God Save These American States

[Dante]

Well, this could be very badly abused (like it was in OTL) or it could be a simple as sounding out Latin letters and grasp of 'See Spot Run' level vocabulary.

Mind you, even the latter is something that cannot be taken as given for Good White People at the time....

I have a feeling that TTL's Southern politicians are going to try to pull the same tricks as OTL's politicians did.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

The salveocrat system is less established out side of SC this ttl but the south is still the south.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

The Return of the Federalist: The Great Boom

March 11, 1820 was a sunny if slightly breezy day in the City of Hamilton however it was a festive occasion at the Federal Palace on Wheeling Island. There the Federalist Party members and their families celebrated their return to power. As President Elect Richard Paul Burbank of Erie was sworn in as the Third President of the Federal Republic of America. They had come back into power on a platform of preparing to finish the reconquest of the Northwest Territory and to Drive the Monarchist out of North America once and for all. However the state of the Federal Army and Navy in 1820 left much to be desired. The Federal Army had been expanded to 90,000 men plus their officers in 1811 and the new Model 1812 Rifle had been adopted in 1812 as the standard issue long-arm for all branches of the Federal Military. However by 1820 only 20,000 of the 90,000 men in the Federal Army had received the new weapon and none of the State Guard troops had received them. This would be rectified in the 1820 budget when money was set aside for the production of 160,000 Model 1812 rifles and 800 of the new Model 1820 six pounder field gun. The Navy had likewise been left to languish under the Burr administration While the Great Lake Flotillas had been enlarged in 1811 little had been done since and the Atlantic fleet had not had a anyships added to it since just after the close of the War of 1805.. The 1820 Naval expansion Act would seek to rectify this by setting aside the funding for 8 new ships of the line two with 180 guns, and six with 120 guns as well as sixteen new heavy frigates mounting 44 guns and twenty eight new 20 gun sloops of war.


To help pay for this new arms expansion would see a new land tax passed by the Federal Senate as well as the first treasury bond drive since the end of the American Revolutionary War. The 1821 Senate Elections would see the American Democratic Party make some slight gains in response to the increase in taxes but the Federalist would maintain a comfortable Majority.

Senate Election of 1821
American Democracy Party Federalist Party
NY: 1/3 NY: 2/3
NJ: 1/3 NJ: 2/3
Del: 1/3 Del: 2/3
Pen:2/3 Pen:1/3
Erie: 1/3 Erie: 2/3
Total: 6/15 Total: 9/15

The Tax increase may have cost the Federalist a few seats in the 1821 election however 1822 and 1823 would see these expansions projects in full swing and an economic boom go along with them. as men found employment in the expanded army and navy or the armories and shipyards that supported this expansion. This boom would make the 1820’s one of the happiest times in history for the FRA. The best part of this economic boom for the federalist was that it was something that they could keep going though military expenditures. The Federalist would erase the American Democracy Party’s gains and see Paul J. Burbank defeat Joseph Hiester of Pennsylvania in a landslide to win reelection.

Senate Election of 1823
American Democracy Party Federalist Party
NY: 1/3 NY: 2/3
NJ: 1/3 NJ: 2/3
Del: 1/3 Del: 2/3
Pen:2/3 Pen:1/3
Erie: 1/3 Erie: 2/3
Total: 6/15 Total: 9/15

Presidential Election 1823

Paul J. Burbank (Fed-Ee) 85%

Joseph Hiester (ADP-Pa) 15%

 

[Red Wolfe]

Regarding the flags of the Commonwealth of American States and the Federal Republic of America does the number of stars increase with the number of states added.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

They will yes. The CAS hasn't added any new states Hispaniola will probably be their sixth state added in the 1830's or 1840's its currently the First and only Commonwealth Territory.

The FRA just added two I just gotta make the new flag. With seven stars on it. I plan to have it ready for the next FRA chapter.

_____edit_______
Just realized that I need to add a star for Florida for the CAS flag.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Federal Republic of America Flag following the Acceptance of Ohio and Mississippi Territory as States in 1829 and 1830 with seven stars

Six Stared Commonwealth of American States Flag adopted following the acceptance of Florida as the sixth state of the Commonwealth.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

New States, New Peoples and New Industry.

