Well, at least you can call it a real labour of love, (literally) years in the making.
I like what I see so far and I'm eager to read the rest of the chapters about this era.
Napoleon's Victory [LONG]
- Thread starter Zach
- Start date
Well, at least you can call it a real labour of love, (literally) years in the making.
I like what I see so far and I'm eager to read the rest of the chapters about this era.
Thanks, Mac, and glad to see your TL is in excellent condition. Good luck in Afghanistan and I am sure we will soon be hearing stories from your computer deep in the mountains!
FDW
Banned
Well, thank you everyone for the gleeful responses to this post!
I'm planning on changing that game sometime in the next few years as I do more research for an East Asian TL focusing on the (Quasi)-Korean Kingdom of Goguryeo. If anything can be said by my first run through just Korean history (not even getting to bigger players of China and Japan, and other interesting parties like the Mongols, Vietnamese, and Thais), it's that there's veritable goldmine of interesting POD's that have barely been touched. (Though in defense of the site's Euro-centric user base, there has been several interesting pre modern Japanese TL's (though almost all of them use the Sengoku era as their POD), a fair number of interesting Chinese TL's from people not named Hendryk (though most of them aren't updating right now), and hell, there's even been a couple of attempts to do something with the oft-ignored Thais (with one effort being headed by none than Thande in LTTW), there's even couple of Korean TL's (Which are also on hiatus)).
Although I haven't caught up with your TL yet,I can positively say that your format is very good and pleasing in the eye;I will pass one or two observations at the end of reading the thread.
Occasionally, I would read through the first few chapters that I wrote around 2006 when my grasp of tenses was apparently nicht so gut and the passive voice was used by me at alarming intervals.
I thought it may be helpful to repost the first chapter, including a more detailed POD. Here is the very first section:
The year 1807 began with Napoleon Bonaparte in firm control of Europe. During the past two years, Napoleon’s armies fought under the red, white, and blue tricolor, a banner that had become the scourge of the European ancien regime for fifteen years. Over the course of the past two years, recovering from a seemingly irreversible naval tragedy in 1805, Napoleon brushed away Continental resistance. The emperor – middle aged, of average height and pouting looks – showered his veterans with imperial glory on the fields of Austerlitz, Jena and other sites. Only Great Britain remained defiant. Their great victory on water off Cape Trafalgar was still a cause for Britons to triumph. Because of their naval superiority and the French superiority on land, the war had reached a stalemate. Napoleon grew impatient at his enemy’s tenacity. He wished to impose his administration over occupied Europe, an impossible task with Britain still defiant. The emperor resorted to economic warfare under a system known as the Continental System, aimed to isolate the British from trade with the French-dominated Continent. In late 1807 only Denmark and Portugal remained opened to British trade. Soon, however, the British attacked Denmark in a desperate ploy to save the sizeable Danish fleet from falling into French hands. The old Danish king reluctantly allied with France, put into the uncomfortable position of being situated between two large and powerful states. Only Portugal remained.
Portugal’s defiance and close association with Great Britain remained a thorn in Napoleon’s side. The ancient alliance between his enemies across the channel and the Portuguese could prove disastrous for the emperor. On August 12, 1807, Napoleon and King Charles IV of Spain demanded that Portugal break its alliance with Britain, join its fleet with the Franco-Spanish navy, arrest British subjects and sequester British goods in the country. Portugal refused, igniting a series of events that would reshape the map of the Iberian Peninsula. Unknown to the Spanish at the time, the French emperor had drawn plans to infiltrate and seize control of Spain en route to conquering Portugal, but in early October decided against them. Citing the heavy risk involved with subverting power from the Bourbons, the potential blowback from the Spanish people, and the manpower cost of occupying the vast expanses of the country, Napoleon ultimately decided to simply invade Portugal and keep Spain and its immense empire in close alliance. Charles IV and his son Ferdinand never found out. On October 18, 1807, an army, 25,000 strong and under the command of General Jean-Andoche Junot, crossed the border into Spain with Charles IV’s consent. The force was allegedly to be used in assisting the Spanish in its conquest of Portugal but it also served as a warning to the Spanish to not break from the Continental System. In addition, the army’s reconnaissance corps made note of Spanish military installations across the country – “just in case,” Napoleon ordered. Thankfully for France and Spain, the information proved useless for any military adventure.
The Spanish people were severely distrustful of the French army. They viewed the incursion as an unwanted invasion of Spanish sovereignty, a result of the weak leaders in Madrid, particularly in the person of Charles IV and his prime minister, Manual Godoy. General Junot, however, was a rash commander (with rumored mental instability caused by a head wound during the Italian campaigns of 1796) who enjoyed some flexibility from his emperor, who had first met the young Junot in 1793 at the Siege of Toulon. Junot, predicting some hostility from Spanish locals, brought with his army loads of bread, copper coins and other small gifts to shower the Spaniards his army would inevitably encounter. In addition, Junot demanded of his soldiers strict obedience to a rule of law and enforced a no-tolerance policy toward looting, theft, rape and even impoliteness. “The Armée du Portugal shall be remembered across Iberia not as a horde of Visigoths but as descendents of the Reconquista,” Junot was reported to have said before the army moved into Spain. “We are here as friends of the Spaniard and as enemy to the Portuguese and worse, his ally the Briton.”
