35,000 forces of the Austrian army under his command after suffering a string of defeats in Lombardy, facing multiple assaults from the Ventian civilian population daily, and under active blockade from the Italian navies. After hearing word of the retreat of their main commander the forts of Verona and Legnano surrendered on July 7th and 9th respectively. The rest of the month was dedicated to liberating the remainder of the Kingdom of Venice and finally linking up with the young republic of San Marco. All of Venetia would be consolidated and the Italians would gain more volunteers flock to their armies in numerous numbers. With their main goals achieved a peace offer was sent to Emperor Ferdinand on July 21st with the offer of a cease fire until a decisive treaty would be signed where Austria would relinquish control of its Italian territories to the league, the reason no decisive terms were offered yet being due to the disagreement on which nation the countries would go to. Unfortunately Ferdinand would refuse to back down as until then the Frankfurt Parliament was still ongoing and Hungary had not yet rebelled. Wanting to gain more glory and power for Sardinia-Piedmont, Charles Albert had ordered the Piedmontese to advance into Austria proper in order to gain control of the remaining Italian territories for the purpose of total unification. This was done against the advice of Garibaldi and Pope Pius as they both wished to consolidate control of their main objectives and wait until the Austrians would enter negotiations. Charles Albert turned them off and continued onwards with his Piedmontese Army with small reinforcements from the other member states of the coalition who had stayed behind to fortify the region. The advance into Austria commenced on August 1st, and unlike the previous engagements, was a failure for the Italian army. The reason for this being was due to Radetzky consolidating his forces within the last month and finally receiving total support from Austria after the main revolutions in Vienna had died down. In addition Sardinia was taking on the role of a foreign invader as they were advancing unto lands with German or Slavic majorities, earning little cooperation from the local populations. Three decisive battles were fought with the Battles of Tyrol, Istria and Ljublana from August 6th-10th. All of which resulted in Austrian victories with the Piedmontese forces being overrun and pushed backwards due to poor knowledge of the terrain as well as poor coordination against the well organized Austrian defense. The Piedmontese took over 8,000 casualties out of their 60,000 soldiers in this campaign while the Austrians only took 5,000 out of 55,000. The Piedmontese were pursued back all the way to Venetian lines with the Austrians in pursuit hoping for a counterattack which would give them an entrance back into the peninsula. While at first they were successful the Austrians had met fierece resistance from the rest of the league's armies in the Battle of Udine on August 17th where the Italians under the command of Garibaldi held a united line against the Austrian attack force, standing off multiple assaults and barraging the Austrians with large amounts of artillery. The Austrians thereafter were driven back across the province of Udine to the border with Austria on August 24th where both sides would be in a state of stalemate for the next month. The campaign into Austria was a huge strategic blunder for King Charles Albert as it added to his string of defeats against the Austrians and made him seem like a weak general. On the other hand Pope Pius used the Papal occupation of Venice to venture out to the front lines and liberated territory in order to greet with the revolutionaries and congratulate them on their victories agaisnt the Austrian oppressors. With the Catholic Church actively giving out aid to refugees and praising the holiness of Pius's cause, it strengthened Pius's position as head of Italian unification and made him a hero of all of Italy. The remainder of the war would remain static until October 1846 where the Italians would once again go on the offensive in order to decisively defeat Austria in response to German Unification as well as Hungary's revolt for independence.

Complete Italian control of Lombardy-Venetia in August 1846 (Right) Pope Pius meeting with revolutionaries and Italian General (Center) Austrian Cavalry at Battle of Ljulbana (Left)

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 36 The Border Wars

"What do those idiots think they're doing?! We cannot possibly invade Texas... at least not now."- Presidente Valentin Gomez Farias 1846
"Men, we may have once been Mexicanos but no longer do we owe allegiance down south. I am a Texan and I shall die one." Sargent Carlos Fernandez 1846
"Based on my time down south the Republic of the Rio Grande looks to be a complete and utter disaster. The central government has very little power over the people with outlaws and Indians roaming the countryside as they see fit. While they may act as a buffer to Texas now in the future they will become a hindrance. Mark my words the Rio Grande will not survive in twenty years."- Sam Houston 1846

For the previous two years the Republic of Texas had been relative uneventful in terms of domestic events with President Lamar continuing much of his policies that he had created in his first term. This peace continued until early summer of 1846 when the border wars occurred. After word spread about the January Revolution to the nation of Mexico there was a large divide on how exactly to proceed with these new revelations. Several revanchist congressmen and governors wished to use this as a opportunity to declare war on Texas now that they no longer had the support of France. A small minority of liberals under Farias wished instead to ignore Texas and focus on continuing the development of Mexico. Since the end of the Civil War Mexico had been slowly recovering but was no where near the power she previously had in 1835. The new Federal constitution had granted large amounts of autonomy and self-rule to the state governments, essentially turning Mexico into a Confederation. Farias repeatedly advised the governors not to attack Texas and instead focus on internal development of their own states, yet all of these attempts failed and the Governors went through there plot anyway, with Farias powerless to stop it. The attacks began on May 1st the Veracruz militia along with help from Oaxca launched a direct attack on the province of Tabasco in order to bring it back into the fold of Mexico. This attack was later followed the next day with a group of Central Mexican states under the leadership of Zacatecas moving into the Rio Grande, followed by a Sonora expedition moving to California. When word reached Texas the army was once again mobilized, with volunteers flocking to defend the Republic once more along with the remnants of the French army currently stationed in Texas to honor their pact. War had begun.

Sonora-California: In order to deal with the events of the border wars on land from least to most important we must first discuss the often overlooked California War of the Border Wars. The reason most outside of California forget about its existence is due to the relatively low key nature of the theater with Sonora diverting most of its troops to an invasion of nearby Chihuahua. Still an expedition of around 750 offered to reclaim California from the Texans which would be led by Major Luis Fernando. From its onset the expedition met much trouble as they had to march across hundreds of miles of dessert with a long chain of supply (designated in secondary importance to Chihuahua) and the onset of attacks by Apache Indians who were hostile to this new army which was passing into their territory. By the time they had fully crossed the border a full 24 members of the expedition had died due to heat and attacks by the Apache. The group had two options to attack, Santa Fe or Los Angeles. The latter was chosen in order to cut off Texas from the Pacific as well as the supposed probability of success due to the Mexican army believing that they would be welcomed as liberators. While they would have arrived undetected, their plan was caught on when a platoon of 24 Texan rangers had arrived under the command of the Walker brothers approximately 50 miles northwest of modern day Tucson, Arizona. The Texas Rangers were alerted by their Navajo allies (who had joined the Indian Commission Initiative 5 years earlier) that a large Mexican force was making its way across the desert. The rangers sent out the Walker brothers to confirm these sightings which they did on June 5th following a skirmish which resulted in 5 Mexicans killed and one ranger wounded. The rangers swiftly rode west in order to spread word to Monterrey and alert them of the oncoming Mexican force, while sending a message to Austin in order to alert them of the invasion. On June 20th the Mexican force had arrived outside of Monterrey and began to besiege it, demanding that the Tejano population surrender and overturn the garrison. Much to their shock the Tejanos of Monterrey were near unanimous in rejecting the Mexican offer by signing a full petition that stated that they were citizens of Texas and would never surrender to the Mexican force. Angrily Major Fernando tore up the paper and planned to target the town for an assault on June 28th. Fortunately on the 27th reinforcements from the French garrison had arrived from San Diego and Los Angeles, which the Mexicans did not expect due to the ongoing situation in France. What occurred was the Battle of Monterrey where the well trained French force under the combined command of Colonel Joseph Petain, along with the Texas garrison led by Colonel Frank Johnson, launched an assault into the Mexican camp and used the French cavalry to surround and entrap the army. The battle was a clear Texan/French victory with the combined armies suffering 38 KIA and 44 WIA. The Mexicans suffered 62 KIA along with 75 WIA, with the rest being taken prisoner. Major Fernando surrendered and was forced to retreat back to Sonora with all of the troops under his command swearing an oath to never take arms against the Republic of Texas again or they would be executed. Afterwords half of the French forces went to the border where they would watch over it for the remainder of the Border Wars. California was now safe and firmly in Texan hands.

Battle of Monterrey

Yucatan Theater: The Veracruz militia under Governor Javier Torano had launched the invasion into the Yucatan not to completely conquer the nation but retake the states of Tobasco and Chiapas. He knew from the Guatemala War that the Yucatan was a force to be reckoned with and could not entirely be conquered with their aggressive and patriotic Mayan population. Instead he focused on the bordering two states as they had the largest ratio of Hispanics to Natives within the Republic. A combined force of around 1500 Mexican millitia had gathered in Veracruz and launched an official invasion of Tobasco in order to capture the capitol of Villahermosa. Meanwhile a force of 1,000 men from Oxaca launched a similar invasion into Chiapas in order to capture of Tuxtla. At first both forces were successful in their aims and had defeated all Yucatan border forces who had tried to stop their advances, resulting in a siege of the Capitols around May 10th. The Yucatan however would not sit idly by and had General Santiago Iman once again mobilize the army to meet the current threat. An overall impressive force of around 20,000 soldiers had gathered, with the majority of volunteers once again coming from the Mayans who had flocked to the military in order to repulse the Creole invasion of their homeland. While this was going on some minor rebellions in the former Central American states had erupted by Creole Patriots. The 5000 stationed French troops were dispatched in order to quell the revolt by President Barbachano as he did not want Yucatan to fight Yucatan. When the French arrived they had dispatched the rebels with relative ease as they were already overwhelmed by the empowered Mayan population who had bitterly fought against them to retain their rights. Back to the border zones the Yucatan had arrived on June 3rd with the 20,000 army being split in half to relieve both sieges. In the resulting battles of Villahermosa and Tuxtla, the Yucatan overwhelmed and broke the Mexican militias as their troops were far more experienced with the Mayan battalions fighting in a savage ferver. The Mexicans had taken over 1,260 casualties in both battles with the rest becoming prisoners, while the Yucatan had suffered combined casualties of 391 men. Once the Mexicans were driven off and the border was secure the Yucatan were not done. In order to teach Mexico a lesson the Yucatan army marched directly to the city of Veracruz and sacked the port, burning much of the city and killing around 100 civilians. While this act of savagery would be condemned today the Yucatan celebrated as they thought the teached Mexico a lesson once and for all. Following June the Border Wars was unofficially over for the Yucatan as the Mexicans would not launch another invasion. Though Southern Mexico was filled with much grief and anger that would give rise to mass support for Unification and the Mexican War.

Battle of Villahermosa (Right) Sack of Veracruz (Left)

Rio Grande Theater: Compared to the Yucatan and California, the Republic of the Rio Grande suffered horribly in the Border Wars. Since the end of the Mexican Civil War the central government of the Rio Grande had become increasingly corrupt with lawlessness and chaos surrounding the country. Oftentimes the French garrison was the only force of order within the country, with many stationed there wondering why this was worth so much to France. While Mexico had undergone much instability in the past decade it was a paradise compared to the Yucatan. Thus when a force of around 5,000 Mexican troops invaded the Rio Grande under the command of General Filisola, they found much support among the population. The Republic of the Rio Grande attempted to gather its forces of around 3,000 troops to meet the Mexicans head on. What resulted was the Battle of Torreon where the Mexican forces won a decisive victory with the Mexican militia rushing a large assault against the poorly organized Rio Grande army with the Rio Grande troops breaking under combat with the Mexicans along with their superiority in cavalry in artillery. During the battle many of the Rio Grande troops simply surrendered or deserted in large droves. The results showed the one sidedness of the battle with the Mexicans only suffering 167 KIA and 184 WIA. The Rio Grande suffered an immense 624 KIA, 890 WIA, and 350 POW with the rest retreating to the national capitol of Satillo. The Mexican forces then followed suit and pursued the Rio Grande army to the capitol where they laid a siege, with the expectation that by capturing the capitol the nation would collapse. A portion of the Mexican army was dispatched to Durango in order to capture the west. While initially successful they meet fierce resistance from the garrisoned 1000 French soldiers and were defeated in the Battle of Victoria de Durango on June 7th. During all of these events the Republic of Texas did not sit by and on May 25th, President Lamar had dispatched The Texan Army under the command of Brigadier General Travis and the reinstated Major General Sam Houston. The army had gathered over 15,000 volunteers and regulars along with 500 Texas Rangers with the intent to launch an expedition to protect Rio Grande in order to keep Mexico away from its borders. Among the army where several major Texan soldiers who would play key roles in the Mexican War which included Albert Sidney Johnson, John Hood, John Wharton, and Santos Bienavedes. The Texan Army was increasingly diverse as it reflected the now mixed racial buildup of Texas with several companies of Anglos, Tejanos, Germans, French, and Indians. The Texan Army crossed the border in Laredo on June 10th, making its way towards Coahuila at a fast pace. Unfortunately they were too late after Satillo surrendered on June 16th with capitol's defenders surrendering while the French fought a battle and lost to the Mexicans due to numerical superiority, later retreating to north to link up with the Texan Army. Fortunately the Rio Grande government had already evacuated to Nuevo Leon before the city fell, though this gave the national government the reputation of cowards. Strategically it would have made sense for the Mexican Army to consolidate their territory and reach peace with the surrounding nations. Instead the greedy officers in the army forced Filisola to consolidate Satillo and send out a call to Mexico City to officially invade the rest of the Rio Grande. This planned invasion never came as on July 4th the an overwhelming force of over 18,000 Texan and French troops converged on the city in order to liberate it from the Mexicans. In the days since the siege and first battle the Mexican militia forces in incompetency had not erected the defenses and thus the city came under waves of hundreds of men from the Texan-French forces. The Second Battle of Satillo was one of intense hand to hand combat and intense street warfare as the Mexican militia fought fiercely in order to preserve their gains from Texas. The bloody battle went on for the rest of the day before the Mexican forces under Filisola surrendered at dusk due to their tired state and increasingly low numbers. The casualties of the battle were high as the Texans suffered 215 KIA, 322 WIA; the French 191 KIA and 285 WIA, and the Mexicans and astounding 773 KIA and 694 WIA, with the rest surrendering. The main factors that allowed Texas to win was its specialization in hand-to-hand combat, the diverse fighting styles of its troops (especially the Indians) and the support from combined Texan-French artillery and cavalry. For the next three months the Texan-French army would sweep the rest of the Rio Grande, restoring order and kicking all Mexican forces out.

Second Battle of Satillo

Gulf of Mexico: Immediately after hearing word of the Mexican invasions of the Border states, President Lamar immediately dispatched Commodore Edwin Moore and all 15 ships of the Republic Navy to the Gulf in order to institute a blockade of Mexico. While the task would seem overwhelming it was relatively easy with only the Mexican states of Mexico, Puebla, and Veracruz having full access to the Gulf. While the campaign was nowhere near as largescale or intense as the Napoleonic Wars, there was still much action as the Texas Navy was working on a daily basis to halt all ships from going to and from Mexico. They were highly successful with over 100 ships of various kinds seized from Mexican civilian and military hands during the Border Wars. All other nations where convinced to abandon trade with Mexico which the United States complied with as they had little business and the Latin American states did along with in order to not provoke a war. While the European nations such as Great Britain would have attempted to challenge the Texas Navy, no such attempt went forward as the European nations were too focused on the revolutions back home while the Royal Navy focused its attention on the United States. Several small scale battles resulted during this time with the majority being one-on-one duels between ships of both Navys. The Texan Navy was near victorious in all of them as they had superiority with 10 ships of their fleet being steam powered vessels led by the flagship RTS Zavala along with the 5 steam ships bought from France with the steamship RTS Alamo receiving the most action. The only major casualties for the Texan Navy was the sinking of the RTS Potomac on June 18th by an enemy brig while the RTS San Bernard was badly damaged in another. The Texan Navy also resulted in the Sack of Veracruz by cooperating with the Yucatan virtually destroying the port along with all remaining ships in dock, though Commodore Moore did not allow any Texan Marines to assault the city directly or its civilians. When the war ended the Texas Navy was praised once again by the population for virtually destroying the remnants of the Mexican Navy. Edwin Moore was promoted to Rear Admiral while the Texas Congress would order the development of 10 more ships for the Navy, with 5 going to the Gulf Fleet while the other 5 would head to the California to form the Pacific Squadron.

On November 1st representatives from all three nations met in the neutral nation of Nicaragua in order to discuss terms for the end of the conflict. Though the Mexican side tried to explain that it was the rouge actions of the governors and not the central government that started the conflict, the southwestern nations would have none of it and sought to enforce their terms. For the Yucatan a status quo antebellum was reached in relation to borders though A 15 mile demillitarized zone was established on the Mexican side of its border with Yucatan. Texas sought to strip a piece of territory from Sonora which was responsible for the invasion of California. This piece of territory which was called the Archer purchase in relation to Secretary of State Branch Archer, was a 29,670 square mile piece of land obtained for the purpose of building future railroads in California. For its compensation Mexico would receive $1.5 Million Redbacks. France meanwhile would petitioned for $200,000 of Francs and demanded fishing rights in Mexico's pacific ocean. The Rio Grande for its part could not enforce any demands as it was on the verge of near collapse in the conflict. Both sides later agreed to exchange prisoners of war by the end of the year. The resulting Nicaragua Accords caused very different reactions within all parties. In Texas the population cheered in jubilation as they once more managed to defeat Mexico on their turf and received extra territory from the conflict. Lamar would later be elected to his third term the next year in a landslide victory against Western Unionist Robert Fulton. The Republic of The Yucatan also rejoiced for they had protected their sovereignty and defended Mayan lands, while the rebels in Central America were punished harshly. When Paris received word of the conflict hey were quite happy that the French forces performed well and next year would pledge to renew their security pacts with the Southwest nations under the demand of then-President Napoleon III. Napoleon also offered a complete pardon for the loyalist french soliders and gave them a chance to settle in the three countries so long as they swore to not support the Bourbons, most French loyalists would later settle in Nagodoches. For Rio Grande the nation once more descended into chaos and anarchy as the population was quite discontent with the central government for failing to protect them, many now started to look towards Mexico as their homeland. As for Mexico itself, the nation once again reeled in shock as they had lost for a second time to the rebels. The state governments of the participating states were disposed and President Farias was assassinated on February 17th for failing to officially declare war on the southwest nations. The next four years was a period of anarchy and turmoil in Mexico. This would all change in 1851 with the arrival of British aid and support after the Oregon War. The United Kingdom did not want to see France gain further influence in the Americas and wanted Mexico to become its proxy satellite to establish total British dominance. For the next decade the Unification movement would be born as millions of Mexicans across the nation cried out for blood, reconquest, and punishment for the secessionists. One man would emerge during all this with a mission to make Mexico great again, Benito Juarez.

President Valentin Gomez Farias 1781-1847 (Right) California Commonwealth in 1846 with the Archer Purchase in Tan (Left)

A/N: Yeah! A post about Texas in the Texas timeline. For those of you who read the Lone Star Republic primarily for independent Texas, as a warning I will not be posting another Texas chapter until the end of the Revolutions and the Oregon War. After that the next decade or so will once more be devoted to Texas with a mix of chapters being dedicated to European and some Asian events. The next big War for Texas will be the Mexican War around 1861/1862. Until then stick around and let's see how well our revolutionaries can do. Preview for future chapters is Chapter 37 Invasion of Canada. Chapter 38 German Unification. Chapter 39 Might of the Magyars. Chapter 40 The Legions Advance.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 37 Invasion of Canada

"We may have won the battle here. Though it remains to be seen if history will see us as conquerors or liberators."- Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Lincoln 1846
"Congratulations boys, Oregon is ours. Now let's head back east and make sure the British stay the hell away from America."- Colonel Stephen Keary 1846
"Ah the Oregon War. It's kind of a stupid conflict really, it all started over a simple misunderstanding and the greed of land between nations. I will say this though. Without it I would have never gained the experience to fight the south."- General Ulysses S. Grant 1865

For the third and not the last time, the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain were in a state of war. Unlike the Great War the Oregon War would be fought primarily within North America and mostly within the plains and forests of Canada, where the fate of America's expansion to the Pacific would be decided. Each side both had their advantages and disadvantages in the conflict. For the United States they had recently modernized and enlargened their professional army to a fighting force equivalent to the average Prussian Corps. Since the theater of war was directly on the border the United States could immediately dispatch and coordinate its armies in a quick time compared to the months of organization of the British Imperial forces, by the time redcoat reinforcements could arrive from Great Britain America would make considerable gains and conscript tens of thousands of volunteers. On the downside the United States did not have the industrial or economic capacity for a prolonged war with Britain. The United Kingdom's main strength was that it could draw multiple resources from the largest empire in the world. At the time Britain was also the leading financial and industrial producer in Europe. Though as mentioned previously if it wanted any reinforcements from say India, then it would take near a year to get them organized and ship them to America. Due to these strengths and weaknesses the Oregon War became one of speed and tactical maneuvering. If America could conquer Canada and defend its coast then it would have an upper hand in any negotiations. If it's objectives under the Carolus Plan were not achieved by the end of the year then the advantage would go to Britain. The Third Invasion of Canada had begun.

Western Theater: The Western theater of the war was perhaps the one that had the most amount of success for the Americans at the start of the war. With relatively no one to stop him after the fall of Fort Vancouver, Colonel Kearny was free to move about his army and conquer the rest of the Oregon territory. To say that this itself was a conquest though is mostly an exaggeration, there were no highly developed towns or cities in Oregon so it was mostly a matter of securing any British ships on the post as well as securing the multiple trade outposts and farms on the British side in order to prevent any form of rebellion. With the large amount of the Oregon territory captured the United States then held their Casus belli and thus could assume a superior role in negotiations. Around mid-September Kearny took around 1200 of his men and headed southeast in order to join the main fight before the arrival of winter would impede any troop movements. He would not be able to see action for the rest of the year but for his actions in securing Oregon, was promoted to Brigadier General. As for Army Group West itself, the army received a similar amount of success due to most Canadian/British defenses being set up around Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. This left the west door open in what was analyzed by historians to be one of the worst strategic mistakes for an defending nation. Under the leadership of Brigadier General William J. Worth, Army Group West would virtually tear through the Canadian countryside in a manner slightly similar to modern day Blitzkrieg. The two most noteworthy battles of this time were the Battles of Thunder Bay and Lake Nipigon. At Thunder Bay the American force had met an opposing force of 2000 Canadian soldiers who were guarding a small port that was used as the Canadian's main access to Lake Superior. The battle was fought on August 5th with the outcome being a decisive American victory due to the British garrison not yet receiving word of the war's deceleration as well as support from the U.S Coast Guard who bombarded British positions at Thunder Bay. After the battle the remaining ships left in port were either burned or captured by the Coast Guard to be served for defense of Minnesota and Michigan. The battle of Lake Nipigon was fought around two and a half weeks later on the 23rd when the Americans rested at the lake and were then assaulted by 1500 Canadian forces and their Indian allies in the region. Unfortunately for the Canadians the battle was only meant to be a raid to cripple the Americans, but failed when the infantry stood their ground and protected the supply lines due to advance warning from other Indian elements who were dissatisfied of Canadian rule. The Americans would win the battle after the cavalry was organized and began a rout to displace the Canadian army. The aftermath of the battle was 137 Americans KIA, 156 WIA, and 12 MIA. For the Canadians it was 208 KIA, 216 WIA. 32 MIA, and 364 POW, the Indian forces of the battle however were not properly accounted for. For the next month Army Group West would sweep through Ontario and proceed to crush any resistance. They later gathered in a group of 15,000 troops due to reinforcements from the Midwestern states and proceeded to Oshawa, Ontario on October 1st with half going to help Army Group Central, while the other half proceeded to reinforce Army group New York.

