A World Without: Farewell America 2.0

Chapter 4 A King and His Colonies a Republic and Her Woes:
Across the sea in America the turbulent years of 1790-1792 were spent mostly at peace. There were many civil disturbances such as minor protests against the crown. London, terrified of French style action dispatched a further 16,000 troops to the Colonies. Raids by the Army of the Republic increased and in Ireland similar unrest began to erupt.

In France the Grand Army of the Republic suffered many grievous setbacks until they managed to beat the Austrian forces by trapping them at the village of Toul and decimate Prussian forces in the town of Valmy with cannon fire. It was in these battles that French artillery became known as some of the most deadly on the Continent. There was also the revolutionary use of observation balloons to track enemy movements and relay messages which gave the French an advantage over their foes. Though by and by the war see-sawed back and forth between the two sides. On one side were the armies and officers of the royal forces of Europe. On the other were the large levies of conscripts who fought fanatically for their homeland. Fresh officers blooded themselves against old veterans of royal armies casting the ultimate outcome in doubt.

In 1793 events came to a head. Nearly simultaneously the Jacobins seized power in Paris and Republican insurgents launched an uprising in the Colonies. Both movements would be noted for their extreme brutality. In Paris Robespierre convened the Committee of Public Safety and began taking action against the revolutions enemies within and without. In America, Republican insurgents seized control of towns and important cities such as Philadelphia and Richmond. In the West the Army of the Republic now some 8,000 strong but poorly armed and equipped marched into the Southern Colonies and began raising merry hell. The British were swift to react. The Northern Colonies and the Province of Quebec decided to stay neutral in the conflict. Thus was the revolution doomed from the start. The Republican insurgents had overplayed their hand by rebelling so soon. Not only was there little popular support outside Virginia and North Carolina but disastrously the various rebel groups had not coordinated on any large scale and did not operate directly with one another. They also adopted heavy handed measures against those whom they perceived as ‘enemies of the Republic’ humiliating them and stripping them naked before sending them marching towards loyalist towns to spread warnings. This only alienated many people from the rebels cause.

While the Southern Colonies and garrisons moved to fight the Army of the Republic, Northern British troops marched on resisting towns with a vengeance. Villages that supplied the rebels were burned to the ground and crops destroyed in rebel areas. Richmond was besieged and subject to intense bombardment day and night. A column of rebel militia attempting to relieve their brothers in Richmond was smashed by British Regulars in coordination with help from friendly units of local militia not wishing to see their homes destroyed by yet another war. There would be a few intense skirmishes around Philadelphia but no real stand up battles.

In the Southern Colonies slaves rose in rebellion against their masters and to the fury of many land holders the British commanders seemed particularly unconcerned. General Cornwallis declared he could only intervene if these rebellions directly aided the Army of the Republic, and while most uprisings were quickly quashed by the local militia approximately one thousand slaves escaped to bolster the Republicans. In the Battle of Boone’s Road the Army of the Republic scattered local militia forces in Georgia and moved on to win another battle against the British in the recently established Fort Hood. Cornwallis was almost exaggeratedly slow in responding to the threat presented by the Army of the Republic. Truthfully he barely considered them a threat. He was more concerned about the rebels gathering in Virginia and North Carolina rather than the ragtag army that was slowly crawling up the Appalachians. He knew he needed to quickly eliminate the rebels in the Northern states before decisively crushing Arnold’s ragtag force once and for all.

To that end he spent much of 1792-93 combating local insurgents and maintaining the siege of Richmond. Once he defeated the main rebel forces in the Battle of MacDonald’s Field where a force of some 6,000 Republicans was comprehensively defeated by 8,500 red coats. He then marched on Philadelphia which would fall after a harsh siege in February 1794. In April he met and decisively defeated Benedict Arnold’s forces just near the South Carolina border before they had a chance to link up with any remaining rebel forces. He pursued Arnold’s army and shattered it completely at the Battle of Fenn on April 9th. It was only through Arnold’s stunning leadership and sheer tenacity that he and fifteen hundred others managed to escape capture and return to their independent territories, hundreds of escaped slaves in tow. Three thousand rebels were captured and another nine hundred were killed. Only then did Cornwallis turn his attention to finally breaking the Siege of Richmond. The city would fall on January 4th 1795 when the rebels ran out of food and were forced to surrender the city.