General Jean-Andoche Junot
The military expedition was less clear-cut. Struggling with poor roads and rough terrain, the French army moved slowly from Salamanca to the border to Portugal. Thankfully for the French, the Portuguese offered no resistance from the forward elements of the Armée du Portugal. At the Portuguese border, the French met only a small delegation, which offered Portuguese submission. Junot was surprised. His army was stretched over several dozen miles and the march across Spain had taken its toll on the men and their equipment, particularly the heavy artillery and horses. Ordering his least disorganized units into formation, a small force of around two thousand soldiers rushed toward Lisbon, capturing it on November 30, 1807 with the Portuguese offering no resistance.
The march across Spain was difficult for the French army (OTL painting of "The French Army Crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama Spain December 1812")
In Madrid, meanwhile, a series of court intrigue threatened French progress. Although Junot’s army had won over some allies in the Spanish government with its acts of goodwill, many in the Spanish court felt that the king and Godoy were too close to the French. Particularly in October, the tension between the pro-French Afrancesados and the anti-French conservatives (who viewed revolutionary France’s atheism and republicanism with abhorrence, even though the French emperor had largely abandoned many of the revolution’s ideals by 1807) reached a tipping point. There was a heated discussion between the king, his liberal heir and Godoy on October 25, 1807 that had far-reaching consequences. The elder king and Godoy convinced Ferdinand and the anti-French that Spain’s interests lay with France and the defeat of Portugal could only benefit the Spanish. Godoy produced a letter from Napoleon, promising the Spanish a slice of Portuguese territory and several modern ships of the Portuguese navy. Ferdinand relented as did aristocratic factions that were poised against Napoleon, justifying that more land and ships would be a less risky investment than displeasing the powerful emperor and his close army. France and Spain would later reaffirm their alliance and friendship in the Treaty of Madrid on the Third of May, 1808. In it, Spain received its ships and territories. The anti-French faction was placated.
The Treaty of Madrid divided Portugal into three parts, including two sovereign states that were forced to join the Continental System and become allies of the French Empire. The southern portion, with a northern border on the River Tagus, became the Kingdom of Southern Lusitania. The ruler of that poor kingdom was clear. Manual Godoy, the “Prince of Peace,” became King Manual I. With his ascension, Spanish people from all walks of life were pleased to be rid of his presence. The treaty also allowed a rump Kingdom of Portugal to exist between the Tagus and the Douro River. Napoleon placed his brother Joseph as King of Portugal, establishing a Bonaparte branch in western Iberia. Although there were a few resistance groups in Portugal, most insurrections were easily crushed with the use of the Armée du Portugal and the newly promoted Marshal Jean-Andoche Junot.
Manuel de Godoy, later King Manuel I of Southern Lusitania
The mentally unstable Queen Maria of Portugal and her regent son John (later Emperor John I), under encouragement and protection from the Royal Navy, had fled Portugal to Brazil just hours before the advance portions of Junot’s army entered Lisbon on November 30, 1807. The Braganza royal family was not alone in the small diaspora. Thousands of other members of the Portuguese elite and millions in gold from the Portuguese treasury soon found a new home in their prize colony in South America. The intricacies of dynastic power also shifted. Maria I soon relinquished her title as Queen and John positioned himself as Emperor of Brazil and Portugal soon after learning of the after effects of the Treaty of Madrid. Significantly, Brazil came first in his illustrious title, perhaps mirroring his idea that regaining his homeland would be futile especially since most insurrections had so far been failures. Nevertheless, the very fact that the true Portuguese king lived and reigned inspired many resistance groups to act. Over the years, more Portuguese members of the elite and small middle class left their homes in Portugal and made the arduous transatlantic journey to Brazil, to settle among loyal Portuguese. Although some hotheads vowed to fight for their mother country, others were content in Brazil. The arrival of the cream of Portuguese society enhanced the power of Brazil on the South American continent and the former aristocracy of Portugal became the ruling class of Brazil. It left the rump state of Portugal without many of its traditional leaders, allowing for Spanish and French people to take over many functions. For many years after the conquest of Portugal, the country was crippled by a lack of leadership beyond King Joseph and his inner circle. Realistically, it was an extension of direct power from Paris.
The defeat of Portugal with the combined forces of France and Spain expelled the British totally from the continent. They thus committed themselves to destroying the trade Spain had with her American holdings and blockading European ports. Rather then seek an honorable peace with Britain, the Spanish and French went about reorganizing their navies with plans to create a new fleet “from the ashes of Trafalgar,” according to one French periodical. Not that the French did not try diplomatically. On the contrary, Napoleon was very much in want for a peace with Britain so long as they were on his terms. Great Britain, in its leaders’ eyes, was by no means defeated. Members of Parliament regularly declared they would fight till Europe was rid of the Bonaparte menace. Their defiance was comforting to other defeated nations on the Continent who soon rose up to help the British in their fight.
