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- Thread starter Bob Hope
- Start date
1776-1784
The Defeat of The Colonial Revolt 1776-1780
The British won the War of the Colonial Revolution as a result of the twin battles of Saratoga in 1777 which proved to be the turning point of the war.
Crucially this deterred foreign powers from intervening on behalf of the rebels although France did still recognise the colonies as an independent state and both France and Spain continued to supply munitions.
It took another 3 years to finish the war but the control of the northern colonies gained after Saratoga gave Burgoyne a firm base to push on into the North Eastern colonies whilst Clinton along with Howe, after dealing with very strong resistance in the Philadelphia and Maryland borders, pushed into Virginia. With no foreign intervention the guerrilla resistance in the South withered, Savannah was captured as was Augusta early 1779. Forces under Cornwallis, landed at Savannah, soon took Charleston and Georgetown advancing into Northern Carolina, the rebels already retreating north to defend Richmond against Clinton were shocked to find it had been surrendered by Benedict Arnold without a shot being fired. The surrender of the surrounded Colonial Army, under Washington, at Yorktown was the last real action of the war although small scale actions continued as diehards refused to accept the inevitable.
The British re-organised the colonies, reducing their numbers by combining territories, thus decreasing the number of legislatures but, as these units would be that much more cohesive, they also granted concessions somewhat in line with the demands of the rebels. Treaties were signed with the Iroquois, Cherokee and Creek tribes, establishing them as protectorates.
May 17 1782; The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence Act, a major component of the reforms collectively known as the 'Constitution of 1782' which restored legislative independence to the Parliament of Ireland and set up similar bodies in the American colonies.
However there were hard core rebels who, fearing retribution fled towards Spanish territory west of the Mississippi. The Spanish, although initially welcoming, were unused to the independent spirit shown by these settlers who demanded the sort of concessions they had wanted from the British.
The Spanish had learnt from the problems of the British colonies and allowed a limited autonomy to these new "Federation of Louisiana” little realising the problems they would be creating for themselves later down the line.
The Second Mysore War 1780-1784
The commitment of troops to North America meant that less were available for other areas of interest such as India where the government had been providing troops as a leavening and support for the East India Company [EIC], despite this the EIC still had a large number of troops but mainly a backbone of European mercenaries plus locally raised, European trained levies known as sepoys.
Under two acts of Parliament [1773 & 1784] its control was shifted to the government making it officially part of the British Empire. Sir Henry Clinton, hero of the War of the Colonial Revolution, was appointed Governor.
After the First Mysore war [1766-1769], when Haidar Ali had fought British troops to a standstill, a defensive alliance had been formed but when the EIC did not come to his aid in his 1771 war with the Marathas he sought support from his old allies, the French.
French forces had been built up in anticipation of intervention in the American colonies, alliances were in place with Spain and Holland so, when war was declared in 1780 Admiral Suffren was sent with a fleet and Generals Lafeyette and Rochambeau with about 12,000 men. The French factory at Mahe was used as the supply base.
Before Suffren could arrive British troops captured Pondicherry and Karikal on the Carnatic coast but were then driven before Haider Ali's 60,000 strong army into Madras and besieged there. Sir Henry Clinton sent Coote with 8,000 men and in June 1781 Ali was defeated at the Battle of Porto Novo, the Madras Presidency appeared to be saved but the arrival of the French fleet and army on the scene reversed the situation and Coote was defeated by Lafeyette in the Battle of Vellore in August and then outside the gates of Madras in September. Madras surrendered in February 1783.
Despite declaring his neutrality, in 1782 allied troops attacked the Nizam of Hyderabad, a long-time ally of the British, easily defeating him.
In America the Federation of Louisiana was only too happy to raise troops to fight their old enemy in conjunction with Spain. Whilst Spanish regulars pushed into western Florida, now part of the colony of Georgia, Federal troops, mostly irregulars at this stage, launched attacks on the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes on the eastern shore of the Mississippi, quickly knocking them out of the war. British troops were able to reach the Creek before they succumbed to a joint Spanish-Federal attack but both they and the Cherokee suffered great losses.
In Europe Spain isolated Gibraltar, French troops landed on Minorca but were repulsed and Dutch and French troops occupied Hanover. At Sea the British navy faced the combined might of France, Spain and Holland making any attempts to send supplies or reinforcements a very hazardous undertaking. It was the situation France had found herself in during the colonial phase of the Seven Years War; at least the British had troops enough in North America to defend its integrity and had halted the Spanish advance.
With the situation now in stalemate, the British sued for peace, agreeing the Treaty of Paris, making concessions to the allies in America and India.
Sir Henry Clinton retired in disgrace and was replaced by Lord Cornwallis.
Attachments
1785-1801
French Constitutional Wars or The Wars for the French Constitution 1792-1801
June 8 1783; The volcano Laki in Iceland begins an 8-month eruption. The effects of the eruption killed tens of thousands throughout Europe and caused widespread famine lasting many years.
In May 1789, the French Estates-General convened for the first time in 175 years by Louis XVI to cope with the crisis and raise taxes. An unexpectedly reluctant body, Louis XVI had to make a conciliatory speech urging reforms to a joint session and ordered the three estates to meet together.
By July an estimated 150,000 of Paris's 600,000 people are without work and at Versailles, against the King's wishes and refusing to be dissolved, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for what was to become the French Constitution of 1791.
Louis XVI, however, dismissed the popular Chief Minister Jacques Necker and an angry Parisian crowd, inflamed by a speech from journalist Camille Desmoulins, demonstrated against the King’s decision. The people began to seize arms for the defence of Paris and, on 14 July 1789 The French Revolution began with the Storming of the Bastille: Citizens of Paris stormed the fortress of the Bastille and freed the only seven prisoners held. In rural areas, peasants attacked manors of the nobility.
Some 7,000 women march 12 miles (19 km) from Paris to the royal Palace of Versailles to demand action over high bread prices, the royal family are now almost prisoners. A leaflet circulated in France accusing Marquis de Favras of plotting to rescue the royal family.
In 1790 Louis XVI declared to the National Assembly that he will maintain the constitutional laws and accepted a constitutional monarchy.
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is passed. This completes the destruction of the monastic orders, legislating out of existence all regular and secular chapters for sex, abbacies and priorships. Abolition of the guilds is enacted; the National Constituent Assembly accepts the recommendation of its Commission of Weights and Measures that the nation should adopt the metric system.
In June 1791 The French Royal Family is captured when they try to flee in disguise, they are returned to the Tuileries Palace and Louis accepts the final version of the completed constitution.
The King of Prussia, Frederick William II, and the Austrian Emperor, Leopold II declared themselves ready to join with other European powers to restore the monarchy to power in France. The French Queen Marie Antoinette was Emperor Leopold's sister.
In late August 1792 The Tuileries Palace was stormed, Louis XVI arrested and taken into custody. During what become known as the September Massacres, rampaging mobs slaughtered three Roman Catholic bishops and more than 200 priests, together with at least a thousand criminals.
September 21: Proclamation of the overthrow of Louis XVI by the French Convention and establishment of a True Constitutional Monarchy [after the ideas of Mirabeau] with effect from the following day. The trial of Louis XVI begins in December and, after being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI was guillotined as were his two brothers, the throne now fell to his 8 year old son Louis XVII who will be raised under "strict Constitutional guidance".
Queen Marie Antoinette is later also condemned and killed bringing a declaration of War from Francis II of Austria [Leopold having died] and Frederick William II of Prussia. Russia and Sweden provided contingents but did not declare war; the Kingdom of Sardinia joined the Austro-Prussian alliance as did Spain and Naples, both Bourbon monarchies hoping to push claims to the French throne.
Holland had suffered a brief civil war [put down by Prussian troops] 1789-90, the losing side being pro-French, Holland did not feel she could contribute to an anti-French alliance without rousing unrest at home.
The British looked on with interest, having a Constitutional Monarchy themselves and, given their recent history with France, did not wish to intervene either for or against France.
The Constitutionalist Government had introduced conscription and tried to blend these enthusiastic but raw recruits into the standing army with limited success. Whilst it was able to field a large army it was limited in its ability to manoeuvre and low on training, its enthusiasm and loyalty, however were very high.
Army of the North- Success and Reversal
In late 1792 Brabant revolutionaries had crossed the border from the Dutch Republic into the Austrian Netherlands as the first act of a Brabant Revolution declaring the independence of the Austrian Netherlands.
On October 27 the Austrian army was beaten by Brabant revolutionaries at the Battle of Turnhout and the Austrian army fell back to the city of Luxembourg. The Bisheropic of Liege, also in revolt, ousted its Prince-Bishop. It joined with the 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands to sign a Treaty of Union creating the United States of Belgium.
With just a few months campaigning left French troops crossed into Belgium taking up winter quarters around Brussels and laying siege to Luxembourg. The Prussian army moved from Holland and Cleves catching the French sleeping in Brussels and defeating the besieging army around Luxembourg, capturing most of its artillery. The French withdrew from Belgium in disarray closely followed by Prussian cavalry who threatened Lille before retiring.
Armies of the Centre and the South
The Army of the Centre had advanced to the Rhine, capturing Mainz but found itself partially outflanked by the Prussian-Austrian force overwintering at Luxembourg so did not push across the river.
The Southern force easily brushed aside the Sardinian army to capture Nice and threaten the passes to the north Italian plains.
In other areas; Along the Spanish frontier action was limited to skirmishes at either end of the Pyrenees. Avignon was annexed to France from the Papal States as were other enclaves within the borders of France proper. Neufchatel and Savoie were occupied by small French forces.
However there was an internal reaction to the reverses suffered by the Constitutionalists, revolts broke out in the west and south in support of the Duke of Chartres, Prince Louis Philippe, claiming the throne as King Philip VII, Monarchist armies were gathering in the Vendee and Toulon, smaller forces were being raised in other centres and the Indian colonies had declared themselves for Philip. Constitutionalist armies were gathering in Paris and Besancon and Allied armies being raised in Austria and Prussia.
Constitutionalist influence had an unexpected bonus for France, after the First Partition of Poland by Prussia, Austria and Russia in 1772, Polish patriots had been inspired to draw up a constitution based on the French model. This threatened to stabilise Poland, something none of her neighbours wanted and, in 1793 Russia sent in troops. Prussia and Austria had to respond in kind or see Poland become either wholly Russian or a Russian Puppet state.
Russia had made peace with the Ottomans specifically to give themselves a free hand in Poland and Prussia and Austria could do no less when it came to France.
Civil War 1794-1801
The Monarchists were strong in the west and south but found little support in Paris. They also gained support from Spain who, now the Constitutionalists had to also defend their rear, penetrated either side of the Pyrenees. To avoid the confusion of both sides using the same flag the Constitutionalists adopted the flag later known as the "Cinq Fleur".
The strong force in Piedmont continued on and gained the surrender of the Sardinian Army along with the cession of Savoie and Nice in the Treaty of Turin 1795, the treaty also took Naples out of the war. Spain found herself with her own difficulties in the Americas, in 1795 their vassal, the Federation of Louisiana which did not approve of the attack on what they considered a "sister" Constitutionalist state, threw off their ties to Spain and declared themselves Independent.
In June 1794 Monarchist and Constitutionalist fought the tactically drawn Battle of Poitiers but, as the outnumbered Constitutionalists withdrew towards Orleans the Monarchists were able to link up the two areas they held.
The Constitutionalist Army of the North had, since its defeat by the Austrians, been under intense training by war minister Lazare Carnot and in combination with the troops raised in Paris now formed two armies for 1796, the Army of the North and the Army of the Loire. The Army of the North immediately made an impression, taking Rouen by storm and securing Normandy before advancing towards Brittany. The Army of the Loire took Le Mans before advancing on Angers and Nantes. The Army of the South marched back along the coast to threaten Toulon but found themselves up against a combined Monarchist-Spanish army, Spanish troops having been landed in Toulon. A foolhardy attempt to cross the River Argens led to a resounding defeat for the Constitutionalists, the remains of the army were forced to retreat into the mountains.
The Army of the Centre, reinforced by the recruits from Besancon and re-named the Army of the Rhone had advanced on Lyon but despite outnumbering the Monarchists were also beaten at the Battle of Macon, north of Lyon.
With more Spanish troops committed to France, Spain had to somewhat drain her colonies in the Americas. The FL allied herself with the French Constitutionalists and laid claim to large areas of North America where even Britain began to encroach. Louisian forces pushed south into the Viceroyalty of New Spain, taking Matamoras and Monterrey and clashed with the Osage and Kiowa Indians to the North.
The Constitutionalist Armies in the north subdued Brittany and the Vendee, in 1798, having captured the naval cities of Brest, L'Orient and Nantes. The Army of the Loire pushed south towards Poitiers but in the east the Army of the Rhone was stalemated, unable to advance but likewise keeping the Monarchist-Spanish army from pushing on.
The Louisians had placed settlements in other parts of the Spanish American Empire. In New Granada and La Plata Viceroyalties uprisings had occurred which, as troops had been dispatched to Europe and New Spain, found little resistance. To make matters worse Britain chose their moment to push claims to disputed territories in North America and acknowledge the independence of the FL.
France was split along north-south lines but when the Spanish had to withdraw men to deal with the situation in their colonies the Monarchist cause speedily fell apart and French troops again faced Spain across the Pyrenees. The only part of France still in revolt, Corsica, declared its independence from both sides in 1800, under its Monarchist leader Napoleone Buoneparte who had defeated the Constitutionalist Paoli. As Corsica had only become French, by purchase from Genoa, in 1768, ties were not strong and, as the Navy had suffered during the Civil War, France was unable to enforce itself and had to accept it as a "fait accompli".
In India the Monarchists still held out but when Mysore renewed her alliance with the Constitutionalists they had no choice but to deal, agreeing to Dominion status.
By 1801 France was again united and as part of her treaty with Spain she ceded Haiti. To avoid another conflict she could not win Spain swapped her claims to large areas of North America for Minorca in a treaty with Britain, agreeing a settled border in that area.
Spain gave Dominion Status to New Spain and Peru, splitting them into smaller administrations and her forces quickly defeated the insurgents in La Plata which was treated similarly. Troops moved on to New Granada to put down the rebels there but, concentrating on South America meant that the Louisians were largely unobstructed in their advance on Mexico City.
Spain, again, had to treat with its enemies conceding areas of New Spain and ceding their claims in the North.
Elsewhere in the world;
In Europe; Poland was again partitioned by Prussia, Austria and Russia leaving Warsaw as a rump of the Polish state, mainly because no agreement could be reached to assign it to any of the three partitioners.