Just as one rebellion ended another began. In 1797 the United Ireland movement kicked off an uprising and occupied Dublin and evicted the British from many cities. The British were forced to call Cornwallis and 9,000 troops from America to deal with this crisis. Though the rebellion did not last long it was taking troops from America that simply could not be spared.

In France Robespierre’s Committee was in full swing. The radical Jacobins had launched a coup against what they viewed as a weak and utterly powerless Assembly. Armed gangs of Jacobin thugs roamed the streets of major cities as the Committee bribed or executed members of the National Guard and took control. This allowed them to both deal with external and internal threats. Militia who did not acknowledge the Committee were declared as counterrevolutionaries and their leaders put to death and their members sent to the front lines for suicide missions. At worst the countryside was plagued by a state of near civil war.

Paranoia and xenophobia ran rampant throughout the country. People were executed for looking foreign or not seeming to be revolutionary enough or in some cases, being too revolutionary! This time became known as the Revolutionary Terror. Through which time an estimated 20,000 were guillotined and perhaps 64,000 more arbitrarily put to death[1]. Among these were countless nobles and unfortunate members of the previous National Assembly who were deemed traitors or counter revolutionary. The most famous victim of this was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was long critical of any sort of central government or planning and when Robespierre seized power he publically denounced the Committee as a sham. He was arrested in December 1793 and executed January 1794 with Robespierre himself pulling the guillotine lever. Jefferson addressed a silent crowd with the words “Long live Liberty and long live this glorious revolution”. His body was buried just outside Paris by admirers and a plaque rests on the spot he was executed. It has been thought that Robespierre long wished to take action against his political rival and simply used this as an excuse to silence him. This excuse backfired as the Committee’s horrible efforts at running the country led to famine and rivalry with the many local militias who refused to meet the Committees demands. Then there was the defeat at Der Wald.

The commander of French forces marching against the Prussians had been replaced by the Committee and a new more ‘politically correct’ commander was leading the men in his place. In his previous life the man had been a bookkeeper and had no military experience whatsoever. As he led his forces on the field his horse was shot out from under him. Panicking he grabbed the nearest horse and rode off. This effectively led the French forces leaderless. They did not know which officers to obey orders from and were left in a confused state. The Prussians, seeing the French forces in confusion, charged. The resulting massacre cost some 4,000 Frenchmen their lives and resulted in another 6,000 being captured. The remaining men fled the field. Afterwards the French would suffer a series of defeats along the front lines as similar officers proved either too cowardly, or inept, to properly lead French forces. It spelt the death of the Committee.

In August 1795 members of a group known as “The Congress” a secret club of pro-republic radicals launched a counter coup. By bribing leaders of the National Guard and in a series of co-ordinated assassinations and murders they managed to cripple many militant leaders of the Committee while launching an uprising inside Paris. National Guard troops stormed the Jacobin club headquarters arresting or killing many members of Committee while Robespierre himself was seized and before a mob of cheering citizens beheaded that very day.

This would pass into the time of The First Congress in France. The First Congress was a group of men who were pledged to the ideas of democracy, republican government and free enterprise. They set about disbanding the old mercantile system and replacing the guilds with capitalist ventures and businesses. They began setting up the framework of a new constitution with which to lead the country into a new era. While this was a republic in name, in practice the members of The First Congress tended to hoard power for themselves and support only enterprise important to them creating discontent among the populace. They moved to curb the power of the local militias by conscripting them into the army and sending them to the frontier much like the Committee before them. In essence little had changed.

