"What Madness Is This?" - A Timeline

[Zoidberg12]

I'm sorry, I just had to post this again. Its even more appropriate for this chapter then the last one.

As for the last two chapters, my god, youve turned Goodyear into a total bastard. I've said before you were good at turning good people into bad people and vice versa, and youve done a perfect job here. An famous inventor turned into a morally corrupt gilded age capitalist on steroids.

The Republican Union has really become a reactionary state, as seen not only by Goodyear's antics, but by the invasion of Vermont. These are brutal tactics to say the least, even by the standards of the time.

I liked the Uncle Tom's Cabin analog. Simply ingenouis how you've single handily switcheroed the north and south, and is just a brilliant and tragic irony. The North becomes a backward, racist and anti immigrant state using slave labor to its hearts content, while the Southern nations are prosperous and slave labour is much more relaxed than OTL. Is the cotton gin butterflied IITL? If so it makes even more sense for slavery to be fazed out in the south. I especially wonder how this will effect race relations in the South.

I now you said most naitons would be "bad guys" in this, but so far the Southern nations seem like the good guys. This could change though.

As for a latter chapter, very well done. I liked the newspaper snippets as the intro.

Its very possible that Napoleon was poisoned in my opinion. Theres just too much evidence for it. As for Napoleon II's assassination attempt, I almost thought he would kick the bucket for a sec there. Its the prefect doomsday scenario for authoritarianism in 19th century Europe. More radicalism, even more brutal crackdowns. It seems as if France's puppet state's will follow along, nipping European democracy in the bud. Simply genius D), yet tragic in a way as well ().

Some final questions; Napo, will you post this in the Finished Timelines and Scenarios board? The rules are here by the way. 2000 words seems to be the maximum, and this has plenty more than that I imagine.

Secondly, who are the current Counsels of the R.U. We havnt known who the R.U. counsels have been since the War of 1812. Is a list of Counsels coming up then?

 

[Clandango]

Massively exciting and important chapters here! Conspiracies abound in Paris. Give me some comments on these two sections, guys! Also, if anyone would like to see their namesake appear in this TL, like in American King, let me know. I almost feel like some people are ignoring this as "ASB" simply because France wins the Napoleonic Wars, even though I gave them the most ludicrously and completely plausible victory ever (more acts of God and weather and such than actual military might; the whole TL hinges on the "Madness" of George IV). Remember, this is not a France-wank at all.​

Have me down as Mr. Pibb? Also, the old crown of France had been destroyed by this point. Whatever Napoleon II is wearing at this point... Well, would it be possible to have someone grab a bit of his regalia in the confusion and run off with it? Maybe also a lock of his hair.
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[Napoleon53]

^Wait, Napoleon's crown was destroyed?! Woah, I'm gonna look this up.

And it's We'll Meet Again all over... er... again! I don't know why, but I've always envisioned the idea of introducing totalitarianism in an alt-XIX century as the most disturbing deviation from history, bar none. It's like imagining a world of radical social, political and economic changes and then hearing someone cracking a whip to interrupt your dreams just to tell you: "Ah! Nope... Death camps."

Concerning your previous update, could we have the Skull-and-bones endure until present day as a world-wide spread terrorist organization commanded by a diarchy of men with never-proved Massachussets ancestry who simply go by the names of George (Bush) and John (Kerry)?

Hi, Berlin! Yep, it is a very disturbing trend in this TL. It's probably so scary to think about because literally nothing in the 20th century will be the same. I mean, really, pretty much all of European history as we can recognize it, especially political and philosophical advances, has been totally scrapped.

Haha, no, TTL's Skull-and-Bones is in no way connected to the OTL organization. I do expect to turn them into more of a terrorist type group later down the road.

As for the last two chapters, my god, youve turned Goodyear into a total bastard. I've said before you were good at turning good people into bad people and vice versa, and youve done a perfect job here. An famous inventor turned into a morally corrupt gilded age capitalist on steroids.

The Republican Union has really become a reactionary state, as seen not only by Goodyear's antics, but by the invasion of Vermont. These are brutal tactics to say the least, even by the standards of the time.

I liked the Uncle Tom's Cabin analog. Simply ingenouis how you've single handily switcheroed the north and south, and is just a brilliant and tragic irony. The North becomes a backward, racist and anti immigrant state using slave labor to its hearts content, while the Southern nations are prosperous and slave labour is much more relaxed than OTL. Is the cotton gin butterflied IITL? If so it makes even more sense for slavery to be fazed out in the south. I especially wonder how this will effect race relations in the South.

I now you said most naitons would be "bad guys" in this, but so far the Southern nations seem like the good guys. This could change though.

As for a latter chapter, very well done. I liked the newspaper snippets as the intro.