In Asia, the Sikh Empire established its independence in 1799 under Ranjit Singh, Nepal expanded its borders both east and west along the foothills of the Himalayas, Siam recovered from its bad time after the disastrous defeat by Burma 30years previously.
In Africa, some tribes were beginning to radicalize in and around Senegal and in the Northern Hausa states, in the far south, the Xhosa had finally halted their migration at the borders of the Dutch Cape Colony and the Zulu had begun to coalesce into a coherent polity.
In India; The Nawab of Oudh ceded Gorakhpur and Rohilkhand divisions; Allahabad, Fatehpur, Cawnpore, Etawah, Manipuri, Etah districts; part of Mirzapur; and Kumaun to the British, Oudh became a protectorate, and, the Treaty of Bassein was signed by Peshawar Baji Rao II accepting an Alliance with Britain. The East India Company Army was re-organised.
In America; The British rushed to establish colonies further West in the continent, establishing Treaties with the Nez Perce Federation and the Sioux-Cheyenne Alliance, following their usual practice in the Americas of Friendliness to the natives. The Creek merged with the Chickasaw and Choctaw to form the Muskogee Nation. The British established a small colony on Vancouver Island on the West Coast bringing them into further contact with the Russian colonists on that coast.
Attachments
East Asia 1793-1825
China and Japan
During the 17th and 18th Centuries the Qing Dynasty carried out several campaigns to conquer the Dzungar Mongols. In the meantime, they incorporated parts of Central Asia into the Chinese Empire. Internal turmoil largely halted Chinese expansion in the 19th century.
In 1793, the British East India Company, with the support of the British government, sent a delegation to China under Lord George Macartney in a bid to open up free trade and put relations on a basis of equality, the Chinese were currently only accepting silver in exchange for their goods. The imperial court viewed trade as unimportant, whereas the British saw maritime trade as the key to their economy. The Mission was a failure but, his equivalent visit to Japan, in 1796, drew results.
In 1641, all Westerners were thrown out of Japan. Since then, Japan had been free from Western influence, except for at the port of Nagasaki and the island of Dejima, where Japan allowed Dutch merchant vessels to enter on a limited basis. The Dutch were granted a single trading post on the island. China and Korea were the only other countries permitted to trade. At the same time, the people drew inspiration from new ideas and fields of study. Dutch books brought into Japan stimulated interest in Western learning, called rangakru or "Dutch learning". The physician Genpaku, for instance, used concepts from Western medicine to help spark a revolution in Japanese ideas of human anatomy.
Macartney was accompanied by a Royal Navy squadron which sailed towards the shore, giving a demonstration of their cannon's firepower. Macartney landed with a large detachment of Marines and presented the emperor's representative with the Trade Treaty. Macartney said he would return, and did so, this time with even more war ships. The show of force led to Japan's concession to the Convention of Nagasaki. This treaty conferred extraterritoriality on British nationals, as well as, opening up further treaty ports beyond Nagasaki. This treaty was followed up by similar treaties with the Netherlands, Russia and France.
These events made Japanese authorities aware that the country was lacking technologically and needed the strength of industrialism in order to keep their power. Discontented samurai were soon to play a major role in engineering the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and eventually led to a civil war and political reform known as the Meiji Restoration. Despite its isolationism, Japanese internal politics had given them skills used to their advantage to get the assistance to modernise their industrial and military bases.
China was aware of western thinking and power but was complacent as every country they had encountered had paid tribute to the Emperor. The court even mis-interpreted European diplomatic missions as paying tribute. The 16th century had brought many Jesuit missionaries to China, such as Riccii, who established Christian missions where Western science was introduced, and where Europeans gathered knowledge of Chinese society, history, culture, and science.
During the 18th century, merchants from Western Europe came to China in increasing numbers. However, merchants were confined to Guangzhou and the Portuguese colony of Macau, as they had been since the 16th century. European traders were increasingly irritated by what they saw as the relatively high customs duties they had to pay and by the attempts to curb the growing import trade in Opium. By 1800, its importation was forbidden by the imperial government. However, the opium trade continued to boom. Early in the 19th century, serious internal weaknesses developed in the Qing Dynasty that left China vulnerable.
Siberia
In Kamchatka uprisings against Russian rule in 1706, 1731, and 1741, were crushed. During the first uprising the Itelmen were armed with only stone weapons, but in later uprisings they used gunpowder weapons. The Russian Cossacks faced tougher resistance from the Koryaks, who revolted with bows and guns from 1745 to 1756, and were even forced to give up in their attempts to wipe out the Chukchi. After the Russian defeat in 1729 at Chukchi hands, the Russian commander Major Pavlutskiy was responsible for the Russian war against the Chukchi and the mass slaughters and enslavement of Chukchi women and children in 1730-31, but his cruelty only made the Chukchis fight more fiercely. Genocide of the Chukchis and Koraks was ordered by the Empress in 1742. The command was that the natives be "totally extirpated" with Pavlutskiy leading again in this war, from 1744-47, in which he sought to slaughter the Chukchi men and enslave their women and children as booty. However the Chukchi ended this campaign and forced them to give up by killing Pavlutskiy and decapitating him.
The Russians also launched wars against the Koraks in 1744 and 1753-4. After trying to force the natives to convert to Christianity, the different native peoples like the Koraks, Chukchis, Itelmen, and Yukagirs all united to drive the Russians out of their land in the 1740s, culminating in the assault on Nizhnekamchatsk fort in 1746.
In the 17th century, indigenous peoples of the Amur region were attacked by Russians who came to be known as "red-beards". The Russian Cossacks were named luocha or rakshasa, after demons found in Buddhist mythology, by the Amur natives because of their cruelty towards the Amur tribespeople, who were subjects of the Qing Dynasty during these Sino-Russian conflicts.
It is not surprising that during the Russian Civil War, with the lack of troops, called back west to bolster defences against the rebel factions, a revolt in Siberia began. From the end of the 16th up to the beginning of 17th century the exile of prisoners of war between Russia and Poland had started. Eventually that Polish and Ukrainian population reached many thousands of people. [In 1794, Eastern Siberia accepted the exiled participants of the nation-wide liberation uprising headed by Tadeush Kostyushko.] Later, there occurred a great exile of the political adversaries of the Tsarist regime in Poland. Most of them were exiled to the territory of Central Siberia, but some of them even further – to the east of the Irkutsk region.
Together with the Native Peoples and rebel sympathisers, exiled Poles and Ukrainians, trying to achieve independence, began to develop a Duchy of Siberia. Lack of a year round port allowing access to trade and potential allies left them near defenceless against Chinese [and Japanese] encroachment into areas no longer controlled by organized forces, areas traditionally considered to be the original homeland of those that later became the Emperors of China, the Qing.
China and Japan
During the 17th and 18th Centuries the Qing Dynasty carried out several campaigns to conquer the Dzungar Mongols. In the meantime, they incorporated parts of Central Asia into the Chinese Empire. Internal turmoil largely halted Chinese expansion in the 19th century.
In 1793, the British East India Company, with the support of the British government, sent a delegation to China under Lord George Macartney in a bid to open up free trade and put relations on a basis of equality, the Chinese were currently only accepting silver in exchange for their goods. The imperial court viewed trade as unimportant, whereas the British saw maritime trade as the key to their economy. The Mission was a failure but, his equivalent visit to Japan, in 1796, drew results.
In 1641, all Westerners were thrown out of Japan. Since then, Japan had been free from Western influence, except for at the port of Nagasaki and the island of Dejima, where Japan allowed Dutch merchant vessels to enter on a limited basis. The Dutch were granted a single trading post on the island. China and Korea were the only other countries permitted to trade. At the same time, the people drew inspiration from new ideas and fields of study. Dutch books brought into Japan stimulated interest in Western learning, called rangakru or "Dutch learning". The physician Genpaku, for instance, used concepts from Western medicine to help spark a revolution in Japanese ideas of human anatomy.
Macartney was accompanied by a Royal Navy squadron which sailed towards the shore, giving a demonstration of their cannon's firepower. Macartney landed with a large detachment of Marines and presented the emperor's representative with the Trade Treaty. Macartney said he would return, and did so, this time with even more war ships. The show of force led to Japan's concession to the Convention of Nagasaki. This treaty conferred extraterritoriality on British nationals, as well as, opening up further treaty ports beyond Nagasaki. This treaty was followed up by similar treaties with the Netherlands, Russia and France.
These events made Japanese authorities aware that the country was lacking technologically and needed the strength of industrialism in order to keep their power. Discontented samurai were soon to play a major role in engineering the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and eventually led to a civil war and political reform known as the Meiji Restoration. Despite its isolationism, Japanese internal politics had given them skills used to their advantage to get the assistance to modernise their industrial and military bases.
China was aware of western thinking and power but was complacent as every country they had encountered had paid tribute to the Emperor. The court even mis-interpreted European diplomatic missions as paying tribute. The 16th century had brought many Jesuit missionaries to China, such as Riccii, who established Christian missions where Western science was introduced, and where Europeans gathered knowledge of Chinese society, history, culture, and science.
During the 18th century, merchants from Western Europe came to China in increasing numbers. However, merchants were confined to Guangzhou and the Portuguese colony of Macau, as they had been since the 16th century. European traders were increasingly irritated by what they saw as the relatively high customs duties they had to pay and by the attempts to curb the growing import trade in Opium. By 1800, its importation was forbidden by the imperial government. However, the opium trade continued to boom. Early in the 19th century, serious internal weaknesses developed in the Qing Dynasty that left China vulnerable.
Siberia
In Kamchatka uprisings against Russian rule in 1706, 1731, and 1741, were crushed. During the first uprising the Itelmen were armed with only stone weapons, but in later uprisings they used gunpowder weapons. The Russian Cossacks faced tougher resistance from the Koryaks, who revolted with bows and guns from 1745 to 1756, and were even forced to give up in their attempts to wipe out the Chukchi. After the Russian defeat in 1729 at Chukchi hands, the Russian commander Major Pavlutskiy was responsible for the Russian war against the Chukchi and the mass slaughters and enslavement of Chukchi women and children in 1730-31, but his cruelty only made the Chukchis fight more fiercely. Genocide of the Chukchis and Koraks was ordered by the Empress in 1742. The command was that the natives be "totally extirpated" with Pavlutskiy leading again in this war, from 1744-47, in which he sought to slaughter the Chukchi men and enslave their women and children as booty. However the Chukchi ended this campaign and forced them to give up by killing Pavlutskiy and decapitating him.
The Russians also launched wars against the Koraks in 1744 and 1753-4. After trying to force the natives to convert to Christianity, the different native peoples like the Koraks, Chukchis, Itelmen, and Yukagirs all united to drive the Russians out of their land in the 1740s, culminating in the assault on Nizhnekamchatsk fort in 1746.
In the 17th century, indigenous peoples of the Amur region were attacked by Russians who came to be known as "red-beards". The Russian Cossacks were named luocha or rakshasa, after demons found in Buddhist mythology, by the Amur natives because of their cruelty towards the Amur tribespeople, who were subjects of the Qing Dynasty during these Sino-Russian conflicts.
It is not surprising that during the Russian Civil War, with the lack of troops, called back west to bolster defences against the rebel factions, a revolt in Siberia began. From the end of the 16th up to the beginning of 17th century the exile of prisoners of war between Russia and Poland had started. Eventually that Polish and Ukrainian population reached many thousands of people. [In 1794, Eastern Siberia accepted the exiled participants of the nation-wide liberation uprising headed by Tadeush Kostyushko.] Later, there occurred a great exile of the political adversaries of the Tsarist regime in Poland. Most of them were exiled to the territory of Central Siberia, but some of them even further – to the east of the Irkutsk region.
Together with the Native Peoples and rebel sympathisers, exiled Poles and Ukrainians, trying to achieve independence, began to develop a Duchy of Siberia. Lack of a year round port allowing access to trade and potential allies left them near defenceless against Chinese [and Japanese] encroachment into areas no longer controlled by organized forces, areas traditionally considered to be the original homeland of those that later became the Emperors of China, the Qing.
1802-1809
British and French governors both vied to gain influence in the courts of India, the British were allied with Peshawar Baji Rao II of the Marathas, the French with Tipu Sahib who had succeeded his father in Mysore. Both tried to extend their influence in Hyderabad with the Nizam.
1802 saw a brief civil war within the Maratha confederacy resulting in Peshawar Baji Rao II being ousted from power by Doulut Rao Sindhia and Jaswant Rao Holkar.
Cornwallis demanded the re-instatement of the Peshawar, declaring War when this was refused. France saw this as an opportunity to gain ground over the British but, before they could act, were drawn into the war, reluctantly, on the side of the British, by Tipu Sahib's declaration of War on the Marathas.
The Maratha War 1803-1805
General Lake led troops through Oudh, along the Ganges River, with about 11,000 men towards Delhi, capturing Aligarh en-route. The Maratha Army of 43,000, partially trained by French officers before hostilities broke out, was met and heavily defeated outside Delhi with few losses. Lake now moved south towards Agra and the capital of Sindhia, Salbar.
The lead elements found the Maratha Army drawn up at Laswari behind a line of cannon chained together, a traditional defensive line for the sub-continent. British cavalry charged over the line but the Maratha Infantry held its ground, the British would have been in difficulties but for the timely arrival of the slower moving infantry which attacked off of a 65 mile march over 48 hours, completely routing the Maratha Army, destroying it as a coherent force.
This victory brought the surrender of Sindhia, considered the stronger partner of the Maratha confederacy.
In the South Mysorean troops had advanced to Poona, the capital of the deposed Peshawar, with 20,000 men, French trained, but with no immediate back up from his allies, to confront Holkar with 45,000 men. In the ensuing battle both sides, evenly matched, and inflicted great damage. Holkar gave ground, pulling his forces back but leaving Tipu unable to pursue.
In January 1804 Cornwallis landed with 5,000 men in Bombay giving him an army of 7,000 men plus 2,000 local irregulars. Poona had served Tipu as an overwinter base but he pulled out and headed north along with 3,000 French reinforcements, leaving a garrison, to maximise his gains before Cornwallis could intervene.
British forces were besieged in Baroda and Surat before Cornwallis relieved the garrisons, strengthening his army in the process to 10,000 men. Both Cornwallis and Tipu were trying to capture Indore where Holkar had overwintered and recruited more men, his Army now numbered 55,000 but he faced two determined enemies, his only advantage being that they would not cooperate with each other.
