Empire of Freedom: The History of the American Empire

Do you like this Timeline ?

  • Yes ! For the Empire !

    Votes: 338 86.7%
  • I liked Golden Eagle more

    Votes: 19 4.9%
  • It's okay...

    Votes: 25 6.4%
  • I didn't like it

    Votes: 8 2.1%

  • Total voters
    390
You may thank @Confederate Liberal

View attachment 505390
Light Green: Russia / Blue: American Empire / Light Blue: Grand Duchy of Quebec / Orange: Spain / Green: United Republics of America
Oh, the Americans should be fine in the long run. They still have control over the Missisippi, and the southern Republic will inevitably fall behind economically. Even if they don't get reconquered they should easily fall under Imperial hegemony.
 
Unless you are, wait for it...

....a-alcoholism?

Oh, the Americans should be fine in the long run. They still have control over the Missisippi, and the southern Republic will inevitably fall behind economically. Even if they don't get reconquered they should easily fall under Imperial hegemony.

I'm with HIM Dodgson, controlling the Mississippi and New Orleans, as well as presumably pockets of loyalism in Appalachia, will ensure the Southrons suffer hard in unity in the long run. If we're lucky any re-absorption will be peaceful and with some sort of amnesty, certainly for commoners.
 
Per the Quebec Crisis post, Thomas didn't sign the deal to make it a protectorate. Did I just miss a mention during the Civil War posts that he signed the deal later to give them independence?
Thomas didn’t give them independence, the Grand Duchy is a Highly Autonomous zone inside the Empire. That was created a few moments after the peace treaty.
 
“Happy thanksgiving, loyal servants of the Empire ! Today we stand upon the legacy of our fathers, an nation forged by the revolution, chosen by God to rule over all the continent ! From sea to shinning sea, from the Arctic to Yucatán ! We have reached the northern frozen forests, but the traitors had us beaten. It is inevitable that we shall triumph, but for now we must stop and change our focus. We have doubled our size, but there are still rebels fighting in Canada, our debt is crippling our economy, and our nation is sick ! But now the wars are over, and we shall persevere and fulfill the Manifest Destiny made by God, the almighty creator himself, maybe not in 5 years or within our lifetimes, but our children and grandchildren shall finish what we started. For now we must recover, economically and morally, from the wars, stabilize our nation, and turn ourselves back to the arms of the Lord. God Bless you, and God Bless the Empire of America !”

-Thanksgiving Speech of Emperor Thomas I, 1809
 
I've read the story up to this point (first time back on alternatehistory.com since 2014, and happy my login was well-saved).
The fact Quebec owes only nominal allegiance to the Emperor would actually suggest that they're simply one step away from total independence. Perhaps it should've been established as a self-governing region, but with military, foreign policy, and economy still tied to the Empire..on lines similar to the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy IOTL. Also, I have to agree with many others that the Southern Republic will not be able to sustain itself indefinitely due to the fact they don't have control of the Mississippi River, or New Orleans. At some point something is gonna happen that so humiliates the Southerners that they see no other choice but to capitulate and rejoin the empire. As there has yet to be a conflict with Mexico, its possible that its this war which drives the Republic to capitulate to the Empire in order to avoid being overrun by a Santa Ana-esque Mexican general (if not the great general himself)
 
I've read the story up to this point (first time back on alternatehistory.com since 2014, and happy my login was well-saved).
The fact Quebec owes only nominal allegiance to the Emperor would actually suggest that they're simply one step away from total independence. Perhaps it should've been established as a self-governing region, but with military, foreign policy, and economy still tied to the Empire..on lines similar to the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy IOTL. Also, I have to agree with many others that the Southern Republic will not be able to sustain itself indefinitely due to the fact they don't have control of the Mississippi River, or New Orleans. At some point something is gonna happen that so humiliates the Southerners that they see no other choice but to capitulate and rejoin the empire. As there has yet to be a conflict with Mexico, its possible that its this war which drives the Republic to capitulate to the Empire in order to avoid being overrun by a Santa Ana-esque Mexican general (if not the great general himself)
One thing you have to consider that might change the entire history of Latin (Or at least Mexico and Central) America is that Carlos (The same one of the Carlist Wars) has escaped. Think of it like the Portuguese Royal family going to Brazil. The Spanish might end up with a more firm control of the New World and Mexico is going to be considerably stronger ITTL.

The matter of Quebec is more complicated and I might make a future chapter about it. Technically the Emperor is still their head of State, but Quebec has its own parliament and has a similar autonomy to OTL Hungary under Austrian rule.
 
