alternatehistory.com

Where is the update.

Sorry for the lack of punctuation, and orthographic mistakes. I will address that problem as soon as possible, but I just didn't add time to add the necessary comas and to do review of the text.

This update was now edited courtesy of mister Unknown, thanks a lot mate you just saved.

Next update, can't make any promises but I will try to have until Wednesday and I will go back to the third person narrative. I will keep changing between the third person perspective and the world narrative depending on the situation.







The years after the infamous War of the Oranges were hard ones for the small nation of Portugal.

While the rest of Europe was embroiled into a war with Napoleonic France, Portugal was trying to reform its military, while avoiding being dragged into the conflict.

Under the guidance of General Karl-Alexander von der Goltz, the Portuguese Army begun the creation of a corps of light troops called Caçadores Reais (or Royal Hunters; RH for sheet). Recruited from among volunteers from the northern border regions of the country, the Hunters would soon gain a reputation as one of the best units of light soldiers in Europe. Armed with muskets, these men were trained to become expert marksmen and the best among them were usual group together to form an elite company called Atiradores (or Shoters) after the French Tirailleur, and they were armed with German Jäger rifles.

From the three original battalions created in the middle of 1802, the Royal Hunters would grow to form a force of 16 battalions during the Peninsular War.

But the Hunters were not the only light corps created in Portugal.

The growing competition inside the Portuguese officer corps was divided, with the Prussianos (Prussians) being named as such due to their support for von der Goltz and the Anglo-Portuguese conservatives caused the conservatives to create their own light battalions, which were named the Legião de Tropas Ligeiras (the Legion of Light Troops, LLT).

A mixed formation with cavalry and artillery included, the LLT was an experimental force, with its infantry being inspired by the Experimental Corps of Riflemen and, as such, their infantry were equipped with the soon to be famous Baker rifle.

With the Portuguese Army now having three battalions of the RH and three legions of the LLT, the need for light infantry had ended and just in time for, in 1803, a military coup, led by Gomes Freire de Andrade and the Marquis of Alorna, took place.

The two men thought that the Prussian general was only reinforcing the power of the absolutist regime, so they conspired to remove him from office and, also, force the Prince Regent to accept a constitution.

On July 24th, the 10th Infantry Regiment, led by Freire de Andrade, took up arms and marched against the Royal Army Arsenal. At the same time, the 2nd Legion of the LLT, commanded by the Marquis of Alorna, begua their march from Amadora to Queluz to capture the Prince Regent.

Unfortunately for them, the recently created Guarda Real da Polícia (Royal Guard of the Police, RGP) and the 1st Artillery Regiment stayed loyal to the regime, fought the insurgents, and was able to warn the royal family of the danger.

The Prince immediately sent word to von der Goltz and ordered him to raise as many loyal regiments as possible to quell the rebellion. Luckily for the royalists, a single messenger was able to pass through the rebels.

When news reached the general who, at the time, was in Santarém to evaluate the readiness of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, he immediately ordered the Regiment to prepare to for battle.

While the 10th Cavalry Regiment was preparing to advance to crush the revolt, von der Goltz sent a squadron to Setubal, with orders for the 7th Infantry Regiment to come to his support.

Some more messengers were sent to the other units of the Divisão Centro (Central Division) but, at the time, the loyalists only had the 10th Calvary Regiment and the men of the Royal Guard at their disposal; the Royal Guard, at the time, was under siege in Queluz with the royal family.

As the men under the Marquis were trying to capture the Royal Palace, the soldiers of the 10th Infantry Regiment were meeting harder resistance than they expected, with the RGP and the 1st Artillery Regiment being able to expel them from several parts of the Portuguese capital.

On August 1st, one week after beginning of the coup, von der Goltz entered Lisbon in front of the 10th Calvary Regiment and, with the help of the loyal soldiers inside the city, managed to capture Gomes Freire, forcing the 10th Infantry Regiment to surrender. At around the same time, the 7th Infantry Regiment clashed with the 2nd Legion. While the Legion had the advantage of being armed with rifles, the 7th Infantry Regiment was able successfully force them to retreat before being stopped by a combined attack of Hussars and cannon fire.

Seeing their companions fighting outside the Royal Palace, the Royal Guards, composed of the Royal Guard of Archers and the Royal Guard of Ginetes, left the protection of the Palace and attacked the rebels in the flank.

Being faced with the opposition of a full regiment and an attack on their flank, the 2nd Legion began to retreat and was eventually corned.

With ammunition growing sparse, the men of the Marquis are forced to surrender, ending the rebellion.

The military coup of 1803 ends in disaster for the rebels, with the Prince Regent losing whatever liberal sympathies he might had and with the support of General, now promoted to the rank of Marshal-General of the Army, von der Goltz.

As for the rebels, the regime decides to disband the 10th Infantry Regiment, with the soldiers being sent to Africa and Timor. The LLT was also disbanded. The 2nd Legion suffered the same fate as the men of the 10th, with the other two Legions being converted into Hunter Battalions.

The ringleaders were found guilty of treason, were dismissed from the army, and were sent into exile under penalty of death if they ever set foot into any land under Portuguese rule.

After this, the Prince Regent approved the formation of the Estado-Maior do Exército (or General-Staff of the Army; GSA, for short) headed by the Marshal-General of the Army and with the Marshal of the Army as his second-in-command.