In the North Rajput forces threatened Delhi causing Lake to turn to its relief then pursue the Rajputs to the formidable fortress of Jaipur where he settled in for what promised to be a long siege. A subsidiary force sent the previous year into the lands of the Raja of Nagpur captured his capital, Nagpur, with considerable ease.
Holkar knew that if he attacked either enemy, win or lose, the other would fall upon him with devastating results, so, choosing what he considered the more honourable option he negotiated a peace treaty with Tipu Sahib and the French, conceding lands and allowing him to turn his attention to Cornwallis.
Knowing that, despite his numerical superiority he still needed every advantage he could get he used a river as a defensive position hoping to make battle too costly for Cornwallis. Cornwallis was advised of a little known ford by a local and, having scouted it, sent men under cover of darkness on a flanking march. When, the next day he staged a clumsy withdrawal to lure Holkar into attack, the flanking force struck at the Maratha Army as they were partway across the river. Cornwallis' men turned and attacked in concert with the flanking force and Holkar's Army collapsed, losing 13,000 dead and 7,500 captured, including Holkar.
The surrender of both major Maratha leaders brought negotiators to the table; the Marathas ceded Berar, Khandesh and Poona in the west and Budelkhand, Oudh and Delhi in the North. The Rajputs withdrew from the Maratha Confederation.
The French, angered that its governor had not either prevented participation in a war that benefitted the British so much, nor gained such benefits for France, brought the colonies under direct control.
The Nizam of Hyderabad now became, in reality, what he had always acted as, an independent ruler but, found himself in the middle of French, British and Maratha attempts to get his cooperation if not outright submission.
Seeking to take advantage of the situation south of them Sikh raiding parties had struck towards Delhi and into Rajputana. The first withdrew having found the British there in strength but the raid into Rajputana had greater success. Bikaner became part of the Sikh State.
Rajputana and Gwalior withdrew from the Maratha confederacy, Gwalior and some Rajput states signing subsidiary alliances with the British.
Cornwallis died in October 1805 being replaced by Lord Minto in 1807.
Europe 1805-1809;
In Europe, France and Spain were at loggerheads as Spain gave refuge to King Philip VII, the Monarchist claimant to the French Throne. Louis XVII came of age in 1805 and the government ordered that a bride be found for him, agents were sent throughout Europe to "assess" the possible new Queens. Louis XVII married Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily in 1806.
French backed Constitutionalists were active all over Europe. Rebellions were breaking out in the Austro-Hungarian lands, Constitutionalist rebels rose in Milan, Hungary and the Austrian Netherlands, Polish patriots were rising in the partitioned territories and Spain was having troubles not only in Europe but in its American colonies.
Holland also suffered from Constitutionalist uprisings whilst Sweden deposed King Gustav IV Adolf in a coup d'état. Gustav Adolf (and his son Gustav) was deposed and his uncle Charles XIII was elected King in his place. However, Charles XIII was 61 years old and prematurely senile. He was also childless; one child had been stillborn and another died after less than a week. It was apparent almost as soon as Charles XIII ascended the throne that the Swedish branch of the House of Holstein-Gottorp would die with him. In 1810 the Riksdag of the Estates, the Swedish parliament, elected a Danish prince, Prince Christian August of Augustenborg, as heir to the throne. He took the name Charles August, but died later that same year.
Russia was having trouble on three continents, with the Polish in Europe, with the Persians over Georgia [the Persians had re-occupied this earlier in the year] and were in conflict with Britain over conflicting claims on the west coast of North America.
British King George III was suffering intermittent bouts of insanity and the Prince of Wales was appointed Prince Regent.
European merchant shipping was suffering in the Mediterranean from depredations of the Barbary Pirates, the term covering privateers from all of the North African states.
Since the Revolution France had been modernising itself, British Industrialists, for their own profit, had been helping France come into the Industrial Age, this, of course, meant that she needed raw materials and led to an increase in colonial efforts backed up by a burgeoning Naval build up. In 1808 Queen Maria Amalia produced an heir to the throne, Prince Charles Louis.
Once again Spain had to move troops, this time from Europe to the Americas, to suppress local uprisings, keeping enough only to police the traditionally unruly areas such as Catalonia and the Basque country. The Poles were unlikely to succeed with their insurrection facing troops from all three of their large and aggressive neighbours. Despite their bravery the Poles were defeated, neither Russia nor Austria could agree to the other having Warsaw so took the lesser option of awarding it to Prussia. Austria, also suffering from an Hungarian uprising, accepted assistance from Russia to put down the insurgents, having done so the Russians took the opportunity to launch a two pronged attack on the Ottoman Empire in Europe, another force launched a diversionary attack in the Caucasus.
In the Low Countries Prussian troops again entered the Netherlands but suffered an embarrassing defeat which left the entire country in the hands of Constitutionalist rebels.
In Africa; France established herself on the Senegal River coming into contact with the radical Islamic Fulani Futa Toro state. Further East another Fulani people began to rise in the Sokoto Sultanate, absorbing smaller Hausa states. French and British navies found themselves co-operating in operations against the Barbary Pirates of the North African Coast.
In Asia; The Chinese Qing Dynasty faced the White Lotus rebellion in South East China and a Moslem uprising in Dzungaria. The Persians and the Ottoman Empire were clashing in skirmishes along the frontier over Georgia but stopping short of outright war.
In America; Spanish Colonies began to rebel sensing the weakness of the Spanish hold over them. Most of the troops stationed in the Colonies were locally raised, only the Officer corps being either Spanish or Spanish Colonial stock, very few survived the initial stages of the rebellions. The initial outbreaks were in New Spain [Mexico] and Rio de la Plata followed by New Granada [Columbia] later in the year.
1810-1815
The Russo-Ottoman War 1809-1812 & The Ottoman-Egyptian War 1810-1815
The surprise of the Russian attack enabled them to isolate the Ottoman forces in Belgrade, Serbia, where they settled down to besiege the city. By the Black Sea Russian 40,000 troops over-ran Moldavia and up to the Danube, also occupying Wallachia, when they faced the fortresses of Sinistra guarding the Danube crossing. In Armenia, a 7,000-strong contingent captured Poti, giving them a port facility to shorten supply lines and ship in more troops then destroyed the approaching Turkish force of 20,000 at Arpachai but could not take the strong city of Kars.
In the meantime, the Russian Navy blockaded the Dardanelles and defeated the Ottoman fleet, after which the Sultan Selim III was deposed. The Ottoman fleet was destroyed the following month thus establishing Russian supremacy on sea. In Egypt, in 1810, a demand came to Murad Bey for a force of 12,000 men, to be employed by the Porte in the war against Russia. Having gathered these forces Murad Bey used them instead to declare his independence from the Ottoman Empire. Murad Bey advanced into Syria with these forces, capturing Damascus within the Month.
In August 1810 the Russians crossed the Danube, by-passing and laying siege to Sinistra, and overran Dobruja. On hearing that a 50,000-strong Turkish army approached the army began to evacuate Dobruja and retreat to Wallachia.
The first major battle of the Serbian campaign was the Battle of Belgrade where the Turkish Army was defeated and forced to retreat toward Nis. A basic government for administering Serbia, which Russia considered to be "distant relatives”, was set up. Land was returned, forced labour was abolished, and taxes were reduced. The second battle, in which the Russians defeated an Ottoman army from Bosnia, took place early 1810. At the same time, an army formed from Serbian recruits with a backbone of Russian regulars, defeated another Ottoman army sent from the south-east at Deligrad.
In 1811, the hostilities were renewed with the defeat of the Ottoman reinforcement heading for Silistria and ousted the Turks from Hacioglu Parzarcik. The position of Silistria now appeared hopeless, and the garrison surrendered on May, 30. Ten days later they laid siege to another strong fortress, Shumla. The storm of the citadel was repelled at great loss of life. The fortress did not fall to the Russians until 9 September, after surprising and routing a huge Turkish detachment at Batyn. On 26 October, The Russians again defeated a 40,000-strong army at Vidin. The Russians lost only 1,500 men, compared with 10,000 for their opponents. Russian reinforcements arrived and the troops in Wallachia linked with those in Serbia.
The Turks prepared to launch a new attack. Several months later 70,000 Turkish troops approached the Danube River to assault the Russians. The main force of 50,000 faced the Russian forces. The remaining 20,000 advanced towards the Serbian-Russian forces to the west. A detached Russian cavalry formation secretly circled the main force and assaulted the western Turkish force, killing 9,000 troops and capturing the remainder with all of their Turks' provisions. The Russian casualties were low, about 25 cavalrymen and nine Cossack troops killed in action. Right after that, the main Russian forces attacked and quickly encircled the 50,000 strong Turkish army. Information was then received that Ahmet Pasha was trying to escape the encirclement himself. The Russian commander let Ahmet escape because he knew that, according to Turkish law, the encircled Grand Vizier could not take part in peace negotiations.
The Russians contacted Ahmet to congratulate him on his successful escape and offer peace negotiations. But the Grand Vizier still hoped for reinforcements and tried to procrastinate. In response, the Russians took all the surrounding forts and cut all the supply lines to the encircled Turks. With all the supply lines being cut off, the encircled Turks were threatened by hunger and disease. Supplying the Turks with food and provisions to allow them to survive meant that by keeping the Turks alive, they were actually holding a large number of hostages and that would force the Sultan to negotiate.
Murad Bey, having raised more troops, dispatched an army of 20,000 men under the command of his son Yusuf, against the Saudis. By the end of 1811, Yusuf had captured Medina after a prolonged siege. He next took Jeddah and Mecca, defeating the Saudi and capturing their general. A truce was signed in 1812 with the Saudi leader Saud; Murad Bey concluded a Peace treaty with Saud's son and successor, Abdullah I in 1813.
In Serbia following the successful siege with 25,000 men, on 8 January 1812, Belgrade was proclaimed the capital of Serbia.
The Ottomans faced defeat despite their strenuous efforts. To avoid total defeat, a six week truce was negotiated.
The deposed Sultan Selim III was executed by Mustafa IV, who was subsequently deposed by Mahmud II. The Political crisis caused by these upheavals meant the Ottomans were willing to offer the Serbs a wide autonomy and cede land to Russia, however, the discussions led to no agreement between the two, as they couldn't agree on the exact boundaries of Serbia.
It was the advance of the Russian Army to lay siege to Varna that brought the Turks back to the negotiating table where a peace was hammered out in June 1812. If the Turks had but known, they could have got a better deal as the Russians were nervous of the Austrian mobilization to the North and they were wary of British sabre waving over the west coast of America. To alleviate one of these threats Russia negotiated a generous deal with the British, regularising the situation in America.
Murad Bey, dissatisfied with the treaty concluded with the Saudis, and with the non-fulfilment of certain of its clauses, determined to send another army to Arabia. This expedition, again under Yusuf, left in the autumn of 1814 and captured the Saudi capital of Ad Diriyah in 1815. Turkish diplomacy retrieved the situation by the expediency of appointing Murad Bey Pasha [or subsidiary ruler] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Yemen and Libya. The latter two only nominally Turkish, the intent was to distract Murad Bey as he would need to take action to bring them under his control.
Prince Christian August of Augustenborg died in 1810, later that same year, the Riksdag selected Prince Adolphus, 7th son of George III of Britain as the new heir to the Swedish throne where he would be known as Gustavus V Adolphus.
The French and Colonial Wars 1809-1813
The Spanish officer corps was selected primarily on the basis of royal patronage, about a third of the junior officers had been promoted from the ranks, and they did have talent, but had few opportunities for promotion or leadership. The militia was generally of poor quality, but some regulars were fine troops. Elite regiments consisted of Irishmen, Italians, Swiss, and Walloons, in addition to elite artillery and engineering units but these were small in number for such a large Empire. Equipment was old-fashioned and in disrepair, the army lacked its own horses, oxen and mules for transportation using auxiliaries operated by civilians, who might run away if conditions looked bad. In short, the army was ill-prepared. The Elite regiments were retained in Europe.
The birth of an heir to Louis XVII raised his concerns over the claims of Philip VII, Spain, however remained intransigent and refused to relinquish its support. Convincing the Government of the need, France declared War in March 1809. When war broke out the Spanish army was deeply unpopular. Junior officers from peasant families deserted and went over to the insurgents; many units disintegrated. Spain was unable to mobilize its artillery or cavalry.
French troops brushed aside the Spanish at the Roussillon-Catalonia border, with Catalonia in revolt the French were able to capture Girona and advance on the main rebel area around Barcelona where they were sure of support. Barcelona welcomed them with open arms [and, more importantly, open gates] and France created the Principality of Aragon and Catalonia as a puppet state, the new Dauphin Prince Charles Louis being installed as ruler. Leaving a garrison French troops followed the Ebro River inland to cut the main road to Madrid and the French border.
The Spanish Army rallied to contest their passage but was soundly beaten at Lerida, then chased out of Zaragoza. The Spanish were stretched as they fought because of a lack of supplies and too many untrained recruits. A second French Army crossed the Bidossa on the western end of the Pyrenees to support the Basque rebels and establish Louis XVII's claim to the throne of Navarre.
A small French expeditionary force landed at Veracruz, New Spain, capturing the city with the exception of the Citadel where the Spanish garrison held on. The British became alarmed at French ambitions; it seemed obvious they wanted to expand into the Americas again whilst the Russians were alarmed over British influence in the Baltic. France entered an alliance with the new Constitutionalist government in the Netherlands.
The British, and now the Portuguese, their long-time allies, became more alarmed with the almost unopposed French advance and capture of Madrid. By 1811, the Spanish controlled only scattered enclaves, and could only harass the French with occasional raids. The morale of the army had reached a nadir, and reformers stripped the aristocratic officers of most of their legal privileges
In Pamplona, France created the Principality of Navarre as part of France, Louis XVII taking the throne as descendant of Henry of Navarre, Henry IV of France.
Charles IV fled to Cadiz where a provisional government was formed, at their request Portugal sent troops into Andalusia to keep order, Ferdinand also fled to New Spain on a British Frigate. Both states promised their aid if Spain would negotiate with the Latin American rebels, Spain, the "weak man of Europe" had no choice but to comply or it stood to lose everything.