The First Congress would also oversee the growth of revolutionary France (albeit indirectly) into the Rhineland (through secret treaty with Prussia) and the occupation of Belgium and the established an alliance with the Dutch Republic which they declared a protectorate as well as supporting the rebelling Swiss cantons and proclaiming new Swiss Confederate Republic. Through mass conscription and a near manic industrial effort they soundly defeated the armies of the Coalition at almost every turn with dramatic reversals of the defeats of 1795 and the rising star of the Republic, General Napoleon Bonaparte managed to successfully invade Italy and secure French interests there in order to put pressure on the Austrian armies in the field. Finally in 1797 the First Revolutionary War came to an end with the Treaty of Campo Formio securing French gains in the Lowlands and Italy, establishing a protectorate there, while Britain remained belligerent.

It was the beginning of a long rivalry.

[1] Since Robespierre’s reign of terror lasts longer in TTL the death toll is significantly higher sadly. This also leads to there being fewer nobles in the resulting government.
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And here we have the next chapter. More butterflies to follow next time! My computer is working again so its the same font scheme this time.

Comments and suggestions are encouraged! Enjoy! :)
 
Well, since the timeline's name telegraphs that there will be no independent American republic(s) carved off the Anglosphere, I guess the French Revolution and indeed republican revolution in general get an even worse name than OTL, at least in English...at least among the dominant circles in English-speaking nations.

I say "worse" because remarkably, even OTL in the USA and in France itself, nations that basically owe their modern identity to the great revolutions of the late 18th century, one often finds the revolutionary spirit deplored. Me, I grew up steeped pretty deeply in patriotic lore about the nature of the American Revolutionary War and all that jazz, and I tended to view the French Revolution through the lens of a general revolutionary spirit that, though it might meander into deplorable backwaters of error, was and should be the main current of development leading to a better world. That's frankly what I thought American patriotism was fundamentally all about. So I was pretty aghast to read some essay in Time magazine (or was it Newsweek) by some French politician published in the week bracketing July 14, 1989, denouncing the fundamental misguidedness of the Revolution as a whole.

But ITTL, even if Arnold's movement has these potentials in principle, we know that how ever much mayhem they may cause, in the end the British monarchy prevails. It might be a nice world ultimately, maybe better than ours in many respects, but if the Tory regime does manage a respectably humane regime in the long run, surely one of its founding myths will be the inhuman, rapacious deviltry of those damned rebels--on both sides of the Atlantic.

It might be of course that the Royalist regime goes down a dystopic path, and the spirit of the 18th century revolutions lives on as the myth inspiring the dissidents. But we know those dissidents don't triumph in America anyway. (No telling how things go in Europe!)

I guess, if I were to contemplate a timeline where the American rebels try and then fail, I'd rather they failed quickly, utterly, and were soon largely forgotten if not redeemed or forgiven, than one where they carve themselves a place in the popular historical mythology as ravening demons.

But I for one found the remark that Cornwallis's 9000 troops could not be spared very ominous! It suggests that, having harried the countryside of many British colonies with bloody unrest and two bitter sieges and the loss of the vast majority of the men who rallied to the uprising, the bitter remnant is free now for another try that will in turn lead to more devastation and ultimate bitter failure.

I'd have found the tactics Arnold fell back on of encouraging (perhaps not deliberately but merely by his actions) slave uprisings and then giving refuge to those self-liberated slaves actually quite hopeful--if it weren't telegraphed that this wave of radical liberation too will fail.

I wish to encourage you to keep going with this timeline, wherever it leads, and don't take my dismay as discouragement. I've been reading a fair number of Ameriscrew timelines (or at any rate, ones where the USA, as the heir of the 1776 Declaration, either is pre-empted or comes a cropper) just lately and I often find much of charm and interest in them. I also miss something--that patriotic (for someone raised a true believing US patriot like me anyway) glow of "cockeyed optimism," in the light of which the many dark and seamy sides of US history appear as deplorable failures of vision and the true path of the nation seems illuminated by a sort of divine providence. As I've said, I tend to view other revolutions in this same sort of forward-looking rosy light as much as I can, particularly the French one of 1789.