You may thank @Confederate Liberal

View attachment 505390
Light Green: Russia / Blue: American Empire / Light Blue: Grand Duchy of Quebec / Orange: Spain / Green: United Republics of America

The republic is surrounded by the empire on the mainland of America, I wonder if the Golden Circle might be realized in this timeline, also, the colonial powers are currently busy, and it's not like the colonies could fight them off, this may make it seem very easy to take. This would be a very interesting development for the timeline to have, imagine it, a southern conquest of the Caribean, Central America, and the coast of South America, maybe forming an alliance with the Mexican empire to help with both conquest and defense against the empire. This can also bring some other changes with it, like the south becoming much richer, from trade and maybe even tourism, as they will have an increase in products, which could propel them. Then they could use this new form of money to develop ports, towns, and cities to help their economy to grow even further, maybe even becoming equal in riches to the empire or even more than it, and may help with diplomacy with Brittain. That along with the south maybe becoming more warlike and imperialistic, helping to make them more unified and making them more powerful, and even leading to developing a class of warriors, sort of like the knights of the Golden Circle. This along with the riches and possibly the Mexican alliance (and maybe a British one too), could bring the south to a sort of equal terms with the empire, making the war more interesting, as the two sides might be equally ballanced.
 
The republic is surrounded by the empire on the mainland of America, I wonder if the Golden Circle might be realized in this timeline, also, the colonial powers are currently busy, and it's not like the colonies could fight them off, this may make it seem very easy to take. This would be a very interesting development for the timeline to have, imagine it, a southern conquest of the Caribean, Central America, and the coast of South America, maybe forming an alliance with the Mexican empire to help with both conquest and defense against the empire. This can also bring some other changes with it, like the south becoming much richer, from trade and maybe even tourism, as they will have an increase in products, which could propel them. Then they could use this new form of money to develop ports, towns, and cities to help their economy to grow even further, maybe even becoming equal in riches to the empire or even more than it, and may help with diplomacy with Brittain. That along with the south maybe becoming more warlike and imperialistic, helping to make them more unified and making them more powerful, and even leading to developing a class of warriors, sort of like the knights of the Golden Circle. This along with the riches and possibly the Mexican alliance (and maybe a British one too), could bring the south to a sort of equal terms with the empire, making the war more interesting, as the two sides might be equally ballanced.
Serious question. Was the Golden Circle even popular among most southerners at the time of the Civil War in OTL or just a certain portion of the population?
 
Serious question. Was the Golden Circle even popular among most southerners at the time of the Civil War in OTL or just a certain portion of the population?

It was popular with those who were in power or who were rich, it was also popular with many war-hawks outside and within the South, the movement had taken roots all over America, from California to Illinois, though it wasn't a mainstream idea, but since the South is independent and encircled by America, it would probably be more mainstream in this timeline.
 
What does the flag and coat of arms look like for this glorious American empire?
The flag is in the first chapter, the Coat of Arms is this one:

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XXVIII: THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN III
XXVIII: THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN III

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Napoleon invaded Russia proper on the 14th of July of 1811 with an army of around 500,000 men, mainly from France but including soldiers from all Europe. The Tsar’s army suffered a devastating loss at Neidenburg, including Marshal Kutuzov, now the rest of the army was under the command of Barclay de Tolly, who prepared his strategy. Napoleon’s force was divided into 3 with 3 different targets: St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev. Seeking to force the Russian army to engage with his force in a decisive battle like in Neidenburg, targeting the Political, Cultural, and Agrarian centers of Russia. The Ukrainian force would also receive the support of the Ottoman troops, recently modernized by Sultan Selim III after the bloody Janissary purge, in Bessarabia. The Grand Army divided into its three parts and each marched, baiting the Russians to commit a mistake.

And they advanced... strangely quickly, it all seemed a little too quiet like if the Russian army had dissipated in the wind. The only thing the French found in the way were thousands of acres of burned farmland and poisoned water wells. That was Barclay’s strategy, the entire nation was a trap for Napoleon, with the French forces advancing further and further inside, overextending their supply lines that could be attacked by the Russian army and militias. If the militias were included, the Russians could mobilize over a million men, and they did on the Patriotic War that was advertised by the Tsar as a war for the survival of Holy Russia. Many times the farmers resisted having their crops taken and lands salted, as result they were killed as traitors by the Army. But by September, Napoleon’s forces had taken the cities of Minsk and Riga, and the first major engagement of the war would happen in Kiev.

