Prologue
Imperator Francorum: A Napoleon II Timeline
“I envy that boy. Glory is waiting there for him: I had to run after her. I will have been Phillip: he will be Alexander. He has only to extend an arm, and the world is his.”
--Napoleon I's remarks about his son to Marshal Ouidnot.
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Prologue: The Rise and Fall of the First French Empire
The French Empire at the height of its territorial extent and influence under Emperor Napoleon I.
In order to truly understand the circumstances that led to the rise of Emperor Napoleon II "Auguste" commonly referred to as the Eaglet by the French one must first look towards the past to the events leading up to the fall of the First French Empire: the Battle of Leipzig.“I envy that boy. Glory is waiting there for him: I had to run after her. I will have been Phillip: he will be Alexander. He has only to extend an arm, and the world is his.”
--Napoleon I's remarks about his son to Marshal Ouidnot.
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Prologue: The Rise and Fall of the First French Empire
The French Empire at the height of its territorial extent and influence under Emperor Napoleon I.
France during the Revolution had seen the nation thrown into chaos with the King and Queen executed, and with tyrants, and the incompetent and corrupt directory running France into the ground while inflicting a reign terror upon the population. Through this time of chaos and uncertainty one man rose to the challenge to save France preserving the ideals of the Revolution while ensuring competent and just governance for all peoples: Emperor Napoleon I.
A young Napoleon bearing the standard of France while leading his men on the front lines at the Battle of Toulon against the First Coalition against France.
With his many victories on the battlefield crushing the armies of the various coalitions assembled against France, Napoleon safeguarded the French people from the machinations of the Old Order seeking to reimpose the tyranny and excesses of the Ancien Regime back onto France and its people. And through these daring efforts, he gained acclaim and the French found a new hero to rally behind to place their hopes that they would finally be delivered from the years of anarchy and instability that they had been suffering through.
The Coup of 18 Brumaire where the Emperor emerged to provide strong leadership to France,
With the incompetent and corrupt Directory mismanaging the nation and its people, a general state of malaise had taken over the populace as its members cared little about the values of Revolution or the people, preferring to aggrandize themselves and their cronies at the expense of the population. Through Coup of 18 Brumaire France was finally relieved of its inept government allowing for Napoleon to create an altogether new system after seizing all political power becoming the virtual dictator of France. With near absolute power in his hands, the Emperor adopted the title of Consul of France hearkening back to the period of the Roman Republic where he perhaps fashioned himself as a Caesar of the 19th Century. Like Caesar, Napoleon was a man of action swiftly working to help restore order in France and overhauling its government and financial system providing it with a balanced budget for the first time in many decades, something which not even the Bourbons and the Revolutionaries had managed to do. In addition to this, he introduced a new form of French Civil Law: The Code Napoleon which serves as the basis for modern Europe's legal framework to this day enshrining the principles of the Revolution establishing the equality of men under the law. While the Revolutionaries, during the Reign of Terror tried to bring down the Church imposing their godless Cult of Reason and Cult of the Supreme Being upon the French, Napoleon stuck a Concordat with the Pope restoring moral values and the place of the Church in French society earning him the support and praise.
An image of the Napoleonic Code amended for the trappings and framework of the French Empire.
The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I depicting his power and the foundation of the House of Bonaparte as a new French Royal Family much to the contempt of most of Europe's royalty.
A painting of Emperor Napoleon I in his coronation robes where he is portrayed as both the successor of Charlemagne and the Roman Emperors of Antiquity with the Pomp and Circumstance of his Empire Style Aesthetic.
A painting depicting the Battle of Austerlitz also known as the battle of Three Emperors saw France decisively defeating Russia and Austria during the War of the Third Coalition effectively making Napoleon the master of Continental Europe allowing him to create the Confederation of the Rhine.
A painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps. Artwork was a standard piece of Napoleonic propaganda showing himself as the embodiment of the Revolution and the old splendor of the Frankish and Roman Empires. Names like Hannibal and Charlemagne with the latin form Karolus Magnus help to cast Napoleon as their spiritual successor.