In America; the North of New Spain was in the hands of various rebel factions but the central areas were under tenuous control, Rio de la Plata and Upper Peru were devoid of Spanish troops, either they had been defeated, run or turned coat. In New Granada the Capitane General of the Presidency of Caracas was dead, killed by the rebels who were planning an advance into Columbia. British troops were shipped into these areas from the North American Colonies to stiffen Spanish resistance. Whilst it is true that Spanish soldiers and generals performed badly on a large number of occasions, it is also the case that Spanish units behaved outstandingly well on others, many of the soldiers had neither the training nor equipment for open combat, but they did prove most valuable in such operations as blockades and sieges, releasing thousands of British troops for more demanding undertakings elsewhere.
The British and Portuguese intervention in Europe and America stabilized the situation and brought France to the negotiating table, in 1813 Spain ceded Aragon, Navarre and Haiti-Santo Domingo to France and the new Principality of Aragon and Catalonia, they also agreed to cease their support for Philip VII who was handed over to, and then executed by, the French. Britain swapped Minorca for concessions elsewhere.
Treaties were drawn up based upon the status quo at that moment, unsatisfactory to all parties but bringing peace to Latin America. Rio de la Plata, Venezuela, Upper Peru, Mexico and California were recognised as independent states, Republics in South America, Mexico as an Empire and California as a Kingdom. In addition Ferdinand was proclaimed Emperor of America, combining the remaining lands of New Spain, New Granada and Peru; he abrogated his right to the Spanish throne, his brother Charles, Count of Molina becoming the new heir in Spain. Portugal and the British guaranteed all parties and both took some lands themselves.
Elsewhere in Europe; Austria, with Russian help, had put down the Hungarian revolt, then, together with Russia and Prussia, defeated the Poles but, when it came to the Austrian Netherlands, who had backing from both France and Holland, they failed miserably. The Dutch "confiscated" nearby church lands in Munster, their border now abutting Hanover, creating tension with Britain whose King was also Elector of Hanover.
In Africa; France and Britain had, in 1814, co-operated using combined land and sea forces in North Africa to abate the threat of Barbary Pirates operating from ports there. Occupation troops were left in garrison at Major ports along the coast, including in Tripolitania, where Egypt was still establishing its authority. Dutch settlers unhappy with the new government were expanding outward to the Orange River to escape from central authority. A brief war with the Kaffir tribes to the east saw Dutch territory extend to the Great Fish River.
In Asia; In the Second Maratha War of 1814, one British Army defeated rebels in Gwalior and Rajputana whilst a second captured and deposed Sindhia, annexing his lands and forcing Bonsala into a subsidiary alliance. Hyderabad continued to try to steer a middle path between French and British influence.
Burmese raids into Bengal were disturbing the peace in the Calcutta Presidency. The Bombay Presidency annexed Sind in the East, split Rajputana with Calcutta and annexed Gwalior. In early 1816 Tipu Sahib died bequeathing his state to his French allies.
1816 saw tensions rise in Europe. Austria and Prussia were in conflict over control in the Holy Roman Empire or Germany, Holland and Britain over encroachments into Hanover and France was brought into the mix by the declaration of the rebels in the Austrian Netherlands that they were now part of Metropolitan France.
If France accepted this as a fait accompli war would ensue with Austria. Austria was allied with Russia, Sardinia-Piedmont, Bavaria and Naples. France was allied with the Netherlands and Aragon-Catalonia. Prussia and Britain were undecided and Spain was too weak to participate.
The Russo-Ottoman War 1809-1812 & The Ottoman-Egyptian War 1810-1815
The surprise of the Russian attack enabled them to isolate the Ottoman forces in Belgrade, Serbia, where they settled down to besiege the city. By the Black Sea Russian 40,000 troops over-ran Moldavia and up to the Danube, also occupying Wallachia, when they faced the fortresses of Sinistra guarding the Danube crossing. In Armenia, a 7,000-strong contingent captured Poti, giving them a port facility to shorten supply lines and ship in more troops then destroyed the approaching Turkish force of 20,000 at Arpachai but could not take the strong city of Kars.
In the meantime, the Russian Navy blockaded the Dardanelles and defeated the Ottoman fleet, after which the Sultan Selim III was deposed. The Ottoman fleet was destroyed the following month thus establishing Russian supremacy on sea. In Egypt, in 1810, a demand came to Murad Bey for a force of 12,000 men, to be employed by the Porte in the war against Russia. Having gathered these forces Murad Bey used them instead to declare his independence from the Ottoman Empire. Murad Bey advanced into Syria with these forces, capturing Damascus within the Month.
In August 1810 the Russians crossed the Danube, by-passing and laying siege to Sinistra, and overran Dobruja. On hearing that a 50,000-strong Turkish army approached the army began to evacuate Dobruja and retreat to Wallachia.
The first major battle of the Serbian campaign was the Battle of Belgrade where the Turkish Army was defeated and forced to retreat toward Nis. A basic government for administering Serbia, which Russia considered to be "distant relatives”, was set up. Land was returned, forced labour was abolished, and taxes were reduced. The second battle, in which the Russians defeated an Ottoman army from Bosnia, took place early 1810. At the same time, an army formed from Serbian recruits with a backbone of Russian regulars, defeated another Ottoman army sent from the south-east at Deligrad.
In 1811, the hostilities were renewed with the defeat of the Ottoman reinforcement heading for Silistria and ousted the Turks from Hacioglu Parzarcik. The position of Silistria now appeared hopeless, and the garrison surrendered on May, 30. Ten days later they laid siege to another strong fortress, Shumla. The storm of the citadel was repelled at great loss of life. The fortress did not fall to the Russians until 9 September, after surprising and routing a huge Turkish detachment at Batyn. On 26 October, The Russians again defeated a 40,000-strong army at Vidin. The Russians lost only 1,500 men, compared with 10,000 for their opponents. Russian reinforcements arrived and the troops in Wallachia linked with those in Serbia.
The Turks prepared to launch a new attack. Several months later 70,000 Turkish troops approached the Danube River to assault the Russians. The main force of 50,000 faced the Russian forces. The remaining 20,000 advanced towards the Serbian-Russian forces to the west. A detached Russian cavalry formation secretly circled the main force and assaulted the western Turkish force, killing 9,000 troops and capturing the remainder with all of their Turks' provisions. The Russian casualties were low, about 25 cavalrymen and nine Cossack troops killed in action. Right after that, the main Russian forces attacked and quickly encircled the 50,000 strong Turkish army. Information was then received that Ahmet Pasha was trying to escape the encirclement himself. The Russian commander let Ahmet escape because he knew that, according to Turkish law, the encircled Grand Vizier could not take part in peace negotiations.
The Russians contacted Ahmet to congratulate him on his successful escape and offer peace negotiations. But the Grand Vizier still hoped for reinforcements and tried to procrastinate. In response, the Russians took all the surrounding forts and cut all the supply lines to the encircled Turks. With all the supply lines being cut off, the encircled Turks were threatened by hunger and disease. Supplying the Turks with food and provisions to allow them to survive meant that by keeping the Turks alive, they were actually holding a large number of hostages and that would force the Sultan to negotiate.
Murad Bey, having raised more troops, dispatched an army of 20,000 men under the command of his son Yusuf, against the Saudis. By the end of 1811, Yusuf had captured Medina after a prolonged siege. He next took Jeddah and Mecca, defeating the Saudi and capturing their general. A truce was signed in 1812 with the Saudi leader Saud; Murad Bey concluded a Peace treaty with Saud's son and successor, Abdullah I in 1813.
In Serbia following the successful siege with 25,000 men, on 8 January 1812, Belgrade was proclaimed the capital of Serbia.
The Ottomans faced defeat despite their strenuous efforts. To avoid total defeat, a six week truce was negotiated.
The deposed Sultan Selim III was executed by Mustafa IV, who was subsequently deposed by Mahmud II. The Political crisis caused by these upheavals meant the Ottomans were willing to offer the Serbs a wide autonomy and cede land to Russia, however, the discussions led to no agreement between the two, as they couldn't agree on the exact boundaries of Serbia.
It was the advance of the Russian Army to lay siege to Varna that brought the Turks back to the negotiating table where a peace was hammered out in June 1812. If the Turks had but known, they could have got a better deal as the Russians were nervous of the Austrian mobilization to the North and they were wary of British sabre waving over the west coast of America. To alleviate one of these threats Russia negotiated a generous deal with the British, regularising the situation in America.
Murad Bey, dissatisfied with the treaty concluded with the Saudis, and with the non-fulfilment of certain of its clauses, determined to send another army to Arabia. This expedition, again under Yusuf, left in the autumn of 1814 and captured the Saudi capital of Ad Diriyah in 1815. Turkish diplomacy retrieved the situation by the expediency of appointing Murad Bey Pasha [or subsidiary ruler] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Yemen and Libya. The latter two only nominally Turkish, the intent was to distract Murad Bey as he would need to take action to bring them under his control.
Prince Christian August of Augustenborg died in 1810, later that same year, the Riksdag selected Prince Adolphus, 7th son of George III of Britain as the new heir to the Swedish throne where he would be known as Gustavus V Adolphus.
The French and Colonial Wars 1809-1813
The Spanish officer corps was selected primarily on the basis of royal patronage, about a third of the junior officers had been promoted from the ranks, and they did have talent, but had few opportunities for promotion or leadership. The militia was generally of poor quality, but some regulars were fine troops. Elite regiments consisted of Irishmen, Italians, Swiss, and Walloons, in addition to elite artillery and engineering units but these were small in number for such a large Empire. Equipment was old-fashioned and in disrepair, the army lacked its own horses, oxen and mules for transportation using auxiliaries operated by civilians, who might run away if conditions looked bad. In short, the army was ill-prepared. The Elite regiments were retained in Europe.
The birth of an heir to Louis XVII raised his concerns over the claims of Philip VII, Spain, however remained intransigent and refused to relinquish its support. Convincing the Government of the need, France declared War in March 1809. When war broke out the Spanish army was deeply unpopular. Junior officers from peasant families deserted and went over to the insurgents; many units disintegrated. Spain was unable to mobilize its artillery or cavalry.
French troops brushed aside the Spanish at the Roussillon-Catalonia border, with Catalonia in revolt the French were able to capture Girona and advance on the main rebel area around Barcelona where they were sure of support. Barcelona welcomed them with open arms [and, more importantly, open gates] and France created the Principality of Aragon and Catalonia as a puppet state, the new Dauphin Prince Charles Louis being installed as ruler. Leaving a garrison French troops followed the Ebro River inland to cut the main road to Madrid and the French border.
The Spanish Army rallied to contest their passage but was soundly beaten at Lerida, then chased out of Zaragoza. The Spanish were stretched as they fought because of a lack of supplies and too many untrained recruits. A second French Army crossed the Bidossa on the western end of the Pyrenees to support the Basque rebels and establish Louis XVII's claim to the throne of Navarre.
A small French expeditionary force landed at Veracruz, New Spain, capturing the city with the exception of the Citadel where the Spanish garrison held on. The British became alarmed at French ambitions; it seemed obvious they wanted to expand into the Americas again whilst the Russians were alarmed over British influence in the Baltic. France entered an alliance with the new Constitutionalist government in the Netherlands.
The British, and now the Portuguese, their long-time allies, became more alarmed with the almost unopposed French advance and capture of Madrid. By 1811, the Spanish controlled only scattered enclaves, and could only harass the French with occasional raids. The morale of the army had reached a nadir, and reformers stripped the aristocratic officers of most of their legal privileges
In Pamplona, France created the Principality of Navarre as part of France, Louis XVII taking the throne as descendant of Henry of Navarre, Henry IV of France.
Charles IV fled to Cadiz where a provisional government was formed, at their request Portugal sent troops into Andalusia to keep order, Ferdinand also fled to New Spain on a British Frigate. Both states promised their aid if Spain would negotiate with the Latin American rebels, Spain, the "weak man of Europe" had no choice but to comply or it stood to lose everything.
In America; the North of New Spain was in the hands of various rebel factions but the central areas were under tenuous control, Rio de la Plata and Upper Peru were devoid of Spanish troops, either they had been defeated, run or turned coat. In New Granada the Capitane General of the Presidency of Caracas was dead, killed by the rebels who were planning an advance into Columbia. British troops were shipped into these areas from the North American Colonies to stiffen Spanish resistance. Whilst it is true that Spanish soldiers and generals performed badly on a large number of occasions, it is also the case that Spanish units behaved outstandingly well on others, many of the soldiers had neither the training nor equipment for open combat, but they did prove most valuable in such operations as blockades and sieges, releasing thousands of British troops for more demanding undertakings elsewhere.
The British and Portuguese intervention in Europe and America stabilized the situation and brought France to the negotiating table, in 1813 Spain ceded Aragon, Navarre and Haiti-Santo Domingo to France and the new Principality of Aragon and Catalonia, they also agreed to cease their support for Philip VII who was handed over to, and then executed by, the French. Britain swapped Minorca for concessions elsewhere.
Treaties were drawn up based upon the status quo at that moment, unsatisfactory to all parties but bringing peace to Latin America. Rio de la Plata, Venezuela, Upper Peru, Mexico and California were recognised as independent states, Republics in South America, Mexico as an Empire and California as a Kingdom. In addition Ferdinand was proclaimed Emperor of America, combining the remaining lands of New Spain, New Granada and Peru; he abrogated his right to the Spanish throne, his brother Charles, Count of Molina becoming the new heir in Spain. Portugal and the British guaranteed all parties and both took some lands themselves.
Elsewhere in Europe; Austria, with Russian help, had put down the Hungarian revolt, then, together with Russia and Prussia, defeated the Poles but, when it came to the Austrian Netherlands, who had backing from both France and Holland, they failed miserably. The Dutch "confiscated" nearby church lands in Munster, their border now abutting Hanover, creating tension with Britain whose King was also Elector of Hanover.
In Africa; France and Britain had, in 1814, co-operated using combined land and sea forces in North Africa to abate the threat of Barbary Pirates operating from ports there. Occupation troops were left in garrison at Major ports along the coast, including in Tripolitania, where Egypt was still establishing its authority. Dutch settlers unhappy with the new government were expanding outward to the Orange River to escape from central authority. A brief war with the Kaffir tribes to the east saw Dutch territory extend to the Great Fish River.
In Asia; In the Second Maratha War of 1814, one British Army defeated rebels in Gwalior and Rajputana whilst a second captured and deposed Sindhia, annexing his lands and forcing Bonsala into a subsidiary alliance. Hyderabad continued to try to steer a middle path between French and British influence.
Burmese raids into Bengal were disturbing the peace in the Calcutta Presidency. The Bombay Presidency annexed Sind in the East, split Rajputana with Calcutta and annexed Gwalior. In early 1816 Tipu Sahib died bequeathing his state to his French allies.