Its very possible that Napoleon was poisoned in my opinion. Theres just too much evidence for it. As for Napoleon II's assassination attempt, I almost thought he would kick the bucket for a sec there. Its the prefect doomsday scenario for authoritarianism in 19th century Europe. More radicalism, even more brutal crackdowns. It seems as if France's puppet state's will follow along, nipping European democracy in the bud. Simply genius D), yet tragic in a way as well ().

Some final questions; Napo, will you post this in the Finished Timelines and Scenarios board? The rules are here by the way. 2000 words seems to be the maximum, and this has plenty more than that I imagine.

Secondly, who are the current Counsels of the R.U. We havnt known who the R.U. counsels have been since the War of 1812. Is a list of Counsels coming up then?

And not only is Goodyear corrupt, he thinks himself a shining example of Christian morality. He's that off the deep-end.

The Invasion of Vermont really revolved around the R.U. finally grasping the idea of Manifest Destiny (the "it's our RIGHT to march north and take what's OURS" craziness).

The cotton gin's status is uncertain, but it probably will be invented. If it is, there will be plenty of immigrants willing to be payed next to nothing to work the fields. Using paid workers will become a sort of status symbol ("Oh, you use slaves? I use workers. See, I'm so much more enlightened than you.")

No good guys ITTL. One or two countries might be better than others, but they'll all be bad eventually. It's like comparing Cuba to China.

Oh, yes, Napoleon I was poisoned, but by whom? You never know. Whoever did it, the Anarchists now are public enemy number 1.

I will likely indeed consider posting this in Finished TLs and Scenarios.

A list of Consuls is coming up, I promise! I might even put them in the next section. Due to the short terms they have, it will be kind of massive! Again though, the Consuls don't actually have a lot of power. Everything in the R.U. is still very decentralized because of distant foggy memories of old-timers of the old USA.

 

[Napoleon53]

SUCCESSION CRISIS IN AUSTRIA

Kaiser Franz (by Konrad Kröger, 1836)

Following the dramatic events of 1835, Europe was waiting for the next "old-timer" leader to pass away. Franz of Austria was in terrible health at age 67 and was expected to die any time. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia had suffered a fall from his horse in 1834, and had been in declining condition since, even though he was only 65. His Wettin wife Maria of Saxony was only 53, but suffering hugely from the effects of increasing obesity. Many leaders of the "Napoleonic Generation" were in bad health. It was no surprise when the harsh winter and following spring of 1835-36 finally brought the Grim Reaper to the Royal Houses of Europe.

Frederick VI of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway
(January 28th, 1768 - November 4th, 1835)

King Frederick VI of Denmark-Norway and the House of Oldenburg was to go down in history as a good monarch. He had been on the winning side of the Great Wars of the Empire, supporting Caesar Napoleon I, despite the fact that he was King George III's nephew. He was actually in good health until the day he died, age 67, in Copenhagen, cause unknown (though he had been complaining of chest pains). His death didn't cause a news storm like Napoleon I's, but his funeral was attended by a large amount of Europe's leaders. The childless king's throne passed to his cousin, Christian Frederik, who became King Christian VIII.

King Christian VIII of Denmark-Norway

Joseph I of the Kingdom of Ireland
(January 7th, 1768 - January 9th, 1836)
​

Joseph Bonaparte was a man who would go down as having ridden his entire life on his younger brother's coattails. Without Napoleon, he would have been nothing. Instead, at his death he had been king of two different nations, had a son waiting to be King of Ireland, and his daughter on the Sicilian throne. He died of pneumonia two days after his 68th birthday. The funeral was attended by most of the French Imperial government and a few international leaders. His nephew Caesar Napoleon II bestowed many posthumous medals to Joseph's wife Julie at a ceremony in central Dublin. Joseph's only son Dominique (age 38) took the throne two weeks later as Dominic I of Ireland. Dominic was married to a German countess from the Rheinbund by this point, and already had two children, Crown Prince Dominic Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte and Mary Julie Napoleona Bonaparte.

Later photograph (1850s) of King Dominic I of Ireland

Prince-President Thomas Picton of Wales
(August 4th, 1758 - January 28th, 1836)

Picton has been called by some as the first modern dictator. When he assumed power in 1814 under the banner of the radical Plaid Cymru party, he quickly took the country downhill fast. He never attended the Congresses or did much diplomacy at all, instead focusing on strengthening his hold on power. When he at last died on January 28th, 1836, at age 77, he was not missed by his people. Plaid Cymru was defeated in the general elections at last and the grandson of assassinated former Prince-President Braith Nash, Wadsworth Nash, became leader. Nash immediately commenced with sweeping reforms and re-strengthened ties with France.