The second half of the 1820's saw the Great Turkish Migration arrive on the Shores of the FRA just as it did in the CAS to the south. Between 1823 and 1830 over 165,750 Turkish people would migrate to the FRA. Like in the CAS the bulk of these people were displaced by the Treaty of Windsor that ended the Italian-Turkish War. However the Federal Republic of America handled its immigration differently than the CAS did. The Turkish migrants were collected settled in cities like Buffalo, New York; Dover Delaware; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Erie. In addition to these five cities the Mississippi and Ohio Territories were opened to settlement by these and other immigrants during this decade. This population influx from the Great Turkish Migration and other smaller immigrant waves coming from China, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and other parts of the globe would see the Ohio Territory become the State of Ohio on July 4, 1828 and the Mississippi Territory become the State of Mississippi on July 4, 1830.

Like in the CAS to their south would also see the ever increasing pace of the Industrial Revolution during the 1820. The first Railroad in the Federal Republic of America was the Manhattan and Albany Railroad which laid its first tracks north from New York City on June 7, 1827, and a year later Philadelphia and Harrisburg Railroad would lay its first rail; this railroad would form the eldest member of the mighty Susquehanna Railroad that would forum in 1842. 1829 would also see the construction of Mayburn Ironworks in Harrisburg Pa this would be the largest Ironworks in North America.

A Reorganized Army and the last Act of the 1820’s

\
Lieutenant General Leonard J. McCoy Commanding General of the Federal Army (1825-1838)

In 1825 President Burbank would promote the War of 1805 hero Major General Lenard J. McCoy to Lieutenant General and make him the Commanding General of the Federal Army; giving him full authority to make whatever changes were needed to modernize the command structure of the Federal Army. McCoy would bring to his office a passion that had not been seen for close to a decade. Under the 1825 reorganization the Federal army (90,000 men) would be organized in to 9 Legions of 10,000 men each; in doing so he kept with the traditions of the federal army however that is where this ended. Each Legion was made up of two brigades of 5,000 men each gone was the old Sub legion. Each Brigade consisted of 5 regiments of 1,000 men each and each Regiment was divided into 2 Cohorts of 500 men each and each Cohort was divided up into 5 companies of 100 men each. The State Guard Units were also required to organize themselves along the same lines as the Federal Army for the first time.

On October 2, 1826 the Federal Republic of America held Senate elections once more and following the trend of 1823 the Federalist Party increased its hold on the senate. This would be seen once more in 1827 when the Presidential Election was held. For the Federalist Burbank would run for his third term while the new rebranded American Democratic Party would run Governor of New Jersey Garret D. Wall. The Pro Expansion but physically conservative Wall would offer a good contrast to Burbank and would manage to give him a good fight on October 2, 1827 when the election was held. Burbank would win reelection with 51% of the vote but with just a 2% point margin of victory it was his closest victory yet. When he was Sworn into office for the 3rd time on March 11, 1828 Paul J. Burbank would be sworn in for his third and final time, after which he would accept the resignation of his long time friend and Consul of the Senate Daniel Rodney (Fed-Del) who was suffering from ill health; in his place Burbank would name an up and coming politician from New York State Martin Van Buren as the New Consul of the Senate.

Consul Daniel Rodney (Fed-Del) 1820-1828

Senate Election of 1826

American Democracy Party Federalist Party
NY: 1/3 NY: 2/3
NJ: 1/3 NJ: 2/3
Del: 1/3 Del: 2/3
Pen:1/3 Pen:2/3
Erie: 1/3 Erie: 2/3
Total: 6/15 Total: 10/15

Consul Martin Van Buren (Fed-Ny) 1828-1832

Presidential Election 1827

Paul J. Burbank (Fed-Ee) 51%

Garret D. Wall (ADP-Nj) 49%

 

[Virginia Liberal]

The Republic of Louisiana was the other major cotton producing nation on the North American continent. However unlike the states of the Commonwealth Louisiana did not use massive plantations run on slave labor; instead cotton was grown on medium sized farms worked by tenant farmers.These farmers like the city dwelling laborers that worked in the textile mills and foundries of Petite Roche(1), Baton Rouge, or New Orleans earned very little in return for their efforts, with the bulk of the capital generated by Cotton or textiles or metal tools going instead to the owners of the land or mills.