Michigan/Ontario: For the first month of the war the Michigan/Ontario theater was one in a high stalemate. The first action of the theater would be do to the Canadians in the Battle of Detroit on July 31st where a group of around 2,000 Canadian troops under the command of Brigadier Wesley Jenkins would launch an assault on the city. Like the previous battle in the War of 1812 it was a Canadian victory, though unlike the previous battle it was far bloodier due to the American's not being outduped this time and fierce resistance from the American garrison as well as the civilian population. Over the course of several hours a large street battle took place, with American troops and frontier rifleman taking multiple potshots of the Canadian forces from within the town's buildings and around hastily erected barricades in the streets. The main reason that the Canadian force was able to hold superiority throughout the battle was due to their superior artillery positions with a ratio of 4:1 to the Americans along with the larger Canadian cavalry force. In order to draw the Americans out Brigadier Jenkins made the mistake of ordering his men to set fire to the local fort, while this succeeded in forcing the Americans to retreat and giving the battle to the British, it also resulted in the fire spreading and forcing most of Detroit to be burned to the ground. These actions would make the Canadians and British much hatred among the Midwestern population and contributed to much resentment and distrust of the American population towards Canada until the Great War. After the battle Brigadier Jenkins then made the poor mistake of proceeding to continue a march into the rest of Michigan. Although his army took around 700 casualties in the previous battle he had wanted to set control of much of Michigan in order to conquer the state in a British victory. For two weeks he marched with his men were they were constantly attacked by guerrilla forces in retaliation for the burning of Detroit. These conditions caused the Canadian force to have a high amount of fatigue and low morale when they met Army Group Central under the command of Major General Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Lansing. Here the Canadian forces were virtually wiped out by the American force who outnumbered them 5 to 1, only around 100 Canadians survived form the bloody battle (Brigadier Jenkins being among the dead) due to most of Army Group Central being made up of Michigan natives who were furious of Detroit, some of them men even hailing form the city. The Americans in counterpart only suffered around 200 casualties. After the battle Army Group Central would march back to the border where they met a hastily set up group of 3,000 Canadian men who were intended to reinforce Jenkins's position at Detroit before he made his blunder. For one week Taylor would make his forces wait at the Border in order to hear word of the Great Lakes battles and see which side had Naval superiority. Luckily for him the Americans were constantly gaining the advantage in all lake operations due to the United States Navy constantly investing a heavy amount in the coastal lake fortifications and freshwater navy of the Great Lakes region. The British in contrast had little funds used for the upgrade of the Great Lakes fleet due to the Royal Navy's constant priority of spending. For the past month the Americans had been wiping out Canadian ships with their use of recently upgraded steamers. The climax of the naval campaign was the Battle of Lake Huron on August 26th where reinforcements from Lake Michigan totaled the United States Coast Guard forces to around 60 ships under the command of Commodore David Kirk versus the opposing 20 Canadian ships. The resulting battle was one where the Americans would pick off the Canadians one by one until the end of the day where only 3 Canadian ships remaining to surrender compared to the only 4 American losses. The American fleet would then head straight for the British camp at Samia on August 31st where they proceeded to bombard the Canadian encampment while the Americans under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Lincoln across the border advanced to overtake the Canadian forces and surround them. Down south a similar charge was being lead by General Taylor at Windsor with the American group now numbering 15,000 men due to reinforcements. After the victories of the Battles of Windsor and Samia, Army Group Central would then march North where they managed to successfully invade Canada this time around with superior equipment as well as numbers of men. Taylor's forces would rendezvous with elements of West and New York where they would surround the capital of Toronto on September 19th, causing the town to surrender unconditionally to the army (much to the dismay of Michigan troops who wanted to burn it a second time in revenge for Detroit).

Burning of Detroit (Right) Battle of Lansing (Left)

New York/Quebec: At the New York border the Canadian forces would once more try to invade the United States. At first it looked as though an invasion would go through Eastern New York with the Battle of Buffalo occurring on August 3rd after 9,000 of Army Group New York would come to defend the state. When the battle commenced it was a confusing eyes in the those of Major General Winfield Scott as the Canadians had only come with 2500 men and once the American cavalry and infantry had begun to advance on the Canadian lines, the Canadians would retreat in good order without any resistance being put up. It was later found out that this action was a ruse as a main invasion force under Major General Harold Cameron would come as a force of 6000 men through Northern New York. The invading force proceeded to gain victory over the defending Americans at the Battles of Plattsburgh and Ticonderoga with the Americans losing both times due to numerical superiority from their Canadian foes as well as the disorganization in the wake of the unexpected invasion. After these two defeats the remaining American forces under the leadership of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, would make a stand at Valley Forge with reinforcements from the New York militia in order to prevent a further advancement unto Albany and New York City. For three days and nights from August 12th-15th a bloody battle was fought in the valley as the American forces fought to the death in order to protect their homeland from further invasion. Cavalry charges would be met in bloody frays while fire from the infatry and artillery was always constant across the field. One notable action was that of Second Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant who assumed command of the 3rd battalion on the second day after his superiors were wounded or killed and prevented the left flank from collapsing with his method of last stand fighting. On the third day it looked as though the Americans would collapse, until reinforcements finally arrived from General Scott and were able to drive the Canadians back across the border. The battle resulted in multiple losses with 841 Americans KIA, 888 WIA, and 310 POW. On the Canadian side was an equal amount of heavy casualties with 1023 KIA, 937 WIA, and 459 POW. After two weeks of organization and rest, Army Group New York then proceeded to launch the invasion of Quebec with 20,000 men now in force from reinforcements. The first Major Battle on Quebecois soil would be the Battle of Montreal where the American forces would proceed to converge on the city in a siege on August 27th while 5,000 troops where directed westward to capture Ottawa. On September 3rd Ottawa was captured with relatively light resistance with most of the cities usual defenders being directed to invasions or the defense of Quebec. After this 25,000 men would march from the rest of the forces in the west while 10,000 others would remain in order to garrison the conquered territories while they would receive reinforcements from down south. With the American forces outside of Montreal now numbering 45,000; General Scott sent word to the cities mayor on September 14th to surrender or else face the wrath of the US Army. Knowing that the cities garrison was terribly outnumbered and that a battle would result in the destruction of Montreal, the mayor relented and the city surrendered the next day. It was on September 15th where General Scott would surprise the British Canadians by gathering up members of the Patriotic Order and announce the formation of the Republic of Quebec to liberate the region from British rule and give freedom to oppressed French Quebecois. This battle and announcement would have the desired result intended by President Harrison and on October 2nd, the Quebecois of Quebec City would launch a revolt against the British and after 5 days of intense fighting would force the garrison to surrender. American forces would enter Quebec City on October 18th and were met with much cheers and fanfare from the cities citizens. For the rest of the year Army Group New York would spend its time helping the Quebecois to consolidate their new nation in preparation for a future British invasion.

Battle of Valley Forge (Right) Quebecois Uprising (Left)

Maine/New Brunswick: Next to the Western theater, Army Group Maine would be met with the least amount of intense conflict. Most of the Canadian forces were directed westward and both sides knew that the Royal Navy could later help to gain superiority in the theater. Still much fighting did go on as some of the Canadian troops advanced into Maine in order to correct the Granger-Ashburton treaty of 1842. Instead of meeting this invading force however, most of Army Group Maine was directed to New Brunswick in order to secure the region before any form of Canadian resistance could be organized. The primary battle within New Brunswick was the battle of Fredricton where the 5000 American force under Brigadier General Franklin Pierce captured the lightly defended town with few casualties on August 11th. For the next month it was a rather odd stalemate between the two forces as the Canadians held control of Northern Maine while the Americans New Brunswick. This stalemate would be broken in September with the American victories at Montreal and the reinforcement of Maine by elements of the northern states as well as Army Group North. Faced with the prospect of being wiped out by superior forces, opposing British General Matthew Elric chose to instead surrender peacefully on September 26th. The remainder of the year had Army Group Maine consolidating New Brunswick while an invasion was being planned for Nova Scotia. The only reason that the Americans did not attack at this time was due to the chance of the Royal Navy cutting off an invasion force as well as the priority to set up defenses of the United States East Coast coming first.

Atlantic Naval engagements: It was on the waters of the Atlantic where the British would clearly gain the upper hand in the fight. Throughout the first months of the war dozens of American merchant vessels were seized by the Royal Navy in retaliation for Canada's invasion and in order to cripple the American economy. This forced the United States to intensify trade with Texas by using them as a neutral party to safely transport American goods under the Texan flag to Europe, an action the British could not counter for fear of creating a war with France. Throughout the Atlantic ocean multiple small battles were being engaged between single American and British ships with the Royal Navy winning 7 times out of 10. For 1846 however there would be no major battles in the direct middle of the Atlantic as most American forces were in the Gulf or Eastern Seaboard. One major engagement of note was the Invasion of Liberia where on November 18th a British squadron of 15 ships defeated the stationed American fleet of two schooners and launched an invasion of the colony with 5000 Royal Marines. Ironically when the Royal Marines captured the capitol of Monrovia they had killed or captured most of the dissident forces within Liberia who were agitating for Liberian independence, this would cause Liberia to remain an American colony after the war well into the remainder of the 19th century. On the American side there were also some amount of success with the Great Lakes engagements being a prime example, all lakes having coming under American control well by October. The most successful American campaign was the St. Laurence river Campaign where forces of the US Navy under the command of Commodore Mathew Perry would proceed to use the American fleet to enter the Quebec coast during the month of September and proceed to virtually wipe out the stationed Canadian fleet with assistance from the Quebecois revolutionaries on shore. Down south was also the Battle of the Bahamas where a 22 ship fleet under the command of Commodore John Sloat would defeat the stationed 5 Royal ships in the Bahamas and then proceed to use the United States Marines to capture the multiple islands, preventing a direct invasion of Florida. The rest of the year would see a series of Skirmishes take place in both the Gulf and Eastern Seaboard. The next naval objective of the United States Navy was a possible invasion of Jamaica which was being planned for the next year after consolidation of coastal defenses.

Royal Navy on Patrol

Overall 1846 was a great year for the Americans as they had accomplished all of their objectives of the Carolus Plan; conquering western Canada as well as liberating Quebec. In addition multiple future officers of the American Civil War would gain valuable experience from the fighting in the North. By the end of the year the United States had managed to raise up a force of 250,000 men and were now preparing for multiple seaborne invasions while negotiators were sent in order to claim Oregon and the liberation of Quebec while the Americans still had the advantage and Britain was occupied with German Unification and the beginning of the Russian intervention in the conflict. Unfortunately for the Americans, Queen Victoria would not take any defeat easily without putting up a fight first. And so, 1847 would see the beginning of the Second British invasion of the United States.

Map of the Oregon War by the end of 1846.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 38 The Legions Advance

"I truly am glad that we were able to resolve this whole crisis quickly without it being dragged for several years. War is a terrible thing after all."- Pope Pius IX 1847
"Some may call me an heretic and an traitor to the cause for this. But if I don't take action now the Pope will gain control of all of Italy and the House of Savoy will forever be lost to the tides of history."- King Charles Albert 1852
"While we are not truly united yet, this is a far better start then I could ever have hoped to achieve on my own."- Giuseppe Garibaldi 1847

At the beginning of the Lombard-Venetian War for Independence, many outsiders were skeptical of the Italian league's ability to combat the Austrian Empire. While historically many Italian states have banded together in alliances during Europe's largescale wars, such arrangements were only temporary and would soon fall to infighting and bickering over who would gain the most control and influence within Italy by the end of the conflict. Yet by September the Italian League had not only proved that it was united in its cause of nationalism, it had managed to beat back the mighty Austrian Empire in multiple battles, with the Italians liberating all of their desired land. Now with the Austrian Empire descending into further division and chaos a decision was needed to be made, seek peace now or prolong the war in order to obtain a greater position. On one side were the compromisers led by Pope Pius who sought to end any further unnecessary bloodshed and just retake Lombardy-Venetia so that work could immediately begin on reorganizing Italy and building up its national strength. On the other side were the Irredentionists led by Kings Charles Albert and Ferdinand, seeking for total unification of all Italian lands in Austria, though this was called more for personal gain of the kingdom's rather than true nationalism. Eventually it was agreed that the offense would continue into the Austrian Empire while peace negotiations were still pursued to end the war. This was done as no foreign presence had entered the war yet though it would soon be likely that either Britain or the new Second Republic of France would want to intervene to gain power and influence in the region. Requiring a quick and decisive conclusion of strength. The final chapter of the First Act of Italian Unification was about to begin.

For the Italian strategy there were two primary objectives that needed to be achieved in the next campaign; an invasion of Tyrol and an invasion of Dalmatia. Both parts of Austria had an substantial amount of Italian minorites and if conquered could give an future Italian nation an immense amount of power over the Medditerranean. The main problem was that King Charles Albert had already tried and failed to obtain these two territories. Thus, a plan was drawn up that would keep a large amount of the Italian forces put within Lombardy-Venetia while two armies were created with a minority of forces sent towards Tyrol under the comand of Garibaldi while a second force under General Veneziano was sent to the city of Trieste to finally cut off Austrian access to the sea so that the blockade could stand down and funding would divert to the armies. On Garibaldi's front was a long and tiring journey through the mountainside with his 25,000 men to liberate the mountain regions from the Germans. Tactically Tyrol initially held little of value as the nearby gold mines had long since been dried out. Strategically, Tyrol was needed in order to protect a future Italian state from the advances of a future resurgent Austria. Originally had Garibaldi marched months ago he would have met fierce resistance from the Austrians in defense of their native land, luckily for him most Austrian troops in the region were redirected to meet the threat of the new German Empire in the southern states. The main battle of note was the Battle of Tyrol on October 26th where Italian soldiers surrounded the provincial town and fought desperately to try and take it from the cities defenders of 7000 under the command of Colonel Hans von Mera. For around two weeks the Italians tried multiple times to assault the city, however it was well defended and the Native Austrians used the mountain terrain to their advantage in order to repulse multiple Austrian attacks. With much frustration at the lack of progress Garibaldi controversially ordered the entire town to be leveled with constant artillery bombardments in order to reduce the defenders to rubble. Over the next week the once peacefull mountain city was systematically destroyed with thousands of civilians dead, including many Italians. Finally on November 20th Colonel Maren surrendered in order to protect his men and the town from further loss. Losses of the battle range from 2367 Italians KIA, and 2589 WIA. For the Austrians it was 2944 KIA, 2102 WIA, and the rest taken as prisoners. The cities population would suffer a loss of over 5,000. For the next two months until the end of the war the Italian war would come to consolidate Tyrol and meet minor resistance from Austrian guerrilla forces.

Battle of Tyrol

Down south a force of 55,000 Italians were marching under General Veneziano to meet General Radetzky in the city of Trieste. For two weeks they had marched on the shoreline and from much aid by the Italian Navies were able to liberate much of the coast. This prompted Radetzky to gather all his remaining forces within the region to make a stand at Trieste in order to prevent the rest of the Empire, especially Vienna which was less than 300 miles away. Radetzky only had around 30,000 troops left to meet the enemy due to the Emperor's demands for the main forces to be sent to either Hungary or Germany. Desperate for help he called on reinforcements from the Croatians to double the army so that they may also protect their homeland, this action would ironically give much aid to the Hungarians in the coming months. On October 5th a large and epic battle began to wage in the Second Battle of Trieste which would come to become one of the most remembered engagements in Italian history. For days on end the city of Trieste came under immense destruction as the army of the Italian Leauge came in waves of multiple assaults in what was the single largest battle since the Napoleonic Wars. Constant artillery and canon fire rained down from the heavens for hours as the Italian Navy would help the Italians to gain control of the seaboard and constantly harassed the cities defenders. Epic cavalry charges were run through the streets with many being slaughtered by well positioned barricades. The Austrian and Croation defenders for their part never relented easily as they fought to the last breath and would often charge in suicide attacks instead of surrendering to the enemy. Even General Radetzky was seen personally leading into the fray, hacking Italian soldiers left and right with his sabre while he also fired upon many with his pistol. After five days of bloody attrition General Veneziano would call his men to retreat on the 10th, leaving a battered but still held city to the Austrians. Tactically the battle was an obvious Austrian victory, but strategically the battle would go to the Italians. Though the Italians suffered around 25,000 casualties the Austrians suffered far more with over 40,000 casualties, virtually eliminating around 2/3rds of the army. When Emperor Franz Joseph heard of the results of the battle he was furious instead of pleased, he then ordered for Radetzky to withdraw into main Austria to Vienna some semblance of support against the Hungarians and Italians. Radetzky pleaded not to go as the battle and the war could eventually be won. Franz Joseph would have none of it. The Empire bled too much for the sake of two Italian kingdoms, it was time to make peace in somewhat favorable terms while they could so that the focus could be shifted on Austria's position in Germany and their rightful rule of the lands of the crown of St. Stephen. So Radetzky begrudgingly withdrew on October 24th while new negotiations were being discussed for the fate of Italy.

Battle of Trieste

When peace negotiations began in Geneva everyone knew that victory belonged to the Italian League, the question was how much and exactly who would gain the power. A few hardliners among the Sardinians and the Republicans pushed for a march into Vienna in order to extract total terms for the victory. The Papal delegation firmly disagreed with this plan as too many lives were lost and they should not fall into the sins of greed lest all of their gains be for nought. The Sicilians wanted for peace to come quickly as King Ferdinand and the Neapolitan's were on the verge of reconquering the main Sicilian Island. The middle Italian states just wanted for peace. There was also the question of who exactly the new territories would go to. Would they be divided by contribution, given Independnece, or totally annexed by a neighboring nation. By Christmas Eve terms were finalized and through much compromise and negotiations the Treaty of Geneva was finalized. The terms are as followed:

1. The Italian League shall transform into an official Italian Confederation with a similar structure set up to the Previous German Confederation.
2. Lombardy was to be partitioned between the Papal States and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, the Kingdom of Venice would be created as an autonomous Republic of Venice within the Papal States.
   
3. Financial compensation would be given to the other members of the league totaling $10,000,000 reichsmarks to be paid by 1852.
4. A Parliment would be formed on March 31st 1852 of the Italian League states to decide on the state of further unification.
5. Austria would not be permitted to retain any naval vessels in its lands, Croatia would be an exception.
6. No aid would be given to the Hungarian rebellion or the newly formed German Empire by the Italian League.
   
7. The rights of all remaining Italians in the Empire would be recognized and Italian made a legal language.
8. South Tyrol would be partitioned between Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and the Papal States

Peace was achieved on Christmas day and after nearly a year of long hard fighting in Italy, peace was achieved. The Italians had won and the process of Unification had begun. For the other revolutionaries, it was an outcome of much hope.

Map showing the aftermath of the Lombard-Venetian War of Independence.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 39 German Unification

"What would I have done differently if I unified Germany? Well I would have not given so much power to the Liberals, that's for damn sure."- German Foreign Minister Otto von Bismarck 1863
"I fear that events within Central Europe have gone too far this time. It is time for us to intervene."- Tsar Nicholas I 1846
"We should've never given Prussia control of Silesia. If unchecked they might one day seek to destroy the Hapsburg throne."- Empress Maria Theresa 1748

After a near millennia of disunity Germany was finally one nation. When news of the Frankfurt Parliment spread on September 16th, hundreds of thousands of Germans took to the streets across their new nation to celebrate in rejoice for the unification. Much of the common people were also immensely pleased that the Constitution of the German Empire, while not entirely answering their demands, satisfied the common concerns of the masses and guaranteed much of their basic freedoms while setting up a basic legislative branch where the people would have the power. One group who was visibly not pleased with this arrangement were the monarchists and the South Germans, specifically Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemburg, Baden, and Hanover. The passing of the constitution had only happened with a slim majority, the above mentioned providing the opposition. Their reasons for going against the constitution were numerous, the chief among them being the domination of Germany by a Protestant Prussia with the noble classes seemingly losing their rights. Even though the German Constitution still set up for a Federal system, many still feared that South Germany would be a mere puppet to Prussia's whims. Thus in the aftermath the delegates of the opposition swiftly went back to their home countries so that the leaders could plot their next course of action. What they did not expect was for Kaiser Wilhelm to foresee this.

General makeup of Germany following the Frankfurt Parliment. Red was Pro-Austrian or independent. Blue Pro-Prussian. Green Neutral. Schlieswig-Holstein is highlighted in Yellow

When Wilhelm had been playing peacemaker and nationbuilder in Frankfurt he hadn't just spent his time focused on the new constitution and discussions of the Imperial Monarchy. During the recess sessions he had met with multiple revolutionaries and Liberals, while also having separate meetings with representatives from the Prussian High Command. Wilhelm knew that Prussia would face much opposition to taking control of the empire, thus in order to take control of his new nation he needed to act fast in the aftermath and secure his reign from all potential opposition and threats. On September 16th before the monarchies of South Germany could mobilize in support of Austria, millions of Germans were martialed and re-ignited the revolutionary sentiment that had been present earlier in the year, surrounding the army barracks and the royal palaces of their nations. At the same time the Prussian Army mobilized and sent multiple divisions to different parts of Germany to support the revolutionaries and enforce unification and the enactment of the German Constitution. All of these actions came from the mind of King/Kaiser Wilhelm as he managed to convince the revolutionaries that unless they acted now that all of their efforts will be lost and German Unification pushed back decades later. With Prussia having the largest and most modern military in all of Germany, their support was sure to help the revolution to succeed. Within days all of Southern Germany was blitzkrieged in quick order with the national armies of the opposition being unable to mobilize due to popular support for Germany and the prospect of having to face the elite Prussian troops in battle. While the situation never got out of hand as it did in France, there were several times that many royal families were near execution or deposement, only to be stopped by the Prussians in order to maintain order. For all monarchs Wilhelm gave one ultimatum; surrender and swear allegiance to Wilhelm or be stripped of their lands and titles. One by one all of the opposing monarchs swore fealty to Wilhelm as the new Emperor of the Germans, with the last being King Maximilian II of Bavaria on October 9th. The one unique exception though was Hanover. At the moment the Kingdom was in a virtual stalemate as the revolutionaries had taken to the streets yet the Prussian Army refused to advance into their borders. The reason for this was due to Wilhelm's wish to not start a war with the British over Hanover's annexation into the German Empire. While the Kingdom was no longer in a personal Union with Great Britain its monarch Ernst Augustus, was an Uncle to Queen Victoria, maintaining great ties through the House of Hanover. With the rest of Germany secured negotiations were underway over the status of Hanover which would end next year with the Russian intervention, until then Hanover would be transformed into an unofficial protectorate of the German Empire.

Prussian Army in the midst of the Unification Campaigns

While all this was being done Austria did not sit quietly on the sidelines. When being given news of the Frankfurt Parliment, Emperor Franz Joseph reportedly shot a painting of Kaiser Wilhelm with a colt revolver that he had been gifted to from Texas the year before. To say that the Emperor was furious is quite the understatement. In his viewpoint Prussia had committed the most undeniable treason by usurping power from Austria and unifying Germany under its banner rather than that of the Hapsburgs. Franz Joseph already had enough on his hands with the Hungarian Rebellion and the then ongoing Italian war. Both conflicts however paled in comparison to the potential threat that existed from Germany. Since Austria was potentially a part of Germany then one day Wilhelm could use this as a casus belli to annex Austria directly, forcing the Hapsburg's to kneel before the Hohenzollern dynasty. In order to deal with the threat to the north, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered for the formation of a new army with hundreds of thousands of troops being taken away from the Hungarian and Italian fronts. Commanding the Army was Archduke Albrecht, he was Franz-Joseph's cousin and had received his rank of Field Marshall in only 6 years through apparent nepotism and his noble status rather than any actual qualifications on his part. On October 11th, the hodgepodge Austrian army of 250,000 men set off from Prague in order to bring Prussia to heel and possibly make Austria head of Germany. On October 13th the Austrians had crossed the border and were quickly heading towards Berlin in order to capture the capitol and prevent a prolonged war so that matters could return to Italy and Hungary. Standing in the way of this was the Prussian first army and the Prussian reserves under the command of Prussian Field Marshall Siegfried Lohengramm. Lohengramn was a 64 year old general who was present at the Battle of Waterloo and since then had been making his way through the ranks of the Prussian army for his superior tactics and strategic theory compared to the Prussian nobles at the time. Though most of the regular Prussian forces had been sent to South Germany, Lohengramm still had access to the first army and since the outbreak of the revolution in March had been training tens of thousands of new recruits who joined out of new patriotism and dedication to the new empire. Not wanting Austria to get any close to Berlin, Lohengramm sought to make a stand midway in a field near the city of Breslau with his army of 175,000 men. Initially before the battle the Austrians thought they would be the victors as they were battle experienced and had a larger force. However, there was an old saying that one Prussian is worth 10 Austrians, never was it more proven than the Battle of Breslau On October 18th. The battle was initially began evenly with both sides meeting each other on the field of battle and beginning a stalemate that would last for the next three hours. As time went on however, the Prussians stood their ground and fought fiercely in order to protect the fatherland that had just been created. The Austrians on the other hand, were beginning to disintegrate. Most of the Army was tired from the long march and their fight against both the Hungarians and the Italians, the fact that they were already losing to the two other opponents kept the armies morale at a low point in the beginning. Additionally all non-Slavic troops slowly gave up the fight as they saw this as a conflict between Germans that had no effect on them at all, with the Czechs being a notable exception due to their fears of German annexation. The worst reaction of all was the main Austrian regiments where entire battalions surrendered en mass to the Prussians as they did not want to fight their supposed brothers and wanted to join this new Germany. Even the troops who wanted to fight for the Hapsburg's were hampered by miscommunication from a dozen different languages being spoken by the troops as well as poor training in comparison to the Prussian model. By the end of the day Prussia had Austria under a rout with the main Prussian cavalry and infantry advancing as an unstoppable force while terror reigned from above with the well trained Prussian artillery. The end of the battle was entirely one-sided as Prussia suffered only 8,753 KIA with 12,390 WIA; while this was large it paled in comparison to the Austrians with 32,219 KIA, 30,803 WIA, and 54,467 POW. The untrained Austrians were absolutely no match for the premier army of Europe, the battle proving once and for all who the main power in Germany was. For the next two weeks in what would be called the Halloween campaign, Field Marshal Lohengrammm chased Archduke Albrecht and the Austrians all over Silesia and across the border, winning multiple small victories and capturing even more prisoners. For his valiant leadership and success at Breslau, Seigfreid Lohengramm was promoted to the Prussian nobility and given the title of Count. This would start the von Lohengramm family that would come into prominence with Reinhard von Lohengramm's role in the Great War and its aftermath. In comparison Field Marshal Albrecht was met with a furious Franz Joseph, stripped of his rank and forbidden from entering Vienna again. With the key victory at the Battle of Breslau South Germany gave up and pledged their allegiance to Prussia. Giving Wilehlm the go ahead to be officially corononated on November 11th. Unknown to the new Kaiser of Germany however was the fact that the battle was key in finally steering Tsar Nicholas in the direction of intervention to save the Austrian Empire and prevent the rise of a German Superpower. In 1847 the second phase of the First War for German Unification would begin.