I thought it may be helpful to repost the first chapter, including a more detailed POD. Here is the very first section:
The Point of Divergence Again: The Defeat of Portugal and the Triumph of the Continental System
Europe in 1807
Europe in 1807
The year 1807 began with Napoleon Bonaparte in firm control of Europe. During the past two years, Napoleon’s armies fought under the red, white, and blue tricolor, a banner that had become the scourge of the European ancien regime for fifteen years. Over the course of the past two years, recovering from a seemingly irreversible naval tragedy in 1805, Napoleon brushed away Continental resistance. The emperor – middle aged, of average height and pouting looks – showered his veterans with imperial glory on the fields of Austerlitz, Jena and other sites. Only Great Britain remained defiant. Their great victory on water off Cape Trafalgar was still a cause for Britons to triumph. Because of their naval superiority and the French superiority on land, the war had reached a stalemate. Napoleon grew impatient at his enemy’s tenacity. He wished to impose his administration over occupied Europe, an impossible task with Britain still defiant. The emperor resorted to economic warfare under a system known as the Continental System, aimed to isolate the British from trade with the French-dominated Continent. In late 1807 only Denmark and Portugal remained opened to British trade. Soon, however, the British attacked Denmark in a desperate ploy to save the sizeable Danish fleet from falling into French hands. The old Danish king reluctantly allied with France, put into the uncomfortable position of being situated between two large and powerful states. Only Portugal remained.
Portugal’s defiance and close association with Great Britain remained a thorn in Napoleon’s side. The ancient alliance between his enemies across the channel and the Portuguese could prove disastrous for the emperor. On August 12, 1807, Napoleon and King Charles IV of Spain demanded that Portugal break its alliance with Britain, join its fleet with the Franco-Spanish navy, arrest British subjects and sequester British goods in the country. Portugal refused, igniting a series of events that would reshape the map of the Iberian Peninsula. Unknown to the Spanish at the time, the French emperor had drawn plans to infiltrate and seize control of Spain en route to conquering Portugal, but in early October decided against them. Citing the heavy risk involved with subverting power from the Bourbons, the potential blowback from the Spanish people, and the manpower cost of occupying the vast expanses of the country, Napoleon ultimately decided to simply invade Portugal and keep Spain and its immense empire in close alliance. Charles IV and his son Ferdinand never found out. On October 18, 1807, an army, 25,000 strong and under the command of General Jean-Andoche Junot, crossed the border into Spain with Charles IV’s consent. The force was allegedly to be used in assisting the Spanish in its conquest of Portugal but it also served as a warning to the Spanish to not break from the Continental System. In addition, the army’s reconnaissance corps made note of Spanish military installations across the country – “just in case,” Napoleon ordered. Thankfully for France and Spain, the information proved useless for any military adventure.
The Spanish people were severely distrustful of the French army. They viewed the incursion as an unwanted invasion of Spanish sovereignty, a result of the weak leaders in Madrid, particularly in the person of Charles IV and his prime minister, Manual Godoy. General Junot, however, was a rash commander (with rumored mental instability caused by a head wound during the Italian campaigns of 1796) who enjoyed some flexibility from his emperor, who had first met the young Junot in 1793 at the Siege of Toulon. Junot, predicting some hostility from Spanish locals, brought with his army loads of bread, copper coins and other small gifts to shower the Spaniards his army would inevitably encounter. In addition, Junot demanded of his soldiers strict obedience to a rule of law and enforced a no-tolerance policy toward looting, theft, rape and even impoliteness. “The Armée du Portugal shall be remembered across Iberia not as a horde of Visigoths but as descendents of the Reconquista,” Junot was reported to have said before the army moved into Spain. “We are here as friends of the Spaniard and as enemy to the Portuguese and worse, his ally the Briton.”
General Jean-Andoche Junot
The military expedition was less clear-cut. Struggling with poor roads and rough terrain, the French army moved slowly from Salamanca to the border to Portugal. Thankfully for the French, the Portuguese offered no resistance from the forward elements of the Armée du Portugal. At the Portuguese border, the French met only a small delegation, which offered Portuguese submission. Junot was surprised. His army was stretched over several dozen miles and the march across Spain had taken its toll on the men and their equipment, particularly the heavy artillery and horses. Ordering his least disorganized units into formation, a small force of around two thousand soldiers rushed toward Lisbon, capturing it on November 30, 1807 with the Portuguese offering no resistance.
The march across Spain was difficult for the French army (OTL painting of "The French Army Crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama Spain December 1812")
In Madrid, meanwhile, a series of court intrigue threatened French progress. Although Junot’s army had won over some allies in the Spanish government with its acts of goodwill, many in the Spanish court felt that the king and Godoy were too close to the French. Particularly in October, the tension between the pro-French Afrancesados and the anti-French conservatives (who viewed revolutionary France’s atheism and republicanism with abhorrence, even though the French emperor had largely abandoned many of the revolution’s ideals by 1807) reached a tipping point. There was a heated discussion between the king, his liberal heir and Godoy on October 25, 1807 that had far-reaching consequences. The elder king and Godoy convinced Ferdinand and the anti-French that Spain’s interests lay with France and the defeat of Portugal could only benefit the Spanish. Godoy produced a letter from Napoleon, promising the Spanish a slice of Portuguese territory and several modern ships of the Portuguese navy. Ferdinand relented as did aristocratic factions that were poised against Napoleon, justifying that more land and ships would be a less risky investment than displeasing the powerful emperor and his close army. France and Spain would later reaffirm their alliance and friendship in the Treaty of Madrid on the Third of May, 1808. In it, Spain received its ships and territories. The anti-French faction was placated.