These owners belonged to the ruling social class called the First Families. These were the wealthy families that had lead Louisiana's break away from the Spanish Empire. These Families had wasted little time turning Louisiana’s fledgling republic in and Oligarchy in which they held the political power. The 1820;s were a decade that saw the continued growth in the Steamboats on the western Rivers that flow into the Mississippi. This ever increasing river traffic allowed for Louisiana to levy tolls and fees for using the river, mainly at the port of New Orleans. This increased revenue allowed the First Families to increase their own wealth by embezzling the money that these tolls generated. This huge gap between the rich First Families and the poor tenant farmers and Laborers created an ever growing layer of discontent between the two classes; With the First Families looking down more and more often on the Poor Tenant Farmers and Laborers, and the Tenant Farmers and Labors looking up in disgust at the excess of the First Families. While this tension would not boil over in the 1820’s it would cause major issues for Louisiana in the Decades to come.

The 1820’s would also see the rise of the Abolitionist movement in Louisiana; this movement was targeted at the massive plantations in CAS states of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. This would see the beginning of the Underground Railroad which smuggled slaves out of the Commonwealth across the Mississippi river and into freedom in Louisiana. This of course would do nothing but feed into the Jacksonian press machine that was dominating the CAS during this time period. As the 1820’s ended it seemed to those outside of the Republic that Louisiana was setting itself up for a massive conflict the only question was would it be an internal conflict, external conflict or both at the same time.

Presidents of Louisiana 1820-1830

Armand Beauvais (Republican Party) 1818-1828

Jacques Dupré (Republican Party) 1828-1838

1. Little Rock’s anglicized name is never adopted
   

 

[Virginia Liberal]

The 1820’s were a rough and tumble decade for the newborn Crown Republic of New England. The Crown Republic of New England is a Constitutional Monarchy recognizing the Monarch of Great Britain as its monarch. That said the Monarch or his/her representative would have very little say in the daily affairs of the Government of the Crown Republic, having only a veto power on any law passed by the Parliament of New England, and the ability to dismiss the parliament and call for a new election if they could not form a government or acted in such a way that endangered the security of the Crown Republic the Monarch and his/her representative was also the commander in chief of all of the Crown Republic's’ army and navy. The Parliament was a unicameral legislature consisting of the House of Commons. The number of seats in the House of Commons is determined by the population of each state; with each state getting one seat for every 30,000 people. So Connecticut had 6 seats, Massachusetts had 13 seats, New Hampshire had 7 seats, and Maine had 8 seats for a grand total of 34 seats. The Party or coalition of parties would form a government and become the prime minister would would carry out the role of the executive. The Grand Duke of New England which was first bestowed upon George IV’s younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn would now be known as Prince Edward Grand Duke of New England, Duck of Kent and Strathearn. His position and title would be passed down to his descendants.

The Crown Republic was dominated by two major political parties the Royalist know as the Tory Party. Those who still held on to the American Republican cause that didn’t move to the Republic of Vermont, the Federal Republic of America or the Commonwealth of American States would form the New England Republican Party. While the Merchant class and the developing Industrialist class would who wanted to see less restriction on trade outside of the British Empire and wanted to see New England expand beyond its regional boundaries would from the New English Whig Party. The First House of Commons election was held on November 26, 1818 and would see the Tory Party win a massive a majority taking 22 out of 34 seats, the Republicans would take 5 seats, and the Whigs 4 seats the remaining 2 seats were taken by non aligned candidates. There after the House of Commons would be elected every 5 years on the fourth thursday of November. Thomas Maxwell would be named Prime Minister, he would hold the position along with his strong Tory majority for the next 11 years he would retire in 1829 due to his failing health. And Be replaced by William King of Maine while a member of the Tory Party King shared many of the values of the smaller Whig party and was able to bring them into his government creating an unassailable majority.