Battle of Breslau

A/N: Hello everyone. I must apologize immensely for this long delay however there are several reasons for it. Last week during the weekdays I had received writer's block and when that ended I received a ton of school work that I had to complete. From Friday to Sunday I was also in a competition for the Model United Nations, luckily though I won an award so that wasn't for naught. I would've updated last night but the bus I was on broke down and we had to wait 3 hours for another one to come pick us up. I'll try to update near daily for the rest of the week since I'm off for thanksgiving. The goal is to have 1846/1847 done by the end of the month, so we'll see how that goes. By the way for you ASB readers I am posting a new timeline within the next 24 hours. It's called "Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Glory", a SI/ISOT of myself into the body of Gihren Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam (Universal Century). If anyone is interested in it then feel free to check it out and give it a read. Thanks everyone who's read until now and will continue to do so in the future. Long live Texas!

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 40 Might of the Magyars

"Austria-Hungary? What madness is this?! By the end of this war the Austrian Empire shall only rule supreme and the concept of Hungary will forever be wiped out from Europe."- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"For Saint Stephen!"- Battle cry of Hungarian revolutionaries 1846
"You complete imbecil! You caused the deaths of tens of thousands of lives to intervene for a failing empire so that half of it could not break away. You did all of this and yet Vienna never chose to help us when Victoria decided to go to war over Crimea. I can see Budapest laughing at this very moment."- Tsar Alexander II 1852

With German Unification and the Italians encroaching ever so closer to Vienna, it was clear to many that Austria had become even more volatile than the Ottomans, the traditional "sick man of Europe". What most people remember in the Danube region is not either of these conflicts though, but Hungary's war for independence. While Hungary had remained loyal for over three centuries and played a key role in several of Austria's victories over the years, never once did they receive any real power or have their rights expanded. After decades of neglect and the rise of nationalism the people of Hungary had enough and sought to gain independence and chose their own destiny. Central Europe was about to receive another key player.

Austria/Bohemia: While the war with the Italians was still raging and Germany began unification, the Austrians decided to switch focus and bear the brunt of their strength on its traditional border with the Kingdom of Hungary. By then it was clear to many in Vienna that Italy was far beyond saving as the entire population of the Italian region had risen up against the Hapsburgs, at the moment France was unable to intervene due to the early instability of the Second Republic and it was clear no one else would become a deterrent to the Italians. On the other hand you had the new German Empire which while was becoming a threat, at the same time was still trying to focus on building its new nation. Naturally with these factors most of the war effort would be focused on preserving Hungary.
In the beginning on September 25th was the launch of the Slovakia Offensive, which as the name suggests was a thrust to control the Slovak region from falling into the hands of Hungary. It was here that Austria had the most success with Slovakia containing little if any Hungarians to support the breakaway republic. Austria was also able to quickly consolidate the region with multiple reinforcements from nearby Bohemia, main Austria, and Galicia. Over the course of October Austria consolidated its hold on the territory and kept the Slovaks loyal to the crown, causing a much needed morale boost with this strike to the Hungarians. A counteroffensive was planned in Budapest in order to retake the region and solidfy Hungarian rule. A 50,000 man army was sent to retake the region on November 2nd under the command of Gyorgy Klapka. The Hungarians found defeat however when the met the main Austrian force at the Battle of Bretislava. When the Hungarians marched to take the important regional city they were shocked to meet a stronger force of around 80,000 men with most troops coming from the Czech and Polish regions. The main cause that dealt the Hungarians a loss though was information of the battle plans being leaked to Austria by Slovak sympathizers who had managed to obtain it from Hungarian officers while they stayed at an inn. The battle was not a total victory for Austria though as they had suffered around 16,000 casualties compared to Hungary's 10,000. After the battle the Hungarian army was forced to cross back into central Hungary and were powerless as Austria confirmed its control over Slovakia. Klapka would later redeem himself though at the Battle/Siege of Buda where a valiant Hungarian defense of 75,000 led by Klapka and Kossuth himself were able to make a stand against the larger force of around 90,000 Austrian troops and protect the capitol from a hostile takeover. For over a month the two sides would fight with Austria launching multiple assaults to try and gain the capitol. Similar to the Siege of Vienna a century and a half earlier, the Hungarians had won due to far superior defenses and the greater will to protect their homeland. The battle was costly for Austria as they had over 20,000 casualties compared to Hungary's lesser but equal ratio of 15,000. On December 10th, the Austrian Army withdrew from the city after its leader, Hungarian General Heinrich Hentzi was captured and executed by Hungarian partisans. For the next two weeks Klapka rallied the Hungarian soldiers of the north to push the Austrians back into Slovakia. The fighting then stopped on the front only due to the arrival of Christmas. Further east the Ukrainian loyalists were also slowly encroaching on Hungarian territory but were stopped by the Hungarians at the city of Uzhorod where they were conducting a siege to try and take it. Any attempts to try and advance into ethnic Hungary though was met with fierce and deadly resistance.

Battle of Budapest

Croatia: Along with Transylvania, Croatia was perhaps the most important out of all the theaters in the war. For near millennia the Kingdom had been linked with Hungary due to a series of dynastic succession that had united the two crowns under one ruler. At first many Hungarians had thought that their brethren to the west would want to join on their quest for independence as part of the new Republic of Hungary. As stated before due to the machinations of Josip Jelacic, they had refused Hungary's offer of cooperation and stayed committed to Austria. This would not be the best choice for Croatia in the war as the Austrian defeats at Trieste and Pakozd would serve to fundamentally weaken the Croatian/Austrian hold on the territory, leaving it ripe for Hungarian conquest. After the Battle of Pakozd the Hungarians had wasted no time in striking and had launched an army of 60,000 men to force the unification of Croatia and Hungary. Over the course of three weeks the Hungarian army had marched virtually unopposed as most of the Croatian forces were trying to organize within the Kingdom or were in the middle of the Italian campaign. The main battle of this campaign was the Battle of Zagreb where a smaller force of 30,000 Croats tried to defend their capitol from the Hungarian onslaught. From October 23rd-30th the Hungarian and Croat forces had battled it out amidst the streets with Hungarian patrols being ambushed by Croat partisans while the Croats suffered massive casualties in open battles and from reigning artillery fire. With each day the Hungarian forces had surrounded the city while they also received supplies secretly from the Ottomans down south. With virtually no hope of reinforcements the government surrendered on October 30th. The Hungarians suffered 5,423 KIA, 5890 WIA, and 612 MIA to take the city. In contrast Croat casualties were high with 7,364 KIA, 6842 WIA, and the rest taken prisoner while the civilians suffered over 5,000 deaths. With the main capitol under their control the Hungarian army continued its march to the sea which it reached on November 24th. The remaining major battle of importance was the Battle of Rejicka on November 28th where the Croatian defenders under Jelacic defended the city to keep an important Adriatic port from Hungarian hands. Unlike Zagreb the Croatians had a much smaller force with only 10,000 troops and the city suffering from the ongoing (though almost over) Italian blockade. After the Hungarians defeated the Croatian army in an initial skirmish on the 28th, the cities population revolted and surrendered to the Hungarians in order to keep their city spared and continue trade with the Mediterranean. The Croatian army was blackmailed into surrender with Jelacic being shot by a group of Hungarian officers for inciting "treason" to Hungary, although rumor has it that the execution was ordered by commanding General Lajos Aulich. The Hungarians maintained their formations after that as they could not risk advancing into Dalmatia for fear of overstretching their supply lines.

Hungarian March to the sea

Transylvania: In Transylvania the bloodiest fighting of the war occurred not from the professional armies, but from civilians who waged a massive battle of ethnic violence against each other. The region had been highly contested for years as the Catholic Hungarians had been encroaching upon the lands of the Orthodox Romanians and forcing the process of Magyarization upon them. When Hungary declared independence, servants of Vienna had been dispatched to Transylvania and had promised the Romanian population greater autonomy and freedom from Magyarization if they fought on the side of the Hapsburg throne. Seeing this as the best chance they had in getting rid of Budapest, the Romanians rose up in revolt and started committing immense crimes against their Hungarian neighbors. Multiple atrocities were committed in the early stages of the war with Hungarians committing the same acts in retaliation. Eventually the situation had gotten so bad that only Eastern Transylvania was firmly in Hungary's grasp through the sheer tenacity and ferociousness of Hungarian partisans. Not wanting to lose this important region while other battles were still being waged along the Adriatic and Slovakia, the government in Budapest had dispatched a 55,000 men force under Henrik Dembiniski to retain the territory. At first everything seemed okay as the totality of Eastern Transylvania was swiftly captured by the Hungarians with no major battles taking place due to the bulk of the loyalist armies being deployed west. As the war went west into Transylvania however, the war got bloodier as the Hungarian army was constantly under attack by Romanian guerillas who refused to face Hungary in open combat. Terror spread through the Hungarian ranks as Transylvanians would come in the dead of night dressed as vampires and werewolves, then proceeding to massacre unsuspecting patrols and sleeping troops. While Hungary was slowly taking territory they could never find success in an open battle and were forced to play cat and mouse games with the insurgents. Perhaps the greatest gift that the Transylvanians could give Austria was the fact that they had tied down so many troops of Hungary in 1846. By the end of the year Hungary had conquered half of the region, though they were a long way from finishing.

Ethnic violence in Transylvania

Map of the Hungarian Revolution by the end of 1846. Red Austria. Green Hungary.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 41 New Players Enter the Game

"It's a shame we can't really do anything right now. I would have loved to finish what Uncle started."- President Napoleon Bonaparte III 1847
"I know that we're still in a war with the damned Americans and that they've conquered Canada by now. If we just stand by and do nothing however than Europe will forever be lost from our control."- Queen Victoria 1846
"Trust me when I say that the actions I'm about to take will be most beneficial to the motherland."- Tsar Nicholas I 1847

Even though the 1846 Revolutions started in France, for the first year it had been mainly a Central European conflict as the states of Italy, Germany, and the Hapsburg kingdoms had been fighting over nationalism and liberalization of the government. Outside of Central Europe the main responses of the 1846 Revolutions was a small period of unrest in Western Europe followed by the implementation of a new liberal government with a constitution. With German Unification, Italian Unity, and the slow collapsing of Austria, geopolitics within Europe was about to change forever as the old order which was created in the aftermath of the Congress of Vienna was about to become no more. Unfortunately for both sides depending on your viewpoint, the revolutions would not stay as internal or regional conflicts as two European powers would about to square off against each other for their support on opposing sides of the conflict in order to guarantee their position and safety on the continent. The United Kingdom and the Russian Empire.

Even as the American Armies were sweeping through the Canadian frontier, the primary attention of the British public and government remained focus on Europe. While it would be embarrassing to once again lose to their former colonies, Britain would be far more impacted if Europe turned into a hostile state that would once again challenge British supremacy in the globe just as Napoleon had done three decades prior. Ironically this time France would not at all be the cause of Britain's stress (not for another decade at least), no this time the main worry lied within the new state of Germany. For the last century Britain had maintained a strong amount of interest and participation within German affairs as their Kings were also the Electors of Hanover. With the end of the Holy Roman Empire and the separation of Hanover and Britain, many within Britain thought that the whole German question would be put behind them, they were wrong. For decades Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom had looked worryingly to Germany as they saw a region that was industrializing at a near equal rate to Britain and could one day challenge her in world influence and control on European affairs. For decades the monarchs of Britain had ignored the matter as Hanover's independence was still secure while the fractured state of Austria was still its leader. Now Germany was an united empire under Prussia with the possibility of becoming the next Napoleonic Empire while Hanover was under constant siege for annexation. What was worse is that Germany actually supported the liberal reforms of its revolutionaries, threatening the social balance in Britain with the ongoing Chartist movement and labor division. For the last two months of 1846 the Prime Minister's cabinet held constant meetings with the queen over Germany even though the Royal Army was advocating for more attention to its war with America. There was constant bickering and talks of deals going back and forward until a new plan had been reached by Christmas day. According to the will of the Queen and the cabinet, Britain would not take action against Germany but instead become its ally in Europe. The reason for this new shift was due to fear's of France, which was increasingly moving to the future Second French Empire under Napoleon III, and the rise of Russia which was encroaching upon Ottoman territory and was beginning to start the Great Game in Central Asia. Germany was seen as the perfect solution to these two threats by acting as a counterbalance that would prevent them from uniting as well as providing a front for either side in a possible war. At the same time Prussia was focused on European development and as leader of Germany it would never be a colonial powerhouse. By the beginning of next year Terms were sent to Kaiser Wilhelm detailing Britain's demands in return for support and recognition. They were:

1. The annexation of Hanover as an autonomous state in the federal structure of the German Empire with Ernst Augustus being retained as King.
2. A betrothal of Princess Victoria to Imperial Crown Prince Fredrick
3. A secret clause detailing support against either France or Russia in a war. An open defense pact would also be signed
   
4. Heligioland would be transferred to British control.
   
5. Agreement of the Royal Navy maintaining a larger fleet ratio than Germany.
6. Recognition of Britain's current and future plans for colonial expansion.

When met with all of these terms Wilhelm could not be happier. Germany could still keep its status as the premier power on the mainland while it received large support from the largest empire in the world. While some concessions had to be made these were all minor in the grand scheme of things and well worth Germany's annexation of Hanover and its protection in the earliest stages of unity. The later called Amsterdam agreement (for the negotiations over terms would take place in Amsterdam) was signed on January 9th, marking the beginning of the Anglo-German alliance. Unfortunately for Britain while it was beginning its invasion of America, Russia would be making its own moves that would force London to respond in defense of its new ally.

Fredrick and Victoria. Living proof of the Anglo-German alliance.

When it comes to rulers of nations most historians can agree that there were few who were so successful and yet complete failures such as Tsar Nicholas I. Nicholas came to power after the Decembrist Revolt and because of both this and the earlier radicalism of the French Revolution, caused him to rule as a complete autocrat with only the welfare of the state in mind. According to Nicholas's central principles, the Army was the most important part of the nation and it should be dedicated to expanding the empire at any cost. Unlike the Prussian model though, Nicholas never bothered to reform his military or also make sure that the military and by extension the government was one that would be enacted for the welfare of its citizens. For the first twenty years of his reign Nicholas expanded Russia to great lengths but never bothered to enact a single reform for its citizens. At the same time Nicholas was a firm supporter in the Holy Alliance, a unofficial militarily alliance made up of Prussia, Austria, and Russia to maintain balance and support the retaining of Christian and Conservative principles. Over the years this alliance failed as Wilhelm came to power as a slightly pragmatic King while Austria continued to grow weaker. Still relations were close between Austria and Russia as they both shared the same goal of retaining absolute monarchy, fighting against the Turk, and keeping to the old ways. When the 1846 Revolutions came about Nicholas was in a state of total shock. When he looked at German Unification he saw the potential for a Second Napoleon (ironically never actually paying any attention to the REAL second Napoleon) that would one day seek to annex all of Western Russia as its own. Hungary was also seen as a threat to Nicholas because if the Hungarians were successful then ethnic minorities in the empire such as the Poles, Baltics, and Ukrainians would also want independence. In order to protect the future of Russia and the Romanovs Nicholas had to act now or doom his successors to deal with multiple rebellions and the rise of a German state (once again while still not understanding that revolts would still happen due to his poor rule). Many of Nicholas's advisors begged him to stay nuetral as this was a German problem and would not affect Russia at all. Nicholas would have none of it. Once his mind was made up there was no going. Back. So shortly after the events of September Russia began the process of mobilization for its massive Imperial Army. When the snows of winter melted the fury of the Bear would be unleashed unto Central Europe.

Tsar Nicholas I (Right) Mobilization of the Russian Army (Left)

A/N: As a little PSA I'd like to officially apologize and state that I won't be able to update "Lone Star Republic" daily or as frequently as I was before. On Tuesday I posted "Gihren's Glory" on the ASB page and while I initially thought that it would get a mild response, I've been getting tons of likes and people demanding for more. I'll still update to twice a week at the minimum but my attention will now have to be divided between Lone Star and Gihren's Glory for the future. The new goal is to definitely start 1861 by Christmas. Here is a small preview of future updates. Chapter 42 Star Spangled Supreme. Chapter 43 Viennese Waltz. Chapter 44 Hungary's Stand.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 42 Star Spangled Supreme

"You limey's think you can come and burn Washington just like you did 30 years ago? Not today my friend."- Captain Robert E. Lee 1847
"We started this infernal war over trees and beavers and we come out losing Quebec. It was a mistake to trust those Frenchman and it was a mistake to start another war with America."- Lord John Russel 1847
"Can you believe how badly those army idiots screwed up. At least the Royal Navy will never be responsible for losing a war, that's for damn sure."- Commander Howard Gordon 1847

By the end of 1846 it seemed that the Oregon War was already an American victory. Due to a swift blitzkrieg along with the aid of the Quebecois, the United States was able to conquer a majority of Canada and now had the entirety of Oregon under its control. While the Royal Navy had near control of the ocean and America could not hope to invade Britain, the United States reigned were the masters of North America and would not give up an inch of their new territories without a fight. Yet, despite these conditions the British refused to back down even when they were being drawn closer into the conflict of German Unification every day. During the winter of '46 as the United States consolidated its gains and prepared for its defenses, Great Britain was preparing a massive invasion force to one retake Canada and hopefully knock off a few stars from the flag. Already the Royal Navy had near naval superiority and Great Britain and the British economy appeared to be strong enough to finance the war for several years. An expedition force of around 60,000 British regular forces were created with the intent of launching an invasion at three points; Washington, Quebec, and New Orleans. Queen Victoria and her council felt confident of their chances as in their viewpoint the British Army was the greatest force in the entire war and had been successfully winning multiple colonial conflicts around the globe for the past two decades. These nobles were confident of their chances due to their victories in the Napoleonic Wars three decades ago and the assumed superior fighting capabilities of a British regular to an "backwards American hillbilly". Multiple times in preparation the head staff of the Royal Army begged her majesty for the recruitment of more men from Britain's population, the chance to wait until more reinforcements came from India, or for the three separate divisions to be consolidated into one main invasion force. Victoria would have none of it. Britain would strike the Americans in three decisive blows and they would once again show which empire reigned supreme across the globe. The Royal Armada set sail on February 27th. They would arrive in America six weeks later around Mid-April. Britain believed that the war would be won by the end of the year, they were wrong.

Quebec: The British Invasion of Quebec is a rather popular topic that is discussed in many of the Texan military academies today as an invasion plan that sounds good on paper but should never have been implemented. At the time Quebecois nationalism was at an extreme high with tens of thousands of Quebecois joining the revolutionary army that was being formed in Quebec City, additionally the former new nation was constructing defenses all around the coast and in the interior as the people of Quebec were keen on this uprising failing for a second time in another British invasion. While all this was going on those soldiers in the Royal Armada were expecting to be welcomed as liberators like they were in the War of 1812 when the people of Quebec cheered as the British came in to push the Americans out. The biggest difference between now and then was the fact that back then the United States looked to conquer Quebec, now they were being portrayed as the liberators. What made matters worse is that the extra time needed to sail to the St. Lawrence River had given the Quebecois and Americans weeks in advance to prepare for a British attack. When the British did come in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence they were also constantly harassed by the American ships stationed in the gulf, causing the British to lose 7 ships before the invasion and around 3,000 soldiers. Finally on May 19th, the British entered the Saint Lawrence River and prepared for a massive assault on Quebec City to take it back from the Americans. What they did not expect was for the entire population of Quebec City to be against them. Under the combined leadership of General Winfield Scott, the Americans and Quebecois constantly hammered the British ships and men on shore with multiple artillery bombardments that were stationed around the city. When the Royal Marines and Regulars did reach the shores they found miles of traps along the beach and fire from riflemen that were covered in trenches and behind steel walls. To say that it was a 19th century reenactment of the Calais Assault was quite true. Eventually the large quantity of British troops managed to pull through but they also met fierce street fighting from the civilian guerillas and American army in the city, who now numbered 30,000 within the cities limits. By the time dusk fell the British assault split off into two different forces, those who retreated back to the ships and those who elected to escape the city and into the mainland under Brigadier Neville Jenkins. Unfortunately for the 5,000 soldiers who did chose this route, they would be unable to be reinforced by the Royal Navy as they could not establish a safe port on the coast. For a single month these men ran through the Canadian wilderness in a desperate attempt to get the civilians to join their side in staging a grand revolt against the Americans, only to find that every town they ran into supported the new Republic of Quebec. On June 24th the men of the expeditionary force got tired of their conditions and staged a mutiny against Jenkins, then immediately surrendering to the American Army. With the inability to find a good staging ground in Quebec the Northern Expedition simply retreated to Nova Scotia where they hoped to make a base of operations and wait for further reinforcements and supplies. These men would become instrumental in the war by defending the peninsula against the American forces that attempted to gain access to the last British territory in mainland North America. The Quebec campaign was very costly for the British as they had lost 2,247 KIA, 1,903 MIA, and over 6,412 POW. The Americans and Quebecois suffered 1,422 Killed and 1,965 wounded.

Quebec Campaign

Washington: Once again this time around the British chose Washington as an objective in order to knock out the capitol, hopefully capture the government, and force the Americans to a quick surrender. This time however they would be meet with the bulk of the American Navy as a flotilla of over 35 ships, half of which being steam vessels, met the Royal Armada in Chesapeake in order to prevent a second burning of Washington from happening again. In contrast the British ships had over 50 armed vessels but most of them were reliant on the traditional sail power and had less obsolete canons due to their constant usage in small colonial conquests. The Battle of the Chesapeake was the largest naval battle of the war on May 1st as the bay became filled with gunpowder as constant barrages came from the large warships in the bay while Marines faced off in boarding combat and some ships had to resort to raming in order to fulfill their objectives. Ultimately it was a tactical draw as the Americans lost 13 ships compared to the British losses of 17, it was however a strategic victory as the battle allowed the British flotilla to sneak by and land near the capitol. As soon as the British landed the evacuation order was sounded and the people were sent into a panic, thousands tried to leave the city in order to escape a burning while congressmen gathered their belongings and headed up North to flee to Philadelphia and set up an interim government there. One man who would not abandon the city though was President William Henry Harrison. Old Tippecanoe had been dying to enter the fields of battle once again and saw this as his chance to take command while the Union's best generals were across the nation or in Canada. Vice President Webster pleaded constantly for his superior to flee with him to Philadelphia, to this William Harrison said, "While I was off fighting Injuns the damn British burned our capitol to ashes, they looted Washington, ravaged the countryside, and destroyed everything that stood for liberty. I will stand here and show them why the President takes an Oath to defend the Constitution. Take Anna with you and bring as many national treasures that you can carry. If I die then I'll make sure to see old Vicky in hell." With those words President Harrison put on his old Generals Uniform and equipped himself with sabre and pistol, becoming the first President since Washington to take field command in wartime. For two months the Battle of Washington raged as the Royal Army under Major General Arthur Wellesley (Son of his father the famous Duke of Wellington) battled it out with the 25,000 American defenders while the Royal Navy patrolled the coast of the Chesapeake, despite numerous attempts by the American Navy to reach through. The fighting was fierce and bloody as for every foot the British gained they took ten casualties in return. The Americans fought like hell to defend their capitol while having a high morale due to their President standing in the front lines with them during the fighting. Everytime the British neared a major landmark or government office they would be met with multiple waves of American troops who fought to the death in order to prevent a second burning. The most memorable occasion was the Battle of the Monument where the British attempted to launch a bombardment on the Washington Monument and were faced with retaliation by a thousand man cavalry charge that virtually overwhelmed the battalion sent to deface the monument, leaving no survivors, Miraculously the Monument along with other major buildings such as Congress and the White House survived the entire battle unscathed, prompting the creation of the Oregon War Memorial by President Lincoln in 1868. To give the British credit they had fought hard throughout the battle and had maintained a strong dedication throughout the first half. The tide of the Battle turned in June as reinforcements kept on pouring in from the South in the thousands along with the battle hardened veterans of the Canadian campaigns. The Royal Navy could not supply the troops long enough for the six week supply chain and on June 30th the leading Naval officer Rear Admiral Horatio Roberts decided to retreat, unfortunately they could not escape with the Royal Army as a suprise raid by the Americans on the 29th caused every single troop transport in the harbor to be sunk or too damaged to set sail. Faced with the prospect of total annihilation, the Duke of Wellington surrendered on the 4th of July. The aftermath of the battle would render it the bloodiest of the war as the British lost over 15,000 casualties while the Americans suffered over 13,000.The Battle of Washington would become a huge morale boost for the Americans as they had protected their capitol from conquest, especially with the battle ending on Independence Day. It would also catapult Harrison's popularity to that near equal Washington's as the man added the title Defender of D.C to his long list of achievements.