1816 saw tensions rise in Europe. Austria and Prussia were in conflict over control in the Holy Roman Empire or Germany, Holland and Britain over encroachments into Hanover and France was brought into the mix by the declaration of the rebels in the Austrian Netherlands that they were now part of Metropolitan France.
If France accepted this as a fait accompli war would ensue with Austria. Austria was allied with Russia, Sardinia-Piedmont, Bavaria and Naples. France was allied with the Netherlands and Aragon-Catalonia. Prussia and Britain were undecided and Spain was too weak to participate.
Africa 1815-1845
The Mfecane & The Groot Trek
The events in 19th century Southern Africa are marked by the Groot Trek and the Mfecane.
The Boers; Starting in 1815, more than 10,000 Boers, the Voortrekkers, left the Cape Colony with their families and went north and north-east. The reasons for this mass exodus were their economic problems, the threatening danger of conflict with the Xhosa, who settled on the other side of the Fish River, and primarily, discontent with the Dutch Constitutionalist colonial authorities who didn't provide sufficient protection and had forbidden the slave trade and postulated the equality of whites and non-whites.
In the border area at the Fish River constant conflicts with the Xhosa occurred and the central government in Cape Town was neither willing nor able to give the Boers efficient military protection. Absolutely incomprehensible to the conservative Boer communities was the approach of the colonial government towards the black inhabitants of the colony, who were held as slaves on most of the white farms. From 1809 on the slave trade was declared illegal and the "Emancipation Act" demanded that white masters set their slaves free, against payment of a small compensation by the state. The Voortrekkers felt that the policy destroyed their traditional social order which was based on racial separation, and would undermine white predominance, which they saw as God's own will. Between 1815 and 1829 thousands left the Dutch Cape Colony.
The Mfecane; The area most affected by the Mfecane and Zulu expansion was around KwaZulu. Refugee groups fleeing Shaka’s army caused destruction in the area, and this was followed by further devastation by the Zulu warriors. A large part of the population fled to the south and west to settle for a while, causing disruption and power struggles in those areas.
The most prominent role players in the Mfecane ruled powerful Kingdoms in the area. Zwide of the Ndwandwe, Sobhuza of the Ngwane, who later became the Swazi, and Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa were deeply involved in the upheaval. Zwide and Sobhuza fought over land along the Pongola River and Sobhuza was defeated after which he led his people further inland to the area that is known as Swaziland today. After defeating Sobhuza, Zwide came into conflict with Dingiswayo over other resources like land and water.
Both Kingdoms were run on military lines. Young men were grouped together in army regiments according to age. Dingiswayo led all his forces against Zwide in 1816 and was trapped and killed in an ambush, which caused the Mthethwa Kingdom to dissolve and also paved the way for Shaka Zulu. Shaka was one of the sons of Senzangakhona, a ruler of the Zulu people. As a young man he was a member of Dingiswayo’s army where he distinguished himself through his bravery. When Shaka's father died, Dingiswayo helped him to overthrow his older brother and become chief of the Zulu. Once he became leader he began applying new military strategies that he had developed while serving Dingiswayo. Eventually he became a famous military leader.
As the Mthethwa nation fell apart after Dingiswayo's death Shaka used the opportunity to defeat all the chiefdoms in the area, bringing the defeated forces into his fold and so creating a new Kingdom. Zwide realised that Shaka could become a threat and decided to stop him, but was defeated in 1817 by the Zulu’s superior strategy and discipline. The Ndwandwe left their homeland and regrouped. In 1819, under Zwide’s successor Sikhunyani, they challenged the Zulu forces again and were completely destroyed. By this time Shaka had created an army of 40,000 men who defeated and then robbed other groups for cattle and grain. These attacks were highly organised raids and all resulting booty became the property of Shaka.
Shaka was focused on expanding his Kingdom and when he defeated a chiefdom the local rulers, or their family members, were left to control their tribes. Young men were taken away to become part of Shaka’s army and the development of his military system created a sense of unity among these men from independent communities. Although he only ruled for about a decade he merged nearly a hundred chiefdoms.
Shaka also maintained contact with Delagoa Bay in Mozambique and was interested in expanding the ivory trade in the area. A Portuguese delegation visited him in 1823. In 1824 English traders had also landed at Port Natal and he traded with them making use of their advice.
In 1825 he launched a campaign against all chiefdoms in the area between the Cape Colony and KwaZulu. It seems that the campaign was not only an attempt to raid, but also to establish a trade route between his Kingdom and the Colony. He sent a diplomatic delegation with one of his English traders, Lieutenant King, to open relations with the Governor of the Cape. When his delegation did not return from the Cape other English traders convinced Shaka that the chiefdoms near the frontier were protected by the Dutch. Shaka decided to turn his army around and moved north from his own Kingdom to attack the Kingdoms in southern Mozambique. He intended to return the next year because he was determined to make contact with the Cape. He stayed behind as his army travelled north and two of his brothers, Dingane and Mhlangane, took advantage of his followers’ unhappiness with his strict rule and constant warring. They conspired against him.
While Shaka was meeting a delegation in his cattle enclosure, Mhlangane and Dingane assassinated him. Mbopha, an induna, distracted the leader by abusing the delegation for being late and by driving them out of the enclosure, allowing Mhlangane to stab him in the back. Dingane joined his brother and together they killed him. At a later stage Dingane also killed Mhlangane and became the ruler of the Zulu.
The expansion of the Zulu nation forced the Ngwane to move north to form the Swazi Kingdom. The Ndwandwe also moved north to establish the Gaza Kingdom and, later, the Ndebele people moved to the area south-west of the Zambezi, defeating and starting the move of the Rozwi peoples. The upheaval caused by these migrations contributed to the Mfecane, which began around 1815-1817. The defeated forces in Shaka’s campaign caused more destruction than his own army because the refugees looted and pillaged wherever they went, reducing KwaZulu and the Orange Free State to a wasteland and forcing the displacement of thousands of people.
As a result of Boer expansionism and Zulu militancy, a wave of people headed into what is today Botswana from Transvaal and Natal. The Boers claimed land for their own causing land conflicts that persisted for a long time. The tribal wars spread across Botswana in the early 1820s whilst in Natal, the expansion policy of Shaka, the Zulu leader, drove many groups to take refuge outside of their homelands- collectively referred to as the Mfecane (“the crushing”) by the Nguni people and Difequane (“the scattering”) by the Basotho and Batswana people.
The area known as Basutoland was inhabited by San people until the sixteenth century when Bantu-speaking herders began to enter the area. In the early nineteenth century Moshoeshoe I assembled tribes and thousands of refugees that had been scattered by inter-African wars and brought the country together under one leader. Similarly the Sotho people took refuge on the plateau we now know as Lesotho, scattering the original inhabitants.
These migrations also resulted in the development of bigger and more centralised Kingdoms and states that spread over larger areas. The Zulu Kingdom created a sense of unity and identity among people of different tribes. Other Kingdoms that came into being include the Swazi, Gaza, and the Ndebele that displaced the Rozwi, Ngoni, Kololo and Lesotho. Great numbers of people were displaced and frightened communities left their own areas and settled in places like the Oranje River, Natal and the Transvaal. The vulnerability of the people that stayed behind caused them to welcome white people as allies against their enemies instead of seeing them as potential enemies that needed resisting. These areas offered space for white settlement when the dissatisfaction with Dutch rule at the Cape and the desire for self -government inspired an emigration of white frontier framers away from the Colony, leading to the Groot Trek. The Trekkers formed their own mini-states and alliances, resisting the turmoil of the peoples in transit over what they now considered their own lands. States of Trekkers and, in the case of Griqualand, interbred Trekkers and tribespeople traded with the natives and with European powers, most notably Prussia, which placed a trading post at the mouth of the Oranje River. The Trekker states gradually combined into bigger entities until, by 1845, the United Oranje Republic was formed.
The Ngoni formed states around Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria, the Kololo conquered and absorbed the Lozi and same Lunda peoples to become the Barotse. The Rozwi re-settled north of the Zambezi River whilst the Luba absorbed the peoples that had formed its trading empire into a single entity.
The displaced peoples had used the tactics and formations learned from the Zulu although the Rozwi had the Horned Bull formation before the Zulu and is, arguably and unprovably, where the Zulu learnt the tactic. The result of the Mfecane was to see the formation of more recognizable states as the entities formed, adopting the European idea of borders.
The Portuguese had expanded Mozambique and Angola, using protectorates to defend and then annexing their trading partners. In the east both Gasa and Ndebele states, after a short period of consolidation, moved into areas of Mozambique defeating the Portuguese and gaining coastline which enabled them to trade with the outside world.
The Mfecane & The Groot Trek
The events in 19th century Southern Africa are marked by the Groot Trek and the Mfecane.
The Boers; Starting in 1815, more than 10,000 Boers, the Voortrekkers, left the Cape Colony with their families and went north and north-east. The reasons for this mass exodus were their economic problems, the threatening danger of conflict with the Xhosa, who settled on the other side of the Fish River, and primarily, discontent with the Dutch Constitutionalist colonial authorities who didn't provide sufficient protection and had forbidden the slave trade and postulated the equality of whites and non-whites.
In the border area at the Fish River constant conflicts with the Xhosa occurred and the central government in Cape Town was neither willing nor able to give the Boers efficient military protection. Absolutely incomprehensible to the conservative Boer communities was the approach of the colonial government towards the black inhabitants of the colony, who were held as slaves on most of the white farms. From 1809 on the slave trade was declared illegal and the "Emancipation Act" demanded that white masters set their slaves free, against payment of a small compensation by the state. The Voortrekkers felt that the policy destroyed their traditional social order which was based on racial separation, and would undermine white predominance, which they saw as God's own will. Between 1815 and 1829 thousands left the Dutch Cape Colony.
The Mfecane; The area most affected by the Mfecane and Zulu expansion was around KwaZulu. Refugee groups fleeing Shaka’s army caused destruction in the area, and this was followed by further devastation by the Zulu warriors. A large part of the population fled to the south and west to settle for a while, causing disruption and power struggles in those areas.
The most prominent role players in the Mfecane ruled powerful Kingdoms in the area. Zwide of the Ndwandwe, Sobhuza of the Ngwane, who later became the Swazi, and Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa were deeply involved in the upheaval. Zwide and Sobhuza fought over land along the Pongola River and Sobhuza was defeated after which he led his people further inland to the area that is known as Swaziland today. After defeating Sobhuza, Zwide came into conflict with Dingiswayo over other resources like land and water.
Both Kingdoms were run on military lines. Young men were grouped together in army regiments according to age. Dingiswayo led all his forces against Zwide in 1816 and was trapped and killed in an ambush, which caused the Mthethwa Kingdom to dissolve and also paved the way for Shaka Zulu. Shaka was one of the sons of Senzangakhona, a ruler of the Zulu people. As a young man he was a member of Dingiswayo’s army where he distinguished himself through his bravery. When Shaka's father died, Dingiswayo helped him to overthrow his older brother and become chief of the Zulu. Once he became leader he began applying new military strategies that he had developed while serving Dingiswayo. Eventually he became a famous military leader.
As the Mthethwa nation fell apart after Dingiswayo's death Shaka used the opportunity to defeat all the chiefdoms in the area, bringing the defeated forces into his fold and so creating a new Kingdom. Zwide realised that Shaka could become a threat and decided to stop him, but was defeated in 1817 by the Zulu’s superior strategy and discipline. The Ndwandwe left their homeland and regrouped. In 1819, under Zwide’s successor Sikhunyani, they challenged the Zulu forces again and were completely destroyed. By this time Shaka had created an army of 40,000 men who defeated and then robbed other groups for cattle and grain. These attacks were highly organised raids and all resulting booty became the property of Shaka.
Shaka was focused on expanding his Kingdom and when he defeated a chiefdom the local rulers, or their family members, were left to control their tribes. Young men were taken away to become part of Shaka’s army and the development of his military system created a sense of unity among these men from independent communities. Although he only ruled for about a decade he merged nearly a hundred chiefdoms.
Shaka also maintained contact with Delagoa Bay in Mozambique and was interested in expanding the ivory trade in the area. A Portuguese delegation visited him in 1823. In 1824 English traders had also landed at Port Natal and he traded with them making use of their advice.
In 1825 he launched a campaign against all chiefdoms in the area between the Cape Colony and KwaZulu. It seems that the campaign was not only an attempt to raid, but also to establish a trade route between his Kingdom and the Colony. He sent a diplomatic delegation with one of his English traders, Lieutenant King, to open relations with the Governor of the Cape. When his delegation did not return from the Cape other English traders convinced Shaka that the chiefdoms near the frontier were protected by the Dutch. Shaka decided to turn his army around and moved north from his own Kingdom to attack the Kingdoms in southern Mozambique. He intended to return the next year because he was determined to make contact with the Cape. He stayed behind as his army travelled north and two of his brothers, Dingane and Mhlangane, took advantage of his followers’ unhappiness with his strict rule and constant warring. They conspired against him.
While Shaka was meeting a delegation in his cattle enclosure, Mhlangane and Dingane assassinated him. Mbopha, an induna, distracted the leader by abusing the delegation for being late and by driving them out of the enclosure, allowing Mhlangane to stab him in the back. Dingane joined his brother and together they killed him. At a later stage Dingane also killed Mhlangane and became the ruler of the Zulu.
The expansion of the Zulu nation forced the Ngwane to move north to form the Swazi Kingdom. The Ndwandwe also moved north to establish the Gaza Kingdom and, later, the Ndebele people moved to the area south-west of the Zambezi, defeating and starting the move of the Rozwi peoples. The upheaval caused by these migrations contributed to the Mfecane, which began around 1815-1817. The defeated forces in Shaka’s campaign caused more destruction than his own army because the refugees looted and pillaged wherever they went, reducing KwaZulu and the Orange Free State to a wasteland and forcing the displacement of thousands of people.
As a result of Boer expansionism and Zulu militancy, a wave of people headed into what is today Botswana from Transvaal and Natal. The Boers claimed land for their own causing land conflicts that persisted for a long time. The tribal wars spread across Botswana in the early 1820s whilst in Natal, the expansion policy of Shaka, the Zulu leader, drove many groups to take refuge outside of their homelands- collectively referred to as the Mfecane (“the crushing”) by the Nguni people and Difequane (“the scattering”) by the Basotho and Batswana people.