The GSA, at the time of its foundation, was led by von der Goltz, with Forbes-Skelater as second-in-command.

The two men leading the GSA had, for all that is known, a troubled relationship and, after a year, Forbes would retire and the position of second-in-command was passed to the Count of Vioménil.

During the remaining years, the soldiers of the Primeira Linha (or 1st Line) were reorganized and retrained. In the end, Portugal had twenty-four regiments of line infantry, for a total of fifty thousand men. These were made up of twelve regiments of cavalry, representing 7,356 soldiers, and four artillery regiments, representing 4,400 men, making the total strength of the First Line of the Portuguese Army at home 61,756 soldiers divided between three divisions.

The Hunters and other special formations were not accounted in the numbers of the First Line but, rather, were part of the Guards Division. During the Peninsular War, and with the growing number of Hunter battalions, the Guards were divided into two divisions: the Divisão de Guardas Ligeiros (or Light Guards Division) and the Divisão Ligeira (or Light Division).

Another change happened in the troops of the Second Line. The men from this part of the army served in the militia and, with the implementation of conscription in 1804, the second line was divided into Batalhões de Conscriptos e Batalhões de Milicias (or Battalions of Conscripts and Battalions of Militias). With a growing need for soldiers, the state began to perform a census every ten years. The objective was to know how many men between the ages of 16 to 45 were in the country and were able to serve in the Conscript Battalions.

The third line, known as the Ordernanças, was kept unmodified.

It was in 1804 that the reorganization of the officer corps occurred. In 1803, the Royal Military College was founded in Lisbon and artillery schools were opened in all the capitals of the military governorships. The plan was to have a completely professional (and competent) officer corps, that would gradually replace the older and ineffective mercenary and aristocratic high command.

This and several other measures passed by the Secretary of War and Foreign Affairs, Luís Pinto de Sousa Coutinho, were vital for the good performance of the Army.

One of the most important measures was the standardization of the promotions. Until then, promotion in the Portuguese Army was only acquired by either patronage or bribes. Now, commissions were opened to sergeants and other non-commissioned officers, the Royal Army and Navy Academy were now opened to the bourgeois and, more importantly, promotions and other rewards were now given on the basis of merit and competence.

Needless to say, these changes enraged many of the aristocrats in the Army and they now found themselves forced to prove their worth.

It was in the midst of this that a palace conspiracy was formed and led by the Princess Regent. The objective was to remove her husband, Prince João, from the regency by claiming him to be mentally incapable and, then, she would assume the regency.

Luckily for the prince, one of the conspirators, the Marquis of Ponte de Lima, lost heart and told him all about the conspiracy.

At the palace of Mafra, where the conspirators usually gathered, the 4th Battalion of the Royal Hunters, under the command of the Lieutenant Colonel Silveira, captured the ringleaders.

For the Prince, this was the last straw. His relationship with his wife had always been a stormy one and the conspiracy of Mafra only served to poison him even more against her. He ordered her to be placed under confinement and began to plan his divorce.

Also during the period from 1801 to 1806, agrarian and industrial reforms were passed. To avoid the need of British food to feed the populace, protectionist measures were passed. The arsenals of both the Army and the Navy were upgraded and expanded. Under royal decree, the amount of land allowed to the production of vineyards was established and the production of potatoes, corn, and other cereals were encouraged, with several royal subsides being granted. Of course all of this had a stain into the finances of the state, but Brazilian gold was used to pay for the expenses.

Brazil also saw some changes during this time. A Royal Military Academy and a Naval School were created in Rio de Janeiro to prepare colonial officers. Colonial troops were also raised. To provide the necessary supplies for the growing armies in both Brazil and Portugal, food and weapons production was encouraged, with several arsenals being built in the colonies to provide the necessary muskets, cannons, and gunpowder in case of war in both Europe and the Americas.

Needless to say, these reforms were seen very badly by the British government, which had long considered Portugal to be little more than one of their puppet states, but the growing power of France forced them to stay still.

So, at the dawn of the War of the Fourth Coalition the Portuguese state had been changed.

From a weak country, the Portuguese state had (ironically, given the conservative and peaceful nature of their rulers) been transformed into a more liberal and militarist country.

But their time of grace had ended.

Napoleon had been concerned with other matters in northern Europe, but the idea of a more powerful Portugal was something he hadn't thought of.

The French general, Lannes, had been appointed the representative of France in the Portuguese court. His porpoise had been that to bully Portugal into submission. Unfortunately for him, the Prince Regent, under the guidance of the Marshal General and the Secretary of War, was able to successfully outmaneuver the arrogant Lannes. In the end, all of his bullying only served to put Portugal even more distrustful of France and to place them into the British field.

Lannes had presented the Portuguese Army as a ragged bunch of soldiers led by idiots. Trusting him, Napoleon sent an ultimatum to Portugal. They were to close their ports to the British, disband their army, place their navy under Spanish control, and to place the northern part of the country under French rule.

In Lisbon, the decision was unanimous. The ultimatum was refused and mobilization of the three lines of the Army was called.

When the news of the refusal arrived at Paris, Napoleon, at the time preparing to face the Fourth Coalition, ordered Spain to invade Portugal.

So on September 27th, a date soon to become infamous, two divisions of the Spanish Army crossed the Portuguese-Spanish border and advanced against Elvas.

The Peninsular War had begun.