The Treaty of Madrid divided Portugal into three parts, including two sovereign states that were forced to join the Continental System and become allies of the French Empire. The southern portion, with a northern border on the River Tagus, became the Kingdom of Southern Lusitania. The ruler of that poor kingdom was clear. Manual Godoy, the “Prince of Peace,” became King Manual I. With his ascension, Spanish people from all walks of life were pleased to be rid of his presence. The treaty also allowed a rump Kingdom of Portugal to exist between the Tagus and the Douro River. Napoleon placed his brother Joseph as King of Portugal, establishing a Bonaparte branch in western Iberia. Although there were a few resistance groups in Portugal, most insurrections were easily crushed with the use of the Armée du Portugal and the newly promoted Marshal Jean-Andoche Junot.
Manuel de Godoy, later King Manuel I of Southern Lusitania
The mentally unstable Queen Maria of Portugal and her regent son John (later Emperor John I), under encouragement and protection from the Royal Navy, had fled Portugal to Brazil just hours before the advance portions of Junot’s army entered Lisbon on November 30, 1807. The Braganza royal family was not alone in the small diaspora. Thousands of other members of the Portuguese elite and millions in gold from the Portuguese treasury soon found a new home in their prize colony in South America. The intricacies of dynastic power also shifted. Maria I soon relinquished her title as Queen and John positioned himself as Emperor of Brazil and Portugal soon after learning of the after effects of the Treaty of Madrid. Significantly, Brazil came first in his illustrious title, perhaps mirroring his idea that regaining his homeland would be futile especially since most insurrections had so far been failures. Nevertheless, the very fact that the true Portuguese king lived and reigned inspired many resistance groups to act. Over the years, more Portuguese members of the elite and small middle class left their homes in Portugal and made the arduous transatlantic journey to Brazil, to settle among loyal Portuguese. Although some hotheads vowed to fight for their mother country, others were content in Brazil. The arrival of the cream of Portuguese society enhanced the power of Brazil on the South American continent and the former aristocracy of Portugal became the ruling class of Brazil. It left the rump state of Portugal without many of its traditional leaders, allowing for Spanish and French people to take over many functions. For many years after the conquest of Portugal, the country was crippled by a lack of leadership beyond King Joseph and his inner circle. Realistically, it was an extension of direct power from Paris.
The defeat of Portugal with the combined forces of France and Spain expelled the British totally from the continent. They thus committed themselves to destroying the trade Spain had with her American holdings and blockading European ports. Rather then seek an honorable peace with Britain, the Spanish and French went about reorganizing their navies with plans to create a new fleet “from the ashes of Trafalgar,” according to one French periodical. Not that the French did not try diplomatically. On the contrary, Napoleon was very much in want for a peace with Britain so long as they were on his terms. Great Britain, in its leaders’ eyes, was by no means defeated. Members of Parliament regularly declared they would fight till Europe was rid of the Bonaparte menace. Their defiance was comforting to other defeated nations on the Continent who soon rose up to help the British in their fight.
Nice rewriting of the first part you did there. Also, a small note: on the first version, you said that Joseph Bonaparte was King Joseph I of (Rump) Portugal in this scenario. In fact, he should technically be Joseph II as there was a King Joseph I of Portugal (Mary I's father).
Do you plan on rewriting the whole TL? Or will you just occasionnaly rewrite the parts you want rewritten?
Do you plan on rewriting the whole TL? Or will you just occasionnaly rewrite the parts you want rewritten?
Very good. I'll add the revision to the chapter list.
I'd support a mild re-imagining/reworking of the TL, but I'd prefer it to be finished first. So, there's still room enough for a Napoleon's Victory Mk II.
BTW, Zach :
Since you like Pax Napoleonica better, should I rename the TL accordingly ? Pax Gallicana isn't even gramatically correct, and while it is shorter, it doesn't say much about the TL's setting and theme (it could be a "Peace of the French" in virtually any other period or situation).
I'll add the revision to the chapter list.I'd support a mild re-imagining/reworking of the TL, but I'd prefer it to be finished first. So, there's still room enough for a Napoleon's Victory Mk II.
BTW, Zach :
Since you like Pax Napoleonica better, should I rename the TL accordingly ? Pax Gallicana isn't even gramatically correct, and while it is shorter, it doesn't say much about the TL's setting and theme (it could be a "Peace of the French" in virtually any other period or situation).
I was reading the dictates of the peace of Copenhagen and there was one country absent:Greece that was with the victors;don't they gain anything?
compensation is not paid? What did Russia lose?
Comments:1)the most powerful empire in the world,France,could not have been caught that unprepared as you described; once you are at that level,you know your obligations to maintain your status and France was very experienced on that score.
2)Generally your narrative shows adequate knowledge of one aerea(USA) but is lacking in the European and African scene with the result of a lot of details about the American civil war and very perfunctory coverage in the east and south European scene.
3) You treat in a cavallier manner the Eastern Question and possibly the fact that in AH the story must be at least "plausible":The Slavs are quite a few nationalities in the Balcans;at least those under a backward Asian nation,Turkey, would not have revolted and gain independence along with Albanians and Bulgarians? Greece wouldn't side with them since Slavs(Serbs) and Bulgarians were Orthodox? I am certain that France wouldn't have lifted a finger to help Turky in a guerilla war raging throughout the Balcans.