The area known as Basutoland was inhabited by San people until the sixteenth century when Bantu-speaking herders began to enter the area. In the early nineteenth century Moshoeshoe I assembled tribes and thousands of refugees that had been scattered by inter-African wars and brought the country together under one leader. Similarly the Sotho people took refuge on the plateau we now know as Lesotho, scattering the original inhabitants.
These migrations also resulted in the development of bigger and more centralised Kingdoms and states that spread over larger areas. The Zulu Kingdom created a sense of unity and identity among people of different tribes. Other Kingdoms that came into being include the Swazi, Gaza, and the Ndebele that displaced the Rozwi, Ngoni, Kololo and Lesotho. Great numbers of people were displaced and frightened communities left their own areas and settled in places like the Oranje River, Natal and the Transvaal. The vulnerability of the people that stayed behind caused them to welcome white people as allies against their enemies instead of seeing them as potential enemies that needed resisting. These areas offered space for white settlement when the dissatisfaction with Dutch rule at the Cape and the desire for self -government inspired an emigration of white frontier framers away from the Colony, leading to the Groot Trek. The Trekkers formed their own mini-states and alliances, resisting the turmoil of the peoples in transit over what they now considered their own lands. States of Trekkers and, in the case of Griqualand, interbred Trekkers and tribespeople traded with the natives and with European powers, most notably Prussia, which placed a trading post at the mouth of the Oranje River. The Trekker states gradually combined into bigger entities until, by 1845, the United Oranje Republic was formed.
The Ngoni formed states around Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria, the Kololo conquered and absorbed the Lozi and same Lunda peoples to become the Barotse. The Rozwi re-settled north of the Zambezi River whilst the Luba absorbed the peoples that had formed its trading empire into a single entity.
The displaced peoples had used the tactics and formations learned from the Zulu although the Rozwi had the Horned Bull formation before the Zulu and is, arguably and unprovably, where the Zulu learnt the tactic. The result of the Mfecane was to see the formation of more recognizable states as the entities formed, adopting the European idea of borders.
The Portuguese had expanded Mozambique and Angola, using protectorates to defend and then annexing their trading partners. In the east both Gasa and Ndebele states, after a short period of consolidation, moved into areas of Mozambique defeating the Portuguese and gaining coastline which enabled them to trade with the outside world.
1816-1820
The Second French War 1816-1819
France accepted and the Austrian Netherlands and Liege became part of France. Austria declared war followed by her allies; Russia, Sardinia-Piedmont, Bavaria and Naples plus the Papal States, nominal overlords of the Bisheropic of Liege.
Both sides were trying to gain Prussia and the British as allies. Negotiations with Prussia swapped Cleves and East Friesland for lands on the rich slave coast of West Africa and holdings in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, giving Prussia greater trading options and bringing her, and her ally Saxony, into the war against Austria. Prussia declared the Holy Roman Empire to be dissolved. Britain remained undecided.
Armies started to gather. A Bavarian-HRE army formed around Ulm in Southern Germany, an Austrian army gathered at Prague, another marched towards Turin to link up with Sardinian, Neapolitan and Papal forces. Another Austrian army formed from Hungarian and Croatian troops waited at Vienna for a Russian force to join them, another Russian army advanced through Galicia towards Warsaw.
Prussian troops gathered in Silesia and with Saxon troops around Dresden. A Franco-Dutch army formed near Maastricht, a second French army near Landau and a third near Nice.
The first action of the war, however, was an unexpected attack on Sweden by Russian troops in early 1817. Russia had reasoned that if Britain joined the war against her allies, Sweden, with her British heir, would follow. Hanoverian forces occupied the small German states between them and Holland.
French forces crossed the Rhine and left a force investing Phillipsburg whilst the main force headed Southeast via Karlsruhe and Stuttgart towards Ulm and the Danube valley. Maximillian IV, Elector of Bavaria, manoeuvred his army to block the French. He drew up his men defensively along the Neckar River just outside Wendlingen, French forces tried to turn the position but Bavarian Cavalry cut them up forcing the Infantry into a frontal assault which, although successful, was very costly in casualties for the French. Maximillian fell back upon Ulm. The French were too exhausted to follow.
The Franco-Dutch force crossed the Rhine at Cologne before advancing south to Frankfurt and the Main River intending to head for the North of Bavaria and then be able to intervene in either Bohemia or along the Danube but, having heard of the Battle at Wendlingen turned south-east toward Wurzburg, intending to cut the Bavarians off from Munich.
Prussian forces in Saxony were slow to move, allowing the Austrian Prague Army to cross the Ore Mountains and approach Dresden before they reacted. The armies met outside Pirna. Although neither party had been involved in a major war for some time, Austrian veterans [of fighting the Ottomans] proved to be the deciding factor. The Prussian army was still dressed and equipped as they had been 50 years previously during the reign of Frederick the Great. Unfortunately the officers and men were still trained in the old ways which allowed the faster moving, more flexible Austrians to defeat the Prussians in detail, cavalry pursuing the routed Army along the road to Cottbus and Berlin. The cavalry raided the outskirts of Berlin but fell back when fresh troops drove them off.
The Silesian based Army reacted quicker, moving east to contest the Russians crossing of the Vistula. Sending a small force to simulate the main army and pin the Prussians, the main Russian force crossed east of Krakow, in Austrian territory and turned north to trap the Prussians. It should have worked but a messenger nearly killed his horse bringing news of the disaster in Saxony and without knowing they had the army escaped the trap by retreating toward Berlin.
The French Southern Army, by some fast marching, intercepted and defeated the Austrians before they could link up with the Sardinians, forcing them into Milan. This left the Sardinians isolated and weak. They were penned up in Turin with only a few small actions and skirmishes, surrendering in early 1818.
Reinforcements destined for the three French Armies were rushed north to link with fresh Dutch and Hanoverian troops. A British force was expected soon. A makeshift Allied Army was put together to try to support Prussia or to defend Hanover if needed.
1818 saw Prussia trying to defend her core provinces and Saxony knocked out of the war but two French Armies were camped on the borders of Bavaria and another besieging Turin and Milan. The Bavarian Army was camped around Munich whilst Russian units had finally joined the second Austrian Army, now at Passau. In Sweden Russian forces occupied the coastal cities along the Gulf of Finland.
The fall of Turin and, later, Milan meant the internment of all of the troops captured there. These were shipped back to France. The Papal States and Naples always had difficulty raising and training troops anyway and now all they had left were garrison troops, usually the old, infirm and recruits under training. The only real opposition left in the Italian peninsula was the Austrian garrison in Siena.
Realising he could do nothing against the advancing French the Pope sued for peace, even though he was overlord in name only, he signed away all of the Church Lands in the Holy Roman Empire for the Allies to dispose of as they saw fit. Naples held out longer but followed suit before the French even came near their borders.
France used the "carrot" of the Church Lands [several dozen ecclesiastic polities] plus other small states such as Breisgau (Habsburg), Offenburg and Rottweil (free cities) and the "stick" of their Armies to bring Baden, Württemberg and Hesse to change sides. Many of these territories were not contiguous: a village could belong predominantly to one polity, but have a farmstead, a house, or even one or two strips of land that belonged to another polity. The French plan was to consolidate these territories around their new allies. Seeing that he was potentially to be cut off by the Franco-Dutch Army, Maximillian IV withdrew with his Bavarian troops towards Munich leaving the Empire troops to garrison Ulm. Ulm fell to its own garrison as the majority were from principalities that had now changed sides.
Despite Allied success, Prussia surrendered; it could not resist the combined might of two Armies. Prussia was forced to give up most of the lands it had taken from Poland plus part of Silesia to Austria and Russia.
British troops landed in Hanover to complete the formation of the northern Allied Army which positioned itself to defend the Elbe River at Magdeburg. The Austrian Army marched back to Prague to protect Bohemia whilst the Austro-Russian force advanced towards the Elbe. The Passau Army marched to link up with Maximillian.
Although they had committed a small force to mainland Europe, the British main effort in 1818 was on the High Seas; In the North Pacific, Alaska was cut off from support from Siberia and Marine landings captured the main colonies. On the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia the small Russian squadron was overwhelmed and took shelter in Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka's main town and port. The sole Russian heavy ship, frigate Aurora, was anchored behind a sand spit topped by a shore battery. The British advanced to bombard Petropavlovsk. They had 200 plus cannons at their disposal, as compared to 63 cannons available to the defenders. The Petropavlovsk garrison consisted of 920 Officers and men. The British squadron entered Avacha Bay to storm the city. After a short bombardment neutralizing Russian batteries, 970 Allied troops (with oarsmen reinforcements) landed west of Petropavlovsk, but were repelled by 360 Russians. A naval brigade of around 680 British seamen and marines landed but they were ambushed and, after some heavy fighting, retreated with 208 British dead or wounded. The British retreated to the Colony of Vancouver to carry out repairs.
In the Baltic; Russian shipping was devastated as British and Swedish squadrons scoured the area. British marines landed and took the forts covering Helsingfors, the Swedish capital of their Province of Finland, forcing a Russian withdrawal to Viborg and cutting off the garrisons in Turka and Hanko. Having cleared the Baltic and penned up the Russian fleet the combined force even forced the straits and bombarded St. Petersburg but no landing was attempted.
Unable to destroy every bridge across the Elbe the allies withdrew towards Brunswick as the Austro-Russians advanced, stopping to give battle at a place of their choosing. The Allied and Austro-Russian Armies faced each other just east of Helmstedt, across the Wirbke stream with Marienborn on one flank. British and Hanoverian troops drew up in their two deep lines on the left of the line whilst their Allies and the Austrians formed in three ranks. The Russians lined up four deep. The Russian commander mis-read this as a need to stretch forces to match fronts with the Austro-Russian Army and decided to concentrate his forces to attack that point of the allied line. Anglo-Hanoverian training meant that they could deliver fire almost twice as fast as their opponents, in addition they were trained to aim their shots rather than volley fire with the first stages, before vision was obscured by clouds of gun smoke.
Five Russian regiments [10 battalions, approximately 5,000 men] advanced, muskets at low porte, towards the line of Anglo-Hanoverian infantry which held its fire until the Russians were under 150 metres away. Generally the first salvo fired at close range caused far the greatest damage. Then the Anglo-Hanoverian infantry fired successively in the order of their platoon numbers: 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th, then 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th creating a ripple effect which gave the impression of continuous fire. Over 1,700 casualties were caused by that first encounter and the Russian Regiments broke and fled toward the second line. They disordered the second line and together they ran to the rear. Mixed French Cuirassiers and Lancers were sent in which saw the precipitous retreat turn into a rout of nearly a third of the Austro-Russian Army.
The Anglo-Hanoverian infantry advanced and wheeled to flank the centre of the Austro-Russian Army, the Cuirassiers and Lancers broke off their pursuit to raid the baggage and threaten the rear of the Austro-Russian Army. Panic gathered volume like a snowball in the centre. The Left, unaware of the disaster taking place on their right tried to dislodge the French and Dutch regiments to their front only to be disorganised by the centre regiments fleeing the encirclement that was likely to destroy them.
The Russians withdrew in disarray pursued by Allied cavalry to keep them retreating past the Elbe and Magdeburg and on to Leipzig.
The Allied Army in Northern Bavaria and the Austrian Army in Prague tended to cancel each other out, unable to move to support the other forces without leaving itself vulnerable on the flank although the French were concentrating a new Army near Strasbourg which could change that dynamic.
Reinforced by their new German Allies the French sought, in 1819, to confront Maximillian and force the passage to Vienna. The Armies met at Markt Indersdorf, north of Munich. On the left, a French Light battalion was attacked by Austrian cuirassiers, another two by dragoons. Having no time to form square the Light battalion fought in line. They delivered volley at close range and immediately attacked with cold steel. The cavalry fled. The two other regiments of French infantry attacked the Austrian dragoons. The boldness of the infantry was enough to drive back the dragoons on to the battery which they had just captured, this was still loaded and the French fired upon the retreating cavalry.
The Bavarian Infantry next deployed into line in the centre, advancing all the time towards their opponents, who waited coolly for them. When they were within 250 metres, the Bavarians poured in a volley of running fire from right to left. As soon as the French had recovered from the first shock, and closed their files on the gaps made, they advanced at double time 50 metres nearer to the enemy, where they halted and in turn gave a running fire from their whole line. Without a pause they cheered and charged them. The Bavarians were attempting to reload but the French, giving them no time to give a second volley, immediately charged home with the bayonet. The contest was hard fought but the Bavarians gave way, French cavalry poured into the gap, most heading for the rear of the Austrian Left wing [the French right] where Frances' new allies were barely holding their own. The Austrian Left collapsed fleeing the battlefield, The mainly Bavarian Right were cut off from Munich and, whilst some escaped, most were forced to surrender, including Maximillian who was forced to sign the Indersdorf Convention, ending Bavaria's participation in the war and agreeing to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Austro-Russian Army in Saxony pulled back to Prague to cover the Prague Army's move south to protect Vienna but too late to stop the French advancing from Munich. Vienna was occupied. The Austrians re-grouped in Moravia.
Swedish troops occupied the Kola Peninsula and Murmansk whilst the main Army advanced on Viborg. Joint Franco-British-Swedish operations occupied Riga, Reval and Narva on the south Baltic coast whilst joint fleets operations in the Black Sea, by the Allies based in Ottoman ports, kept the Russian fleet in port and tied up Russian troops for fear of a southern landing or Turkey joining the Allies, more were tied up in Siberia, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
In 1819 Murad Bey gave orders to commence the conquest of Sudan to extend his rule southward and to capture the valuable caravan trade bound for the Red Sea and to secure the rich gold mines which he believed to exist in Sennar.
The forces destined for this service were again led by Yusuf. They consisted of between 4000 and 5000 men, being Turks and Arabs. They left Cairo in July 1819, Yusuf led the army into Sennar; the Arabs of the province of Dongola were defeated but he encountered no resistance from the last king of Sennar, whose realm was promptly absorbed into Egypt.
Franco-British diplomacy brought the Ottomans and Persia to an understanding, tacit Ottoman assistance was given to Persia, still at war with Russia since 1804, and Black Sea bases were provided for Franco-British troops to operate against the Crimea and Ukraine.
In Sweden Prince Adolphus, 7th son of George III of Britain was crowned Gustavus V Adolphus upon the death of Charles XIII and an allied army approached the capital; St.Petersberg, driving the disorganised Russian forces before it.