A contemporary marble bust of Emperor Napoleon I depicting him with the Iron Crown of Lombardy: the ancient crown of past Kings of Italy allegedly forged from an iron nail from the True Cross.
Unfortunately for His Majesty Emperor Napoleon, the Continental System backfired as Britain still had ongoing trade with its other overseas colonies and with the Americas. The results for French and European traders was catastrophic to say the least, as the inferior quality of French goods to certain British goods made them unattractive to European markets. As a result of this crime and smuggling became widespread with many nations choosing to openly flout the conventions of the Continental System to avoid total economic collapse. Russia under Tsar Alexander I became openly hostile to Napoleonic France with it withdrawing from the Continental System and resuming trade with Britain forcing the Emperor to being his ill fated invasion of Russia.
Russia openly withdrawing from the provisions of the Continental System in Napoleon's eyes was an insult to France also setting the example that he was no longer to be feared or respected. By punitively invading, and defeating Russia, the Emperor would have essentially made an example out of it and demonstrated to the rest of the world that the Sun was still rising over Imperial France. But where Napoleon's drive and ambition had led him to success many times throughout his long and illustrious life, here it utterly failed him leading him to near ruin. Thus the Emperor gathered a large army drawing upon his forces from all across the Empire from even places like Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, etc to defeat the large and powerful Russian Army on the battlefield. But Russia was unlike anything the Emperor had faced with the army retreating further inwards refusing to battle the Emperor preferring to used a scorched Earth strategy to deprive the French of any resources with the Russians going so far as to even burn the city of Moscow as soon as the Emperor reached its gates. Seeing himself without any means to resupply his army which was slowly being reduced in number due to starvation, disease, and harassment from enemy troops, the Emperor was forced to retreat with his army from the frozen wastelands of Russia. With France's proud Grand Armee decimated, his enemies seeing weakness turned on him with Prussia and Austria joining a final sixth Coalition against the Emperor determined to crush his Empire and ideals once and for all.
The Emperor's retreat from Moscow which saw large portions of his army lost to the cold, disease, starvation, and enemy harassment.
The Emperor reviewing his troops before battle determined once more to deliver France from the hands of defeat.
The lead up to the battle of Leipzig involved France seeking to try and defend its Imperial holdings and various client states and allies from the Coalition's advances with Napoleon seeking to knock them out of the war in order to arrange a cessation of hostilities allowing for France to negotiate a peace from a position of strength. Unfortunately for the French Emperor, his old foes had studied his tricks and maneuvers over the years and used their knowledge to great effect. The Coalition still fearing the idea of facing the Emperor on the battlefield resolved to instead engage his marshals while avoiding a direct confrontation with Napoleon. Their gamble had paid off with the Coalition scoring a series of victories against the French making Napoleon unable to follow up his victory at the battle of Dresden. This had the effect of stretching the French supply lines to their breaking point while also worsening the desperate situation in regards to Napoleon's manpower deficit and shortage of horses which made him less able to properly scout to gather intelligence on enemy troop movements.
A painting depicting the battle of Leipzig.
The Coalition offensives of October 18th where they attempted to encircle Napoleon's outnumbered army [1].
But despite the weakened size of Napoleon's Grand Armee, it was still more maneuverable than the large unwieldy combined forces of the Sixth Coalition which the Emperor used to great affect choosing the battlefield of Leipzig whose strategic position allowed Napoleon to maximize his mobility. Among the forces of the Sixth Coalition, were the two main monarchs who had faced Napoleon earlier at Austerlitz: Kaiser Francis I of Austria and Tsar Alexander I were present on the battlefield. This initially led to the command being paralyzed by petty rivalries and incompetence which was gone after the battle had started with the Coalition forces crafting and effective strategy to encircle the outnumbered French army. The Coalition's encirclement was quite effective as Napoleon found himself cut off from resupply leaving him to fight a battle of attrition with his enemies. Seeing that he chance for victory was dwindling fast, the Emperor made peace overtures to the Coalition, but all three monarchs refused. Emperor Napoleon seeing the desperate situation his army was in, made one last desperate gamble to break the encirclement.