So for instance in Thande's Look To the West, where there is a great deal of interest and charm, I have a particular soft spot, not for his Empire of North America, but the South American USPA, which like the OTL USA has its roots in a populist revolt and radical republicanism.

Here, it's looking like the whole tradition is blighted root and branch, unless perhaps the French version stabilizes somehow despite Britain's best efforts. But this seems unlikely to me, at least not in a longer or deeper sense than OTL, because a lasting French regime that traces itself directly back to Bastille Day would stir up too much "trouble" for Royalist Britain aligned against it.
 
I am enjoying this timeline I would love it if Britain could keep America and eventually just make it a dominion and it will be interesting to see how France ends up
 
Thanks for the encouragement from both of you :)

@Shevek23

I'm hoping to take TTL into the modern day just to examine how a world without America might actually look. I'm trying to accurately gauge how democracy would form without the American principle behind it.

@zeppelin247

That's an interesting idea to be sure. We'll see what happens though :p no promises.

Though there is one promise I can make for everyone regarding TTL. NO NAZIS!!!
 
Interlude 2: A Warriors Politics

Spanish-French border, 1800

Andre Graveline winced as the sound of a cannon ball smashing into a building nearby drew a number of pained screams. He was crouching behind a low stone wall of a small farm house in Spanish territory. The war had come more quickly than many suspected. He wished he was back home with his son where he belonged, sadly he and his fellow militiamen were sent to the Spanish border in order to shore up the garrisons there. He had endured weeks of hard fighting now ever since the British had brought war to their borders. The men beside him were grim as the cannonade of Spanish guns filled the air, he thought it was a miracle they hadn’t yet been hit.

When the guns stopped then he knew to get worried. Peeking his head out from behind the wall he could see a small column of Spanish infantry advancing on their position. He turned to his friend Jean.

“These Spanish pigs really know how to fight no?” He said raising his musket and firing. The men beside him did the same. A few Spaniards dropped to the ground dead or wounded, the rest formed a solid line and fire back. The hail of musket balls slamming into the wall forced him to duck. Jean grinned savagely while loading his musket again.

“Indeed my friend, they seem most eager to come straight at us and die.” He replied looking over the wall. He shot up and fired a round before ducking down. Andre chuckled, they had invaded barely a week ago yet already they had run into think Spanish resistance. Andre cursed as another hail of muskets slammed into them. He heard fire from the farmhouse to his left and sincerely hoped in was their men. Loading his musket he again fired and was rewarded with the sight of a Spanish soldier going down to the dirt. The Spaniards advanced regardless, firing as they came. The sheer wall of men they represented was a daunting sight. One militia member fell as a musket ball tore through his throat. He had a few seconds to blubber something unintelligible and kick up dust with his flailing feet before blood ran from his mouth and he stayed still. Andre made the sign of the cross and reached over to close the boy’s eyes.

“That was Henri’s son. He won’t be happy this to find out. That’s only two sons he has left.” Jean commented. Andre shuddered inside. He was glad his son was safely at home tending the fields. He had expressly forbidden him to join the militia and this was why. He had become infatuated with the politics of the revolution and had nearly gotten himself arrested by Jacobin thugs. He sighed, now they served the Congress who seemed less inclined to kill people but demanded total obedience nonetheless.

“They’re coming!” Someone shouted. Andre looked over the wall. Sure enough the block of Spaniards had fixed their bayonets and was marching ahead. Andre in a panic considered fleeing but seeing Henri defiantly stand and shoot he decided it wasn’t time to run just yet. The Spanish were advancing at a walk and gaining momentum. Soon they were only so many yards from his position. He felt the cold feeling of fear tighten in his gut and his throat constricted. His brain was screaming at him to run. Beside him his friends all seemed just as nervous, one man was slowly backing away. Then Spanish broke into a run with a loud roar. Andre fired his musket and turned to reload. He knew he would never get it reloaded before the Spanish charge hit but he tried anyways.