The French Army, reinforced and rested from its over-wintering in Vienna, advanced into Moravia and Bohemia determined to defeat the joint Armies awaiting them. The climactic battle of the war was fought at Olmutz and owed a lot to the small British Rocket Troop whose weapons, unused in European warfare before, caused such panic amongst the combined Austro-Russian Armies, especially the Russian troops, that the French cavalry were able to drive many units off the field in rout. Some units, such as the Russian Guards held their ground but were wiped out almost to a man by the overwhelming forces they then faced. One battalion of the French Line took cover behind the cemetery walls. When the Austrian infantry came close the French infantry rose up and delivered a point-blank volley that broke the enemy in the instant and caused heavy casualties. The Austrians fled stumbling to the rear.
Francis II of Austria sued for peace, Alexander of Russia barely escaped capture and followed suit.
Austria and Russia had to give up much of their Polish lands to re-form Poland although as a Principality, the Holy Roman Empire was extinguished; Francis became Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor of Austria-Hungary and also gave some lands up to Bavaria which, despite being on the wrong side, was raised to the status of Kingdom. These acts put Poland and Bavaria firmly in the Anglo-French camp. Hanover and the Netherlands gained lands in Northern Germany, the previous surrender of Prussia was accepted but it was compensated with Mecklemburg. Southern Germany was re-organised, rewarding those pro-French states, and formed into the German Federation under the Presidency of Louis XVII of France. Italy was recognised as was Sardinia [now just the island], currently under siege by the Royal Navy. French borders were now on the Rhine and the Italian Piedmont. Russia had additionally to give up its gains in Persia, which also signed the peace, Besabria to the Ottomans and Murmansk, the Kola Peninsula and some small parts of Karelia to Sweden.
The Second French War 1816-1819
France accepted and the Austrian Netherlands and Liege became part of France. Austria declared war followed by her allies; Russia, Sardinia-Piedmont, Bavaria and Naples plus the Papal States, nominal overlords of the Bisheropic of Liege.
Both sides were trying to gain Prussia and the British as allies. Negotiations with Prussia swapped Cleves and East Friesland for lands on the rich slave coast of West Africa and holdings in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, giving Prussia greater trading options and bringing her, and her ally Saxony, into the war against Austria. Prussia declared the Holy Roman Empire to be dissolved. Britain remained undecided.
Armies started to gather. A Bavarian-HRE army formed around Ulm in Southern Germany, an Austrian army gathered at Prague, another marched towards Turin to link up with Sardinian, Neapolitan and Papal forces. Another Austrian army formed from Hungarian and Croatian troops waited at Vienna for a Russian force to join them, another Russian army advanced through Galicia towards Warsaw.
Prussian troops gathered in Silesia and with Saxon troops around Dresden. A Franco-Dutch army formed near Maastricht, a second French army near Landau and a third near Nice.
The first action of the war, however, was an unexpected attack on Sweden by Russian troops in early 1817. Russia had reasoned that if Britain joined the war against her allies, Sweden, with her British heir, would follow. Hanoverian forces occupied the small German states between them and Holland.
French forces crossed the Rhine and left a force investing Phillipsburg whilst the main force headed Southeast via Karlsruhe and Stuttgart towards Ulm and the Danube valley. Maximillian IV, Elector of Bavaria, manoeuvred his army to block the French. He drew up his men defensively along the Neckar River just outside Wendlingen, French forces tried to turn the position but Bavarian Cavalry cut them up forcing the Infantry into a frontal assault which, although successful, was very costly in casualties for the French. Maximillian fell back upon Ulm. The French were too exhausted to follow.
The Franco-Dutch force crossed the Rhine at Cologne before advancing south to Frankfurt and the Main River intending to head for the North of Bavaria and then be able to intervene in either Bohemia or along the Danube but, having heard of the Battle at Wendlingen turned south-east toward Wurzburg, intending to cut the Bavarians off from Munich.
Prussian forces in Saxony were slow to move, allowing the Austrian Prague Army to cross the Ore Mountains and approach Dresden before they reacted. The armies met outside Pirna. Although neither party had been involved in a major war for some time, Austrian veterans [of fighting the Ottomans] proved to be the deciding factor. The Prussian army was still dressed and equipped as they had been 50 years previously during the reign of Frederick the Great. Unfortunately the officers and men were still trained in the old ways which allowed the faster moving, more flexible Austrians to defeat the Prussians in detail, cavalry pursuing the routed Army along the road to Cottbus and Berlin. The cavalry raided the outskirts of Berlin but fell back when fresh troops drove them off.
The Silesian based Army reacted quicker, moving east to contest the Russians crossing of the Vistula. Sending a small force to simulate the main army and pin the Prussians, the main Russian force crossed east of Krakow, in Austrian territory and turned north to trap the Prussians. It should have worked but a messenger nearly killed his horse bringing news of the disaster in Saxony and without knowing they had the army escaped the trap by retreating toward Berlin.
The French Southern Army, by some fast marching, intercepted and defeated the Austrians before they could link up with the Sardinians, forcing them into Milan. This left the Sardinians isolated and weak. They were penned up in Turin with only a few small actions and skirmishes, surrendering in early 1818.
Reinforcements destined for the three French Armies were rushed north to link with fresh Dutch and Hanoverian troops. A British force was expected soon. A makeshift Allied Army was put together to try to support Prussia or to defend Hanover if needed.
1818 saw Prussia trying to defend her core provinces and Saxony knocked out of the war but two French Armies were camped on the borders of Bavaria and another besieging Turin and Milan. The Bavarian Army was camped around Munich whilst Russian units had finally joined the second Austrian Army, now at Passau. In Sweden Russian forces occupied the coastal cities along the Gulf of Finland.
The fall of Turin and, later, Milan meant the internment of all of the troops captured there. These were shipped back to France. The Papal States and Naples always had difficulty raising and training troops anyway and now all they had left were garrison troops, usually the old, infirm and recruits under training. The only real opposition left in the Italian peninsula was the Austrian garrison in Siena.
Realising he could do nothing against the advancing French the Pope sued for peace, even though he was overlord in name only, he signed away all of the Church Lands in the Holy Roman Empire for the Allies to dispose of as they saw fit. Naples held out longer but followed suit before the French even came near their borders.
France used the "carrot" of the Church Lands [several dozen ecclesiastic polities] plus other small states such as Breisgau (Habsburg), Offenburg and Rottweil (free cities) and the "stick" of their Armies to bring Baden, Württemberg and Hesse to change sides. Many of these territories were not contiguous: a village could belong predominantly to one polity, but have a farmstead, a house, or even one or two strips of land that belonged to another polity. The French plan was to consolidate these territories around their new allies. Seeing that he was potentially to be cut off by the Franco-Dutch Army, Maximillian IV withdrew with his Bavarian troops towards Munich leaving the Empire troops to garrison Ulm. Ulm fell to its own garrison as the majority were from principalities that had now changed sides.
Despite Allied success, Prussia surrendered; it could not resist the combined might of two Armies. Prussia was forced to give up most of the lands it had taken from Poland plus part of Silesia to Austria and Russia.
British troops landed in Hanover to complete the formation of the northern Allied Army which positioned itself to defend the Elbe River at Magdeburg. The Austrian Army marched back to Prague to protect Bohemia whilst the Austro-Russian force advanced towards the Elbe. The Passau Army marched to link up with Maximillian.
Although they had committed a small force to mainland Europe, the British main effort in 1818 was on the High Seas; In the North Pacific, Alaska was cut off from support from Siberia and Marine landings captured the main colonies. On the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia the small Russian squadron was overwhelmed and took shelter in Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka's main town and port. The sole Russian heavy ship, frigate Aurora, was anchored behind a sand spit topped by a shore battery. The British advanced to bombard Petropavlovsk. They had 200 plus cannons at their disposal, as compared to 63 cannons available to the defenders. The Petropavlovsk garrison consisted of 920 Officers and men. The British squadron entered Avacha Bay to storm the city. After a short bombardment neutralizing Russian batteries, 970 Allied troops (with oarsmen reinforcements) landed west of Petropavlovsk, but were repelled by 360 Russians. A naval brigade of around 680 British seamen and marines landed but they were ambushed and, after some heavy fighting, retreated with 208 British dead or wounded. The British retreated to the Colony of Vancouver to carry out repairs.
In the Baltic; Russian shipping was devastated as British and Swedish squadrons scoured the area. British marines landed and took the forts covering Helsingfors, the Swedish capital of their Province of Finland, forcing a Russian withdrawal to Viborg and cutting off the garrisons in Turka and Hanko. Having cleared the Baltic and penned up the Russian fleet the combined force even forced the straits and bombarded St. Petersburg but no landing was attempted.
Unable to destroy every bridge across the Elbe the allies withdrew towards Brunswick as the Austro-Russians advanced, stopping to give battle at a place of their choosing. The Allied and Austro-Russian Armies faced each other just east of Helmstedt, across the Wirbke stream with Marienborn on one flank. British and Hanoverian troops drew up in their two deep lines on the left of the line whilst their Allies and the Austrians formed in three ranks. The Russians lined up four deep. The Russian commander mis-read this as a need to stretch forces to match fronts with the Austro-Russian Army and decided to concentrate his forces to attack that point of the allied line. Anglo-Hanoverian training meant that they could deliver fire almost twice as fast as their opponents, in addition they were trained to aim their shots rather than volley fire with the first stages, before vision was obscured by clouds of gun smoke.
Five Russian regiments [10 battalions, approximately 5,000 men] advanced, muskets at low porte, towards the line of Anglo-Hanoverian infantry which held its fire until the Russians were under 150 metres away. Generally the first salvo fired at close range caused far the greatest damage. Then the Anglo-Hanoverian infantry fired successively in the order of their platoon numbers: 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th, then 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th creating a ripple effect which gave the impression of continuous fire. Over 1,700 casualties were caused by that first encounter and the Russian Regiments broke and fled toward the second line. They disordered the second line and together they ran to the rear. Mixed French Cuirassiers and Lancers were sent in which saw the precipitous retreat turn into a rout of nearly a third of the Austro-Russian Army.
The Anglo-Hanoverian infantry advanced and wheeled to flank the centre of the Austro-Russian Army, the Cuirassiers and Lancers broke off their pursuit to raid the baggage and threaten the rear of the Austro-Russian Army. Panic gathered volume like a snowball in the centre. The Left, unaware of the disaster taking place on their right tried to dislodge the French and Dutch regiments to their front only to be disorganised by the centre regiments fleeing the encirclement that was likely to destroy them.
The Russians withdrew in disarray pursued by Allied cavalry to keep them retreating past the Elbe and Magdeburg and on to Leipzig.
The Allied Army in Northern Bavaria and the Austrian Army in Prague tended to cancel each other out, unable to move to support the other forces without leaving itself vulnerable on the flank although the French were concentrating a new Army near Strasbourg which could change that dynamic.
Reinforced by their new German Allies the French sought, in 1819, to confront Maximillian and force the passage to Vienna. The Armies met at Markt Indersdorf, north of Munich. On the left, a French Light battalion was attacked by Austrian cuirassiers, another two by dragoons. Having no time to form square the Light battalion fought in line. They delivered volley at close range and immediately attacked with cold steel. The cavalry fled. The two other regiments of French infantry attacked the Austrian dragoons. The boldness of the infantry was enough to drive back the dragoons on to the battery which they had just captured, this was still loaded and the French fired upon the retreating cavalry.
The Bavarian Infantry next deployed into line in the centre, advancing all the time towards their opponents, who waited coolly for them. When they were within 250 metres, the Bavarians poured in a volley of running fire from right to left. As soon as the French had recovered from the first shock, and closed their files on the gaps made, they advanced at double time 50 metres nearer to the enemy, where they halted and in turn gave a running fire from their whole line. Without a pause they cheered and charged them. The Bavarians were attempting to reload but the French, giving them no time to give a second volley, immediately charged home with the bayonet. The contest was hard fought but the Bavarians gave way, French cavalry poured into the gap, most heading for the rear of the Austrian Left wing [the French right] where Frances' new allies were barely holding their own. The Austrian Left collapsed fleeing the battlefield, The mainly Bavarian Right were cut off from Munich and, whilst some escaped, most were forced to surrender, including Maximillian who was forced to sign the Indersdorf Convention, ending Bavaria's participation in the war and agreeing to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Austro-Russian Army in Saxony pulled back to Prague to cover the Prague Army's move south to protect Vienna but too late to stop the French advancing from Munich. Vienna was occupied. The Austrians re-grouped in Moravia.
Swedish troops occupied the Kola Peninsula and Murmansk whilst the main Army advanced on Viborg. Joint Franco-British-Swedish operations occupied Riga, Reval and Narva on the south Baltic coast whilst joint fleets operations in the Black Sea, by the Allies based in Ottoman ports, kept the Russian fleet in port and tied up Russian troops for fear of a southern landing or Turkey joining the Allies, more were tied up in Siberia, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
In 1819 Murad Bey gave orders to commence the conquest of Sudan to extend his rule southward and to capture the valuable caravan trade bound for the Red Sea and to secure the rich gold mines which he believed to exist in Sennar.
The forces destined for this service were again led by Yusuf. They consisted of between 4000 and 5000 men, being Turks and Arabs. They left Cairo in July 1819, Yusuf led the army into Sennar; the Arabs of the province of Dongola were defeated but he encountered no resistance from the last king of Sennar, whose realm was promptly absorbed into Egypt.
Franco-British diplomacy brought the Ottomans and Persia to an understanding, tacit Ottoman assistance was given to Persia, still at war with Russia since 1804, and Black Sea bases were provided for Franco-British troops to operate against the Crimea and Ukraine.
In Sweden Prince Adolphus, 7th son of George III of Britain was crowned Gustavus V Adolphus upon the death of Charles XIII and an allied army approached the capital; St.Petersberg, driving the disorganised Russian forces before it.
The French Army, reinforced and rested from its over-wintering in Vienna, advanced into Moravia and Bohemia determined to defeat the joint Armies awaiting them. The climactic battle of the war was fought at Olmutz and owed a lot to the small British Rocket Troop whose weapons, unused in European warfare before, caused such panic amongst the combined Austro-Russian Armies, especially the Russian troops, that the French cavalry were able to drive many units off the field in rout. Some units, such as the Russian Guards held their ground but were wiped out almost to a man by the overwhelming forces they then faced. One battalion of the French Line took cover behind the cemetery walls. When the Austrian infantry came close the French infantry rose up and delivered a point-blank volley that broke the enemy in the instant and caused heavy casualties. The Austrians fled stumbling to the rear.
Francis II of Austria sued for peace, Alexander of Russia barely escaped capture and followed suit.