"Harrison Defending the Republic" a largely fictionalized image of Harrison during the Battle of Washington inspired by "Washington Crossing the Delaware"

Gulf Coast: Further south the British had experience much more success then their counterparts up North but never enough to turn back the tide of war. On June 2nd the British landed near the mouth of the Mississippi and then proceeded to capture the capitol of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, on June 6th. Further south they met sent a force to capture New Orleans on the 9th but fortunately for the Americans they were able to defend the city under the command of Militia Colonel Henry Jackson (of no relation to Andrew Jackson) due to captured intelligence of the plans by Creole spies and help from some of the first river monitors on the Mississippi, driving the British into the swamp and causing them to back out from the city. Nevertheless the British decided to enact total control of the Gulf instead of focusing on the Mississippi in order to prepare fro reinforcements from Britain at a later date. Through the rest of the month the British captured Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola from the Americans as the Royal Navy held superiority at sea and often supported the invasions. Another factor that contributed to the British success was the sending of the local forces and volunteers to Washington or Canada. Enraged that his former state of Georgia could be invaded next, Texas President Mirabeau Lamar sent an arms package of over 10,000 rifles and pistols across the Sabine to help the Southern militia. In addition the Texas Congress ratified a treaty that it had been earlier sent from the State Department that allowed American merchants and sailors to fly under the Texas flag and be under Texan escort as part of its merchant navy in a temporary contract during the war. This benefited both parties as Texas trade increased incredibly while the Americans were able to still trade with Europe. For over two months the British gradually took control of the coast and even promised to free some of the slaves on the plantations, something that angered the Southern population greatly. By the end of June virtually the southern half of Mississippi and Alabama along with Western Florida and Eastern Louisiana were under British control. It was this greed that unfortunately for the British caught them at their worse as their supply lines were becoming overextended which made it easy for southern militias and guerillas to commit hit and run tactics on unsuspecting troops. The tide turned at the Battle of Montgomery where the Alabama 1st and 2nd were able to defend the state capitol from an British attack by an opposing force of 1500. Soon as summer settled in, reinforcements came in from the various southern states along with some veterans from Washington. Slowly but surely the British were pushed back to the coast by the beginning of fall. They would've been able to keep the coast under their control with help from the Royal Navy, but unfortunately most of the British military was now focused on the Russian Intervention in Germay and thus could not provide support. Gradually before the end of the year the British army of the South retreated and were forced to turn to Jamaica, the last southern city liberated was Biloxi on December 1st. The overall casualties of the campaign were around 10,000 British and 12,000 for the Americans. By Christmas there were no more British on American soil and the war was now restricted back to the Atlantic, where the Americans were slowly scoring minor victories with the majority of the Royal Navy being deployed to the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The Stars and Stripes were victorious and began preparation for a possible fourth invasion of their soil. For both sides the Oregon War would officially end next year.

Battle of Montgomery

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 43 Viennese Waltz

"I am Emperor of the Germans. Austria is German. Therefore Austria is mine."- Kaiser Wilhelm I 1847
"Thank God for Russia."- Emperor Franz Joseph I 1847
"So let me get this straight. We are currently losing a war against America, FOR THE THIRD TIME. Quebec has risen against us and we may forever lose our influence in the Americas. And yet the Queen has the audacity to send our boys to help the Germans when it's going to benefit us in no way whatsoever, thousands of English dead for a foreign crown. while our former colonies mock us across the pond. God save the Queen, yeah right."- Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston 1847

After the passing of the Imperial Constitution and the ascension of Wilhelm Hohenzollern as Kaiser, there was no denying that the German Empire was a new force on the continent that would stay for quite a while. What came next though was the debate on how to properly settle the Greater German question. Not a Germany led by Austria of course, but one united that would be led by Prussia. Much of South Germany was content to stay the way it was as they did not want to fight their Austrian brethren who were allies only a year ago, and they also feared that this could lead to a greater empowerment of Prussia. Many also pointed out that Austria had a special status due to its former position as head of the Holy Roman Empire. Germans all over the nation voiced their concerns on whether or not a united Germany would also include Hungary and the Slavic lands, as it would be "polluting" the German nation with non-Germans and would cause numerous issues down the road with language barriers. The Conservatives and Catholics were against this plan while the Liberals and Nationalists were all for it, though the nationalists advocated for the annexation of Bohemia and Slovenia. All sides were pretty much in agreement that Hungary needed to be kept independent. The final decision belonged to Kaiser Wilhelm. As "Emperor of the Germans", Wilhelm used this as a pretext for annexation all of German Austria. Making a grand speech before the Frankfurt Parliment (Berlin would not be chosen as the Imperial Capitol until 1849), Wilhelm cried out for the unification of all Germans and for the downfall of the Hapsburgs that so desired to desperately deny its citizens the rights that they would deserve. With the Liberals and Nationalists maintaining a huge majority in the first session, Wilhelm got his wish and war was declared upon the Austrian Empire on December 7th. With the invasion beginning next year.

When word of the war deceleration reached Austria, the Imperial family was in a panic. After the disastrous defeat at Breslau, Franz Joseph expected Germany to mind its own affairs and built its new Empire, not invade Austria. Quickly defenses were being sprawled along the hundreds of miles wide border and troops from Italy were being redirected to the German border while Austrian diplomats tried desperately to reach a peace with Italy, which they managed to achieve on Christmas. Unfortunately from Austria the troops could not be entirely focused on defense or training as uprising sprang up all over Austria by German Nationalists, therefore forcing the Austrian Army to be deployed to quell the insurgents. While all this was going on plans were being made in Berlin to conquer Vienna. The troops that made up the Southern German Kingdoms would be sent along the French border in order to prevent Napoleon from gaining any ideas of repeating his Uncle's success. This caused a total reassignment of 300,000 troops along the Alsace-Lorraine border. By this point the Prussian/Northern Armies had reached a combined total of 1,200,000 men through the mobilization of the reserves and the mass volunteering from the masses. 300,000 were sent to the Russian Border not with the objective of defending from a possible invasion as it would later prove, but to secure it from the still restless Polish Nationalists. The rest were sent down south in three Army Groups; The 1st Army with the job of capturing Vienna, the 2nd Army with the job of capturing Bohemia, and the 3rd Army which would sweep Southern Austria and would link up with the 1st to capture Vienna. Preparations were made and the official invasion began on March 1st.

German Nationalists preached about Unification in Vienna

Bohemia: The 2nd Army was the one that would encounter the most resistance within Austria as the Czechs were in no mood to join the new Empire. They were in the process of gaining more rights from the Hapsburg's and would definitely not receive language recognition in a total German state. Within the first two weeks the Sudetenland had fallen quickly due to popular support, after that it was one giant onslaught against the Czech wall. Slowly the German Army made their way across Bohemia as they encountered stiff resistance from the Native Czech Army led by Field Marshal Alfred Ferdinand, that did not suffer from disunity or revolutionary unrest as the German Austrians did. The first two prominent battles of the campaign were the Battles of Ohre and Silesia in which German Field Marshal Siegried von Lohengram, advanced in order to secure the German areas of Bohemia and surround Prauge. The Battle of Ohre was a total victory as the woefully prepared Czechs of 30,000 defenders could not make a decisive stand against the 75,000 Prussian forces and had to retreat across the river. The Battle of Silesia was by far the bloodier battle as the Austrian Major General Erich Rudolf would refuse to surrender the territory and due to Prussia and Austria's centuries long conflict over the region. The Battle of Silesia took place from March 8th-10th with 100,000 German soldiers and 80,000 Austrians as the woods of Silesia became littered with dead bodies from Germans and Czechs, the Germans winning the battle only due to the superior tactical maneuvering of Lohengramm and the numerical superiority of the German cavalry with the majority of Austria's cavalry being deployed to Hungary. From that battle the Germans took almost 20,000 casualties while Austria managed to produce over 22,000 casualties. With both the Sudentanland and Silesia falling, the German Army was directed towards Prague in order to capture the heart of Bohemia. This time the Germans would face defeat as the Czech's fought like hell to retain their glorious capitol and had directed most of their forces here, causing a 180,000 defense. 215,000 troops under Lohengramm were sent to battle against Albert's army amid the outskirts of Prague on the 17th. Here the Czechs were able to gain an advantage due to superior fortifications and the concentration of most of Bohemia's artillery from the region in the capitol. During the battle the Northern flank was taken by German forces after facing a heavy amount of opposition while the Eastern Flanks and Southern flanks were in Czech hands, the Western side of the city in open contestment. The battle would rage on for five days but there was little move of territory and the lines soon became stationary. Recognizing that the opportunity was lost, Lohengramm called off the attacks on the 23rd and instead created a siege around Prague. Tactically this was a Czech/Austrian victory as the Germans had suffered 30,000 casualties while Austria only suffered 19,000. Strategically the battle was a German victory as with most of the enemy forces concentrated in Prague, Lohenmgramm could send half of the German forces around the rest of the countryside to capture the now defenseless territory for Germany. During all of May the siege continued while German forces now controlled 2/3rds of Bohemia.

Field Marshall Lohengramm and his staff plan the Occupation of Bohemia and Siege of Prague

Vienna: Under the command of Field Marshall Helmuth von Multke, the 1st Army entered Central Austria in a bid to seize Vienna. It was here that the heaviest fighting with Austrian and German forces would commence due to the battle for what many called the Rome of Central Europe. Upper Austria and Salzburg were the first to fall as German Nationalists flocked to the banner of the Second Reich and helped coordinate with the approaching German Armies to seize the numerous cities that layed among the border. Unfortunately cooperation was not a majority among the population as many Austrians were at the same point now starting to see the Germans as foreign invaders that wished to make them slaves under Protestant Prussia. So while the 1st Army advanced they were also met with much guerilla warfare and having to sidetrack for the need to establish order. The two main battles of the first month were the Battles of Salzburg and Linz were the German Army was divided into two and managed to take both the cities from the 14th-17th and 16th-18th respectively. The main reason that both of those cities fell was due to the Austrian Army diverting most of their forces to Vienna in order to make a final stand reminiscent of the Siege of Vienna in 1683. As April ended and the Germans advanced into Lower Austria they started to meet tougher resistance due to reinforcements from the untouched eastern parts of the army. In Vienna Franz Joseph was embarrassingly forced to reinstate Albrecht as a Field Marshall and give him command of the defense of Vienna as there were few major Austrian Generals left that were up to the task. The Germans finally reached Vienna on April 20th and began the Battle of Vienna. Similar to Prague, the battle took an entire week as the Austrians made risky and sometimes suicidal moves as there was nothing left to lose, and threw almost everything they had into the German force. At the start of the Battle where was 230,000 Germans and 275,000 Austrians with the Austrian force actually composed of the best regiments and troops from around the Empire as they were called to defend the capitol. The Germans experienced mix success as they caused heavy casualties and took some territory but at the same time would be pushed back and take heavy losses. Artillery barrages raged for hours long and the cavalry always seemed to be in motion while the troops would march up and down the field. The end of the Battle caused 33,523 KIA, 28,455 WIA, and 10,986 POW. For the Austrians it was 38,210 KIA, 30,460 WIA, and 14,213 POW. Moltke was forced to back off from Vienna as he could not risk charging against the equally matched army or risk a chance of the Austrians gaining an upper hand and launching a counterattack into Bavaria, undoing much of Germany's progress of Unification. So Moltke retreated to about 15 miles from the city and had his army consolidate the rest of their captured territory. Their signal to move would be when reinforcements from the 3rd arrived.

Battle of Vienna

Southern Austria: By far the German force that had the easiest time in the campaign was the Third Army under Field Marshall Heinz Stoffenburg. The Southern/Western front was wide open as most of the forces in the region had been depleted due to the constant battles with the Italian and Hungarian armies, in addition when the Italians left most of the countryside was in ruin and the local population in no form to resist. With this the Third Army virtually steamrolled through Southern Austria and Slovenia in little more than 5 weeks. The only engagement of notice was the Battle of Slovenia where the 30,000 strong remnants faced the might of the 1st and 2nd corps of the German Army, numbering 150,000 men in the fields of Slovenia. It was an attempt by Stoffenburg to be able to crush the remaining forces in the region and it succeeded immensely with the 17,000 casualties for Austria and the rest taken prisoner while the Germans only suffered 10,000 casualties. During this time the Third Army actually met with the Hungarian forces at the city of Trieste on the 21st. Here Stoffenburg gave Artur Gorgei a message from Kaiser Wilhelm that stated that Germany was pushing for recognition of Hungary's Independence and that they would be granted all non-German/Czech lands after the war. Recognition was achieved on March 31st as Germany became the first nation to officially recognize Hungary's independence, thereby making each other co-belligerents in their respective wars. With all of Southern Austria secure, The 3rd Army would then make their way towards Vienna to offer assistance.

German Troops Advance

Had the First War of German Unification continued without foreign intervention, then Austria would be totally crushed and there would be no need for a second war. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that would not be the case as Tsar Nicholas I would decide to bring Russia into the fight and declared war on Germany, while also declaring war on Hungary to restore it to Austria. The overall plan which was called Spring Napoleon was implemented on May 22nd, and over 550,000 Russian troops invaded both Hungary and Germany. Soon All of East Prussia, Transylvania, and Northern Hungary would meet the might of the Bear.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 44 Hungary's Stand

"Why the hell are the damn Russians invading our country? What did we ever do to them?"- Lajos Kossuth 1847
"I watched as my nation was torn apart by those Russian dogs. Our people oppressed, unable to practice our religion or even speak our own language. I will not let the same thing happen to my new nation."- Henryk Dembinsky 1847
"Many of the nobles misunderstand why I feel it necessary to help Austria keep Hungary. You see, if Hungary gains independence then it will encourage other peoples to get independent. They'll spread silly ideas bout democracy and liberty, about the false notion that all men are created equal. If Austria loses Hungary then we lose our Western Empire, and Russia is once again reduced to the backwards land of our ancestors."- Tsar Nicholas I 1847

Until the Russian intervention in May of 1847, the Hungarian Revolution while not a complete victory, was undergoing much success and was on its path to total independence within a few years. Already the Croatia was under near Hungarian control and the fronts began to stabilize along the Austrian border and occupied Hungary. When Germany invaded Austria it was the greatest chance for Hungary as it was now able to pull troops away from the border and focus on reclaiming Transylvania and Slovakia.Already by the end of March, Hungary had been able to reclaim all of the German lands within Hungary and it had begun a new campaign that was focused on the complete conquest of Transylvania. With Austria now focusing all its attention towards Germany, the region was completely cut off from outside support and was being driven in further and further by advancing Hungarian troops. By the beginning of May only 1/4 of Transylvania remained in the hands of Romanian Loyalists. After Transylvania would fall the general plan would be to move on Slovakia in order to have Austria diverge resources from Bohemia and Vienna and let the Germans have a greater chance of success in order to fulfill the unofficial alliance between the two nations. Afterwords plans would dictate a possible expedition into Galicia to possibly incorporate it as a Hungarian province. While the first opening moves were being made on Slovakia though, Russia would intervene on May 22nd by officially crossing troops over the border into Austrian Galicia to keep Poland under Austrian control. 200,000 Russian troops were marching towards Budapest and they would be further augmented by 100,000-150,000 Ukrainian/Polish troops. With the war with Austria coming to a close, a new one with Russia was just about to begin.

Transylvania: Though many within Hungary expected for Russia to try and push towards Transylvania with the Romanian majority there and strong areas of Pan-Slavinism, the large attack that everyone was expecting never came in full force. For Russia to full invade and attack Transylvania they would've needed to go through Wallachia and Moldavia which would've initiated a largescale confrontation with the Ottoman Empire which the Russians were not prepared for at the time. Additionally most troops were sent father up North to provide a possible backup force for the Russian Army in Prussia should its assault fail. With this reprive the Hungarian Army quickly advanced a majority of its Transylvanian troops to the border with Galicia while the region was reinforced from the now stable theaters of Croatia and the Austrian border. 50,000 men were sent to the region and over the next three months quickly tried to storm the area in order to deal with the problem swiftly and reinforce the men up North. Due to a desperation of time various lethal tactics were used such as burning of suspected traitor villages and sometimes orders sent to extract no prisoners, though this was not a universal policy and the degree of brutality ranged with every Hungarian captain. On July 14th, the region of Transylvania was declared to be in firm Hungarian control and the men marched up North to defend against the coming Russian menace. During this time however a Russian force of 40,000 men had advanced into the region and begun to treck into the Carpathian Mountains. Unfortunately for them the Hungarians had spent the last six months fortifying the mountainside and were well familiar with the terrain. The Battle of Carpathia lasted during most of June as the Russians tried to cross in vain against hte 30,000 strong defenders of the mountains but were met with increasingly difficulty due to well place Hungarian artillery, traps and ambushes, and the inability to properly set up a supply line. The Russians retreated on June 24th with 5,000 casualties while Hungary suffered 3,000. Hungarian General Jozef Bem was then sent to the mountainside and took command to prepare for a second attack, one that would never come. Strategically the Russian feints into Transylvania did have one large advantage though as it forced Hungarian troops to be more spread out and prevented any concentration.

Battle of the Carpathian Mountains

Slovakia: With the ongoing Siege of Vienna most of the Slovak troops had to be deployed west in order to restore the lands of Austria proper and hopefully relieve the siege. With this massive transfer of troops it left Hungary to at least take decisive action and secure as much territory as possible before the Russians arrived near Budapest. When word of the Siege reached Budapest in May, Kossuth gave orders for the Hungarian army to take over Western Slovakia and hopefully cut off reinforcements to Vienna. On May 6th a Hungarian force of 55,000 men once again came into Bretislava but were able to easily take over the city this time due to most of its defenders being stripped for Vienna. After that the Hungarian army then proceded to move eastward and were slowly able to recapture Slovakia as the revolutionaries now marched into a region with most of its crops taken to the army and the men sent west to deal with the German threat. The next serious battle came on June 9th when the Hungarians then tried to take the city of Koslice and met an opposing force of 40,000 Polish troops along with 10,000 Russian soldiers that were acting as a Vanguard. The battle took around a week to settle but it eventually resulted in a Hungarian victory due to the Polish troops being mostly made up of new recruits and being demoralized of the prospect of working with the oppressors of their Eastern brethren. It did take its toll though as the Hungarians lost over 7,000 casualties in the conflict battle while the Polish/Russians lost 10,000. After that the Hungarian Army needed rest and the Russians had finally arrived in force so there was no more room for extra advancement. In mid-June to August the forces of the region fought in a back and forth matter as armies both retreated and advanced in order to determine the front lines and try to gain local support, each side calling each other barbaric invaders. Eventually the lines settled to Northeast of the Vah river while the Russian Army struck in full force around Eastern Hungary.

Hungarian cavalry sweeps through Slovakia

Galicia: Since the Revolution's outbreak the battle lines had been relatively stable at Galicia. The region was of little importance compared to Austria or Bohemia and the Hungarians did not place too much focus on it compared to other theaters. So while there was conflict it mostly consisted of skirmishes along the border line. That all changed in June when the Russian Army came in full force and decided to hit Hungary at its weakest in full force. While 75,000 were sent to Slovakia and 40,000 were sent to Transylvania, 85,000 came along this lightly defended region and crushed most Hungarian resistance that stood in their path. It took weeks for the Hungarian Army to organize as they had to send its main army in Budapest along with further reinforcements with segments of Transylvania and Slovakia to meet the Russian force, along with the increase in volunteers it resulted in a 80,000 strong army. The first major battle took place in Debrecen where an advanced corps of Russia of 40,000 met around 35,000 Hungarian troops. The battle ended in a Russian victory with them taking the city and the Hungarians falling back, but not without Russia receiving 15,000 casualties compared to Hungary's 8,0000. During July as Hungary finally arrived fully in the region, multiple small battles occurred all along the path of the Russian Army as the Hungarian Army working alongside with guerillas commenced hit an run tactics to bite away at the manpower and supply lines that were becoming longer. The penultimate battle of the campaign took place at the banks of the Tisza River as the Hungarians of 45,000 under Lajos Kossuth met the opposing 45,000 Russian forces of Ivan Paskevich on July 29th. Both sides were equal on paper but the Hungarians had a slight advantage as Russia had been advancing nonstop and took little time to organize their supplies, leaving them slightly low on rations and ammunition. For two days the battle went on and while neither side ever falted, Russia had to retreat due to the dangers of running out of ammunition and Ivan feared that if the battle went on then Hungary would start to notice and then proceed to completely route the Russian Army. Overall the casualties were light compared to other engagements as the Hungarians only suffered 2,756 KIA, 1,931 WIA, and 1,606 POW. Russia suffered around 3,410 KIA, 2,183 WIA, and 1,855 POW. As Russia tried to establish its supply lines the Hungarians proceeded to fortify uncaptured territory and moved in on weak points in Russia's flanks. Come fall the Battle lines were drawn East of the Tisza while Russia had managed to capture certain Romanian parts of Transylvania. Both sides would remain stationary until Germany began its counterattack against Russia before the coming of Winter.

Reenactment of the Battle of Tisza (Left) Ivan Paskevich, head of the Russian forces in Hungary (Right)

A/N: Next Chapter is the end of the Oregon War.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 45 Treaty of Lisbon

"Vive le Quebec! Vive le Quebec!"- chants of Quebecois upon confirmation of end of the war 1847
"We've fought a two year war and have lost thousands of lives for this land. It would be a disgrace to the memory of the fallen if we doe not start the admission of Oregon today."- President Daniel Webster 1852
"For the third time we had lost against our colonial children. Another chunk of the Empire was taken and Britain once again looked weak on the world stage. Did we ever try to address the problems that caused the war's loss or maybe run the Empire better? No. Those damn nobles just could not accept the fact that our military was weaker than America's or that their ignorance of the people had caused the Corn Riots. They would learn in due time though. I had personally seen to it."- Lord Protector Oliver Mosley 1938

After the British were pushed back from the coasts of the United States, there was really little else that would change on the battlefield for the rest of the war. The Navies continued their cat and mouse game as the United States would continue to perform raids on certain British cities and colonies while Britain would try and pick off America's remaining Navy. Due to the reduced size of ships available, all plans by the Department of War to commence amphibious operations such as an invasion of Jamaica were promptly scratched. The only place on the entire continent were fighting still took place was on the peninsula of Nova Scotia as the American/Quebecois armies tried to push further against the British stationed there. This happened with little change in territory as while many battles were fought, the British had evacuated all of their remaining North American forces there and they had received minor amounts of reinforcements every month. Making a virtual stalemate that the United States only kept up in order to wear down Britain. Across the Union there were multiple fears of a second invasion as many thought that the British would once again try and protect their claim by sending more of their men west, this time with even more troops. The American Army constantly trained, civilians retreated from the coast, and volunteers renewed their contracts in order to face the British again. It turns out that they would not need to do so as while the war continued for the rest of the year it would not reach American soil once again. Britain would by the beginning of summer become involved in the First War of German Unification, sending hundreds and thousands of men and much of their Royal Navy to Central Europe and the Balkans. With this any ideas of invading America again were put to the sideline as the British fought to retain their ally and keep the Russian behemoth from expanding, much to the frustrations of the Royal War department. The Oregon War would've continued after the end of the German conflict but there is one factor that the British never expected to fight, it's own people.

At first the British public was mostly for the American War as its people sought to take revenge against America who had humiliated them so many times in the past. There was some opposition to the conflict, most notably among the factor workers and the Irish, but the ruling class had chosen war and like sheep to a flock most jumped on with them. As Canada fell the British still kept their war fervor on. Why? Because in their minds it was the backwards Canadians who had lost the fight, surely the might of the British regulars would finish the job. So as 1846 ended the British public were still behind the war, a factor that may have helped with initial stability by providing a common enemy to focus on when the ideas of the '46 Revolutions spread to London. As Summer came the British still had their hopes high even when they would be forced to go into another war against Russia as in their minds, Washington would fall by the end of the year and Canada would be liberated. All of these hopes fell with the capture of the Quebec expedition and the conclusion of the Battle of Washington on July 4 which had knocked the British off the two most important theaters of the war. The situation got worse as the British were pushed out of the continent entirely with the failure of the gulf campaign in October. Were it not for the victories against the Russians it is likely that a revolution might have happened then and there. But Britain would still face unrest come December with the nationwide famine and the Corn Riots.

In 1815 the Importation Act, or the Corn Laws as they were often called, were passed by the British Parliment as a series of tariffs designed to keep the Industrial British economy growing against any industrial growth that took place in Europe. One of the most important clauses of the Act was that extremely high tariffs were put around any foreign agricultural products, mostly corn, to support British farmers and keep the island independent. Its negative effects were already shown in the first five years after the eruption of Mount Tambora caused a massive famine within Britain and for several riots to take place. Still Parliment held firm on their decision and kept to the tariff. For the next 25 years the food input of Britain would remain stable as all British and Irish crops were immediately shipped to the markets of London and other cities on the island. A problem soon arose though as the effects of the Second Revolution caused a massive population boom which required some amount of importing from Europe, and most prominently America. In early 1846 the Irish Potato Famine began which caused the people of Ireland to starve and for the Potato to be near eliminated from the British diet. Still Parliment kept the laws in place as it was only the Irish who were being affected and they could contain any unrest with local forces. Then the Oregon War commenced and Britain lost its highest source of wheat, causing some starvation to set about in the British population. What made matters worse was that Britain could no longer import from the continent as it was virtually filled with wars and revolutionary unrest which made any exportation of crops from Europe near impossible. As months went by the situation got worse as American ships plundered British vessels with food from Asia and South America, Russia came into war with Britain which prevented any grain import from Ukraine, the Irish started getting rebellious, and India had gone under bad harvests. Virtually the only nations that Britain still had a somewhat stable trading relationship with was Texas, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and Portugal. The worse effects were kept form the public however as it could still rely on domestic crops to feed its people. Then the famine of 1847 came. Winter came early to Britain as the temperatures reached a record low of around 8 degrees Fahrenheit in October, when the harvests were collected by the farmers they had only produced half of the previous years output. With the onset of these conditions Britain virtually starved within weeks as there were little new sources of food for the common people while the nobles and the upper class took a great deal of the rest by maintaining their high lifestyle diet. What ultimately caused the situation to go down the toilet was when Queen Victoria hosted a Advent Banquet on December 1st. While the banquet was meant as a charity event to help the starving people of Britain through donations, the event involved near a ton of food to be put on display for the around 5,000 guests. Word had spread from servants at Buckingham Palace of the event and soon thousands of people swarmed the palace on the night of the event to demand food. The guards refused to budge and went the protestors got angsty, the used brute force to keep them away from the palace. Ultimately the people were not able to gain access to the palace because of the royal guard, but when they were pushed back they instead decided to take their anger on the Upper/Middle class of London while also targeting bakeries, butcher shops, and farmer's market. By the time the banquet was supposed to start the whole city of London was in chaos as fires spread from accident, stores were being robbed by looters, rioters took to the streets and targeted the Anglican Church and public officials such as the police and the city government. When word of the riots spread other cities such as Norfolk, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, etc., started to commence riots of their own. By the end of the week the unrest had even spread to Ireland. In order to quell these riots Queen Victoria had to recall troops some troops from Europe and the totality of Canada, causing the American Army to march into Nova Scotia successfully on January 11th. The total unrest was officially declared to be over on March 2nd with the repeal of the Corn Laws, but by then the United Kingdom had lost millions of Pounds in property damage, over 7,000 people killed from the riots with another 10,000 who had been wounded, and a still hungry British population to feed. While the German War was gaining momentum as Germany was preparing to counterattack and drive the Russians all the way back their borders, it was clear that the war with America was lost by now. An official armistice was declared on January 29th and a peace conference arranged in Lisbon on March 15th.