As part of the Treaty of Reunification the British stated that the Crown Republic of New England would be expected to shoulder a good portions of the defense of their own and British interest in the western hemisphere. With this in mind Maxwell and the Tories would pass the New English Military Act in 1820. This Act would create a professional military in the form of the Royal New English Army on land and the Royal New English Navy on the seas. New English warships would have the prefix HMNES (His Majesty's New English Ship), The 1820 Military Act called for Royal New English Army to be fielded at a strength of no less than 50,000 enlisted men plus officers. This professional force was supported by the traditional New English state Militias, that when combined together the Crown Republic Royal Army could muster just under 108,000 men and officers. To train future officers a new Military academy the Royal Military Academy of New England was founded in Boston; The Act would also fund the purchase and construction of 7 ships of the line 18 frigates and 35 Sloops and Briggs. 1822 would also see the Royal Housing Act passed this act funded the construction of the Bunker Hill Palace in Boston. Over the next decade the each State in the Crown Republic would commission its own state royal palace.

Bunker Hill Palace located on Bunker Hill in Boston Massachusetts

By the end of the 1820’s New England was settling down, the scars of the civil war had been more or less healed by a decade of peace, stability and prosperity. The decade had seen many families that had been separated in the aftermath of the American Revolution reunited as some families returned to New England from parts of Canada. Then after ten years of discussion between the population of New Brunswick, the Government of New England and the Parliament in London; on June 7, 1830 New Brunswick’s petition to leave British Canada and Join the Crown Republic of New England was approved by both the British Parliament and the New English House of Commons. On June 21, 1830 New English Prime Minister William King would officially welcome the new State of New Brunswick into the Crown Republic of New England.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

 

[jennysnooper87]

Great work on the map!

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Thanks I try to update each continent every decade. The eastern hemisphere in a few post as the timeline will start having impacts in Asia.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

With the end of the New English Civil War the Crown Republic of New England inherited the naval units of the United States of New England; however much like the old United States of America before it the USNE congress often found it hard to force the states to cough up the funding for a navy that was worth the name and relied upon privateers in the event of war with just enough ships in the “navy” to show the flag. This meant that the CRoNE had to spend quite a bit of money to build up its navy to meet the demands that the Treaty of Reunification required of it. Luckily the British Royal Navy had plenty of aging ships that they were more than willing to sell to the colonials who had come running home. By the End of the 1820 the Royal New English Navy was at least big enough to be a large element in the Royal Navy’s American Command’s battle plan.


Royal New English Navy in 1830

Ships of the Line 10

HMNES New England 88 guns (ex USNE Navy)
HMNES Bunker Hill 66 guns (ex USNE Navy)
HMNES George IV 88 guns (ex USNE Navy NES George Washington )
HMNES Reunion 90 guns (ex Royal Navy)
HMNES New English Pine 90 guns (ex Royal navy)
HMNES Royal Pine 120 guns (ex Royal navy)
HMNES Crown Republic 120 guns (ex Royal Navy)=
HMNES Conifer Crown 140 guns
HMNES Morningstar 140 guns
HMNES Duke of New England 140 guns


Frigates

HMNES John Paul Jones 44 guns
HMNES Green Mountain 44 guns
HMNES Gates 44 guns
HMNES Boston 36 guns
HMNES Concord 38 guns
HMNES Lexington 40 guns
HMNES Orion 36 guns
HMNES Siirus 36 guns
HMNES Cancer 36 gun
HMNES Libra 44 guns
HMNES Pleiades 44 guns
HMNES Polaris 40 guns
HMNES Taurus 38 guns
HMNES Luna 30 guns
HMNES Great Bear 40 guns
HMNES Plymouth 44 guns
HMNES Bedford 38 guns
HMNES Thomas Maxwell 48 guns
HMNES Thunderer 48 guns
HMNES Springfield 30 guns
HMNES Evergreen 38 guns

25 sloops of war

35 Brigs of war

 

[Virginia Liberal]

For most South American nations the 1820’s were a sleepy time where very little to almost nothing happened however there was one exception that was the Kingdom of Peru.