4) How would Napoleon have convinced the Greeks in the Great war to side with 'hated' Muslims,the Turks when half Greece was still occupied by the Turks(according to your map) and turn against Orthodox Russia who was the only friendly country to them during Turkish occupation? smells an ASB here.
5) you mention Romania at the end of the war without adequate explanation
of how they helped Turky or the alliance in the war.
What I expect? I have to read the rest of the story first.
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Welcome back, Zach!
Yorel is right. Joseph Bonaparte should be Joseph II (or D. José II in Portuguese).
Yorel said:
Archangel said:
Great catch, my mistake entirely. I will edit this ASAP. I don't think it would be appropriate for the Bonapartes to start the numbering of their monarchs from scratch.
Yorel said:
Nah, I am just editing passages that are chock-full of poorly written sentences and wording. It's a dual project -- writing new stuff and editing old stuff.
Petike said:
Yes, the original title doesn't make any grammatical sense so I renamed it "Pax Napoleonica," even though, we we know, there are large portions of the TL not dedicated to Pax.
cimon said:
Hi cimon -- it seems likie you're reading through the beginning. I will try my best to briefly answer your questions.
1. Good catch on my omission of Greece.
2. It's true I am more familiar with US history, being an American and all, but I disagree with your claim that I give "perfunctory" attention to eastern Europe. Quite a bit of action takes place in eastern Europe. You are a bit correct re: southern Europe (to be corrected in later updates and largely already written) but there is simply less action there.
3. The Ottomans retained control over all of the Balkans through pretty nasty measures, discouraging any one nationality to revolt.
4. A fair point but the Greece in the early 1900s was hardly expansionist and also ruled by Bonapartes.
5. This deserves more elaboration, good point.
Before I go out of town for the weekend, here is a brief update on Latin America during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. Enjoy!
Touched by a harsh theatre of war that had torn apart a continent, Latin America entered the era of peace with a mixed record depending on the country. Brazil, the largest and most populous of the Latin American monarchies, had remained neutral as its neighbors fought each other. Long allied to Great Britain, Brazilian leaders had looked precariously at the geopolitical situation in the late 1930s and early 1940s and decided the best course of action would be a firm neutrality. Even as the Andes erupted into violence, the Braganza rulers in Rio de Janeiro stayed neutral. Emperor Juan Francisco I led the country into the 1950s with a moderate hand, encouraging business for the betterment of his subjects. Despite the masses of poor people, the monarchy enjoyed widespread support from most sections of the population, particularly from the powerful elite. The country’s leftist elements, which had flared up most notably in the Brazilian Revolution of 1906, continued to exist as a thorn in the side of the imperial government. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, a small but violent armed organization, the Equalitarian Front, launched raids on remote military outposts, stirring up dissent across the poorer neighborhoods in larger cities and among sympathetic university campuses. The government’s attempt to crack down on the Equalitarian Front was relatively successful, as the movement was never able to rise above anything beyond a nuisance. Juan Francisco I died in 1974. His nephew, an extremely liberal young man and follower of the ultra-peace movement, became the Emperor of Brazil, taking the name Juan Pablo I.
Another stable Latin American monarchy prospered during the mid twentieth century but unfortunately faced its fair share of problems. In Mexico, Emperor Hector I died in 1936 after forty years on the throne at the age of 77. His son had passed away and his daughter was Empress of Argentina and ineligible for the Mexican throne, despite brief discussion of a personal union between the two faraway and varied nations. Rather, the throne passed to Hector’s nephew, Maximilian, who for several years kept his uncle’s modernizing and industrializing policies, bringing Mexico to a prosperous era. Although not ultraconservative, his system of patronage, cronyism and corruption gave way to a brief civil war.
Emperor Hector I of Mexico during the early years of his reign.
(OTL: King David Kalakaua of Hawaii)
In 1945 the Royal State of Yucatan declared its independence under its governor, the Duke of Merida, who had promised the state’s inhabitants widespread land reforms. The Mexican military, aided by a Confederate naval presence off the coast of the peninsula, subjugated the Duke’s ill-trained militia in a series of battles, including the largest pitched battle, which was fought under the shadow of Mayan ruins near Izamal. Just a year into the war, the Duke surrendered the city of Merida to imperial forces and, in an act of clemency, the emperor pardoned the rebellious duke, except for the loss of noble title. Organized violence among the peasantry continued for another year, although sporadic violence continued into the twenty-first centuries in the deep jungles of the peninsula. The brief Mexican Civil War (also called the Yucatan Peninsula) had deep repercussions for Mexico as a whole. Maximilian introduced broad-based land reform and democratic reform. Among other actions, he replaced the states’ governors with elected figures rather than nobles.