The Corn Riots of 1847 in London (Right) An Irish family during the Potato Famine (Left)

When the Americans and Quebecois walked into the meeting of Lisbon they knew that they were in a position of strength by occupying all of North America. Secretary of State Francis Granger was sent to represent both parties along with a handful of American diplomats. Their objectives were to not walk away without the Oregon territory in entirety or an independent Quebec. They were also to push for as many concessions that they could possibly strangle out of the British as Harrison knew that while America's trade had faltered during the war, Britain was on the more serious issue of collapse with the need for food imports, allowing for any tactics of delay to be highly effective. It took two weeks for any sort of agreement to be reached as the British were apprehensive about giving in totally to the American's demands and there was no way for the United States to enforce a total conquest of Canada. Finally compromises were reached and the Treaty was signed on April 1st. The following terms were this:

1. The entirety of the Oregon Territory is to be given to the United States.
   
2. Quebec is to be given independence as the Republic of Quebec and its sovereignty shall be recognized by the United Kingdom. Quebec will include the lands of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia with a $3 Million dollar debt to be paid by 1856.
3. The Untied Kingdom acknowledges that it was responsible for the start of the war with the border incident.
   
4. All sailors shall be returned to their respective nations within 120 days of the ratification of the treaty.
   
5. The Great Lakes is to be demilitarized by both sides.
   
6. The Untied States shall annex the Bahamas with a $1 Million dollar price.
7. A free trade agreement concerning agriculture shall be in effect between both nations for the next ten years.

The treaty was then later sent to both Washington and London within the next few weeks. Come May peace once again came to the two nations.

North America after the Oregon War in 1848

The end of the Oregon War produced great effects for both nations. For Britain it was a serious embarrassment and blunder that they had lost to the United States again. This caused some military reforms to pass within the next two decades that would be further supplemented by the outcome of the Crimea War. Britain also took steps away from protectionism to establish a free trade economy to keep the British people afloat. After the Corn Riots stopped and peace one again appeared for both nations, millions of British and Irish people would scramble to immigrate to the United States and Texas which would cause the great Immigration Boom of the 1850's. Finally with most of Canada lost, Britain would mostly abandon direct control of the western hemisphere and instead try to dominate by proxy, while opening up new missions and expeditions to colonize Africa or Asia. In Quebec the people cheered all throughout the nation as they were now free from the British forever and could practice their religion and language in peace. A diaspora of English citizens appeared where most Englishmen of Quebec and the Maritime would either migrate west to the remaining Canadian territories or to Britain. For the rest of the 19th century, Quebec would form a national identity of Quasi-French culture and would within years become a stable regional supplier of agriculture, lumber, fish, and shipbuilding. Quebec would also become the United States first permanent ally and they both maintain a close relationship to this day. In the United States the whole country erupted in celebration as they had once more beaten the British and had claimed what was rightfully theirs while liberating oppressed brethren across the border. In the next decade permanent settlement and development of the Oregon territory would begin with Oregon becoming a state in 1852 and the creation of America's pacific trade to begin in the 1850's, the area would later receive an immense amount of migration with the gold rushes of the 1860's and the Alaskan gold rush of 1897. President William Henry Harrison became a national hero and was the most popular president at the time who had an equal amount of love comparable to George Washington, with most American historians today ranking him in the Top 10 of American Presidents. If he wanted to, Harrison could've run for a third term and won a landslide, but the 75 year old man was tired of politics and didn't want to ruin his legacy with any negative actions that might've come in the future, so instead he decided to throw his support behind Daniel Webster for the next election. Webster won in a large electoral landslide but had come close in the popular vote against Democrat John Tyler. For the next decade the United States would come to focus on industrialization, immigration, increasing trade, and settlement of the rest of the west. The war would also play a huge impact in the American Civil War as many of the generals on both sides had gained massive experience in the conflict, while the United States implemented several military reforms for a larger and more professional army. The more immediate concern of the war that would cause the Civil War to come about was the one question that all Americans had been conveniently trying to keep from their minds, slavery.

Flag of the Republic of Quebec (Right) President Daniel Webster (Center) The Oregon Trail (Left)

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 46 East versus West

"Nicholas that bastard! I will make sure to teach him not to interfere with our unification and show him the true might of Germany! Russia will forever regret the day they crossed a Hohenzollern."- Kaiser Wilhelm I 1847
"Those Russians never learn do they. After fighting a war over Germany they still want to goad us into further conflict. It matters not. To Crimea!"- Queen Victoria 1852
"If Germany, Austria, and Russia all fight each other who wins? Poland!"- unknown Polish peasant 1847

During the first half of the First War for German Unification, if there was one factor that the Germans deeply regret missing it was that of Russia. While Russia was indeed a close ally of both nations due to the Holy Alliance, Kaiser Wilhelm had been hoping that Nicholas would stay out of this fight since there would be no direct benefit for Russia and Wilhelm had proved that he was still willing to help with the status quo when he crushed the Polish Uprising in Posen. This was not good enough for Nicholas since he could not risk the rise of another Napoleon to power, with Germany's alliance with Britain being put forward it seemed like the best solution possible to put Germany in its place before it dominated the continent while Britain worked in unison to cut off Russian Expansion in the Great Game. For Nicholas it was a war for survival so that he could finally prove that the might of the Russian could trump over that of the West and their revolutionary ideals. For Germany it was a fight for the Fatherland and to keep the ideas of the Revolution for their new Empire after they had fought so hard to realize their dream of unification. Two civilizations would clash in 1847. This being the beginning of a grand feud that would last until The Great War, where only one would survive.

Texan political cartoon showing the chaos of Europe during the Revolutions

East Germany: Eastern Germany while not the most industrious, economically productive, or resourceful area, was in many ways a heart of the German Empire as it is the land where the Teutonic Order was born and where the modern state of Prussia rose from Brandenburg. As such, during the campaign in Austria there were still 300,000 men that were stationed here throughout the war in case the Russian's tried something or Austria somehow managed to defend its empire and begin a counterattack into Prussia. Therefore will some men were sent to the front lines in Austria to replace battlefield losses, there was still quite a force to be reckoned with in East Prussia. The Russian's plan to counter this problem was to send 150,000 men under Lieutenant General Yegor Tolstoy to go and take the old Prussian capitol of Konigsberg. When making their way to the city the force moved at a slow rate on purpose in order to have the Germans focus all their attention on capturing the city. Within days the port city of Memel fell before the Prussian force and they had reached the Pregel river on June 22nd. Making their way across it and reaching Konigsberg on June 24th. During this time the German Army under General Heinrich Ludendorff spent its time organizing and preparing to meet the Prussian onslaught before it made its way any further into the fatherland. The two armies clashed on June the 26th with the battle lasting for a full day with the Russians charging at the Prussian lines multiple times while providing non-stop artillery fire and cavalry charges. The Russians were told not to rest and kept on charing at the lines the whole time with even the reserves taking action, forcing Ludendorff to keep his troops from creating a flanking maneuver. At the end of the day the Russian army retreated from the city and headed south, leaving over 11,000 German casualties to the Russian's 15,000. At first Ludendorff thought that this was Tolstoy simply retreating before his army could be crushed by the full weight of the German force. It wasn't until later that he found out that it was all a ruse as the main Russian army of over 200,000 led by Prince Alexander Menshikov had been taking the time to make a thrust deep in the center of Eastern Prussia with the distraction in the North and the German obligations in the South providing his troops a way to go unopposed. For the first month the main part of the Russian army virtually steamrollled through Posen by managing to take most of the Grand Ducy by the coming of August. At the same time the Northern army was reorganizing and shifted focus to Danzig in order to take out the much more valued German Port while Russian reinforcements would soon be able to come and one day capture Konigsberg.

The Germans weren't doing nothing though as at the same time Ludendorff managed to reclaim the rest of Eastern Prussia and was redirecting his army to contain the Russian advance before it reached the Baltic, he was able to do this with some success as the Battles of Tuchel and Rosenberg were German victories and kept the Russians from advancing farther north. Down south it would be said to be the opposite as the Russians were advancing as far west as they could. The main opposition that the Russians had faced at that point was a group of German militias, Polish farmers, and German reinforcements from North of 68,000 men where they had tried to stop the Russians at the battle of Posen on July the 17th. The battle lasted for an entire week as the German defenders fought valiantly to contain the Russian onslaught and most often had to resort to close quarters combat within the city while Russia was able to contain them in using their cavalry. The battle was a failure as the Germans were defeated with over 30,000 casualties while the Russians suffered 23,000. It was successful in a strategic sense though as the Russians had taken massive attrition and had to slow down their progress. The farthest that Russia had been able to advance forward was all the way to the Oder River by September where everything below the 53 North in Germany belonged to Russia. They would have advanced further but by this time reinforcements had arrived from the French Border, Bohemia, and from Britain with their professional armies being shipped in. The total end of the Russian offensive was confirmed with the battle of Frankfurt on August 17th where a man Russian force of 100,000 troops under the command of Prince Menshikov tried to take the city but found themselves faced by a superior force of over 250,000 troops with most of them being reinforcements from other theaters. When the Russians launched their first attack their charge was slaughtered as over 10,000 Russians were either dead or wounded after the first charge, after that the German/British army counterattacked and forced the Russian army back 10 miles with Russia taking around 12,000 more casualties while Germany and Britain took a total of over 11,000. Realizing that his plan was lost, Menshikov then ordered his army to fortify their positions nad secure their territories. All the while coming under heavy resistance from Polish Partisans while the Anglo-German alliance prepared to strike back.

Reinforcements from the west arrive (Right) Battle of Frankfurt (Left)

Austria: At the time of May 22nd the Austrian Empire looked like it was about to collapse and that Germany would gain a whole new Archduchy for its territory. Now these dreams would be crossed as Prussia was now under attack and the conquest of Austria was now a secondary objective compared to saving the Empire that was so fragile at the moment. When Field Marshall von Multke heard of Russia's "stab in the back" he knew that the thrust could no longer be made against Vienna with a unilateral German force. So with some extreme reluctance, Multke had to order the 3rd Army under Stoffenburg to only reinforce them with two divisions while the main force continued its trek up North to join Ludendorff and the main Prussian reinforcements. In the meantime the 1st Army would have to get reinforcements from local Nationalists or volunteers from Germany. With the capitol now longer having the possibility of being besieged by a far numerically superior force, Franz-Joseph could now focus on maintaining the siege as long as possible and securing any other parts of the empire that he could with available forces. Now that Hungary was now longer on its borders, reinforcements were now flowing in from Galicia as tens of thousands of troops came west with some going to the sieges of Prague and Vienna, while others went down south to mop up any forces that the 3rd Army left behind. gradually retaking much of Slovenia and some of Southern Austria over a period of time. In Bohemia Field Marshall Siegfried von Lohengramm was affected the most as he had to send the most amount of manpower to the North with his forces being the closes ones to provide aid. He now had to send over 100,000 troops to Prussia while the rest were either committed to Prague or securing Western Bohemia. The Czechs were able to take advantage of this by using reinforcements from Galicia along with some men stripped from Prague to commence a campaign in coordination with the Russians to take back Silesia, which they did by July 29th. Realizing that the more important battles were going on in Prussia or in Austria. Field Marshall Lohengramm chose to break off the siege on August 3rd and commit his men to defending the borders and all of Bohemia west of the Vlatava. With the siege now ended the Czechs attempted to attack the Germans in the Second Battle of Prague on August 6th, unfortunately for them Lohengramm's superior tactical skill was able to hold the line and prevent the Czechs from making any incursions into his force while they were pushed back to Prague. Resulting in over 6,000 German casualties and 7,500 Czech casualties. Lohengramm then went off with the 1st and 2nd Division of his forces while leaving command to General Fredrick Muller. Lohengramm's intent was to head east and create a cut in Czech lines to prevent as many men from reinforcing Vienna as possible. He was successful as the city of Brno was captured on August 23rd with its defenders of 5,000 quickly surrendering when surrounded. For the rest of the war Siegfried Lohengramm would use the city as a FOB to commence hit and run tactics around the region to buy the main German forces enough time to strike back and continue the conquest.

Field Marshall Siegfried von Lohengram and the 2nd Army heading East.

Navy: Perhaps the greatest blessing of the Anglo-German alliance of the war can be pointed to the British contribution to the German's naval supremacy in the war. While Germany's were not needed at the beginning, it wouldn't have done much alone as Prussia had a skeleton fleet and the best ships of the nation belonged to the former Hanseatic States which were in small quantities. At first the Russian Baltic fleet made a move to blockade Germany by sending its troops all around the coast all the way to Denmark. This was successful for the first month but its effects were minimal with the North Sea side of the nation still receiving shipping. The blockade wouldn't last for long as the main British Home Fleet of over 100 ships led by Admiral William Stanford headed to the Baltic to face off against the Russian force of 25. In July the entire Baltic Sea became a virtual turkey shoot for the British since while Russia had upgraded some of its ships to steam, the British Home Fleet was all entirely built around steam and had some capitol ships with twelve inch guns. By August the blockade was virtually eliminated and Britain was able to send over much supplies along with 200,000 men in the German Expeditionary Force (GEF). Further down south in the Mediterranean the British were having a harder time trying to quell Russian power in the Black Sea as most of their forces were either in Britain, the colonies, or in America at the moment. There were only 40 ships in the whole Mediterranean around Egypt and Russia had around 60 in the Crimean Peninsula. Everytime the Royal Navy entered the Dardenelles they would exit Turkish waters hours later and come under heavy fire by awaiting Russian convoys. Those who did manage to escape would wonder the Black Sea for weeks without any friendly ports to go to, until they turned back to Constantinople or would get destroyed by the Russians. All that this had achieved in the end was Britain to lost 14 ships while Russia had lost only 3. The only good that came out of the region for the British was the fact that they were able to reinforce a blockade of the Austrian held shores with only 10 ships from the Mediterranean. More ships would arrive with the Oregon War dying down but the Black Sea would remain Russia's lake for now.

Royal Navy ship in action at the Baltic (Right) Russian Navy hunting British ships in the Black Sea (Left)

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 47 Germany's Counterattack

"While Russia may have prevented our conquest of Vienna, they'll never destroy the dream of the fatherland. We will fight to the death for the Deutschland and Austria will be ours one day."- Field Marshall Siegfried von Lohengramm 1847
"Heil dir im Sieger Kranz."-German National Anthem composed in 1848
"While I'm mad as hell that we lost Oregon I can see why the Queen wanted to support Germany. They'll make for some great allies down the line."- Captain Roger Church 1847

In all of German history there is no year that held greater significance for the nation than that of 1847. This was the year that the virtual existence of the Reich was laid down on the line and where many within Europe would see just who would come to dominate Central Europe. While Wilhelm could have easily ignored Austria and stuck to a lesser Germany solution, the die had been cast and the players set the stage. Now with Russian reinforcements it looked as though Austria would live longer and free from Prussian domination. Come the fall and winter of 1847, Europe would watch in anticipation as the German Empire finally got its act together and made its move to reclaim its territory. For the Second Reich had been born, and its rise was nowhere near stopping.

When word of the Russian entry into the war reached Germany, the one thought on the minds of all the Germans was that of treachery. While Germany and Russia never interacted closely in each others histories, Russia was seen by the Germans as a friend and ally for being the first nation to push back Napoleon's rampage on Europe and protect Eastern Germany from Polish nationalism. Now Russia had committed the unthinkable and they had dared to strike the Fatherland while they were on the verge of victory. While Nicholas had intended for this war to be one that would destroy German Nationalism, it actually did quite the opposite and united Germans all over the Empire together. Even the conservative nobility of the south was now in full support of the Kaiser as they would rather be subjects of the Hohenzollerns than puppets of the Eastern barbarians. Within months tens of thousands of Germans joined the new Imperial Army and wartime production of munition and arms was happening at an unprecedented rate. Meanwhile, Kaiser Wilhelm was directing the Imperial Army into total mobilization against the East and was calling in all reserves available to meet up with Ludendorff. The redeployment also included virtually all of the 4th Army which was stationed on the border with Alsace-Lorraine, while this might have been a death note for Germany with the possibility of French Invasion, it luckily didn't come at the time as President Bonaparte was busy dealing with political enemies while the border was soon reinforced by militia from Bavaria. By the time fall came the Germans were able to reinforce the Oder front with over 400,000 troops while the numbers of the 5th Army around 350,000 men in Danzig, adding to this was the near 240,000 troops of the 3rd Army under Stoffenburg. Adding to this was the 200,000 troops of the British expedition and the British naval superiority of the Baltic. On September 1st began the German campaign of liberation, Operation Hersbt Weiss.

Mobilization for Total War

On September 1st a three-pronged attack was launched against the Russian forces With the 4th and 3rd Armies launching a combined offensive on the Oder while the 5th Army would come down and encircle the Russians from the North and the rear. In the first week the Russians would become overwhelmed as they were facing a 4 to 1 numerical superiority by the Anglo-German alliance. At the Second Battle of Posen on October 17th, the German 4th Army was able to avenge the earlier defeat of the German defenders by encircling the Russian Army under Prince Menshikov and holding the army in a siege there while Russian positions were continuously bombarded with artillery and the German cavalry cutting off any hope of escape. During this time the 3rd Army and the GEF was spreading out among the German countryside and reclaiming as much of it as possible from the Russians while destroying supply lines and brutally attacking straggling Russian regiments. With the main force cut off the 4th Army attacked on the 23rd and sent its men into the streets of Posen in droves, the sheer quantity of the Germans more than making up for any skill that the Russians had, adding to this also came an uprising of the native Polish/German populace, with the Poles having enough of the Russians and deciding that it was better to live under German rule than their Slavic brethren. The battle ended at the end of the day with Prince Menshikov surrendering his force after receiving a near brush with death from a sniper shot in his camp. The near 150,000 Russian force had suffered 13,406 KIA, 12,632 WIA, and the rest taken prisoner. While the Germans had suffered 10,205 KIA, 8,689 WIA. Further up North another epic battle was waging as the 5th Army was in the midst of taking the city of Memel from the 120,000 strong Russian force under General Tolstoy. At first the battle was evenly contested as while the Germans did have numerical superiority, the Russians had a stable supply line due to being so close to the border. This was negated over several weeks as the Royal Navy had been systematically bombarding the Baltic shore while launching marines to occupy the coast and destroy the roads so that the Russians could not surrender. when word of Posen had reached Tolstoy and seeing little option of reinforcement, the man surrendered the Russian Army on November 2nd. The Russians had taken 11,456 KIA, 12,133 WIA, and the rest prisoner. The German/British casualties were 8,943 KIA, 9,003 WIA. For the rest of the year a gradual offensive would begin with the Germans making their way to the borders and soon crossing into Russian Poland. The furthest they had managed to reach was the city of Warsaw on December 16th before a great snowstorm came in and they had to lock down for winter quarters. A good thing to as more Russian reinforcements which had meant to arrive in Germany had already come.

Operation Herbst Weiss

Further down south the fronts on Austria had been mostly static as while von Lohengramm was able to regain some territory in Bohemia, most of the German army was either too busy trying to keep the Austrians at bay in Southern Austria or were in the middle of the Siege of Vienna. Hypothetically if the war went on for more years than Germany could have easily conquered Austria and prevent the Second War for German Unification from needing to happen. However, Germany was on the balancing point of success as while they had been able to protect their territory and push Russia out, they were still nowhere near finishing the conquest and everyone knew that it was virtually impossible to conquer Russia. France also would not be waiting on the sidelines forever as it was only a matter of time before they joined. Adding to that were the tens of thousands of German casualties and the increasing anxiety and unruliness of the German nobles and Conservatives who wanted to restore the Old Order. Before Wilhelm could conquer Austria he knew that he needed to secure Germany first so that way his legacy could continue for generations. So with his gains already being in a significant amount, Wihelm called for Franz Joseph and Nicholas to send delegations to Stockholm so that the Germans along with the British and the Hungarians could finally restore peace to Central Europe.

A/N: I'm back! Now with exams finally over I have two weeks that I can dedicate to Lone Star Republic and I intend to use them to the fullest. Expect the 1846 Revolutions to end in a few days and for us to come back to Texas sometime next week.

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 48 End of the Revolution, Beginning of an Era

"You really should have surrendered when you had the chance Franz."- Kaiser Wilhelm I 1861
"My friends after centuries of oppresion Hungary is free. For now and forever we shall decide our own destiny as we shall forever strive to become apart of the great powers of Europe once more."- President Lajos Kossuth 1848
"It appears that the revolutions were a success, far too good of one. Fear not Europe, for France shall return."- President Napoleon Bonaparte III 1848

By the time the Stockholm Conference began on January 2nd it was clear already who the victors were. Germany had already secured its territory and now held large swaths of land within both Russia and Austria. Hungary also had managed to conquer some parts of Austria with the addition of Croatia and while it wasn't able to push the Russians out fully yet, they had been steadily progresses into Eastern Hungary as more Russian troops were being pulled out north in order to deal with the German threat to their borders. With Budapest under Hungarian control it was also clear that Austria was in no position to enforce its claim to the Kingdom of St. Stephen. The only question that lied now was what exact terms of the treaty would there be. While Germany had managed to conquer much of Austria, at the same time they were far from their vision of total conquest that would give them a perfect casus belli for annexation. In the meantime while Russia was heavily defeated they still had millions of men to call upon and it was unlikely that the Anglo-German forces could even possibly be able to reach anywhere near Moscow soon. So for weeks there was much bickering over any amount of compromises, the annexation of land, recognition of sovereignty, and the future military prowess of each nation that could lead to another war down the line (which it did happen, twice). Finally on March 13th, the second anniversary of the start of German Unification, an agreement was reached and the Treaty of Stockholm was signed.

The terms are as follows:

1. All signatories shall recognize the sovereignty of both the German Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary.
2. Germany shall gain the Sudetenland, the German speaking areas of Bohemia
3. Hungary shall receive the totality of the Kingdom of Croatia
4. Germany shall annex the city-state of Krakow
5. Russia is to be prohibited from constructing or sailing warships within the Baltic Sea. A 25-mile demilitarized zone shall exist in Russia in the territories on the German border for the next 10 years.
   
6. The House of Hapsburg shall forever renounce their claims to the crowns of Hungary and Croatia.
7. All of Silesia shall go to Germany.
8. Wilhelm von Hohenzollern is to be recognized as Emperor of the Germans.
9. Austria shall allow the free transport of goods between Germany and Hungary.
10. German is to become a recognized language within Hungary and its ethnic members shall be protected by the government.

Map of Europe in 1848 after the Treaty of Stockholm

With the signing of the treaty came about the official end of the 1846 Revolutions. It was a time of much turmoil for Europe, but in the end it virtually shattered the status-quo following the Congress of Vienna and brought about a new era of nationalism within Europe. Germany had just been born and was already recognized as a continental power that could one day extend its reach over the world. Many liberal reforms were also made within Germany and along with the unification of the economy and the growth of industry, would make it the foremost economic and political powerhouse on the continent by the end of the century. In Central Europe with the rise of Germany began the beginnings of the downfall of Austria. What could've been a Hapsburg Germany was forever denied and the Empire lost a hug majority of its territory with the cession of Hungarian independence and territorial losses to Germany and Italy. What was once the premier state of Central Europe and the center of German culture now slid into disorder and unrest as Emperor Franz Joseph still refused to grant any liberal reforms and focused on wild dreams of revanchism against Germany, instead of focusing on the now hugely Slavic majority of the Empire. The Balkans would now be changed forever as Hungary would arrive to the scene and brought with it an example of an European state that could achieve many liberal reforms that America had given birth to, while also becoming a strong power in its own right due to its national unity. Hungary's independence would further the unrest of the Balkan nationalities as many people now saw that if the Hapsburg Empire was to fall, then surely the Ottomans would be next. Russia was hit with a huge loss as while they had prevented a total Austrian collapse, at the same time they weren't able to stop German and Hungarian nationalism while suffering through its loss of naval power in the Baltic. Seeing Central Europe as an essential bust, Nicholas would turn his attention to Central Asia, the Balkans, and the Middle East, which would become the center of Russian foreign policy for the rest of the century. Finally Great Britain had managed to pull through the conflict with new found friends and allies and proved that their military was still powerful after Oregon, though they had gained little directly from it and the seeds of inequality and a desire for reform were spreading. 1848 would mark the total end of the old era of monarchism, and the beginning of the Age of Nationalism.