On August 8, 1825 the Viceroy of Peru José Bernardo de Tagle died in his sleep. The Next day the Peruvian Cortes Generales would pass the Act of Succession. This act would sever the Crown of Peru from the old Spanish Crown. This act didn’t ask for permission to do this the Act of Succession set August 30, 1825 as the last day that Peru would recognize the holder of the Spanish Crown Ferdinand VII as their king. However this was not a revolution setting up a republic instead attached to the proclamation was a letter addressed to Carlos de Borbón asking him to give up all claim to the fallen Spanish crown and the crown of the “Buffer Kingdom” of Andorra and accept the crown of the most powerful nation in South America. The message reaches Don Carlos who is in Paris France visiting King Louis XVII. Louis encourages Carlos to accept the offer telling him that. “The Spanish throne is a thing of the pass Madrid is home to religious fanatics these days. Andorra is too big to be ignored and too small to defend herself properly. Peru on the other hand is one of the two the most Powerful Spanish Speaking nation left on the planet. If I were you I know which one I would chose. However if you decide against it I’m sure that my younger brother Louis-Charles would be willing to accept the throne, now need to let it slip out of the family after all.” This is all it took for Don Carlos to accept the offer he and his wife Marie Louise Béatrix the youngest child of Louis XVI, sons Carlos Luis, Juan Carlos, and Daughter Béatrix Isabella would all bored Peruvian ship in Brest on October 29, 1825 bound for Lima.

Carlos (I) de Burbon King of Pure

On January 8, 1826 Carlos de Borbon was crowned the Carlos I King of Peru Emperor of the Andes Marie was crowned Queen. In Andorra Ferdinand was outraged but there was little he could do about it. The Peruvian Army was Triple the size of any force Andorra could muster and he had no navy to transport them to South America. So on February 28, 1826 he sent his little brother a letter of congratulations wishing him the best and hoping that Andorra and Peru would “Keep the bonds of family tight.”

Just three years later Ferdinand and his family would be nailed to crosses placed on the hills around Andorra la Vella after being sentenced to die by and Iberian Inquisition Court. And Louis XVII of France would be launching and Invasion of Iberia in response Claiming that he and his children were to true heirs to the spanish throne, and the Franco-Iberian war had begun.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

 

[Virginia Liberal]

King Gustav IV had risen to power in on October 8, 1817 when his father Gustav III had died at the age of 71. Unlike his father Gustav IV was not a great statesman and leader he wasn’t even an decent statesman and leader. What Gustav IV was was a “funny looking man who was in many ways a dandy.” Gustav IV would be best know for selling the Swedish (ex-Danish) Virgin Islands to the British on October 28,1820 was the final straw for many officials within the Imperial Government; many of whom decide that Gustav IV has to go. On February 14,1821 Gustav IV holds a massive St. Valentine's Day Ball. While the Royal family feasted the a servant who had been paid off by the conspirators would slip poison into the soup, unfortunately he poisoned not just the King’s bowl but also Queen Frederica’s as well. The poison was slow working and would not hit the royal couple until after they went to bed that night. Their servants would wake to find both the King and Queen dead in pools of vomit and feces the next morning. Crown Prince Gustav would quickly be crowned King Gustav V taking his fathers place. The Server who poisoned the King and Queens food was never found; some twenty five years later a book would be published in by Mira Strandberg titled “Death of Gustav IV: A servants Revenge.” based upon her father’s death bed confession of how he killed Gustav IV and his Queen and how he was smuggled out of Sweden by sympathetic nobles.

Gustav IV Adolf

The Coronation of Gustav V would take place on June 10, 1821 at the Storkyrkan in Stockholm. The new Young king would move to pacify those elements who had hated his father. He swore to uphold Swedish Colonial Claims where they existed which consisted of Iceland, Greenland Swedish Australia. In 1825 he would ally with Britain when they declared war on the ailing Chinese Empire. To aid in the war Gustav V would send the Swedish Expeditionary Force. This force consisted of a Fleet of 15 ships of the line and 25 frigates and other supporting ships plus a ground contingent of 75,000 men under the command of his half cousin Lieutenant-General Count Carl Löwenhielm. However outside of this Gustav V like his father would continue to position Sweden as a major regional power in the Baltic not a globe spanning Empire like the British, French and Dutch did. Gustav V like his father realized that Sweden even with all of Scandinavia united under her banner lacked the population to colonize such an empire;and was surrounded by enemies who had to be constantly dealt with. this was problem that the Dutch also faced however unlike the kings of the Netherlands the Swedish were smart enough to recognize this fact. Instead like his father Gustav V envisioned a Sweden as the masters of the Baltic Sea controlling both is northern and southern shores;however before this could be achieved several enemies would have to be dealt with.