In 1948, Maximilian abdicated from his imperial throne for unclear reasons. Perhaps he disagreed with his democratic reforms or maybe he desired a simple life. He enjoyed a peaceful retirement until his death in 1967. The throne then passed through a succession of rulers. Emperor Napoleon, Maximilian’s sickly younger brother, held the Mexican throne until 1951 when he passed away after three undistinguished years. Then, the Mexican people welcomed their first Empress, Sofia I, the younger sister of Maximilian and Napoleon and youngest niece of Hector. A woman with keen fashion sense, she brought an unprecedented glamour to Mexico City, overseeing numerous public projects and modernizing efforts throughout the country. Her policies gained her strong favor from people across the country. In 1963, the empress died in a car accident in the capital, on an avenue that her administration had sponsored and built. The throne then passed to Sofia’s only child who became Sofia II. At the time, the young empress was only twenty years old and Latin America witnessed its first female to female dynastic succession. The masses instantly warmed to the beautiful young monarch, becoming the face of a new, young and optimistic generation. (photo: Ieda Maria Vargas)
Empress Sofia II of Mexico
(OTL: Miss Universe 1963, Ieda Maria Vargas, a Brazilian...beauty pageants are a treasure trove of women in crowns, useful for alternate histories needing photographs of a young woman in a crown...)
The Republic of Central America remained a smaller economy compared to its neighbors to the north and south. While it generated income from the Trans-Canal that connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the joint venture with the American and Confederate governments meant that the revenues remained more limited. A new trade agreement passed among the three governments in 1948 gave more control and more of the duties associated with the canal to Central America, a popular move for the developing nation. After the successful president Pedro de Villanueva died in 1910, a power vacuum existed into the 1950s. Politically, the country was a weak democracy, shifting between occasional military and civilian rule. While the American and Confederate governments were keenly interested in the domestic politics of Central America, the various administrations and juntas never threatened the North American republics’ interests in the area. Administrations in Washington and Richmond were glad to turn a blind eye toward moderate civil rights violations, particularly during the military regime of General Manuel Torres between 1934 and 1951. After the strong hand ruler’s death in 1951, the military established a new civilian government and a new robust constitution, ostensibly to usher in democracy. For the millions of people living in Central America, however, the change of governments in San Jose did not impact their largely agricultural way of life, which focused on rice, corn, bananas, and coffee, among other products.
To the south, the republics of Peru and Quito were embarking on a democratizing and rebuilding mission. The Zavtraist parties had been outlawed soon after the war and new leaders took on the challenge of reconstructing and remaking the nations. American (and not so much Confederate) and Brazilian investors poured money into reconstruction projects, including infrastructure improvements and innovations such as hydroelectric dams, irrigations projects and a modern road system to make transportation in the high Andean ranges easier. In 1944, the last of the foreign occupiers left Quito and Peru, leaving the nations to their own devices. In Peru, the dominant party during the rest of the 1940s and 1950s was the liberal People’s Party (Partido de la gente) which produced three consecutive presidents until 1960. Regime fatigue gave way to the rise of the center-right Liberty and Catholic Party, which enjoyed electoral victories for most of the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in the mid 1970s, the two-party dominance gave way to a multi-party system. In any event, the days of Benito Posada’s Incan dreams were over and the country moved toward the twenty-first century as a stable democracy. In Quito, a number of political parties sprouted up in the wake of the Herrera regime’s collapse during the war. In 1942, the people sent Luis Carrasco of the Progress Party to the presidency and repeatedly re-elected him until 1966. The Progress Party, a socially liberal party that stressed internal improvements, was wildly popular among the majority of Quitans after the failed rightwing rule, and the country became a de facto single party state until the late 1960s, unlike Peru.
Gran Colombia, the conservative ally of the United States and especially the Confederate States, entered the era of peace flush with victory but saddled with debt. Unlike Peru and Quito, which attracted many foreign investors with dirt cheap land and property and a population desperate enough to work for low wages, the static political situation in Gran Colombia attracted fewer foreign funds. While the country had industrialized throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was riddled with corruption. The wealthy elite controlled most industries and most posts in the government. The nation was ripe for a populist movement. In the 1949 elections, the Popular Movement for Equality made impressive gains and forced the incumbent president Jose Ortega-Raiz into a run-off. For the authoritarian-minded conservative who had led the country to victory against Quito in 1940, the run-off was an insulting surprise. The ensuing election between Ortega-Raiz and Popular Movement candidate Ernesto Chavez resulted in a clearly fixed election, as the incumbent pulled more than four votes out of five. Riots erupted across the country and marches of protest became the norm for weeks into 1950. Dozens of people were killed in the clashes between the protestors, who were geographically centered around the countryside, and government soldiers. In March 1950, under American and Confederate pressure, Ortega-Raiz agreed to a clean election. He lost to Chavez by a wide margin. Under Chavez and various successors’ Popular Movement governments, which was regularly extended by honest elections until 1978, the middle class steadily grew and millions of rural and urban poor rose out of poverty. The party stabilized the country’s debts by taxing the wealthy elite class that had dominated the country for decades. Angered and distraught at their country’s direction, this small class unsuccessfully coalesced into the main opposition party, the Patriotic Front.
In the southern half of South America, Argentina and Paraguay prospered under stable governments that stressed freedom and inclusion. The Empress of Argentina Carlota died in 1958, shortly after the conclusion of her Golden Jubilee in honor of a half century on the throne. Her reign saw tremendous growth in the country’s wealth and international status. Under her son Carlos’ administration, the political atmosphere loosened and regular competitive elections – which had occurred infrequently under Carlota – became a fixture of the new emperor’s reign. He preferred to hand the reigns of government to his prime ministers, although the country’s constitution allowed for him a free hand to meddle in politics. Emperor Carlos I was a rarity in a world full of monarchs in that he was capable and intelligent yet willing to cede de facto power to democratically elected civilian officials.