Prince-President Wadsworth Nash of Wales

Prince Johann I of Liechtenstein
(June 26th, 1760 - February 3rd, 1836)

Johann I was the last Holy Roman Prince of Liechtenstein, but he remained loyal to his native Austria until his death death at age 76. Aside from an exciting career in the Wars of the Coalition, his life was unremarkable. One thing he was known for was his disgust at the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and protested the growing friendship between France and Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypts of Vienna and was immediately succeeded by his son Aloys II.

Prince Aloys II of Liechtenstein

Franz I of the Austrian Empire
(February 12th, 1768 - March 22nd, 1836)
​

The death of Franz I on March 22nd, 1836, at age 68, jolted Europe. No one was surprised; they had expected his death due to declining health for over a year. But now that he had passed, it finally soaked in just how monumental his death was. He was the last man to hold the title of Holy Roman Emperor. He was one of the last leaders alive who had opposed Napoleon. And he was the first leader to host a World Congress.

For years, there had been fears among the Austrian court that the severely mentally handicapped Prince Ferdinand would lose his claim to the throne. Normally, this would mean that the next male in the line of succession would automatically receive the crown--in this case, the next male was Archduke Franz Karl.

Archduke Franz Karl

However, what was shocking was the increasing hold French Dowager Caesarina Marie Louise had on Kaiser Franz. He had been prematurely senile for several years, and during that time his daughter pumped all kinds of ideas into him about her son, Napoleon II. Franz had always been fond of "L'Aiglon," but when he started hinting that he might just give the Austrian throne to his grandson, who also happened to be the son of his former mortal Corsican enemy, there began to be talk of a coup d'etat in Vienna. Young Franz Karl was gathering his supporters in both the government and the army in case his father's will said anything that smacked of his Francophile sister's involvement. When Franz finally died, all the world held its breath as the will was opened.

The document formally offered the Imperial Crown of Austria, Hungary, and all associated kingdoms and lands to Napoleon II of the French. Franz Karl raged and left Vienna accompanied by his personal troops. Austria braced itself for civil war.

Napoleon II, accompanied by roughly 90,000 French, Swiss, and Spanish troops, marched into Austria in a terrifying show of force. No one knew what was going to happen when he entered Vienna on April 28th, but he called for Franz Karl and Prinz von Metternich to join him for a "discussion" at the Austrian Imperial Palace. Reluctantly, Franz Karl re-entered the city with his troops and returned to the Palace to talk with his nephew (he was only a few years older than Napoleon II). What went on inside is not known, but at the end, Napoleon had agreed to let Franz Karl take the throne. The conditions of the agreement were announced later.

Main Articles of the Second Treaty of Vienna (1836)

• That Napoleon II of the Empire of France and its associated governments does henceforth negate all claims to the Crown of Austria.
• That the Empire of Austria officially become the Empire of Austria-Hungary.
• That said Empire of Austria-Hungary be ruled by Franz Karl, as Kaiser Franz Karl I, and that it will be in an inseparable, permanent alliance with the French Empire.
• That the aforementioned Napoleon II and Franz Karl I arrange for a later marriage of their children, an Austrian girl to a French boy, providing for ultimate dynastic union.
• That future expeditions into China and the Far East be jointly undertaken by the Empires of France and Austria-Hungary.
• That the Austro-Hungarian Army may never attempt military offenses or declare war without the approval of its ally the Empire of France and vice versa.

These terms, some said, essentially amounted to France taking away Austria's self-rule. But, to the businessman-like Franz Karl, they were acceptable. It was one thing for a born-and-bred Frenchman to take the Austrian crown, he said, but another thing to have a legitimate half-Austrian, half-French heir take it. Thus, a catastrophic civil war was avoided.

The only real "loser" of the treaty was Ferdinand, the original heir to Franz I. Ferdinand was allowed to keep the title of Prince of Bengal, and was, in fact, "promoted" to King of Bengal. Dejected, he refused to ever step foot in India. He and his Sardinian wife stayed in the Vienna Palace for many years before the death of his wife's cousin, the childless King Charles Felix of Sardinia. An invitation to rule was sent, and in 1849, Ferdinand became Ferdinand I, King of Sardinia. Later, he adopted an orphan infant of a minor Italian noble family and named him Crown Prince Ferdinand II. The House of Hapsburg-Savoy was born.

King Ferdinand I of Sardinia

Later depiction of Kaiser Franz Karl I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

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[Clandango]

^Wait, Napoleon's crown was destroyed?! Woah, I'm gonna look this up.

No, the old crowns of France were. Napoleon had to make other ones to replace them. On that same note the French had stolen and stripped down most of the Papal Tiaras and only gave back a very small and very one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_Napoleon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Tiara

Ahh, and I wonder if you can have Jourdain Roux's associate searching for the Pink Puma. And how shall Napoleon I's tomb be dealt with? Preserved under a pyramid of glass with treasures from his conquests? Preferably with his loyal and trusted servant Talleyrand chucked in there as well.