Suddenly he was surrounded on all sides by dozens of fellow militia men. They had come seemingly from nowhere. They raised their muskets and at an officers shouted order “Fire!” let out a thundering volley that send a number of Spaniards falling. The order “Fire!” came again and this time Andre joined them as the Spanish charge faltered. Then the Spaniards hit. It was a short brutal fight of jabbing bayonets and screamed battle cries and curses. Andre felt a bayonet scratch his arm but his own dodged forward to slash at the Spaniards throat. What seemed like an eternity of screaming, grunting stabbing and blood ended in a heartbeat and the Spaniards were running. Andre made to climb over the wall but his arm cried out in protest with fiery pain he winced and fell beside it.

The officer who had been directing the men rode up and looked down at him. Andre recognized him immediately. He had been parading before them this morning extolling their virtues over the Spanish monarchs, he promised them that they would crush their foes and make new glory for France. And here was this officer standing over him and Andre felt ashamed. The proud face looked down and regarded him.

“Your injured friend. Go to the medical tent and see to your wounds, there is still a battle to fight yet.” Napoleon said. Andre flushed.

“I can still hold a musket sir, or a sword if need be.” Andre almost shouted over the sound of battle intensifying. Napoleon smiled.

“I appreciate the spirit friend but your no good to me bleeding and dying. Now I am ordering you to see to your wounds. There will be plenty more Spaniards to kill. Your valor is commendable with men like you, we cannot lose!” He smiled and raised his sabre in salute then gestured towards the medical tents at the rear. Another man stepped up and helped him off. Andre stiffened and tenderly brought his musket to his shoulder and stood to attention before turning towards the rear. Over his shoulder he heard Napoleon cry:

“Onwards comrades! Today we show these Spanish dogs the spirit of a free man! For our Revolution and For France!” he was greeted by an enthusiastic cheer and the battle continued.
 
Chapter 5: Mr. President
“It is a generally accepted now that the end of the Revolutionary Period in France came in 1801. This was of course after the Second Revolutionary War ended. Historians before have debated whether the date should be 1802 or 1804 or mysteriously even in 1799 at the beginning of the second war. Regardless of the exact date modern history as it might have been known changed the day when a particularly unassuming French commander decided enough was enough.”
Albert Wiseman’s A History of the Modern World: Volume I © University of Windsor (2018)


In 1799 Britain, Austria, Spain and Russia convened as a coalition to contain the menace that was Revolutionary France. The Second Revolutionary War had begun. The war would be marked by both sides with good military manoeuvring and a series of setbacks for French forces. The first setback was the French defeats early on. This was offset by the victory at Winterthur under Marshal Ney who managed to hold the field after a timely attack by Jean-de-Dieu Soult’s division[1] allowing him to completely stall the Hapsburg advance. This offset the Austrian assault on Zurich allowing the French to fight the battle on equal terms. In the subsequent victory the Austrians took 7,000 casualties in comparison to barely 1,500 French. The Hapsburg forces withdrew in dismay hoping to reverse their losses with arrival of fresh Russian forces. With the arrival of fresh forces the second battle of Zurich was still a significant reversal for the Coalition as the Russian forces were tricked into attacking the supposedly collapsing French flank and then being annihilated by cannon fire leaving the Austrians alone in the field forcing their withdrawal.

These victories were offset however by the French reversals in Italy where the brilliant Russian general Alexander Suvorov[2] succeeded in driving the French to the coast and back out of Italy almost entirely leaving them with only minor footholds in the Alps. Suvorov then attempted to lead his forces across the Alps to reverse the fortunes of the disgraced Austro-Russian armies. Due to a combination of rough weather and stiff French resistance he was forced to make a fighting retreat around the Alps with little to show other than a few mauled French forces that attempted to engage him.

At this time Napoleon Bonaparte was leading the Army of the Pyrenees against the Spanish. He had originally asked to lead an invasion of Egypt in order to put pressure on British shipping and force them to terms. This idea was balked by the Congress who deemed it “the romantic fantasy of an over eager officer seeking buried treasure in the sand” and instead sent him to Spain. It was here Napoleon would prove himself to the world.