Latin America
Touched by a harsh theatre of war that had torn apart a continent, Latin America entered the era of peace with a mixed record depending on the country. Brazil, the largest and most populous of the Latin American monarchies, had remained neutral as its neighbors fought each other. Long allied to Great Britain, Brazilian leaders had looked precariously at the geopolitical situation in the late 1930s and early 1940s and decided the best course of action would be a firm neutrality. Even as the Andes erupted into violence, the Braganza rulers in Rio de Janeiro stayed neutral. Emperor Juan Francisco I led the country into the 1950s with a moderate hand, encouraging business for the betterment of his subjects. Despite the masses of poor people, the monarchy enjoyed widespread support from most sections of the population, particularly from the powerful elite. The country’s leftist elements, which had flared up most notably in the Brazilian Revolution of 1906, continued to exist as a thorn in the side of the imperial government. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, a small but violent armed organization, the Equalitarian Front, launched raids on remote military outposts, stirring up dissent across the poorer neighborhoods in larger cities and among sympathetic university campuses. The government’s attempt to crack down on the Equalitarian Front was relatively successful, as the movement was never able to rise above anything beyond a nuisance. Juan Francisco I died in 1974. His nephew, an extremely liberal young man and follower of the ultra-peace movement, became the Emperor of Brazil, taking the name Juan Pablo I.
Another stable Latin American monarchy prospered during the mid twentieth century but unfortunately faced its fair share of problems. In Mexico, Emperor Hector I died in 1936 after forty years on the throne at the age of 77. His son had passed away and his daughter was Empress of Argentina and ineligible for the Mexican throne, despite brief discussion of a personal union between the two faraway and varied nations. Rather, the throne passed to Hector’s nephew, Maximilian, who for several years kept his uncle’s modernizing and industrializing policies, bringing Mexico to a prosperous era. Although not ultraconservative, his system of patronage, cronyism and corruption gave way to a brief civil war.
Emperor Hector I of Mexico during the early years of his reign.
(OTL: King David Kalakaua of Hawaii)
In 1945 the Royal State of Yucatan declared its independence under its governor, the Duke of Merida, who had promised the state’s inhabitants widespread land reforms. The Mexican military, aided by a Confederate naval presence off the coast of the peninsula, subjugated the Duke’s ill-trained militia in a series of battles, including the largest pitched battle, which was fought under the shadow of Mayan ruins near Izamal. Just a year into the war, the Duke surrendered the city of Merida to imperial forces and, in an act of clemency, the emperor pardoned the rebellious duke, except for the loss of noble title. Organized violence among the peasantry continued for another year, although sporadic violence continued into the twenty-first centuries in the deep jungles of the peninsula. The brief Mexican Civil War (also called the Yucatan Peninsula) had deep repercussions for Mexico as a whole. Maximilian introduced broad-based land reform and democratic reform. Among other actions, he replaced the states’ governors with elected figures rather than nobles.
In 1948, Maximilian abdicated from his imperial throne for unclear reasons. Perhaps he disagreed with his democratic reforms or maybe he desired a simple life. He enjoyed a peaceful retirement until his death in 1967. The throne then passed through a succession of rulers. Emperor Napoleon, Maximilian’s sickly younger brother, held the Mexican throne until 1951 when he passed away after three undistinguished years. Then, the Mexican people welcomed their first Empress, Sofia I, the younger sister of Maximilian and Napoleon and youngest niece of Hector. A woman with keen fashion sense, she brought an unprecedented glamour to Mexico City, overseeing numerous public projects and modernizing efforts throughout the country. Her policies gained her strong favor from people across the country. In 1963, the empress died in a car accident in the capital, on an avenue that her administration had sponsored and built. The throne then passed to Sofia’s only child who became Sofia II. At the time, the young empress was only twenty years old and Latin America witnessed its first female to female dynastic succession. The masses instantly warmed to the beautiful young monarch, becoming the face of a new, young and optimistic generation. (photo: Ieda Maria Vargas)
Empress Sofia II of Mexico
(OTL: Miss Universe 1963, Ieda Maria Vargas, a Brazilian...beauty pageants are a treasure trove of women in crowns, useful for alternate histories needing photographs of a young woman in a crown...)
The Republic of Central America remained a smaller economy compared to its neighbors to the north and south. While it generated income from the Trans-Canal that connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the joint venture with the American and Confederate governments meant that the revenues remained more limited. A new trade agreement passed among the three governments in 1948 gave more control and more of the duties associated with the canal to Central America, a popular move for the developing nation. After the successful president Pedro de Villanueva died in 1910, a power vacuum existed into the 1950s. Politically, the country was a weak democracy, shifting between occasional military and civilian rule. While the American and Confederate governments were keenly interested in the domestic politics of Central America, the various administrations and juntas never threatened the North American republics’ interests in the area. Administrations in Washington and Richmond were glad to turn a blind eye toward moderate civil rights violations, particularly during the military regime of General Manuel Torres between 1934 and 1951. After the strong hand ruler’s death in 1951, the military established a new civilian government and a new robust constitution, ostensibly to usher in democracy. For the millions of people living in Central America, however, the change of governments in San Jose did not impact their largely agricultural way of life, which focused on rice, corn, bananas, and coffee, among other products.
