The State of Continental Europe after the Rise of the Third French Empire in the Aftermath of WWII c.1958 A.D.
NOTE: This is based on my HOI IV game where I played as France and restored the French Empire under Napoleon VI. It's also inspired by an earlier
DBWI thread about a Third French Empire rising after WWII instead of the Fourth and Fifth French Republics.
Instead of surrendering in 1940 after the Fall of Paris and Metropolitan France itself, the French continue fighting on from North Africa. Napoleon VI who was fighting as a part of the French Foreign Legion manages to stage a coup and becomes the virtual dictator of the remaining French holdings in North Africa. Marshal Philippe Petain dies from a German artillery fire during the Battle of Paris and thus his reputation isn't tarnished in otl for him heading the Vichy Regime. Philippe Petain is used as a symbol of French Resistance and Napoleon eventually secures the loyalty of the remnants of the French military and proclaims himself Emperor of the French. The intact French Navy harasses the Italians and helps reinforce British Egypt while hampering Axis efforts in the Mediterranean. Napoleon recruits more of the French Algerians and uses the colonial troops to supplement the French losses after the Battle of France. Napoleon personally leading his men much like his forbear Napoleon I, makes him a popular figure in France itself and he becomes the face of French resistance instead of DeGaule in otl. Napoleon VI with his new Grand Armee manages to take Italian Libya and with the British help he secures the Mediterranean. Napoleon along with the Allies manage an invasion of France with the French forces invading from Italy and landing a Marseilles while the other Allies (US and UK) invade through Normandy. The impending arrival of Napoleon VI triggers massive revolts against their German occupiers. The German army retaliates against the increasing French resistance which only grew as the French Empire in exile kept scoring victories. The culmination of all this is the attempted destruction of Paris where Hitler tried having the Wehrmacht raze the city to the ground before the French got to the city. But riots from the Native Parisians and the imminent French Army forced a withdrawal from the city before any major damage could be inflicted. Napoleon after taking France is hailed as Emperor and is hastily coronated at Notre Dame. Afterwards the French army along with the other allies march across the Rhine. Motivated by the near destruction of Paris and the German retaliation against the French, the French army storms into Germany hell bent on revenge. Napoleon then annexes the Rhineland and together with the Soviets, the allied power march on Berlin.
Meanwhile in Germany, Hitler was killed in a Valkyrie style coup which triggered fighting among forces loyal to Himmler and those loyal to Erwin Rommel. Rommel surrenders to the French as tries to focus on the Soviets. The war which had been steadily growing unpopular in Germany, had led to an increasing protests in Germany which caused Himmler to become even more paranoid where he started an operation Nero style scorched Earth policy in Germany. This led to a similar nostalgia and romanticism of the Kaiserreich which saw Himmler arrest Crown Prince Wilhelm III and publicly execute him for treason against the German nation. This further angers the German people and Himmler's remaining forces begin deserting him en-masse.
Because the fighting in Germany is longer and more brutal, the French plan of dividing Germany is accepted. Though Stalin setup an East German Puppet state while the other allied occupation zones became Kingdoms. Napoleon installed Louis-Ferdinand as King of Westphalia and helped support other monarchs like Ruprecht of Bavaria regain his throne in Germany. This led to Germany eventually re-unifying as the Federal German Empire under Kaiser Louis-Ferdinand I. Though unlike the Kaiserreich of his grandfather Wilhelm II, the Kaiser has less powers and his power and influence is balanced by the other German Kings. Austria which fell under French occupation after the French defeated Mussolini, was reformed into the Imperial Habsburg Commonwealth with the Crowns of Austria, Bohemia, and later Hungary being reunited under Kaiser Otto I von Habsburg. In this timeline Royalism is seen as an alternative to Communism and Fascism as people like Churchill and Napoleon VI agreed that Hitler would have never rose to power had the German monarchy not been overthrown.
Napoleon VI rules France in a relatively authoritarian fashion with Martial Law implemented due to the fragile state of the French metropole after the devastation and horror of the war. Once France's economy began recovering, Napoleon began slowly liberalizing the structures of the Empire and restored civilian control of governmental affairs with France evolving into a semi-constitutional monarchy.
In regards to Eastern Europe, things are mostly the same except for East Germany retaining East Prussia and Hungary and Czechoslovakia not being a part of the Warsaw Pact. Another divergence from otl is that the Communists win the Greek Civil Wars which sees the Greek monarchy and government in exile retreat to Crete and Rhodes. In this timeline because Royalism was seen as a counter ideology to fascism with the advent of Napoleon VI taking power, Hungary saw calls for the return of Kaiser Otto I. Napoleon had essentially provided arms to Hungarian Revolutionaries which led to a successful Hungarian Revolution in 1956. This saw Austria re-unite with Hungary as a commonwealth where each state is autonomous and is under a personal union with the Archduchy of Austria. This increase in monarchism also saw the Italian monarchy narrowly win the referendum to retain it.
Napoleon VI was also inspired by Algerians fighting on behalf of France which allowed him to pursue a Civil Rights policy which saw Algeria and the rest of the Empire integrated into the French metropole with voting rights and universal citizenship being implemented. This along with France refusing to dismantle its Empire saw France break with the US and later the UK (though the UK and French Empire would cooperate out of pragmatism to try and prevent decolonization).
Belgium also ceased to exist here because the Royal Crisis of 1951 escalated unlike in otl and saw Belgium ripped apart with fighting between the Flemish and Walloons breaking out. This saw a Socialist government briefly come to power which saw the anti-Communist Napoleon VI invade Belgium on the pretext of restoring order. This saw France annex Wallonia.
What do you guys think?