Napoleon was a curious figure in Revolutionary France. A Corsican by birth he had considered enlisting in the Royal Navy but chose the artillery corps instead. Having begun his military schooling in Paris in 1784 he became intimately familiar with the essays of Thomas Jefferson and became enamoured with his passionate speech writing. In his memoirs he stated “Never was it that I read of a more radical and visionary man. Were all British like him they should truly rule the world.”~ from, “The Early Years, A Memoir”. As such he participated in protests against Jefferson’s arrest in 1788. He was active in a number of groups opposed to the power of the Jacobins and was sent further away from Paris each time he received a command. Indeed many speculate that the popular young officer, who regularly gave rousing political speeches to his troops, was sent to Spain by the Congress merely because he was far too radical to be allowed to stay in close to the capital.

In the Pyrenees he would lead a number of heroic victories against the Spanish. He was at the head of a number of largely ex militia troops who had been sent to the border as they were deemed “politically radical” by the Congress and thus unsuited to staying within the interior of France. With these ill equipped, undertrained and poorly supplied army he was expected to beat off a much larger Spanish force and in the words of his superiors “hold the pass”. What is not remarkable is Napoleons grim determination to soldier on despite these seemingly overwhelming odds and with an insurrection in his rear. Nor is the fact that he managed to both crush every Spanish attack and destroy the insurrection. What is simply remarkable is that after all this he led his men on the offensive. In August 1800 he led 50,000 men on an audacious attack into Spain itself. Crossing the border they crushed a superior Spanish army at Puigcerda and captured a number of strategic forts. This left the Spanish reeling and desperately trying to reorganize themselves. When he wrote the Congress requesting more supplies and more importantly food for his starving soldiers, he received a curt “war materials are in more dire need upon other fronts. Hold until relieved” he was stunned. Here he made the most important decision of his life.

He stood in front of his assembled troops and proclaimed “Today I set upon a path that is one of pure treason. Those of you who wish to follow me in righting this wrong may do so, and those of you who wish to shoot me for this crime do so now!” he stated holding his arms wide for all to see. There was shocked silence as he stood arms bared in front of host assembled troops. Instead of being shot his men raised their voices in defiance shouting “Treason!” and thus proclaiming solidarity with the rogue general. Gathering a force of his most trusted 1,500 men he left his main force in defensive positions for the winter and marched to Paris. Along the way he gathered both disgruntled militia and soldiers to his cause. Any troops loyal to the Congress sent to intercept him were swayed by the voices of their fellows and the rousing speeches of their leader. His small force swelled to 10,000 militia and soldiers bitter with the Congress and their way of ruling France. He arrived at Paris on February 12th 1801.

His appearance at the head of 10,000 troops was no comfort to the members of the ruling body of France. The Congress considered declaring the men deserters but any group of soldiers sent to meet them inevitably joined Napoleon. He was informed of a plot against the Congress, the plotters seeing a useful war hero figured he could be easily used. When he requested an audience with the Congress they considered capturing him in order to charge him with desertion. This course of action was never able to be carried out as he showed up with loyal soldiers and seized the members of the Congress launching a coup-de-tat and simultaneously proclaiming the First Free French Republic.

This shocked the Congress almost as much as it shocked his co-conspirators who had simply thought to replace one teetering power structure with another. Despite their protests Napoleon had the support of the army which rendered any action they might try to take against him potentially uncomfortable at best and completely life threatening at worst. Hence there was nothing they could do but grin and bear it while trying to find a way to share power.

In a matter of months he had managed to outwit his co-conspirators and have himself elected as First Speaker making him the most powerful man in France. His first promise was that there would be national elections in 1802 for the presidency and that to replace the First Congress he would set the course for the forming of a new National Congress. To set these wheels in motion he nominated his brother Joseph as Chairman for the Congress and charged him with gathering representatives from the different political members of France and seeking to end the partisan bickering that plagued the country.