 

[Napoleon53]

Wow, no other comments?


@Clan: Napoleon I's tomb is a neat idea! I'm gonna have to write about it. I'm imagining it being some kind of weird cross between the Louvre, Les Invalides, and the Arc de Triomphe.

 

[Zoidberg12]

Good update. The dynastic quarrels and intirgue between Napoleon II and Framz Karl were espeiclly interesting.

About Ferdinand becoming King of Sardinia, would the Austrians (well, Austro-Hungarians now) really let their only colony of the Bengal go that easily? Or did I misread something?

 

[Napoleon53]

Good update. The dynastic quarrels and intirgue between Napoleon II and Framz Karl were espeiclly interesting.

About Ferdinand becoming King of Sardinia, would the Austrians (well, Austro-Hungarians now) really let their only colony of the Bengal go that easily? Or did I misread something?

Thanks, Zoid!

Hmmm, you know what? You're right! I'll change it. I'll have him be King of Bengal under Austro-Hungarian power, but reign in Sardinia as his own man.

 

[Zoidberg12]

Thanks, Zoid!

Hmmm, you know what? You're right! I'll change it. I'll have him be King of Bengal under Austro-Hungarian power, but reign in Sardinia as his own man.

Your welcome, and yes, that sounds like a better idea.

 

[Napoleon53]

Okay, guys, the next update will be purely a list of Chief Consuls of the Republican Union, and a few notes on especially important ones. Also, in 1839, one of the most important figures in R.U. history will be born. Feel free to guess who. After the consul list, expect chapters on increasing activity by imperialists in Africa and the Paris World Congress of 1838.

 

[Zoidberg12]

^ Sounds great.

I think that guy being born in 1839 is non other than a man by the name of George Armstong Custer.

 

[Clandango]

Okay, guys, the next update will be purely a list of Chief Consuls of the Republican Union, and a few notes on especially important ones. Also, in 1839, one of the most important figures in R.U. history will be born. Feel free to guess who. After the consul list, expect chapters on increasing activity by imperialists in Africa and the Paris World Congress of 1838.

Just don't have Africa carved up and settled too quickly. That was one of the more lackluster parts in previous timelines of yours. Better yet, why not wait a while for their to be an official partition? Let there be people in valuable areas with competing claims. Let their be some real horse trading.

 

[Clandango]

Wow, no other comments?


@Clan: Napoleon I's tomb is a neat idea! I'm gonna have to write about it. I'm imagining it being some kind of weird cross between the Louvre, Les Invalides, and the Arc de Triomphe.

How about they hollow out an island in the seen or create an artificial one by flooding the Catacombs or the poorer areas of town? They can make a labrynth of thick stained glass and rock crystal so when the land is reflooded their is a foot of water glistening over the underwater tomb. Obviously there will at some point be homeless people who get trapped in there, but that is to be expected. Just so long as they are not the lunatics thinking themselves Napoleon all should be fine.

 

[Clandango]

Looking back at the maps, is it possible to go the OTL route a bit in having the Russians occupy the Danubian Principalities or some warm water ports? Or for something a bit less OTL, attempted reunion between the two Western and Eastern (non-Protestant) churches. Shouldn't be too ridiculous, given how the Croats thought of the Serbs as bumpkins of the same race (if one were to consider, say, Englishmen the same race) and having yet another capital for the Empire might be fun, since Paris is first, Rome second, and a few others are also about.

 

[Zoidberg12]

While we wait for the next update, I can proudly say that I'm back to making info-boxes. Heres one I made for Ceaser Napoleon I of France, the greatest leader of the modern age IITL. Right up their with Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, and Genghis Khan when it comes to world dominating empires, but like with those guys, Napoleon's French empire will (most likely) crumble to peaces after his death due to petty infighting or some reason like that.

 

[Clandango]

Anyone going to find out what was in his vest?

 

[Zoidberg12]

When's the next update coming Napo? You seem to have been taking a break from your timelines for a while.

 

[Napoleon53]

Sorry guys!

When's the next update coming Napo? You seem to have been taking a break from your timelines for a while.

Working on it now! I've done some lawn work and got a bunch of DLC for a few of my favorite games, so that ate up my time.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

What's the name of the party that defeated Plaid Cymru? Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru?

 

[Napoleon53]

Anything you guys wanna see in the next chapter? Anything need clarified?

What's the name of the party that defeated Plaid Cymru? Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru?

Hi, Blue! Lol, I haven't come up with a name yet. Probably something like "Republican/Democracy Party of Wales." I might come up with something unusual though.