Gustav V

Sweden would use the 1820’s to develop its industrial base as all the major and regional powers did. Like most of the emerging industrial powers of the western world at this stage of the game centered around steam powered textiles, Canal, Railroads and Ironworks. When it came to textiles in Europe they revolved around Wool and Cotton wool was easy enough to come by in Europe but cotton couldn’t be grown in Europe. To gain access to this France, and Britain both courted the Commonwealth of American States who lead the world in cotton production. However they also looked for other sources of Cotton. For France and Britain this lead to a proxy fight in India between the British East India Company and the Indian Ocean Trading Company. To secure cotton for Swedish textile mills Gustav V and the Swedish government signed exclusive trade deals for cotton grown in the Ottoman Empire and the Sultanate of Egypt. In exchange for selling cotton exclusively to Sweden, Sweden would provided generous funds to set up the cotton plantations needed to grow cotton on mass. This would be followed by the Unequal Treaty that Sweden would force on China that would grant Sweden favorable rates on Chinese grown cotton as well. The Swedish Chinese Unequal Treaty would be short lived as Sweden would side against Britain in the Second War of Spanish Succession. And the British would cancel out that treaty and annex the Swedish concession territory.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

For the Italian Imperial family the 1820’s began with a happy moment On August 21,1820 Princess Letizia Isabella is born. For the rest of the Country the decade also starts on a high. The still young Italian Empire had just defeated the Ottoman Empire taking all of Libya and Palestine from the sickly Ottoman Empire and had aided the Pope’s forces in recreating the Kingdom of Jerusalem and returning the Holy Land to christian rule.

Italy was beginning its Industrial Revolution playing catch up to the other nations of Western Europe. But being close friends with the British Empire is allowing Italy to catch up fast. The fist railroad in Italy would be started In Naples on August 7, 1827. It would run west to the city of Bari on the Adriatic Coast.

However the Italian Empire would welcome the 1820’s with blood and iron. On March 7, 1821 the Bohemian Empire declares war on the Republic of Slovenia. This became an issue for Italy because in the closing days of 1819 The President of Slovenia Joso Vidoviè came to Naples and met with Emperor Napoleon; in this meeting the two men would sign a Treaty of Defense in which the Italian Empire would guarantee the Independence of the Republic of Slovenia. This treaty would be ratified by the Italian Senate two days later. The Bohemian War would be a fairly short affair lasting just 18 months ending with the Treaty of Prague signed on March 12, 1822. Scarcely three years later the British would approach Napoleon looking for allies for their punitive war on China. Napoleon would decline the offer however as between the Italian Turkish war and the Bohemian War the Italian Army needed time to rest, refit and recruit before he could be ready for a colonial venture. Then in the early morning hours of July 6, 1829 the Emperor would suffer a heart attack and die in his sleep. With his empress finding his dead body in the morning when she came to wake him for breakfast, was was their custom. Charles Napoleon Bonaparte would take up his father's crown as emperor. Charles Napoleon Bonaparte would be crowned Napoleon II; Emperor of Italy and her oversea domains in a grand coronation event in the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta on September 21,1829.

Charles Napoleon Bonaparte/ Napoleon II Emperor of the Italian Empire

Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

Italian Royal Family
Napoleon Bonaparte -m-Empress Maria Amalia
-Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Prince Imperial and Count of Tunis Born May 8, 1807
-Marius Napoleon Bonaparte Duke of Naples Born June 17, 1809

Napoleon Bonaparte-m-Empress Amelia
-Carlotta Maria Bonaparte Imperial Princess Born November 18, 1811
-Prince Giorgio (George) Victor Napoleon Bonaparte Count of Cyrenaica Born September 1, 1814
-Letizia Isabella Bonaparte Imperial Princess Born August 21, 1820.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Would y'all like me to start doing biography chapters on the emerging leaders as we move away from historical leaders?

 

[Red Wolfe]

Would y'all like me to start doing biography chapters on the emerging leaders as we move away from historical leaders?