Facing defeat in Italy Napoleon made another march across the Alps where the now beleaguered Austrian forces withdrew in the face of the vengeful general. He managed to reverse all actions under taken by Suvorov and had pressed all the way to Parma before any hint of real organized resistance started. He was greatly aided by reactionary republican rebels to whom he spread his message. He proclaimed the Republic of The Alps with his gains in Italy successfully establishing another puppet state. He then turned and marches to the Pyrenees where Spanish forces were locked in combat with beleaguered French garrisons. In a series of successful attacks Napoleon drove the Spanish out of the Pyrenees and occupied a swathe of territory along their coast forcing Spain to terms. Soon the Coalition sued for peace. Austria tired of war and the Hapsburgs were quarrelling with the Russians who withdrew their support after the disaster at Zurich, and Britain finding no more willing allies on the Continent grudgingly accepted. The Treaty of Brussels was signed thus guaranteeing Napoleon’s gains on the Continent and for the time being, setting an uneasy peace over Europe.

Napoleon used this time to begin turning France around economically. The nation still faced bankruptcy and only skilled managing of the debt over the next few years would manage to avoid this. To that end he conceived the Council of Financial Gains and organized them into what would become the Bank of France. In the political arena he managed to discredit the Jacobins after a failed uprising and imprison their leaders barring them from the National Congress. As promised there was an election in 1801 between the now three French political parties, The Radical Left, comprising socialists and former Jacobins who were all bitter enemies of Napoleon, the Conservatives, a center right party comprising surviving[3] aristocrats and other well to do members of French society including the emerging merchant class, and Napoleons own party the Free Republic Party. In a landslide victory Napoleon was elected the first President of the French Republic.

The Republic was fervently supported by the local militias and the peasantry from whom Napoleon received the most votes. The Radical Left bereft of major leadership received few while the Conservatives formed the middle block and distanced themselves from the Radicals and were all for Napoleon who seemed just right wing enough to keep them in power.

“So it was that French democracy was buried. When he lead an army of poorly equipped and starving soldiers to face the Congress he is depicted as a hero in many paintings, brandishing his sword. Apocryphally he is supposed to have shouted the words ‘Liberty or Death!’ defiantly as he stormed the Congress. Considering the lack of any testimony to those words most modern historians simply say this is the fancy of romantic writers from the era. Having seized power in what was little more than a military coup-de-tat he would then proceed to completely reorganize the entire French system of government.
While many modern scholars praise him for this as well one must remember that in its first organization it was set up merely as a way for him to exorcise his power base of popular Republicans and the fiscal Conservatives. His actions in barring the entrance of Jacobins at the time were understandable, but his continued block of left wing political parties cannot be seen as excusable. Though he set the precedent for the modern French political system one cannot be too quick to issue praise. He did indeed set this up but with the help of both his brother Joseph, and many other capable political officials. The modern ‘Cult of Bonaparte’ is much too quick to issue praise. These hero worshipers must note that the system of voting had already been in place before hand and that his ideals were merely building on the ideas of previous left wing thinkers.
With Napoleons rise to power we would also see the collapse of the early state and the forming of a state so centralized and bureaucratic that it rivals even the most decadent days of the Sun King and his court in Versailles. So would Paris become the military, government, judicial and business head of France. There was a new court, not of nobles, but generals and politicians all fawning around their new king. The President.”
Jaques Hugo’s A Concise History of France © Paris Press (1989)

[1] In OTL Soult didn’t attack forcing Ney to concede the field. ITTL this deprives the Austrians of crucial manpower thus allowing a greater victory which in turn increases Ney’s popularity.
[2] I know that this is too close to OTL but I have a thing for Suvorov as he was underrated and underappreciated in his life so I really didn’t want to deprive him of that.
[3] ITTL surviving it’s a very important distinction.
 