Ukraine was the agrarian titan inside of Russia, the vast lands of rich soil was the breadbasket of Europe, and the Tsar was reluctant to destroy that soil. This hesitation was enough for Marshal Soult to arrive at the gates of Kiev, meeting Bragation’s army on the outskirts West of the city. 100,000 French forces (with the rest staying behind as garrisons to secure Western Ukraine) against 120,000 Russians standing on the defensive. Soult concentrated his forces in a single strike on the Northern flank of the Russians, with a furious attack of combined arms breaking the formation. Bragation retreated by the end of the day. The Battle of Kiev, fought on the 20th of August, left 8,000 French and 14,000 Russian casualties, and the city was taken by Soult, but Bragation didn’t retreat because he couldn’t stop the French, he wished to end the Ottoman threat to Crimea first.

Even if the Sultan promised 200,000 men, he only delivered 70,000 led by Grand Vizir Yusuf Ziya Pasha, the Ottomans crossed from Moldavia into Ukraine, taking Odessa and marching towards the Northeast. Bragation’s army meet the Ottoman force in Mikolayiv, even with the reforms, the Ottomans couldn’t defeat the Russians who outnumbered them 3:5, that resulted in an humiliating retreat of the remaining Ottoman forces. But the Russians had a bigger fish to fry as autumn arrived, while Soult stopped his advance to secure Western Ukraine’s farms, Napoleon and Berthier continued advancing.

Berthier meet his own battle in Nerva, the Russians under Peter Wittgenstein, an German Prince serving under Aleksandr, engaged the French in their march towards St. Petersburg. After spending July and August securing the Baltics, Marshal Berthier marched towards the Russian capital, only to meet the Russian force in the way. The two sides were even on numbers (120,000), but the Russians were expecting the French advance, and instead of going around Pskov, Berthier gave battle there. The repeated French assaults pushed the Russian defenses to their limit for 3 days, until both sides settled down into an stalemate, the two of them digging trenches and spent the rest of September trying to outflank the enemy in the small strip between Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland. Berthier settled down for the winter, hoping that the lake would freeze and allow his troops to cross, the Russians lost about 27,000 men in the Battle of Nerva compared to the French 31,000. The two would not fight again as peace would be achieved elsewhere.

As October arrived, Napoleon also would fight his “decisive battle”, when he meet Bragation’s force, added with over a hundred thousand men of the Tsar’s forces. The Battle of Borodino was a last obstacle to reach Moscow: 135,000 men were stopped by 150?000 Russians, both sides prepared for battle, Bonaparte knew his time was running out, so on the 7th of October of 1811, Napoleon’s Grand Army marched to battle, charging the Russian positions, firing a Grand Bombard of 400 artillery pieces (150 of them being Russians). Napoleon watched the battle side by side with the captured Marshal Kutuzov, and as Murat led his cavalry against the Russian left, it is reported by eyewitnesses that Bonaparte said “Admire, Marshal, Admire the beauty of the battle, and see as your armies shatter, their morale breaks, and your Motherland falls. Remember today Kutuzov, that my enemies are many, but my equals are none.” At that moment, the Imperial Guard was sent, breaking the Russian defenses and shattering the Russian forces, to make matters worse, General Bragation was shot during the pursuit, further spreading the chaos among the Russian ranks. Murat returned to Napoleon with a gift: Aleksandr I, Tsar and Autocrat all Russias, who was observing the battle that he expected to be his greatest victory.

The Tsar was forced to accept an humiliating peace treaty, giving large swatches of land to Napoleon and rejoining the Continental System. Not just that, but Napoleon also took his personal Prize: Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, the sister of Aleksandr and now Empress of the French. On the 8th of September of 1811, the Treaty of Borodino was signed, ending the Russian campaign and giving Napoleon unchecked supremacy over Europe.


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((Grand Duchess Catherine, in her younger years))

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((Post-War Eastern Europe))
 
*Jesus*. Napoleon keeps running amok in this timeline. First *Austria-Hungary being split up, and now a huge Polish kingdom and Baltic duchy.
 
*Jesus*. Napoleon keeps running amok in this timeline. First *Austria-Hungary being split up, and now a huge Polish kingdom and Baltic duchy.
If you think this is Napoleon at his worse, I suggest you wait seated to the... lets see... @Napoleon53 levels of brutality that will happen in Spain. Just an sneak peek: The Spanish will call it “El Terror Franco” (The French Terror), it will involve some awful atrocities made by an certain French Marshal (I made up, since the PoD is in 1778, my character will be in his 30s).
 
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