Victory Parade of the German Empire (Right) Official inauguration of Lajos Kossuth as President of Hungary 1848 (Center) Beginning of the end for Austria (Left)

A/N: Finally! I'm so glad that I was able to finish this after almost two months. It makes me quite scared though of how long it's going to take when we reach the Great War. Originally I was going to make Chapter 48 the last Hungarian one, but I figured that with Germany's counterattack then Hungary would slowly start to make gains while Russia diverted more troops to defend its lands. With the 1846 Arc down we will finally be able to shift focus back to Texas. Chapter 49 will be about both the Gold Rush and Lamar's final term, and will come soon. The 1850's will also include some more European action, seeds of the American Civil War, and colonialism in Asia. I'll also start a series of posts which detail the culture of Texas. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more. Long live the Republic!

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 49 Gold and Glory

"Gold! Gold! I've found me some Gold!"- Doug Walker 1848
"Come to Texas! Get cheap Land and the opportunity to become your own king with the California Gold Mines."- Immigration Ad 1849
"I'm glad that we're receiving more people but the problem is they're coming too fast. We've got way too many Asians and those Americans are flocking to the Western Union in droves. We've got to keep the Germans and Tejanos on our side while we build up the Chinese vote. Never thought I'd be saying that."- President Mirabeau B. Lamar 1849

In 1848 as the German/Hungarian wars were winding down and the Oregon War was coming to a conclusion, the Republic of Texas once more settled back into tranquility. Just the year earlier Texas had once more managed to defeat the rogue Mexican governors in the Border Wars and they had managed to gain a nice slice of Sonora in the deal as well. The first year of Lamar's final term was rather quiet as his policies were still being put into effect by the Republican dominated congress (though the Unionists were gaining more ground each election), more land was being settled west and two more tribes and joined the citizen program, immigration was increasing due to the refugees from the revolution, trade with America was at an all time-high, and there was little conflict in the west save for the occasional rogue Indian attack and outlaw. Everything was fine. Then come 1848, the destiny of Texas and its importance on the world stage would be changed forever. Early in March 1848, Texas Rangers Doug and Rob Walker, were searching for minerals in the stream near their lands in modern day Coloma due to Rob reporting the sight of metal. On March 12th, Doug Walker was reported to have discovered the first amounts of gold on there lands by digging up a near 2 Pounds of gold. Initially the two brothers wanted to keep the affair quiet so that they could collect it all to themselves. This silence would not last as the Rangers had to hire more men from the region to get higher quantities dug up. A Tejano worker leaked the news of the gold to a reporter at the Monterrey Gazette, and soon an editorial was published within on August 19th which proclaimed that Gold was spotted in California. Soon the news began to spread all over the Commonwealth in weeks and it managed to reach Texas around two months later. On December 5th, President Lamar addressed congress on the matter where he proclaimed that in an report that he had received from the Texas Rangers company in Monterrey, that gold had been sighted and California did have multiple confirmed deposits. After that address the news was spread all over Texas by the Houston Chronicle and word would reach the United States, Latin America, and Europe months later. The California Gold Rush had begun.

Areas of the Gold Rush in California

During the first year of the gold rush the miners were mostly Californians who lived in the North and had managed to get in on the early discoveries making them richer than most Texans at the time. In 1849 this would all change as nearly 350,000 immigrants would arrive in Texas during this year. The forty-niners as they were called, came from all over the world with the highest places of origin being the United States, Mexico, the Yucatan, Rio Grande, Chile, China, Australia, Britain, France, and Germany. Seemingly overnight, California sprung up from a small and quiet backwater part of Texas, to a huge Commonwealth with bustling towns all over California and the Pacific ports having become the size of their American counterparts in a matter of months. Gold was developed in three stages with the first being river panhandling, the second hydraulic mining, and the third dredging. The last two stages were also the inventions of such techniques and come to play a major role in Texas with the discovery of Oil during the turn of the 20th Century. From 1848-1856, California was nearly stripped dry of its early deposits with an estimated $ 65 Billion Redbacks in Gold being discovered by the miners. Later gold mining using advanced drilling still continues in some form to this day. Another benefit of the Gold Rush was the fact that mining also began in the modern day Commonwealths of Arizona and Deseret as the discoveries of gold were only reported to be in California, which some people assumed was the entirety of the commonwealth. This would launch the early coal and iron mines of the 19th century and along with the mining of precious metals, would lay the groundwork for the Petroleum and Nuclear industry. Economic development would boom overall in California as the Pacific Ports would become the largest cities in the country with the buildup of the shipping, transportation, entertainment, lodging industries booming in these towns with the needs to accommodate the minors continually increasing. Another important side effect was that with the arrival of more immigrants came the development of California's Agriculture industry and land procurement. Finally the Republic of Texas was able to come out of its economic slumber by the end of the 1850's with billions of dollars in gold making its way to the state treasury. The Department of the Treasury had taken up quick actions to create mints in California to exchange the gold for printed coins, Redbacks, and other foreign currencies that it was able to procure with the help of France. By 1861 $1 US Dollar was the equivalent of $.9 Redbacks.

San Francisco 1850 (Right) Largescale goldmining operations near a riverbed (Left)

At the same time while the Rush had brought much growth and financial success to California, there were many conflicts and difficulties that came with the rush. In the beginning the California Commonwealth was hardly developed and there was little infrastructure to take in the large spike in Immigration. There was also little amounts of law and order as only a few hundred Rangers and the established garrisons could protect the hundreds of miles of land and keep order among the population. Racial divisions also arose as different groups of immigrants came into conflict with each other and settlers from the United States frequently attacking the native Tejano and Indian population. The conflicts with the Native lands had caused multiple tribes of California to apply for citizenship during 1848/49, causing their land to be protected by law and causing many miners to ignore it and claim it as their own. There was also one final problem that came to the realization of the politicians at Austin. With the new wave of settlers coming in there would be tens of thousands of people who would gain citizenship, men who could instantly change the political demographic and potentially open their own parties. Needing to act fast in order to solve the crisis, Congress would be active for most of 1849 and Bipartisan bills were passed in order to take care of the immigrants, get the gold, establish order, and get more votes to their side. The first action that would be taken was a huge increase in funding for the Texas Army to be increased a Division of 5,000 men with their forces being split into half with two regiments, one stationed in California, the other Texas. The Texas Rangers were also given the same amount of treatment with hundreds of men being recruited over California in 1849 in order to keep order within the Commonwealth. Most of the Army and Rangers were deployed to California at this time so that they could enforce the national and commonwealth laws, insure a fair distribution of land and gold, and preventing any race riots or abuse of workers by some of the white leaders of the Gold Rush. When it came to the issue of citizenship, the Republicans pushed heavily for a constitutional amendment to increase the time to become a citizen, something which the Western Unionists were open to as well. An Amendment was passed in 1849 that stated that all immigrants who arrived that year would have their citizenship status increased from 6 months to 6 years. In the meantime they were welcome to stay as Residents and would have their rights be protected by the constitution. The Partisan division over race and ethnicity would divide even more during this time as the Western Unionists wanted the Americans to come in droves to California while also encouraging more Indians to become citizens to gain votes, something that caused a division in the party. The Republicans encouraged native Texans to go west and become Californian while also giving preferential treatment in Immigration to Tejanos and Germans. The Chinese were also a new factor as they now formed a large minority group in Texas with thousands of votes coming into play in the mid-50's. There were some calls to ban Asian immigration, though they never managed to gain much attraction in congress as they same law could've been applied to Hispanics and Europeans later on, while many in Texas found the Chinese to be a valuable citizen as they would work hard and do it for a cheap price. Overall most Chinese would slowly go the side of the Republicans as many calls for banning had come from the Western Unionists and the Republicans had created a care system for immigrant voters similar to Tammany Hall. The Department of Immigration and Customs would increase exponentially in this period and it soon became the largest department in Austin. In order to solve the issue of gold acquiring and economic development, Congress passed laws pouring millions of funding into infrastructure development and for the expansion of the Department of the Treasury to create new mint shops in California. Loans were also taken from the United States and Europe, while many prominent individuals and families in Texas would fund their own little gold companies for California such as the exiled Bourbons who used their large wealth to practically create the city of San Francisco, while gaining a fortune of near $765 Million Redbacks in today's money. By the time the mid-1850's had settled, California became a largely populated Commonwealth with over 400,000 in terms of population and an equal, if not greater amount of economic development compared to main Texas. California would soon become the second heart of the Republic and launch Texas into the global economy with the creation of trade with Asia and virtual control of shipping in North America from the Pacific. The largescale influx of migrants and development would also cause the devolution of the region into California, Arizona, and Deseret during President Crockett's term.

The Chinese Texas (Right) Texas Rangers protecting an Indian tribe from Immigrant attacks (Center) Gold Texas coin created to celebrate the Centennial of the Gold Rush (Left)

The rest of the domestic policies for Lamar's term besides the amount of investment dedicated to California, was focused on two things; roads and trains. Most people at the time chose to immigrate to California by sea as the journey from Texas to California would involve crossing hundreds of miles of prairies, deserts, rivers, and mountains. This would mean months of travel on land and a huge delay in trade between the two sides of the Republic. Another important issue was the crossing into the Rio Grande, while Texans had free travel through the land due to the Southwestern Union, it was not under there control and the strip of land was near lawless in several parts. The Department of Railroads and Transportation was created in 1849 and millions of funding was also given to the extensive creation of railroads and the development of stone roads for travel between towns. By the end of Lamar's term, the first stone roads were being laid down with a network of road travel starting to form in Eastern Texas. Dozens of miles of railroad track were also laid down with the goal to reach the Rio Grande by 1859. Funding for the railroads had also come from the United States as many southern businessman had wanted to use Texas as a connection to sale their cotton to the Pacific. The development of these roads did come into an early conflict with Indian tribes though according to their lands. The response of the Lamar administration was to use the State Department to work several treaties to try and gain the land, with high offers of money for the sale. With the extensive and large task to coordinate the building of the roads in the Republic, the calls for new Commonwealths to be created from California began to be born. Finally, negotiations took place with the Rio Grande, and Texas Ragners would be allowed to escort caravans across the border to California. Negotiations over the sale of the New Mexican territory would also start and would be finalized in the Burnett administration. Although Texas would not be fully connected to California by the end of Lamar's term, the travel time did reduce by some weeks, and the groundwork was being laid for the eventual construction of the Continental Railroad in the 1860's.

The first locomotives in Texas

In terms of foreign affairs after the Border War, actions were taken to increase ties with the Republic of Yucatan while the border with Mexico was increasingly strengthened. Texas trade had flourished with Europe at this time as the United States was still recovering economically from the Oregon War, and the mass chaos from the revolution had caused an increased need for food exports from the new world. In 1847, Texas had recognized the sovereignty of the German Empire and became one of the first to recognize Hungary's independence. A formal embassy was set up in Berlin in 1849 with the Germans opening up a counterpart that same year in Austin. The same action was done with Budapest, but both nations kept it at a consular level. When the German Empire was born, close relations were maintained between the two nations due to Texas's German heritage and the continued rise of German immigrants in the 1850's, and the two established a close trade relationship in the 1850's. Any military aid was halted though due to the pressure coming from Napoleon. This formed an even larger partisan divide in Texas due to the Republicans wanting to ally with Germany, while the Western Union wanted to maintain relations with the French. Finally, missions were created by the State Department at the end of Lamar's term to be set off in 1850 and establish contact and trade with China.

Poster created by Adelsverein to promote German culture in Texas

When 1850 came around, Lamar finally stepped down as President due to reaching his constitutional term limits. When he had left office he was a very popular man and had numerous accomplishments under his belt due to protecting Texas's independence, sustaining economic and education development, winning the Border Wars, and the Gold Rush. Due to these successes the Republicans nominated Vice President David Burnett for the Presidency. The Western Unionists had in turn nominated Senator James Henderson. The race while expected to be a Republican landslide, turned out to be a close call as many American and French immigrants had arrived in Lamar's final term while numerous tribes were accepted for citizenship and would tend to vote for the Western Union. Additionally Burnett while an established politician, had little to no charisma and performed poorly in the national debate. It was only over 1,000 votes that had saved Burnett from losing the Presidency again, the Republic spike in voting attributed to the arrival of German refugees from the Unification War. While Burnett was elected to the Presidency, the Western Union was finally able to gain control of the Senate with a 16(W)-14(R) lead in the house while the gap in the House had closed to 30 (W)-37 (R). It was showing that Texas was slowly losing its one party status and that the Western Union would soon gain control.

1850 Texas Presidential Elections

Burnett/Zandt (R): 16,643. 51.72%
Henderson/Wood (W): 15,532. 48.28%

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 50 The Burnet Administration

"Thank God the President was able to buy the rest of New Mexico from the Rio Grande. Looking back, giving the western portion of that state to that backwater country was a stupid idea. Hell, I think supporting the Rio Grande may have been my biggest mistake."- Stephen F. Austin 1851
"Okay first off, some random American telegram company decides to steal the name of our opposition. Then Lincoln decides to steal our party name. The Americans know nothing but plagiarism with when it comes to Texas."- President Mirabeau Lamar 1860
"I am proud to announce that with my official election as President of Texas, our grand Republic shall be many lone stars among one. May God bless the future commonwealths of Arizona and Deseret."- President Davy Crockett 1853

Unlike the precedent setting term of Houston, or the exciting and adventurous times of Lamar, the Presidency of David G. Burnett was rather...dull in comparison. That is not necessarily to say that in and of itself it's a bad thing, but that the domestic affairs of Texas in this time were simply a continuation of Lamar's policies and the middle stages of the economic boom that resulted from the California Gold Rush. Indeed the it could be said that the full effects of Burnett's term would not be felt until Crockett's first term in office. Still while the events of Burnett where never as exciting as America's beginnings of disunity, or Europe's slide into conflict once more, they did mark the beginning of the transition from the Early Republic, to the so called "Wild West Era".

The most prominent event of Burnett's presidency is commonly known to be the annexation of New Mexico from the Rio Grande. Previously the portion of the old Mexican state on the western side of the Rio Grande, had been given to the Republic of Rio Grande in the aftermath of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in order to support the increased latinization of Mexico and further support the Rio Grande's status as a buffer state and hopefully future ally and partner to Texas. When reviewing the treaty, Secretary of State Austin, Vice President Lamar, and President Houston; had all agreed to this boundary as at the time California was not of too much worth and Texans were allowed access due to the Southwestern Union. In the fifteen years since the signing though, all three men had come to regret it. The Rio Grande was increasingly becoming a lawless land with each passing day, leading to Texan travelers coming under attacks by bandits, Comanches, and Apaches. With Western New Mexico lying in Rio Grande territory, there was little attention paid to creating any settlements for checkpoints and trade exchange, leading to dozens of miles of traveling through an endless desert with low supplies for many. Most Texans had to result to either traveling up North in the Rockies or hiring a group of guns to protect them in the wasteland. For years many in the Texas Rangers and the Army had advocated for annexing land so that they could lay down the law in the frontier. For years Austin kept on telling them that they had little funds or need to buy the land, that is until the Gold Rush. With the now millions of Redbacks of gold coming from California, the Republic of Texas soon became financially stable and was able to pay off all of her foreign debts by 1856. The increasing settlement and development of California also prompted the need for a full land connection to increase trade and implement future railroads. The day of the California panhandle would be no more. In the beginning of his term, President Burnet made an offer to Rio Grande President Pancho Gomez to buy the entirety of the Western New Mexico for $3 Million Redbacks (40 Million Rio Grande Pesos), this offer was immediately accepted by President Gomez as he could use the money for personal usage and the payment of loyal men in the army for the then ongoing, and future unrest within the Rio Grande. Both Presidents met in the border town of Laredo and the Treaty of Laredo was signed on August 14th, 1850. The terms of the treaty were simply just Texas buying the territory for 3 Million Redbacks, the reaffirmation of existing borders, and a renewal of the defense pact against Mexico. After the treaty was gained, congress passed a bill which would transfer control to the Commonwealth of California, which President Burnett approved and was handed over to Governor Alejandro Verde on December 24th, an exchange that was said to be the greatest Christmas present in history. Until the territory's division between Arizona and Deseret, Governor Verde spent a good amount of new revenue on building midway towns for trade in the new territory, as well as creating stations for the Texas Rangers so that law and order would be established in the new lands. This task would prove hard to initiate as the native Apache were fierce resistors of their new owners.

Borders of North America in 1851

The rest of the domestic policies of Burnet's term could be described as a mere continuation of Lamar's goals and plans. The continued funding of industrialization, more building of railroads and roads, greater development of trade, continued education, and keeping of law and order on the frontier. The domestic part of Burnet's term should not be focused on the changes that he put through, but rather the effects Texas underwent during this time. Industrialization while small in comparison to the north of the United States, was starting to grow and by 1853 was approximately 10% of the economy. This came in the form of the so called TSLG's of Texas; textiles, shipbuilding, lumber, and gunworks. Mining at the same time was starting to become an equal part in the primary sector in comparison to agriculture as the mining of California's gold was at its height in 1850-51 and high amounts of iron and coal were starting to be produced from Central California (Deseret). With the craze of the gold rush finally ending and the first immigration boom largely receding, California's economy started to diversify as many of the immigrants who had not struck rich with gold, started to pour their work into the service industry and became hired hands of the established agriculture economy of California for the citrus vineyards. The excess amount of revenue from the gold also prompted the beginning of integrated roads and the production of railroads within California as well as the state of Texas. A new railroad company called Western Pacific had been propped up by American immigrant Timothy McLaughlin, and began the process of building up a railroad from San Francisco to San Diego, with the goal of completion by 1857. At the same time roads were starting to be built up between the coastal cities and ocean trade between the Gulf of Mexico and California was starting to become regular. Education was making great strides with a reported 65% literacy rating in 1850 according to the census. Finally in terms of the domestic peace in Texas, conflicts with Indians were lessened in Burnet's term as the President was not as gun-ho as his predecessor on using the army to frequently attack hostile tribes. Crime was still high in some parts of the frontier, and was rapidly growing with the immigrant influx in California, but steps were being taken to counter it with the large increase and near limitless powers that the Texas Rangers were given in this era. It was an tense, but peaceful domestic situation that wouldn't erupt until the mid 1850's with the beginning of the Apache Wars and the Mormon Rebellion. Overall though, Texas still continued its path of growth both in all aspects of the economy, territory, and population. California was beginning its golden years while the state of Texas was becoming a region with the same level of power comparable to the American states of Virginia or Ohio. It was a time not of change, but rather of growth.

As it would be throughout most of the 1850's, the Burnet administration had little crises or large situations in foreign affairs. Besides the annexation of New Mexico, the only major foreign deals during Burnett's term were the Naval Alliance with the Yucatan and the opening of Asian contacts. In the aftermath of the Border Wars, the Yucatan became jealous of Texas's role in it as they had essentially led the way in the Blockade of Mexico and the Yucatan would've been powerless to do anything even though they now had several key ports in Latin America. Yucatani President Santiago Mendez therefore asked President Burnet for the Texas Navy to assist in the creation of a Yucatan Navy with France providing the ships. Burnet agreed and sent Commodore Wheelwright along with five ships of the Gulf Fleet to Merida in order to train the new Yucatani Navy. This mission lasted for five years until 1855, and at its completion Yucatan now had a 10 ship navy that was on a competence level with the Peruvian Confederation. It was also a sign of increasing friendship between Texas and Yucatan that would prove significant in the Mexican War. On the subject of the Asian contacts, Texas had been quick to open up trade with the colonies of Australia, Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies during Burnet's term. The Pacific squadron was unable to open up trade with Japan or China, but they would later be able to enter these markets after the Second Opium War and the Seymour expedition. When it came to European affairs such as the Crimean War and the War of Italian Unification/Sardinian Heresy, Texas would stay neutral in these conflicts and mostly deal with the aftermath in terms of dealing with the new waves of immigrants. Somewhat of a problem that Texas was starting to share with the United States.

The last important foreign development of note was the recognition of the new Second French Empire and Napoleon III's rule as Emperor of the French in 1851. In his four years since ascension as President, Napoleon had managed to manipulate his way further into power with the support of the Catholic/Monarchist/Conservative wing of the Second Republic. Over time Napoleon's opposition grew and soon a Republican/Socialist bloc formed in parliament that was able to reach a majority and were seeking the goal of ousting Napoleon from power so that the Republic could be saved. This would not be however, as Napoleon had gained the support of the army and launched a coup on the night of December 1st to gain control of Paris and crown himself as Emperor. The coup was successful and soon thousands of members of the opposition were arrested, soon after a plebiscite on the 21st had confirmed Napoleon as the Emperor with an overwhelming 92% majority, something many of his critics and anti-french politicians cried foul over. Back within Texas, the parties were at an immense divide. The Republicans decried this as an illegal coup and that the current treaties with the new French Empire should be null and void while Texas's relationship should move towards Germany. The Western Union wanted to stay with Napoleon as the French alliance was still necessary for trade and defense against Mexico. The situation was further complicated by Louis Phillipe who tried to rally the French-Texans in Nacogdoches to force Austin away from France, which lead to more divisions and the fears of another French Spring, something that was thankfully averted due to the quick deployment of the 1st Company of the Texas Rangers. President Burnet further complicated matters by ambiguously stating that it might be time for Texas to search for new friends in the world. The argument was settled next January when a telegram arrived from Napoleon offering a renewal of the treaties. In addition Napoleon also sweetened the deal by offering the addition of 4,000 troops, a cancellation of part of Texas's debts to France, increased addition of 20,000 French settlers, and the construction of a base in the California Peninsula. Apparently Napoleon held an active interest in the Americas and saw Texas as a key nation to preserve French power within the Western hemisphere. Burnet's leaning towards the gracious terms where later confirmed as the first ambassador to Germany Prince Carl, stated that Germany could not offer much in way of foreign support or defense at the moment. So the alliance was once again renewed by congress on March 2nd, much to the dismay of the German Republicans and French Royalists. It would later be found out in the coming years that Napoleon's offer of addition settlers was actually another method of getting rid of the opposition in French through forced exile to the Republic. Through this, Texas received famed politicians such as Adolphe Thiers (a man who was key in forming the alliance with Texas and later enemy to Louis-Phillipe, ironically the two would later be neighbors in Nacogdoches) along with key figures of French culture such as Victor Hugo, causing a renaissance in Franco-Texan culture.

Napoleon Bonaparte III (Right) Rise of the Second French Empire (Center) Victor Hugo, one of Texas's greatest authors (Left)

In the months leading up to the 1853, many expected for Burnet to possibly receive a second term. He had done well as President and there were few negative aspects of his administration. One main issue that he had leading up to the election though was his aforementioned handling of Napoleon, as it had cost him several key members of the German vote who wanted to ally with their homeland, and the French Royalists with Louis Phillipe now becoming a member of the Western Union, soon becoming its biggest financer. The biggest hit to Burnet's chances though was the Unionist nominee. After losing three straight elections, the Western Union feared losing a fourth time and fading into obscurity like the Federalists of the United States. Though they were performing better in the legislative branch, they had to support a man who would easily secure them victory. After some weeks of debating, in early 1853 they chose the one member of the party who had the charm, charisma, intelligence, and fame to win them the Presidency. That man was Davy Crockett. In the past Davy Crockett had served as a member of congress from 1838-1848 in the House of Representatives, The now sixty-seven year old man was content with his lot in life and wanted to go on one final adventure. It took a great amount of begging from several members of the party, and it wasn't until a talk with Sam Houston that Crockett decided to throw his coon hat into the ring. As soon as he announced his candidacy, Burnet was done for. A supermajority of the American-Texans still loved Crockett from his years as a frontiersmen back east, and they loved him even more for being a hero of the Revolution. He was a man universally loved by all and had support from all sorts of groups of people with his friendly relations with the Indians, close ties with the French (he had saved Louis Phillipe's life once from a pack of wolves), respect among the Tejanos, and history in helping the Germans to settle, there were very few Texans who said that they could hate Davy Crockett. He also ran on a solid platform by promoting the decentralization of Texas with the promise of the new commonwealths of Deseret and Arizona, winning him the Mormon vote. Crockett also promised to support the rangers, shift focus back to agriculture, reduce tariffs on all nations, and give greater powers to California while promoting trade. When performing at the Presidential Debate, President Burnet was able to hold up on his own with clear straight answers and sound arguments to Crockett's positions. Yet at the same time the crowd cheered every time Crockett spoke due to his natural charm. Burnett knew he was done for and yet at the same time he couldn't regret his position, "I may lose the election, but at least I actually got to be President and did alot of good. Crockett's an alright guy, at least I'll lose to him." With the end of the election, Davy Crockett was able to win in a huge landslide over his opponent. The Western Union party was also able to reap off of Crockett's coattails with a now majority in the Senate (19-14) and the House (41-34). The Crockett Years and the rise of the Western Union, would soon begin.