To the south, the republics of Peru and Quito were embarking on a democratizing and rebuilding mission. The Zavtraist parties had been outlawed soon after the war and new leaders took on the challenge of reconstructing and remaking the nations. American (and not so much Confederate) and Brazilian investors poured money into reconstruction projects, including infrastructure improvements and innovations such as hydroelectric dams, irrigations projects and a modern road system to make transportation in the high Andean ranges easier. In 1944, the last of the foreign occupiers left Quito and Peru, leaving the nations to their own devices. In Peru, the dominant party during the rest of the 1940s and 1950s was the liberal People’s Party (Partido de la gente) which produced three consecutive presidents until 1960. Regime fatigue gave way to the rise of the center-right Liberty and Catholic Party, which enjoyed electoral victories for most of the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in the mid 1970s, the two-party dominance gave way to a multi-party system. In any event, the days of Benito Posada’s Incan dreams were over and the country moved toward the twenty-first century as a stable democracy. In Quito, a number of political parties sprouted up in the wake of the Herrera regime’s collapse during the war. In 1942, the people sent Luis Carrasco of the Progress Party to the presidency and repeatedly re-elected him until 1966. The Progress Party, a socially liberal party that stressed internal improvements, was wildly popular among the majority of Quitans after the failed rightwing rule, and the country became a de facto single party state until the late 1960s, unlike Peru.
Gran Colombia, the conservative ally of the United States and especially the Confederate States, entered the era of peace flush with victory but saddled with debt. Unlike Peru and Quito, which attracted many foreign investors with dirt cheap land and property and a population desperate enough to work for low wages, the static political situation in Gran Colombia attracted fewer foreign funds. While the country had industrialized throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was riddled with corruption. The wealthy elite controlled most industries and most posts in the government. The nation was ripe for a populist movement. In the 1949 elections, the Popular Movement for Equality made impressive gains and forced the incumbent president Jose Ortega-Raiz into a run-off. For the authoritarian-minded conservative who had led the country to victory against Quito in 1940, the run-off was an insulting surprise. The ensuing election between Ortega-Raiz and Popular Movement candidate Ernesto Chavez resulted in a clearly fixed election, as the incumbent pulled more than four votes out of five. Riots erupted across the country and marches of protest became the norm for weeks into 1950. Dozens of people were killed in the clashes between the protestors, who were geographically centered around the countryside, and government soldiers. In March 1950, under American and Confederate pressure, Ortega-Raiz agreed to a clean election. He lost to Chavez by a wide margin. Under Chavez and various successors’ Popular Movement governments, which was regularly extended by honest elections until 1978, the middle class steadily grew and millions of rural and urban poor rose out of poverty. The party stabilized the country’s debts by taxing the wealthy elite class that had dominated the country for decades. Angered and distraught at their country’s direction, this small class unsuccessfully coalesced into the main opposition party, the Patriotic Front.
In the southern half of South America, Argentina and Paraguay prospered under stable governments that stressed freedom and inclusion. The Empress of Argentina Carlota died in 1958, shortly after the conclusion of her Golden Jubilee in honor of a half century on the throne. Her reign saw tremendous growth in the country’s wealth and international status. Under her son Carlos’ administration, the political atmosphere loosened and regular competitive elections – which had occurred infrequently under Carlota – became a fixture of the new emperor’s reign. He preferred to hand the reigns of government to his prime ministers, although the country’s constitution allowed for him a free hand to meddle in politics. Emperor Carlos I was a rarity in a world full of monarchs in that he was capable and intelligent yet willing to cede de facto power to democratically elected civilian officials.
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Cool. And enjoy your little weekend holiday.
Here's the reworked page of the project :
http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php/timelines/pax_napoleonica
All major references to the original title have been deleted and changed to the new one.
And enjoy your little weekend holiday.Here's the reworked page of the project :
http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php/timelines/pax_napoleonica
All major references to the original title have been deleted and changed to the new one.
"Mutual dislike of France? Zach,that is as much ASB as that with the Greeks I mentioned;at that time half of the Boers bore names such as Du Toit,Du Plessis(Arman du Plessis Cardinal Duke de Rishelieu-remember?)
direct descendants of the French Hugenots who left France after revokation of the Nant Decree protecting them.These people multiplied and became literally 1/2 of the Boer population (and brought the art of wine making in South Africa with the present results).The Dutch part of population was German admirers and hated English(after two wars),even the English local population shared these feelings.
How is that an ASB? in this TL the French are occupying Holland. Doesn't that change peoples view on things? I think they would be more pro-British then pro-French.
Also Zach why is Morchenko so short sited and back stab his two major allies?
Why not go into bat for Prussia during the negotiations, even supportive words, if he can't get a counter attack via say Sweden (think D-Day on the German Baltic coast). Not to mention Japan. All he had to was help them get a 'fair' peace, why invade them. Sure he is more powerful now but he in now facing all of Europe, the rump Ottoman state and maybe China and the US, as Russia is now a pacific power, with the only allies; Sweden, Byzantium, if it lasts the Balkan nation and maybe Greece.
He is going to get his Curb stomped in the next war unless he finds new allies , which will be difficult now as the world has seen how he treats his allies when they get into trouble.