Chapter 6: A Growing West
“Since the first American Rebellion there had been a steady stream of immigrants to British North America. There were no open immigration policies however so many immigrants were also forced to go elsewhere such as the New Spain. This steady stream of immigrants did force Britain to allow expansion Westward. This first fully colonized the province of Quebec and the St. Laurence Valley as well as the Windsor Peninsula. Then expansion through the New England colonies into the newly formed province of New Ireland[1]. This had the effect of putting pressure on the Iroquois peoples in the region.

Those Iroquois who had migrated south in order to successfully pursue war against the southern tribes had already begun a limited migration, but with settlers streaming into the newly christened New Ireland the British agreed to compensate them with the land occupied by Arnold’s rebels[2]. This would prove to be a task easier said than done.

Despite driving the now growing number of fleeing rebels West the patriotic settlers had managed to maintain a large number of forts and communities just outside the sphere of British influence. This gave them a base of operations and more importantly a place to settle. Despite the large British military presence they had flourished easily attracting more independent minded settlers and those disgruntled with British rule. Having forged alliances with the local Native tribes they had entrenched themselves in their territory well and nothing but a full commitment of the British forces would drive them out. And considering tensions building abroad and at home this was not an undertaking the Britain was about to partake in.

In the Southern Colonies resentment too now smouldered as the wealthy land owners and slave holders rebuilt plantations and punished rebellious slaves. They saw themselves as victims and felt owed compensation at the loss of property both slave and material. These demands fell on an increasingly unsympathetic public in Britain who felt no need to address them. The Abolitionist movement was beginning to take root and there were few who wished to see the slave trade grow.

In Quebec and New England, heavy industry began to take shape. All along the St. Laurence small factories powered by water began to pop up and in New England textile factories were emerging as industries in England began to take root in the New World. The process of urbanization was slower than that of Great Britain, but soon cities like Quebec, New York, Boston, Montreal and the growing town of Windsor were all churning out new items for colonists.

Across the Appalachians the new Provinces of Campbell and Marianna (named by the increasingly eccentric King George) were being settled by many refugees from Italy and France as well as a scattering of Irish. Culturally they were different from the sea bound provinces as they were mostly Catholic and many could hardly speak English. Their growth was slow however as tensions with some tribes of the Confederacy grew thick at their encroachment but British promises of land and muskets proved to be enough to get many chiefs to move their people south to harass and kill the Crowns enemies. This low intensity war would dominate the south for some time as rebel and native fought for supremacy. Unfortunately the Natives had a tendency to also attack plantations in order to take slaves which they would use in local affairs. Despite angry protests by plantation owners the British would not intervene. Tensions in the South were beginning to rise as tempers smouldered and grudges collected.

Slowly but surely the country (and tension within it) was growing.

The Independents:

Meanwhile the erstwhile rebel leader Benedict Arnold died. His remains were buried at Constitution with a full parade by militia. This lead to a crisis of leadership within the organization, where eventually James Wilkinson was elected as leader of the Army of the Republic. He would use this time to pursue deals with French agents through Spanish territory (though now French regarding Louisiana) where he would secure large shipments of arms and some French officers to train his troops. Independent minded settlers continued to stream into these unofficial territories despite the best efforts of England to stop them. There were simply not enough troops to properly watch an area the size of the Colonies. With soldiers being deployed to both Ireland and India the Colonies represented a serious drain on British military strength. It was only through the settlement of more loyal colonists and the strength of the growing industries in New England, Quebec and Pennsylvania that they could continue to maintain even a slightly effective watch on these areas.”
Jonathan Stonegal “Early British America” © Dublin Press (2002)

[1] Much of OTL’s Michigan Peninsula and Western Ontario.
[2] The British do have a history of not so nice dealings with the Natives. Though the Iroquois have a long history of supporting the British they are also a very large and powerful group of natives, some of which decided to fight against the British in the First Rebellion. The British haven’t forgotten this and see removing them as a threat as the biggest goal for further expansion in America.
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Ok so here is the most recent chapter of TTL. A little break from war and politics I'm exploring the idea of how British America is expanding. Comments and suggestions are heartily welcomed as always!
Enjoy!
 
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