1853 Presidential Elections

Burnet/Zandt (R): 16,211 39.4%
Crockett/Jones (W): 24,983 60.6%

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 51 The Webster Administration

"I do not like slavery but that does not mean I have to go against it. With the existence of Texas, the south will try and find new ways of spreading their practice or else they will demand total legalization and tear the Union apart over the issue. Sometimes the lesser of two evils need to be supported to prevent the rise of the third."- President Daniel Webster 1850
"It seems like those Yankees are getting all angsty about their usage of slavery. You don't think that will ever happen to us, right?"- President David Burnet 1852
"I would've never thought that Stephen would actually become the President. I guess pigs do fly."- Abraham Lincoln 1853

Much like the Burnet Presidency in Texas, the Webster administration could be said to be one of a transitional presidency between two different eras, though this process would be met with a higher amount of conflict and division then their Texan counterparts. This was officially known as the end of the Whig Era and the beginning of the pre-Civil War troubles that would come to plague the nation so much in the next decade. When Daniel Webster came into office he came in with an America that was highly unified and still celebrating the success of the Oregon War which just managed to gain them permanent access to the Pacific and a new continental ally. The celebrations would last for a year or so before the feeling of euphoria died down and the men of congress, specifically those of southern origin, put their minds to work on the topic of Oregon and realized one huge fundamental problem that was about to occur. With the existence of Texas having taken up most of whatever land was left south of the Missouri Compromise besides the future states of Seqouyah and Bahamas, there was no new room for the spread of slavery and pretty soon Oregon along with other potential states such as Minnesota were bound to join the Union and give the North a greater vote in both the house, and most importantly the Senate where the southerners traditionally dominated. It is also important to remember that the North-South divide was formed on more than just the basis of slavery, with two entirely different nations seeming to form with the clash of Yankee/Dixie culture, the division over the correct form of economic growth, differing views on foreign affairs, etc. The problem could have been solved with the annexation of Texas, but when a southern representative sent a note to President Burnet on the topic, Burnet replied that he would sooner see hell freeze over then have Texas join the Union. Thus, the road to Fort Sumter was about to begin.

The first priority in domestic affairs for President Webster was immediate recovery from the Oregon War and the management of America's new possessions with the addition of Oregon. His main goal in his first 100 days in office was to work with congress to create legislature which would implement infrastructure improvements in the states which had become battlegrounds in the war and would give subsidies to certain sections of the economy which had suffered the most in the war such as the Northern textile mills or the Southern cotton trade. The collection of bills had received a huge amount of bipartisan and sectional support as they were equal in distribution to those affected such as New York and Alabama, while was implemented more towards improving the United States as a whole rather than certain areas. Another action taken was to use the Bank of the United States to give out multiple loans to small businesses, large urban companies, and rural farmers to help them get back on their feet after thee economic losses of the past decade. This type of federal intervention would finally show that the Whig doctrine of centralized banks and national management of the economy could be successful, later leading it to become on of the tenets of the early Republican party. Another major aspect of the economy was to continue to raise high tariffs on European goods so that the New England and Great Lakes regions could maintain a monopoly on American goods and sell any exports left to Central Europe. The policy worked for a time as Europe was currently in a rebuilding process and wasn't able to compete directly with the United States for a few years. It did lead to higher sectional tensions though as Southerners complained about the high prices for domestic goods instead of relying on a free trade relationship with a European state like Texas did with France. President Webster also decided to follow Lamar and Burnet's actions and invested a high amount of the federal budget to the creation of railways, canals, roads, and bridges to speed up trade across the nation and connect Western America to the states East of the Mississippi. Overall these economic measures would be mostly successful and bring the American economy to a period of steady growth by the end of Webster's Presidency, though the debt continued to increase. On the matter of what to do with Oregon, Webster decided to split it up into two separate territories, the Oregon territory and the Columbia territory, both of which were a reflection of the old British/American division by the 49th parallel. Another addition to the U.S would be the consolidation of the Bahamas into the Bahamas territory. With the California Gold Rush ongoing in Texas, new settlement societies were created with Federal backing to settle Oregon so that it could become the nation's pacific trade nexus and that further gold in the region could be discovered, though gold wouldn't be found until the mid 1860's which would further prompt the Alaska Purchase. In other terms of organization, President Webster also decided to transform the protectorate of Liberia into an official American colony. The Oregon War had proven that the place was lightly defended and the fact that most of the Independence supporters had been killed in the conflict also left the territory highly disorganized. To solve the problem a battalion of marines were sent under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Vince Downing along with a squadron of U.S Navy ships. Webster's main reason to keep the colony was to have an staging point should Africa ever prove profitable and keep a land in which freed slaves may be exported. These actions would later result in the creation of the modern American Africa. Finally with the U.S military some reforms were to be enacted in order to keep the nation in a better state of preparation for war. The size of the army would be further expanded to 50,000 men in peacetime while the navy would increase to 100 ships, with the creation of a Pacific squadron to protect Oregon. While Webster's domestic situation could be called good, there was one issue that would divide the nation and tarnish Webster's legacy, slavery.

Modern Day Boston, Oregon (Right) Liberia, the first colony of American Africa (Left)

By the end of the Oregon War the slave/free state divide was at a precarious balance with 15 free states and 14 slave states. While the Oregon War had been fought in retaliation for the loss of American lives and the right to expand to the Pacific, all of the territory that had been gained were north of the Missouri Compromise line. While slavery wasn't the main issue of divide, it was one of the driving forces behind sectionalism and the legalization of slavery was one of the beginnings of a wedge in America that created the Yankee and Dixie culture. The only reason the south had survived now was because of the chance of a swing vote in the senate with the northern Democrats. These prospects were looking highly bleak though as Oregon was being pushed to enter the Union soon and Minnesota was the next territory bound to become a state afterwords. If the south took no action soon then decades could go by and they would be outnumbered both in the house and the senate. The situation was looking worse with little prospects of another addition. Texas had repeatedly rejected annexation since Lamar took office and had no reason to do so now with the discovery of gold. If the United States went to war to annex Texas then they would face a huge amount of opposition domestically and the prospect of going to war against France. Cuba was always a popular choice but Spain considered the island as its own province and refused to sell it. Filibusters were a continuous failure and the United States was no shape to get into war again so soon with a European power, even if it was France. Going to war with Spain also brought the risk of enticing conflict with Britain again as they had cooperated with the Spanish in the past (even though 1852 would've been a perfect time with the Crimean War). Haiti was an absolute impossibility as the nation solely existed because of a successful slave revolution. If the United States tried to annex it then it would face an intense guerilla warfare and self-implosion from opposition in the North. Thus an high amount of opposition was laid out against the entry of Oregon to the Union, it even got to the point where a group of southern senators signed a declaration that they would never support the entry of Oregon. Thus by Webster's last year in office, Oregon was still put on hold for admission while congress was wracked with conflict over the issue.

A solution was then presented by Clay, called the Oregon Compromise, which was created with the intent of admitting Oregon and solving several issues on the nature of slavery in the Union. The bill was a rather comprehensive document but it can be summed into five pars. First, Oregon would be admitted to the Union as a free state with the eastern half of the territory being split to create the Washington territory. Second,the Missouri Compromise line would move up north to match the latitude of Missouri's northern border, congress would then recognize all territories north of it to have slavery banned. Third, the slave trade would be banned in the District of Columbia (though slavery would still be legal). Fourth, the fugitive slave act would be enacted which would force an escaped slave to return to their owner and would legally allow the owner to punish them however they saw fit. Fifth, support would be taken to fund a colonization society for the Bahamas in order to turn it into a state. To say that the reaction to the Oregon Compromise was divisive was quite the understatement. The bill only passed with a one vote majority in the house and in the senate it had to be reached out of deadlock with the actions of Vice President Millard Fillmore who decided to vote in favor of it. Somewhat of an ominous event happened on the day of the bills passing, May 10th when Senator Henry Clay suddenly died of tuberculosis, a sign which was taken by abolitionists as God's wrath and one that was accepted by the general public as the end of the old age of compromise. All around the north protests erupted due to what was perceived as a betrayal of the old order by congress. When the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted many northerners also chose to ignore it entirely, leading to the creation of the Underground Railroad. In the south the people celebrated over the fact that their "way of life" was protected and they had managed to achieve multiple victories with the popular sovereignty of new territories and the Fugitive Slave act. Another surprising outcome of the bill was the immense southern support for the Bahamas statehood movement where hundreds of thousands of dollars where being poured in to support the project and an estimated 50,000 southerners had migrated to the islands over the next five years, allowing the archipelago to become a state in 1856.
What was the worst outcome though were the divisions in the Whig party that had resulted. While many Democrats were divided over the issue they for the most part stuck together with the Northern Democrats relying on popular sovereignty as a compromise. With the Whigs however, infighting erupted with a majority of the party decrying Webster and Fillmore as traitors to the party and the righteous cause of abolition. Despite the presidents multiple accomplishments domestically, the Whigs saw the passing of the Oregon Compromise as a total abandonment of their parties principles. Even though attempts were made by President Harrison to show support to Webster and unite the party together, the divide still worsened and Webster refused to give up his pragmatism and try and veto the law or help create a better deal for the North. This would soon be regarded as the beginning of the end of the Whigs, and the rise of the Republicans.

The Oregon Compromise

In terms of foreign affairs during the Webster administration, the United States much like Texas, chose to keep their policy of neutrality at the time and refused to become involved in the Crimean War or the Sardinian Heresy. The main foreign developments that the United States had to deal with at this point were mostly within the Americas. During this time, the United States policy of total neutrality would be abandoned as they began to develop its relation with Quebec, a precursor to the Lee Doctrine. Trade between both the United States and Quebec would intensify due to the free trade agreement as New England was able to quickly transport its manufactured products to Quebec while it received in turn a good quantity of natural resources from the northern republic. The U.S Army was also valuable to Quebec as they were able to intervene and help quell some minor insurrections that took place in New Brunswick/Nova Scota (now called Arcadia) which erupted from the remaining English colonists. As a result of the friendly relationship with Quebec, the amount of French speakers within the North grew in a large manner at this time and opinions of Catholics, such as the gigantic wave of Irish immigrants, had improved in a significant manner at this time. The economic investment from New York and New England would be extremely important for Quebec as it helped the nation gain financial stability in its early years. During Webster's presidency, relations with Texas were starting to improve greatly as the old conflicts of the annexation attempts died down and investments were being made to connect Texas to Louisiana with the growth of the East Texas railroads. American goods were also being sold in great amounts in California while Oregon was still developing its port cities of Boston and Seattle. The growth of the Northern Industry was also very significant in Latin America with American goods now being able to compete with Europe in the region in terms of both quantity and quality. The main trade partners with America in the region would come to be Yucatan, Columbia, Brazil, and and Venezuela. Latin America was also the site of much conflict though as multiple filibusters were undertaken by southerners to claim Cuba and Haiti as American territories as mentioned previously. The Walker expeditions, named after filibuster William Walker, were multiple attempted raids by Americans, primarily by Florida, into Cuba and Haiti. All of them were failures with the invasions met with fierce resistance by the Spanish, and the Haitians respectively. They only resulted in soured relations with Spain overall and multiple warscares that would take place between the two nations during Webster's and Douglas's term. Though actual war would not come until two decades later with the Spanish-American War.

William Walker America's most infamous filibuster (Right) Filibusters in Cuba (Left)

The 1852 Presidential Election was quite a troublesome affair that was only overshadowed by Bleeding Kansas and the 1860 Election which led to the Civil War. On the Democrats side, the process was rather calm as the party came together united in order to end the Whigs hold on the White House and gain complete control of Congress. The main division that took place in the Democratic Party was whether or not to push slavery completely, as advocated by the south, or to compromise and use popular sovereignty. Eventually a compromise ticket came about where the party would rally upon young and upcoming Senator Stephen Douglass from Illinois, an active Senator in Washington who was a key force behind the passing of the Oregon Compromise and was a proponent of popular sovereignty for all of America. Douglas was seen as a centrist candidate who could unite the whole party and could pass multiple legislation in a manner similar to Henry Clay. His running mate was Georgian representative Robert Toombs, a name which would live in infamy after the beginning of the Civil War. On the Whig side was something that could only be called organized chaos. When the Whig Party convened they were greatly divided between the candidacies of Daniel Webster and war hero Winfield Scott. The split came about from Webster's support of the Oregon Compromise with the Northern pragmatists moving to support Webster while the Northern Abolitionists and the Southern Whigs went for Scott. The convention became deadlocked and it took a whole week of arguing between the party until anything could get done, a period which involved much heated arguments and even some fisticuffs. The Convention came to an end on June 24th when representative Abraham Lincoln led the remaining pragmatists and compromisers to support the President, highlighting his domestic achievements and relative successful handling of foreign affairs. When the final ballots were called Webster received 150 votes while Scott had 146. This was an total outrage to Webster's opponents who then decided to put Scott on a Third Party platform called the Union party, with running mate William A. Graham. Webster's chances of winning were also worsened with the emergence of the Free Soil Party which was dedicated to abolishing slavery entirely, with the candidacy of John P. Hale. The summer and autumn of 1852 saw much conflict as the Whigs mostly focused on attacking each other with Webster running intense smear campaigns against Scott for what was seen a a betrayal against the party. Pro and Anti-Slavery forces would also clash out with the most violent fights happening in the border states, something which resulted into a full fledged riot with the Kansas City Riots of 1852. During this time Stephen Douglas traveled across the country and presented himself as a candidate of compromise who could help heal the divisions that had taken place in the country. Indeed during the Columbus Presidential Debate, Douglas was the only candidate who acted in a rational manner while Webster and Scott openly attacked each other during their speaking times while Hale decried Douglas as an disciple of Satan which had been sent from hell to keep the negro enslaved. Douglas took his time to promote the platform of the Democratic party and also supported the continuation of America's economic growth while decreasing regulation and lowering tariffs. Come the election the South would support Douglas full heartily with the exception of Kentucky and Tennessee who went to Scott. The North was a split between Webster and Douglas with New York and New England going for Webster while Douglas received the rest. It was fortunate that Douglas managed to receive a majority or else the vote would go to the House where it was estimated an bloody struggle would take place, though most Historians theorize that Douglas would have won on an early ballot anyways. Months later Douglas was inaugurated into office with a bitter Webster leaving Washington (though developing a fierce hatred of Scott rather than Douglas) while Abraham Lincoln was able to gain Douglas's Senate seat in the special election. With the incoming of the Douglas Administration began the true disintegration of America over the topic of slavery which would define Douglas's entire presidency. Meanwhile, the Whig Party had gone on an irreversible course due to the election and soon disbanded in 1854, with its remnants soon forming the Republican Party.

1852 United States Presidential Election

Douglas/Toombs (D): 193 EV 1,510,354 Votes 45.16%
Webster/Filmore (W): 76 EV 1,067,981 Votes 31.93%
Scott/Graham (U): 24 EV 765,430 Votes 22.91%

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 52 The Italian Question

"While I do advocate for unification, peace shall always remain my highest priority. The last thing Christians should do is fight each other for petty purposes."- Pope Pius IX 1851
"Dear Ferdinand, as you can tell the motion that Italia is moving towards is that of the Vatican while our two kingdoms are met with internal strife and anarchy by those damn revolutionaries. If we don't take action soon then the mob will vote for the Pope to take control and we'll be mere vassals to Rome. While I am a faithful Catholic, it is clear that Pius is stepping too much into temporal affairs. I think it is time for action to be taken."- King Charles Albert 1851
"By undertaking this course we will have pleased the Conservatives while gaining a new ally, two birds with one stone."- Emperor Napoleon III 1852

While the question of German and Hungarian Nationalism had been settled in the 1846 Revolutions, one question that had yet to be answered was that of the fate of Italy. While the Lombard-Venetian War had ended in an Italian victory that had essentially eliminated Austria out of the Peninsula and liberated all Italian lands under Hapsburg rule, they had not changed the balance of power, rather it had been pushed to a greater divide between the two main powers; the Papal States and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. On one side you had Pope Pius IX, a rising star within European politics who was shaping to be a reformer of the Catholic Church by liberalizing much of the Papal States and making motions to meet with several members of the College of Cardinals so that the reforms would not only be implemented in Italy, but throughout the world in the Church's teachings. Pius was much beloved by the common folk and the parish priests routinely praised their pontiffs brilliance and divinity in mass. On the other side was King Charles Albert. While King Charles did not have the same level of authority as the head of the world's largest religion, he was head of Italy's most powerful Kingdom, Sardinia-Piedmont having spent the last century gaining more power and land through their various wars and political strikes. The House of Savoy had many friends among the great European royalty and Charles Albert was a man who commanded respect from his people, yet he was not terribly beloved outside of his Kingdom. Two men who could said to be quite near polar opposites, both desiring the crown of the Lombards. One to unify the peninsula to bring peace and prosperity under the will of God, the other set on creating a glorious empire that will last for ages. One would soon rise to such glory, while the other trampled in the sea of Nationalism.

In the five years since the end of the Lombard-Venetian War, the Italian states had been undergoing a great amount of growth in the new Italian Confederation. In the aftermath of the war the first session was proclaimed in March 18th, on the anniversary of the five days of Milan. There was much argument first over where the expected capitol of this new confederation would reside, eventually though the ancient city of Rome was chosen to become the place of the new Italian Parliament. While there was much grumbling from Charles Albert, Pius did point out that Rome was the central most place in all of Italy and had much historical importance as the center of the Roman Empire. Much of the focus though was trying to keep it within the heart of Italy in the same manner that the Americans chose Washington D.C. Over the next five years the Confederation would go to quick work in uniting the peninsula and making sure that all Italian states would thrive. The first major change to be implemented was for all of the Italian States to draft up a constitution much in the manner that Pius had done so that the liberals and the common masses would be appeased. The Constitutions worked much in the manner as that of America's in that it set up a legislative branch that would create the laws and would have some checks on the executive, in this case being the monarch (although even the Pope still held much state authority). A Judicial branch would be set up to review laws. Religious freedom would be protected, though Catholicism was still the state religion and no Protestant churches would be set up within the boundaries of Rome. Many other rights were guaranteed such as freedom of the press and assembly and protest. Finally the people were given a right to vote for their representatives in their respective legislative branch, though this ranged in a number of different practices with universal male suffrage in the Papal States to landed property voting in Sicily. With the question of political and social stability being met, a greater importance was then put towards the greater economic development of Italy. While their neighbors Germany and France were currently undergoing a wave of industrialization and unprecedented economic growth, Italy still remained a much agrarian society in the south while the north had lost its trade status in the 18th century and had been in somewhat of an economic slump since then. Tariffs were nonexistent in the borders of the Confederation and citizens of the Italian states were allowed to move across borders without a need of checking. Subsidiaries and funding were also being invested all throughout the Peninsula so that industry would begin to take root in the states and the first tracks of railroad could be laid down in a peninsular system that could travel from Palermo to Venice. Finally in a practice to the Roman style of rule, much of the funding was diverted to developing new infrastructure in roads and canals so that transportation of goods, people, and communication would increase exponentially in Italy. While Italy was slow in catching up to the rest of Western Europe, the economic reforms were already starting to take root in the Confederation with unemployment dropping increasingly and the average income of the Italian worker being doubled. Within the Papal States, Pope Pius was also experimenting into a new system of economics that would combine both socialism and Church doctrine that would allow the free market to flourish yet protect the working class and offer support to the poor. This system would soon develop into what is now known today as Christian Capitalism, an economic system where corporations would form which would be run by the church in support of a certain type of profession for the common class. These semi-unions would not interfere in the control of the economy, but would work together to provide support for their sectors and promote growth in cooperation. In 1850 Pius would come to publish a Papal Encyclical that detailed the Church's responsibility to the poor and the morality that all Christians must undertake when dealing in business. These economic reforms had a huge effect in increasing Pius's popularity with the masses and much of the Western World. Meanwhile Charles Albert looked on in worry, while his Kingdom had been one of the main benefactors of the success of the Federation, he was not being hailed as the head of unity and his role in the revolution was being forgotten in favor of Garibaldi and Pius. Tensions would soon come to a head in 1852, when the issue of leadership came up.

Colored photograph of an bustling Italian Market (Right) Voting Day in Venice (Center) Pius made sure to have the trains run on time (Left)

On March 31st, 1852, the Milan Parliament was formed in order to discuss the current state of the Italian Confederation and the possibility of further unification. The parliament while originally planned to take place in Rome in the Confederate Senate, was moved to Milan in order to pay tribute to the Revolutionaries who started the Lombard-Venetian War and gave their lives to drive out Austria. It was actually all a large political ploy by Charles Albert who had subtly encouraged the nationalists to place the parliament their so that it could take place within his own kingdom. Much like the fateful meeting in Rome six years ago that had brought about the beginning of the war, the heads of states of all the Italian states were gathered along with the Confederation's highest most prominent nationalists and other figures of importance. Overall around 200 people had shown up for the occasion, much like the famous Frankfurt Parliament, the future of Italy would be decided in these halls. When the council first began the issue of what to do at first was whether or not to unite Italy totally into a country or to continue its current course. The Republicans and Nationalists had been all for the former as they had justified that the people had longed for this day to come and that a unified Italy would soon become the Fourth Rome, a mighty power that could one day dominate Europe as they had in the Medieval era. Overall the monarchists and Conservatives had been against the idea, saying that the already had done enough reforms and that to do so would totally destroy the sovereignty of the individual states which had lasted for centuries. Many of the liberals then pointed out that the German Empire had practically done the same thing and yet the Kings of Bavaria and Hanover still had much power when they were essentially vassals of the Kaiser. Weeks of bickering came on and soon two main camps had formed, those that had wished for unification, and those who wished to maintain the status quo. Within the unification camp was a split in two factions which desired either for Charles Albert to take the throne as King of Italy, or for a democratic republic to be set up. What many had noticed throughout the events is that two important figures had yet to take action, King Ferdinand and Pope Pius. Ferdinand while a man who wanted to become monarch of Italia, knew that at the end of the day his chances of becoming head of Italy were very slim. The Sicilians Bourbons had little friends in the North and the two regions were so radical in difference that it was similar in situation to the North and South divide within the United States. Ferdinand desired unification buy only under his rule, anything else would require the protection of Sicily's autonomy and his right as King of Naples. While many thought he would go towards the Confederation camp, Ferdinand stuck to the sidelines, determined to wait out and see what opportunities might come in the future. Pius, while determined to unify all of Italy under the Church's guidance, did not want for any bloodshed or huge conflict to happen in the process. He knew that many of the monarchs and nobles would be very against giving up their rights to rule and the independence of their respective states. At the same time the Nationalists were getting angsty and would accept nothing less than total unification. If nothing was done too placate both sides than a Civil War or another revolution would come out and all of Italy would suffer. In order to solve this issue Pius came up with a compromise. Speaking in front of all the assembled delegates on May 10th, Pius explained his solution for the issue of unification which would involve the continuation of the Confederation for the next five years under the guidance of an elected head of the Confederacy. When 1857 came around, all of the Italian states would hold a referendum for its people on whether or not they were to stick to the status quo, or move into the unification of one state. When Pius finished his speech, he was met with a standing ovation from a large majority of the delegates as the solution had meet all of their needs, it had guaranteed the independence of the states for a short time and let the people decide whether they wanted to unify into one state. While it was widely known that the masses were in favor of Unification, those five years were critical in giving each party the time to support their desired position and plan for any outcome that might occur. When the vote for the leader of the Confederation commenced, it soon became a threeway race between Charles Albert, Guiseppe Garibaldi, and Pope Pius. While Charles was a contender in the beginning, it soon became clear that he would not be able to achieve the desired majority as his support came only from delegates from his kingdom. While Garibaldi was a popular candidate for the liberals and nationalists, he knew that he could never gain the support of the conservatives to give him a good majority. So in the fourth round of voting, Garibaldi threw his support behind Pius as the pontiff had been a good supporter of Italian Unification so far and had been the first to meet the desired reforms of the people, while it was not a secular republic as Garibaldi would have wanted, it was a situation that would best serve the interests of the Italian people. Soon afterwords the Italians became near unanimous in their support of Pius, and he was elected President on May 7th. The Parliament would later convene on the 12th after the delegates had set about on the specifics of the planned referendum and the activities of the Confederation until then. When the parliament had ended, all of the delegates had left Milan with most leaving satisfied as the meeting of their objectives, with the exception of one man, Charles Albert.