Seems like a good idea.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

The 1820’a would be a painful decade for Bohemia; Bohemia would go from being an Empire to being a Republic and losing over ½ its territory. The 1820’s would see the last power play by Emperor Francis II.

Emperor Francis II of Bohemia

On February 27, 1821 The Bohemian Assembly would vote to Declare War on the Republic of Slovenia. They cited no grievances in this declaration of war only citing that the existence of the Republic of Slovenia kept Bohemia form its rightful access to the sea, and hindering Bohemia’s trade. The Imperial Bohemian Army was already at 65% mobilization so it only took a week for it to be ready to march. On March 7, 1821 the Bohemian Army would cross the border in three columns. Meeting only scattered resistance from the Slovenian Army which was only starting to mobilize.

Colonel-General Hieronymus Karl Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld

The First major battle would take place on March 18, 1821 when the Western Bohemian Column under command of Major-general Tomáš Pavlík ran into a Slovenian Division defending the town of Jesenice. The Bohemians had the advantage of men and artillery having 38,000 men and 24 field guns to the Slovenians 10,000 Infantry and 12 field guns. However Slovenians took up defensive using the Sava River to protect their southern flank. The battle would be joined at 10:00h. The Slovenians put up a fierce defense of the town and drag the battle out until dusk fell at 19:00h before they finally withdrew under the cover of darkness. The Slovenians lost 450 men killed and another 900 wounded about have of which they were forced to leave on the field as they were too wounded to travel. The Bohemians lost 700 men killed and 1,200 wounded however as they held the field they were able to save more of their wounded.

Battle of Maribor

The Second battle of the War would take place just a day later. To the East at the City of Maribor where the Slovenian 1st Army would engage the Bohemian Eastern Column lead by Colonel-General Hieronymus Karl Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld. Mansfeld had the largest of the Bohemian force with 58,000 men and 48 field guns. The Slovenian 1st Army commanded by Generalmajor Emanuel Strnad; Strand had 26,500 men supported by 24 field guns but was dug in on the southern bank of the Drava River. The Battle of Maribor would begin on March 19, 1821 at 7am when Mansfeld ordered his men to cross the three bridges across the Drava. Once more the stubborn defense of the Slovenians made what was an easy victory on paper a grueling two day battle before they were finally forced to retreat following dusk on March 21,1821. However after having fought two tough battles Mansfeld was forced to encamp his army at Maribor in order to rest and reorganize his men. He would not leave the Maribor until April 12, 1821, however as he resumed his advance he was halted at every river and stream by burned bridges. Yet no further battle was joined by the Slovenians at first Mansfeld was concerned then word reached him that Major-general Maxmilián Ztratil’s Center Column had Velenje and forced the Slovenians to withdraw to the south bank of the Savinja river. The next three months would see a series of running battles in both the East and West. The Battle of the Savinja, the battle of Ločica pri Vranskem, battle of Kamnik, then the finally the battle of Domžale would open the way to the Slovenian Capital Ljubljana. The Battle of Ljubljana would begin on May 18, 1821 with a force of 85,000 Bohemians laying siege to the Slovenian Capital. Inside the defenses was a force of of 79,000 Slovenians. But this was still not the only action, Mansfeld had detached a force of 50,000 men to march to the sea and take the Slovenian Port City of Koper. This move catches the Slovenians completely off guard on May 21, 1821 the Port City falls with out contest. The Small Slovenian Navy is likewise captured as 13 of the 15 ships that make up the Slovenian Navy are unmanned and unarmed having their weapons and men taken to add to the defenses of Ljubljana.

By the end of May 1821 it looks like Francis II and Bohemia are going to manage to achieve their objective the Conquest of Slovenia. Then on June 3, 1821 Napoleon Informs the Italian Senate that Italy was declaring war on the Bohemian Empire for its uncall for war of aggression against the Republic of Slovenia. Napoleon will gather the Central Army 45,000 men and 36 field guns and arch to Venice where they would meet up with Eastern Army 55,000 men and 48 field guns strong Commanded by Marshall Ferdinando Benedetti. Giving the Italians 100,000 men and 84 field guns committed to the Bohemian War.

Napoleon heads for Slovenia.