The Grand Armee triumphantly fought on in a desperate attempt to repulse the Coalition's offensive, but its lack of provisions combined with had taken its toll upon us as the army began to lose discipline. And then all of sudden in the midst of the battle the Emperor like a man possessed picked up a French standard in one hand and beckoned his men to follow him into victory one last time, where he led the charge against the enemy. At that moment with L'Empereur leading his men, the old Revolutionary Artillery Officer at Toulon re-emerged as the Grand Armee began breaking through the encirclement in what seemed like his own Battle of Alesia [2]. But the unthinkable happened as the Emperor fell from his horse after being hit with a lucky enemy shot. Seeing the Emperor fall from his horse, the French army soon lost its cohesion with the soldiers beginning to panic as the Coalition's counteroffensive led by Blucher crushed the broken Grand Armee.
The dead Emperor lying in state as his marshals and soldiers wept at his loss.
With Napoleon dead, his Empire soon collapsed. The Grand Armee no longer united by the charisma and leadership of its Emperor was scattered and broken with whatever remaining units that had any semblance of cohesion now operating like ships adrift on the sea without a working rudder. Panic had erupted in the streets of Paris when news of the Emperor's defeat reached them. In Royalist bastions like Bordeaux and Vendee armed peasant rebellions in favor of the King broke out with the remnants of the French Army scrambling to put down the rebellion while simultaneously preparing the defense of France. With the death of Emperor Napoleon I, his son the King of Rome, was hastily proclaimed as Emperor Napoleon II with a regency council emerging to defend the interest of the young Emperor. But with the impending arrival of the Coalition's forces, and the imminent restoration of the Bourbon monarchy Marie Louise fled with her son in tow to the court of her father Emperor Francis I of Austria.
After the allies of the Coalition entered Paris, the French Senate declared that Emperor Napoleon II had abdicated the throne in absentia presenting it to Louis-Stanislaw the Comte de Provence who adopted the regnal name of Louis XVIII acknowledging the brief reign of his nephew who died in prison. With Emperor Napoleon now dead, and Napoleon II being carted off to Austria who would no doubt try to raise him as an Austrian rather than as a Frenchman, many assumed that the Bonapartes were finished, doomed to be a mere footnote in the history of France continually ruled by the House of Bourbon, but as history shows us, the Young Eaglet returned with a vengeance to reclaim his birthright as all of Europe trembled once again in fear of the House of Bonaparte.
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Footnotes:
[1] I know this picture is of the Battle of Leipzig in otl, but the battle basically went similar to otl until Napoleon decided to make his final gamble to try and break the encirclement.
[2] The reference was to Caesar' Battle of Alesia, as Caesar led a daring charge against Vercingetorix's forces which shattered their morale breaking the Gallic army which had encircled and caught Caesar by surprise.
Author's Note:
At long last this prologue of this long awaited Napoleon II timeline has been completed. It took me forever to finally write it with things like the Corona Virus disrupting everything along with the increasing demands of schoolwork distracting me. The basic POD involves Napoleon I dying at Leipzig which involves France avoiding the Hundred Days Campaign cementing his legacy as that of martyr allowing for the Eaglet to eventually take up his mantle to restore France's glory and its fallen Empire. With classes being cancelled from the Corona Virus, I now have more time to devote to my other fics and historical timelines. While I may sometimes be slow in updating my timelines or fics due to real life issues and concerns, a new chapter/update is coming. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy reading this tl as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Also special thanks to @Comte de Dordogne, @Emperor Constantine, @Trackah, @Kurt Steiner, @The Federalist, and @Earl Marshal for helping me map out and brainstorm this story. I highly recommend checking out their awesome tl's which served as an inspiration for me to begin writing this tl.
If any you are big fans of 17th century French History I recommend checking out @Comte de Dordogne's timeline: The Sun of Rocroi- A better Grand Condé
Please feel free to leave any comments, constructive criticism, suggestions etc. I'll also be happy to answer any questions you guys have.
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