The Milan Parliament

When King Charles had returned to Piedmont, to say he was pissed on the whole affair was quite the understatement. The Sardinian King had expected to enter the Parliament and emerge victorious as head of all of Italy. Not only did he leave though with little change in his status than before, the whole conference had actually increased Pius's popularity and the people's desire to have him become the head of Italy. Indeed the whole vote for Pius as President of the Confederation seemed little more than a foreshadowing in Charles's mind of the eventual resorts of the referendum. The Pope would be head of two Rome's, the Church and an Empire. Yet Charles knew he still had time to reverse the whole affair. The War of German Unification had shown that the traditional rulers in a region such as Austria, could be overthrown as seen with Prussia's rise to power as head of the German Empire. In the beginning of the Lombard-Venetian War Charles had been looked towards as one of the heads of the Unification movement and still had allies throughout the Peninsula, even among the Republicans as Garibaldi once offered his support to the monarch. Foreign events abroad had also suggested that if Charles was to make a move, the time was now. Great Britain was currently locked in a soon to be war against Russia over the dispute of its role as protectors of Christians living in the Ottoman Empire. France was still in much political turmoil as Napoleon's reign was still unsecure and there was the ever present possibility of another French Revolution. The Spanish were on a trend of stagnation. Both the Germans and Hungarians were still recovering from the revolutions, and Austria was merely a shell of its former self. If there was any time to act, it was now. Charles Albert then spent the next few months mobilizing his army, using the excuse of preparing for an expedition into Africa. He sent out multiple diplomatic correspondence to the Sicilians, Austrians, Germans, and French, inviting each of them to support Sardinia Piedmont's bid to become head of Italy in exchange for some possible concessions and an alliance. Charles also spent the time meeting with potential support from Republican Revolutionaries. When Charles tried to reach for external aid, he found himself displeased. The Italian Nationalists while stating they could support Charles, were content to wait for the referendum as that would fulfill their wish of the country unifying under the wishes of the people. All foreign correspondence was met with either vague promises of eventual support or replies of neutrality at the current time. What Charles did not realize though, was that he made a fatal mistake in contacting both Napoleon and Ferdinand. Thinking arrogantly that one quick strike was all that was needed, Charles brought himself before the Piedmontese Parliment, producing false documents which were forged to be under the Pope's signature that revealed plans for a conquest of Sardinia-Piedmont to bring them under Papal control. While many present where skeptical of his claims, Charles had enough planted supporters in the Parliment that a slim majority where able to rise in support of the King, with Charles Albert declaring war on the Papal States and announcing a occupation of the rest of the Italian states in order to ensure that Papal collaborators would not harm Sardinia Piedmont. What the nobles present did not know though, was that Charles Albert had already submitted orders that morning for his generals to march the army into the rest of Italy, showing that he was going to declare war whether he had support or not. The Sardinian Heresy had begun.

Sardinian Soldiers March off to war (Right) Royal Prince Victor Emmanuel leading the Charge for the House of Savoy (Center) Napoleon III, soon to be the biggest player in the war (Left)

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 53 The Sardinian Heresy

"Looking back on the whole affair, father really wasn't thinking through too much when he decided to embark on his grand conquest."- Prince Victor Emmanuel 1861
"My fellow soldiers of Christ. This war that we have found ourselves into is no longer one of nationalism, unification, or pure conquest. Rather, this is an offense of heresy, the highest account since Robespierre and the Satanic French Republic. As servants of His Holiness and defenders of the Church, it is our most sacred duty to wipe out this abominable state from the face of Italy. Burn the Heretics!! Ave Pius!"- Major Roberto Giuliani 1852
"This is why we separate Church from state."- President David Burnet 1852

In 1852 began the the War of Italian Unification, or the Sardinian Heresy as it is alternately called in Italy and much of the Catholic world (the title gaining much popularity in usage after the release of the Horus Heresy series). What would develop in this war was a situation similar to that of Germany six years prior, two grand states of the nation would battle each other for the right of leadership, only one would unify Italy at the end of it. When Charles Albert set out to conquer Italy and unify the state under his rule, he thought that it would be a relatively simple affair that would soon see the whole Peninsula fall within months. Despite the fact that the Papal Soldiers were some of the fiercest fighters in the Lombard-Venetian War, Charles planned for the laxness of the Confederation borders and the surprise of the attack to take his neighbors by storm before they could mobilize his armies. Indeed had Charles been using the modern doctrine of blitzkrieg and had started the war two decades later with larger popular support, he might've succeed rather quickly. However, there were several problems that would prevent this from happening, mainly his attempted enticement of King Ferdinand into the affair. While it is true that Ferdinand was a very ambitious man who would've done much to try and either preserve his independence or gain leadership in Italy, he was at heart a conservative and faithful Catholic. When Ferdinand received a letter from a Sardinian diplomat which detailed Charles's plans, he was offered the right of conquest to half the Papal territory and the right to continue existing as sovereign of Sicily. At first Ferdinand was intrigued by the offer, but when faced with the moral dilemma of starting an offensive war against the Pope, he soon backed away from it for moral reasons. Instead a plan formed in his head where he would emerge out of this war with a higher position and would potentially become the most powerful state in Italy with a Sardinian defeat. Ferdinand quickly traveled to Rome after receiving knowledge and let Pius knew of Charles's designs against the Papal States. At first Pius did not believe it as he thought Charles would not dare incur the wrath of the faithful within his kingdom, that and the fact that much of the Confederation's success had actually been directed towards Sardinia-Piedmont, Why ruin it over greed? Still Pius agreed to mobilize the Papal Army in case of an attack and agreed to let Sicilian troops and ships enter the borders. His doubts were erased when on August 18th, Charles declared war and had his armies march into the neighboring states of Italy. When Pius had heard of Charles's false reasoning for attacking the Papal States, he became extremely livid over the allegations that Pius was plotting to conquer his kingdom, and the war goals which stated Pius was to be overthrown for his tyranny and Rome to become the capitol of Charles. This was the gravest insult to the Church and Pius's personal image that he could've taken. Making a grand speech before St. Peter's later that day. Pius declared Charles to be a warmonger and an enemy of the Church for his unchristian actions and attempts to eliminate the Pope. Pius then excommunicated the entirety of the House of Savoy and declared that to be fighting under the flag of Savoy was not only a sign of treason against the Italian Confederation, but it was a mark of heresy and the souls of the soldiers could be damned to hell for their actions. Pius stated that the excommunication would only be lifted if Sardinia surrendered unconditionally, and that salvation shall come for the Kingdom only if peace reigns once more. Later on in the Confederate Parliment, Pius used his powers as President to rally the states to declare war against the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, something that was easily done given that the entirety of Italy was about to be attacked. The Papal Armies along with the Sicilian forces marched west in order to meet the so called heretics and drive the enemy across their borders. Garibaldi was also sent on a secret mission to Sardinia-Piedmont so that he could rally the revolutionaries to the side of the Confederation. War had begun.

King Ferdinand II of Sicily (Right) A photograph of St. Peter's where Pius declared war and heresy. (Left)

When the operations began the Sardinians were able to quickly conquer the Duchies of Parma and Modena in a matter of days while they had made some progress into Tuscany. Venice was the hardest front to enter as the Papal Armies had prepared their defenses in advance and they had many leftover fortifications from the Austrians. The local population was also quick to volunteer and rallied in the thousands to defend their homes and freedom from the new foreign invaders. Slowly the Sardinian offensive on the Papal side was grounded down to a halt, the army having only gained 10 miles of territory within Verona. There were multiple problems with the Sardinian Army however besides the fight that their enemies put up. When the Pope issued an excommunication to the House of Savoy and declared fighting for them to be a heresy, this severely lowered the morale of many the common soldiers in the Sardinian Army. Most were Catholic and were devout in listening to the teachings of the church, so hearing their holy father proclaim that they were heretics was something that made many think that they were fighting an unholy war for the devil. It was a rather awkward situation for many of the priests in the army who had to keep the men's spirits high but could not openly encourage dissent. One effort to solve this problem was a suggestion by Charles Albert to make his own Church of Sardinia much like the English did with King Henry, though this idea was quickly shot down by his advisors as much of the kingdom's population was not fond of Protestantism, thus any move towards it would launch an open revolt, not that they weren't facing it right now. With the deceleration of war upon all of Italy, many nationalists within Sardinia-Piedmont started protesting the war as an unjust one that was declared by a tyrant to make himself head of Italy. After the first few days of protests, King Charles Albert rescinded the constitution and unleashed the Royal Guard upon the protestors, wounding dozens and killing some outright. With the destruction of the constitution being the last straw for the nationalists and liberals, many began starting to revolt against the king by attacking army garrisons and launching partisan attacks against government stations. This resistance was further bolstered by the arrival of Garibaldi who set out to teach the nationalists guerilla tactics and soon trained a large volunteer army who began targeting supply lines of the Sardinian armies while attacking the properties of the nobles who supported the King. Soon many cities within Lombardy and Tyrol were in open revolt with Milan once again becoming a center of revolution.

Encouraged by the reports of high resistance in Sardinia-Piedmont and motivated by the lackluster progress of the Sardinian armies since the outbreak of hostilities, the Sicilian-Papal forces began to plan a mass counterattack that would liberate Modena and Parma while making a deep drive for Piedmont. A combined army of around 130,000 from the totality of the Italian Confederation came to face off against the 100,000 men of the Sardinian Army. Already there was a huge difference in quality due to the rather high fervor that was spreading across the Italian armies. further supported by priests who preached of the holiness of their mission. Meanwhile the Sardinian men were soon beset with division over what would be the right course to take in the war.The first actions of the Italian Confederation would be to entirely stop the Sardinian offensives all across Northern Italy. This objective was achieved with the Battles of Florence and Bologna on September 2nd and 4th respectively. In both battles the Papal and Sicilian armies were able to meet up with the Sardinians on the city limits and had formed a strong defensive line with support from defenses erected by the local civilians. The large majority of the battles were undertaken by the actions of the infantry due to the fact that artillery fire was limited on both sides in order not to cause a great amount of damage to the two large cities. It was hear that the Sicilian/Papal forces quickly gained the advantage due to the extremely high morale and the fierce fighting undertaken by the men to protect their homelands. Italian nationalists had also managed to recruit thousands of the citizens were they were unleashed in mob tactics to annihilate individual Sardinian battalions. Add to that the encirclement actions that closed off many escape routes, which were done by the cavalry, the Sardinians were decisively defeated and had to retreat. The combined casualties of both battles had caused near 15,000 casualties for the Sardinians while the Italians lost 9,000. After the Sardinians lost the battle, the Italians were able to go on the offensive and whatever Sardinian muster was lost as the land of Tuscany were declared to be liberated on September 20th, and the Papal States on September 26th. Meanwhile in the North, the Papal forces under General Vittorio Romano were undergoing an offensive to liberate the Lombardy province from the control of Sardinia. Much like the previous war with the Austrians, Italian Nationalists were key in granting victory to the Papal forces as they had managed to launch multiple rebellions in every major city in Lombardy with Garibaldi leading the People's Revolutionary Army from Milan to engage the Sardinian forces defending the area and to help the Papal Armies when they marched in. While the famous Quadrilatero fortresses were expected to be of an issue, a mutiny led by Colonel Luigi Russo, a highly devout Catholic, had overthrown the command at the Mantuva fortress and soon opened up the citadel to the Papal army. This action caused a repetition for the Peschiera fortress, eliminating the threat of a prolonged siege to win back Lombardy. On All Saints Day, all Sardinian forces had been pushed back across the border with Modena and Parma launching their own revolts against the Sardinian occupiers. This was seen by Pius as a sign that God was on their side. Orders were then given out to the Confederation to head west towards Piedmont, in order to overthrow Charles by Christmas.

Battle of Tuscany (Right) Mantuva Uprising (Center) The People's Revolutionary Army in Milan (Left)

When the outbreak of the war first came out, the Sardinian Navy was deployed rapidly in order to blockade the Duchy of Modena and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Due to almost no time in warning and the superior size and quality of the Sardinian fleet, the ships of Modena and Tuscany were destroyed immediately in their ports while the remaining vessels as sea scrambled for either the ports of the Papal States and Sicily, or that of the neutral nations. A blockade was then set in for the two small Italian states, although it was of little effect due to the land connection to the Papal States and the availability of agricultural goods from Sicily. The Papal States and Sicily on the other hand, were able to have much of their fleets protected due to them being out of range and on patrol for any Sardinian vessels. Those few that dared to approach their territory where swiftly sunk or captured with only one Sicilian vessel sunk and two Papal ships damaged in the first week of fighting. The Papal States and Sicily also had the advantage of having two of the finest shipbuilding centers in all of Italy with their control of Venice and Naples respectively. After organizing the fleets under the joint command of Admiral Giradelli with a combined total of 112 ships. 60 from Sicily, 52 from the Papal States. Their first objective was to prevent any blockading of their homes by gaining naval superiority in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Battle of the Tyrrhenian, was a series of battles and skirmishes that lasted from September 3rd to November 10th and would come to be a war of attrition between the two fleets over control of the most important corridor on the Italian navigation route. While Sardinia Piedmont did indeed have a large navy of 83 ships, the problem was that Charles Albert had decided to spread out his forces instead of concentrating them into one armada. 15 ships were present in Piedmont at all times so as to prevent the capitol from invasion. 20 ships stayed on the island of Sardinia to protect the home of the House of Savoy from a seaborne invasion, 20 ships were dedicated to the blockade, and the remaining 27 were sent to the Tyrrhenian. Overall around 47 ships were able to fully participate in the battle, but the Sardinians did not have the natural talent of the Sicilians or the ship management of the Venetians. Through the use of hunting packs and diversionary tactics meant to look as though it were to brake the blockade or invade Sardinia, Admiral Giradelli was able to surround the Tyrrhenian on all sides and then slowly form a pocket to hunt down any Sardinian ships that were traveling in the waters. Thanks to the recent development of the telegram, an effective communication had been set up between Sicily and the mainland that was able to detect enemy ships and relay their location quickly so that an convoy could be deployed. Nationalists on Sardinia were also effective in causing sabotage operations and damaging the port, causing troops to be diverted and for maintenance of damaged ships to be extended. By the end of the battle the Sardinians had lost 24 ships while the Italians had lost a smaller 13. The Sardinian Navy then broke off its attempts to surround Sicily and then the Confederate navy was soon able to begin operations to brake the blockade and begin its own blockade of Sardinia, while occasionally launching raids against the Piedmontese coast. Due to the success that came on the land campaigns, the Sardinians abandoned its blockade operations and soon retreated to their homelands and attempted to protect merchant convoys. Initiating a cat and mouse game that would continue for the rest of the war.

Battle of the Tyrrhenian

When Charles Albert had heard of Ferdinand's siding with the Pope, he was livid. The King had expected that his Sicilian counterpart would naturally come to the aid of Charles in order to prevent becoming a vassal of Rome. Had Sicily joined the Sardinian forces, then Rome would've fallen in a matter of weeks and all of Northern Italy would be under the control of Charles. Charles then reached out to other nations through his foreign affairs ministry and asked for aid to drive the Confederate armies out and secure a friend in a future united Italy. What he had gotten in response was entirely negative. Nearly all Catholic nations had universally condemned Charles and declared him a heretic who would not be worth a single drop of blood of their manpower. Britian was already engaged in the newly waged Crimean War and their traditional friend on the peninsula had been Sicily. Germany stated they weren't interested in the affairs of Italy and that they would merely form a new relationship with the victor. President Webster had condemned the action as that of an unjust war and Texas cancelled its negotiations over the possibility of opening up an embassy. Sardinia-Piedmont was truly alone in the world with virtually no friends that would save them soon. Charles would've prayed for a miracle, but it seemed that even God was on Pius's side. Still the man was stubborn and he refused to surrender. Charles had ordered his generals to dig in on the borders and fight to the last man if the Italian armies attempted to enter. Sardinia-Piedmont had been secure from invasion ever since Napoleon's demise, and that was not something Charles wished to happen anytime soon. Civilians had started to erect trenches on the border and defenses in the city (although under gunpoint from the guard) and the Sardinian Navy would be on intercept duty for any Italian ships that dared to come near Sardinia or the Piedmontese shores. On November 4th, Charles had received word from his generals that the borders of the Kingdom were being invaded along with amphibious landings in Sardinia. They were not in the east however. Rather, the targets were primarily Nice and Imperia. What made the situation worse was that the men sighted were reported not wearing any Italian uniforms, but that of the French Imperial standard. Napoleon had joined the war.

Occupation of Nice (Right) French Invasion of Sardinia (Left)

 

[Kaiser Chris]

Chapter 54 Fall of Sardinia

"You expected Pius to come and take over your capitol, but it was me Napoleon!"- Emperor Napoleon III 1852
"Why the hell are the French on our borders?"- King Charles Albert 1852
"With the so called Sardinian Heresy coming to an end, it is clear that Europe is entering a new era. No longer is our continent divided by monarchies and thrust into petty conflicts of glory. Rather, we are entering an age where the people shall lead the state and the struggle of an nation shall directly determine society into the coming future. Our own revolution is a byproduct of this as Hungary is now taking a new direction as a sovereign nation whose decisions shall come to impact the world stage and give birth to new ideas and movements. It is a rather interesting time to be alive, is it not?"- President Lajos Kossuth 1852

At first glance it would make little sense why Emperor Napoleon III decided to intervene in the Sardinian Heresy. The war was one that was strictly fought for the future of Italy and Sardinia-Piedmont had up until that point not done anything to antagonize France. While France was a Catholic nation, there was a sizeable protestant minority and liberal faction that would be against entering wars for the sake of religion. There were also other potential conflicts at the time such as how the Crimea War was starting and the fact that the Second French Colonial Empire was beginning to form. Lastly, Charles Albert had even offered a full alliance to Napoleon that would gain him an important regional ally, which was valuable with France's until then isolation in Europe. So why intervene? To answer that question we must first look into the policies of Napoleon. When Napoleon came to power he was at a precarious balance. While he was chosen to become Emperor with a large majority in a referendum (something historians have recently proven to be forged) he still faced a huge amount of opposition from France's many factions. Napoleon had to balance out the interests of the liberals and the conservatives within parliament in order to secure his reign. Any time Napoleon chose to take one action, he instantly angered the other, and there were few centrist policies that he could focus on. France was also in a state of mild decline when Napoleon took power. While France had regained some standing with the internal projects of Charles and the foreign success of Louis Phillipe, it was nowhere near the once held glory of the Napoleonic era that was required to "Make France Great Again". France's main enemy Britain was now a superpower, their neighbor Germany was unified and on the rise, and new players were starting to enter the colonial game. Napoleon had to do something in order to please both sides of the aisle as well as gain prestige and power abroad. At first Napoleon was interested in potentially disputing Russia's claim to protection of Christians in the Ottoman Empire as well as its rights in the middle east. Russia was a rising rival and doing so could pave the way for a potential alliance with Britain and maybe a truce with Germany. And then Charles's offer came. When Napoleon read this he smiled in glee as he found the perfect opportunity that he had been looking for. The Pope was very popular in France as the liberals praised his reforms, while the conservatives admired his pious (pun intended) manner in leading the Church. Supporting Pius in gaining control of Italy would not only boost Napoleon's popularity, but gain him a very powerful ally in the Mediterranean and the Middle East to counter the Ottomans. Another factor that played in was the potential land grabs. Sardinia-Piedmont had held some French land through the years in the form of Savoy and Sardinia was a key port in the Mediterranean. Grabbing these territories would directly benefit Metropolitan France unlike the colonies, and add new potential industry to the economy. After hearing of the plan Napoleon then gave a vague reassurance of some support while secretly meeting with his Marshals and preparing for an attack. Napoleon mobilized the French military with the excuse of launching a new expedition into Africa, something that was actually believable given their investments in Algeria. Napoleon then waited the first few months to see who would have the upper hand. When the Italian Confederation pushed the Sardinian armies back into their borders, Napoleon gave the go ahead for Operation Visigoth. The Fall of Sardinia began.

Planning of Operation Visigoth

The general details of Operation Visigoth can be divided into two plans; the amphibious assault on Sardinia, and the land invasion directly to Turin. On the land route came three routes into Sardinia; Nice, Savoy, and Central straight to Turin. All three army groups had their objectives with the most immediate attention given down south so that the coast could be secured and the French Navy would uphold naval supremacy. Overall a grand total of 175,000 men were being used in this campaign. In the Mediterranean, the island of Sardinia would be directly assaulted with a French contingent of 50,000 landing in the city of Porto Torres. The French Fleet would the further reinforce the Italian blockade and begin to eliminate any ships that would try to escape. With the introduction of the French fleet, all Sardinian ships in sea tried to head back into port or risk being caught by the already spread French Armada, something that was highly unlikely as France had deployed a majority of their European and African ships to the theater. In the first two weeks of action, 26 Sardinian ships would be destroyed while the French lost 7. Due to the nature of the suprise attack and the general direction of the Sardinian generals towards the east (along with their low preparedness), the French Army was able to make for extremely rapid progress in their campaign. The first week was very successful as the French Army had been able to advance 100 kilometers and was able to capture the city of Nice and Savoy with little resistance. Their next moves were to send the central forces on a direct march for Turin while 1/3rd of the northern group and 1/5th of the southern group would support them using pincers in a flanking manner to surround the capitol. The southern army was ordered to continue its mission and head straight for Genoa in order to take out their primary port city. Back on Sardinia, the French army had made successful landings and were soon able to occupy the entire island by the beginning of December, the only exception being the islands capitol Caligari, which immediately began a siege that would last until the end of the war. The only major battle of note on the island was the Battle of Sassari where a French division of 15,000 men had taken on the 5,000 men garrison of the city where they had been training the majority of recruits that would go to the mainland. The battle was almost completely one sided as the French professionals had largely swept the reserve force with ease due to their training and discipline. During this time, a Sicilian force of 10,000 men came unto the island and headed for Cagliar in the Battle of Cagliari, a tactical draw with the equal 10K men stationed there, but a strategic victory as it had kept the main force bottled up while the French moved further south to reinforce. On December 3rd the Battle of Turin would commence and for the next two weeks, would see a large and fierce battle be fought in the capitol as the remaining guard and whatever reservists could be mustered, fought to keep their Kingdom intact from the French invaders, while French Marshal Jacque Leroy de Saint Arnaud chose to destroy many sections of the city and force the populace into submission by ruining infrastructure and denying any supply lines that could go through enemy lines. Turin wasn't in the French plans anyway, why would they care if it took damage.

Napoleon III overseeing the invasion

With the entry of the French into the war came with it a massive change in the front on the East. On November 4th, all available mainland European Sardinian units had been sent to the border in order to defend the Kingdom and possibly create a defensive network that would hold out until the Italian Confederation lost a battle of attrition, or a new opening could be created for a counterattack. When the French invasion happened, Charles Albert was torn as his duty as the monarch demanded that he send men back west in order to secure the capitol from the French. Yet, any forces he sent back west would just be an invitation for the Italians to come rolling in. The situation was only made worse as the Italian Nationalist movement intensified and many areas would openly rise in revolt with the arrival of the French, either for religious reasons or to secure their land for the incoming Italian liberators so that the French could not take it in a treaty. It was a practical lose-lose situation. It was just a manner of how much damage was to be done on Sardinia and its enemies. Reluctantly, Charles sent 40% of his army to the west under the command of his son Victor Emmanuel so that the French could somehow be held off. This only created an opening for the Italians as after 9 days of organization to adjust to the French entry and draw up new plans, the official invasion commenced on the 13th with the Italian army coming in floods to reach Turin first. At this point the eastern front was an gathering of 105,000 Italians versus 48,000 Sardinians. Perhaps if the Sardinians had an elite professional army like Germany then the situation could've fallen into their favor. This was unfortunately for them, unable to happen as the superior Papal/Sicilian forces were able to overwhelm and mow down formation after formation of Sardinian troops. Sensing that the end was nigh, Sardinian forces started to surrender en masse while some even defected to the cause of the nationalists, begging forgiveness for the Pope for going against the Church. With the huge amount of success due to numerical, qualitiative, and moral superiority, the Italians moved in a rate that could be said to be even faster than their French counterparts. The Battle of Genoa took place on November 28th where the Italian army had been able to take over the last clear pocket of resistance by forcing the garrison to surrender after one day of fighting. Overall during this phase of the war; the Italians only suffered 2,034 KIA, 1,967 WIA. While the Sardinians had 6,843 KIA, 7,120 WIA, and 24,598 POW, with an extra 6,142 MIA (most presumably quitting or defecting). Meanwhile, the Italian fleet had gone on the full defensive and were mirroring their French counterparts by hunting down Sardinian ships in the Ligurian Sea. The Battle of the Ligurian took place all of November and ended up an immense Italian victory with 12 Sardinian ships and 4 Italian lost. The Italians would form Naval supremacy with their new French allies, further tightening the noose on Sardinia-Piedmont.

Liberation of Genoa

The overall end of the war came about with the conclusion of the Battle of Turin as the French Foreign Legion stormed the Royal Palace on the 17th, an event that signaled the remaining defenders that the battle was lost and the war over with the downfall of their government. When the legionnaires entered the palace, they came with a mission to search for the Sardinian King and capture him so that he could be brought to the negotiating table and end the war before 1853. A squad of legionnaires found Charles Albert in his office, though the condition they found him was one of death. Charles Albert had been assassinated at his desk with a bayonet stabbed in his back, while the words "AVE PIUS, HERETIC!" were written on the wall in Charles's own blood. A search for the assassin was commenced in the following weeks, although no official suspects were found. The Vatican has to this day denied any direct involvement and access to the Archives as not shown any answers. The only actual lead to historians was the account of one of the Palace maids who testified that before the killing, she had seen a suspicious large blond English priest travel through the Palace. Leading to many conspiracy theories as the governments of the United Kingdom and Britannia have denied any involvement. Whatever the case, the "heretic" who had caused the war was now dead and most of the country was overrun. Word had reached Victor Emmanuel of his father's death a day later when he was in hiding in Genoa. Victor emerged out into the city and requested for official peace talks to begin for the fate of Sardinia. The so called Christmas Conference, was held in Turin in the coming weeks and wouldn't be resolved until early next year. What it would lead to was the rise of the French Empire, and the final chapter in Italian Unification.

Aftermath of the Capture of Turin