Austria and Russia had to give up much of their Polish lands to re-form Poland although as a Principality, the Holy Roman Empire was extinguished; Francis became Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor of Austria-Hungary and also gave some lands up to Bavaria which, despite being on the wrong side, was raised to the status of Kingdom. These acts put Poland and Bavaria firmly in the Anglo-French camp. Hanover and the Netherlands gained lands in Northern Germany, the previous surrender of Prussia was accepted but it was compensated with Mecklemburg. Southern Germany was re-organised, rewarding those pro-French states, and formed into the German Federation under the Presidency of Louis XVII of France. Italy was recognised as was Sardinia [now just the island], currently under siege by the Royal Navy. French borders were now on the Rhine and the Italian Piedmont. Russia had additionally to give up its gains in Persia, which also signed the peace, Besabria to the Ottomans and Murmansk, the Kola Peninsula and some small parts of Karelia to Sweden.
1820-1824
The Russian Civil War 1820-1824
With the end of the war Alexander's early attitude to Liberal reforms changed to a more hard-line, authoritarian view. Internal and external unrest, which the Tsar believed stemmed from political liberalisation, led to a series of repressions and a return to a former government of restriction and conservatism. In 1816 several officers of the Tsar's Imperial Guard founded a society known as the Union of Salvation under its leader Prince Trubetskoy, a similar society was already in existence in the Ukraine led by Pavel Pestel. The Tsar's popularity was already at an all-time low and, with western liberal ideas spreading through the realm, plans were soon hatched to replace him however the Northern and Southern societies were at odds over the final political aim. The political aims of the more moderate Northern Society were a British style constitutional monarchy with a limited franchise, the abolition of serfdom and equality before the law. The Southern Society, under Pestel's influence, was more radical and wanted to abolish the monarchy, establish a republic and redistribute land: taking half into state ownership and dividing the rest among the peasants.
The unrest following Alexander's assassination in July 1820 meant it was impossible to be sure who ordered that act but many considered that his brother, Nicholas was responsible as he was very quick to assume the throne.
The leaders of the Northern Society in St Petersburg (many of whom belonged to the high aristocracy) elected Prince Sergei Trubetskoy as Tsar Ivan VII. Imperial Guard Officers led about 9,000 soldiers in a protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne, his elder brother Konstantine had removed himself from the line of succession after marrying the Polish Countess Joanna Grudzinska, who was given the title of Her Serenity Duchess of Lowicz, in March 1820.
For long hours there was a stand-off between the 9,000 rebels and the remaining 3,000 loyal troops stationed inside the Senate building, with some desultory shooting from the loyalist side. A vast crowd of civilian on-lookers began fraternizing with the rebels, but did not join the action. Eventually Ivan, the new Tsar, appeared in person, and sent Nikita Muraviev, a military hero who was greatly respected by ordinary soldiers, to parley with the loyalists. Muraviev was fatally shot while delivering a public address to defuse the situation. A rebel grenadier squad, led by Lieutenant Nikolay Panov, entered the Senate to successfully seize it, covered by fire from three artillery pieces, with devastating effect. To avoid the slaughter the loyalists broke and ran. Some attempted to regroup on the frozen surface of the river Neva, to the north. However, here, also, they were targeted by the artillery and suffered many casualties. As the ice was broken by the cannon fire, many of the dead and dying were cast into the river. After a night-time mopping-up operation by rebel army and police units, the revolt in St Petersburg spread to surrounding areas, Novgorod declared for Ivan.
The Southern Society and a nationalistic group called the United Slavs discussed revolt. When learning rebellion in the North they combined with suborned troops to try to capture Kiev but, during the operation Pavel Pestel was killed and Sergei Muravyov-Apostol assumed leadership of the revolt. After converting the remaining soldiers of Kiev to the cause, Muraviev-Apostol easily captured the city. The Republic of All the Russias was proclaimed.
Konstantine had been appointed to command the forces in the "Western Krai" - the ex-Polish and Lithuanian provinces - as well as Belarus by Alexander. Although he had removed himself from the line of succession, he could not accept Nicholas' assumption of the throne and often referred to him as "the Regicide". Unlike the Northern and Southern rebellions, he had the support of the army from the start and was proclaimed Tsar Constantine I. In Lithuania and Belarus a government was formed at Minsk. Polish, Lithuanian and Belarusian insurgents were more numerous (up to 70,000 men at the peak of uprising) and a little better armed, there were also 85,000 regular troops and 6,000 Cossacks in Lithuania and another 30,000 regulars in Belarus.
Altogether about 40,000 men rallied around the Northern revolutionary banner in St Petersburg; they were recruited chiefly from the ranks of the city working classes and minor clerks, although there was also a considerable admixture of the younger sons of the poor and a number of priests of lower rank.
To train with these ill-armed units the St Petersburg government of Tsar Ivan VII had at its disposal an army of 90,000 men, the provisional government applied itself to this great task with fervour. It issued a manifesto in which it pronounced "all sons of Russia are free and equal citizens without distinction of creed, condition and rank." It declared that land cultivated by the peasants, whether on the basis of rent or service, henceforth should become their property, and provision to compensate the landlords for it would be made by the State. The revolutionary government was able to supply provisions and arms from the arsenals of St Petersburg.
During the first 24 hours of the uprisings armouries across the country were looted, many Russian officials executed on sight. The first major military engagement of the uprisings was between forces of Tsar Constantine I and a squadron of loyal Russian hussars south of Novgorod. It ended with a massacre of the hussars. As there was no hope of a short war, insurgent groups merged into bigger formations and recruited new personnel.
On 7 August Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who was able to recruit and arm 25,000 men to supplement his 30,000 regulars, was elected to be the Premier and Commander in chief of the Republic. Under his command the peasant army was able to achieve several difficult victories, Don and Kuban Cossacks and Bashkir horsemen flocked to join the revolt, badly armed but in great numbers. The Bashkirs, uniquely for this age were armed with re-curved bows, a throwback to the Mongol past but nonetheless effective. Muravyov-Apostol was now able to field about 68,000 irregular horsemen.
The Northern forces under Tsar Ivan VII easily took the cities of Novgorod and Pskov but met resistance when trying to secure Estonia. Karelia fell to them but the main army was defeated when advancing on Moscow,
Tsar Constantine I's forces captured Vitebsk and Orsa but failed to reach Smolensk in time. In their south Gomel, Mazyr and Pinsk fell securing the Pripet marshes as a southern defence but to their rear Brest and Bialystok, previously Polish lands, resisted.
The Republic had no such problems, there were some clashes with Tsar Constantine's forces over the Pripet marshes but that stabilized and the marshes served them as a northern defence. They consolidated the Crimea and captured the Steppes cities of Ykaterinoslav and Donetsk along with the coastline of the Sea of Azov.
Tsar Nicholas' forces were in disarray, desertions and betrayals meant that Nicholas did not know who to trust. He eventually put his trust in an Orthodox priest named Joseph Semashko who effectively ran the country whilst Nicholas drilled his troops on the parade ground.
1821 was a year of immobility and petty gains, Nicholas was able to hold what he had west of the Urals but most of Siberia and Kamchatka drifted away into outlawry due to lack of force, or will, needed to keep it. Joseph Semashko concentrated loyalist troops to defend and keep Moscow, the heart of Russia. Revolts in Arkangelsk and Astrakhan were short lived, Astrakhan being re-gained by Tsar Nicholas' forces, Arkangelsk, supporting Constantine, fell to Tsar Ivan's men. On the Baltic coast Estonia and Latvia were split between Constantine in the south and Ivan in the north. Constantine also solved his problem of "rearward security" by ceding lands to Poland in return for men and materiel to further his cause. He used this to partially encircle Smolensk, the other part being occupied by Ivan's troops. The Republic made gains, capturing Kharkov and seeing Samara in the east join their cause.
The end of the year saw diplomats from all factions trying to secure support, materiel and alliance with the surrounding countries and the powerbases of France and Britain. The European powers met in conference in Vienna in June 1822 to discuss a joint approach to the crisis. Whilst the European Powers met the Ottomans sent in troops to reclaim the lands lost by them over the last 30 years in the south Ukraine and in the Caucasus. The European powers tried to decide how best to react. Austria reacted first by invading and annexing Serbia, the Russian protectorate between them and the Ottomans. This action broke up the conference in Vienna as the other Powers could not be seen to support the Austrian action by staying.
In Asia, Persia set about re-claiming the abandoned territories Russia had taken from them in the Caucasus since 1800. Each European country now pursued its own policy.
1823 saw Joseph Semashko firmly in charge in the realms of Tsar Nicholas I, a force was sent to relieve the pressure on Smolensk and broke the encirclement enabling supplies and reinforcements to reach the beleaguered city, Kharkov was also re-captured as the Republic had to divert forces to combat the Turks.
The Republic's counter offensive against the Turks regained the line of the Dnieper, cutting off Turkish forces in the Crimea.
The European powers took different approaches, Sweden and Poland adopted a policy of neutrality as did Austria towards Russia but, in common with Britain and France, took an aggressive attitude towards the Ottomans. Britain and France stepped up their activities against the North African states and launched a joint invasion of the Nile delta. Britain also landed troops in Smyrna and the Leander valley. Both Britain and France with Austria supported the Greek revolt and encouraged Egypt to rebel against the Porte.
1824 saw peace between Russia and the Ottomans with Joseph Semashko ceding lands that were not in his power anyway! He ceded land up to the Dnieper, which had been The Republic's before the invasion, and his claims to the Circassian areas in the Caucasus. Of course the Republic took no note of this and kept fighting. Joseph Semashko, however, took the next step towards the power he craved and, on May 5th 1824, had Nicholas, his wife Charlotte of Prussia and their 3 children killed and claimed the title of Tsar for himself.
He woefully underestimated the situation; the Army rebelled against him and joined the closest faction, mostly that of Ivan VII, the eastern lands in Siberia declared their Independence as The Duchy of Siberia, as did the Islamic state of Astrakhan. Joseph Semashko disappeared; no-one knows what happened to him.
Tsar Constantine I suffered from the first of recurring bouts of Cholera so was happy to agree a peace with Tsar Ivan. The Republic had expanded too quickly, Samara declared itself an Independent Republic, the need to consolidate meant that it also had to agree to the cession of lands to the Ottomans. In the East, Siberia was almost devoid of troops and, except for a few small areas, out of Russian control.
Now the Civil War seemed over the European forces attacking the Ottoman Empire were superfluous but not wanting to give up an advantage France and Britain carved up North Africa between them with a small bonus for Spain. Egypt became an Independent country but lost the lands occupied by the Ottomans, Syria, The Hedjaz and Yemen, France & Britain gained bases on the Red Sea and Britain extended its protectorate in the Trucial States of the Persian Gulf to include Al-Hasa and Kuwait. The Ottomans also finally absorbed Wallachia and Moldavia but granted independence to Greece, guaranteed by the European Powers including the new Russia of Ivan VII.
Ottoman - Egyptian War 1823-1827
Despite the treaties with the European powers that finished their conflict the Ottoman Empire was still in turmoil, fighting continued against Egypt with gains in the Hejaz but losses in Africa for the Ottomans.
Eventually, in 1827, a compromise was reached; Egypt remained an Ottoman Satellite with the new border in the Sinai desert.
On the Iberian Peninsula the Reconquista is still on-going, the great victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa gave Castile the central area but recently they have concentrated on taking Badajoz to deny Portugal access to Extramadura. The Iberian Almohad Emirates were under pressure from all fronts. Aragon had not taken part in this recently due to their involvement in the Albigensian Crusade; supporting their vassals in Southern France. Their defeat by the Crusaders had left no reserves to pursue theReconquista until recently but they were now making gains from the Emirate of Valencia.
In Southern France the Crusade was over bar the shouting, the conclusion had taken so long because King Philip II had withdrawn troops to provide aid to Prince Louis, later King Louis VIII, who had been invited to invade England [before the Barons rescinded that offer after the death of King John]. Now Louis IX [in his minority] was still consolidating his gains of Normandy, Maine & Anjou.
Henry III of England, meanwhile, was just out of his majority and was casting eyes on France to re-claim his ancestral possessions. His campaign in Brittany petered out in the English possessions in Gascony and a truce with France.
Whilst the Holy Roman Empire was [relatively] quiet a power struggle with the Pope continued and resulted in Fredrick's excommunication by Pope Gregory IX for failing to honour his crusading pledge. Frederick eventually sailed from Brindisi. The Pope regarded that action as a provocation, since, as an excommunicate, Frederick was technically not capable of conducting a Crusade, and he excommunicated the Emperor a second time. Frederick reached Acre in September. Local authorities and most military orders refused him help. The Crusading army was therefore a meagre force so Frederick negotiated a treaty resulting in the restitution of Jerusalem [along with other towns plus a small coastal strip] as the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The crusade ended in a truce and in Frederick's coronation as King of Jerusalem.
Frederick was not only the Holy Roman Emperor but also King, in his own right, of Sicily [kept separate from the Empire at the Pope’s insistence]. During Frederick's stay in the Holy Land, his regent, Rainald of Spoleto, had attacked the Marche. Gregory IX recruited an army under John of Brienne and invaded Southern Italy.
Frederick arrived at Brindisi and quickly recovered the lost territories but avoided crossing the boundaries with the Papal States. The war came to an end with the Treaty of Ceprano.
In the Baltic both Danish [failed] and Swedish Crusades had taken place in Finland. On the southern coast the Brotherhood of the Sword [aka the Livonian Order] had established at Riga early in the century and was making great progress, although an arrangement for re-enforcements had resulted in the Danish conquest of Estonia. Further west the Duke of Masovia had gifted Culmerland to the Teutonic Knights in return for their assistance. The Masovian attempt to conquer the pagan Prussians was not going well but in the few years they had been there progress had been made.
Masovia was part of Poland. In the previous century Bolesław III divided Poland among his sons. The lands of Krakow, the capital, became the Seniorate in a system similar to that which had been used by the Rus for centuries. Each member of the Piast ruling family could progress up the “ladder” of seniority. A vacancy would be filled by the rung below. Naturally this system caused in-fighting and a general fragmentation but all still considered themselves a part of the Kingdom.
Hungary held Bosnia as virtual vassals, the Bogomil Heresy giving them a lever. The heresy was condemned by both Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
Serbia, meanwhile, was seen as a client of the Despotate of Epirus because of the marriage of Stefan I to Eudokia, the daughter of Theodore of Epirus.
Mindaugas of Lithuania, although still Pagan, was well along the path of unifying the country.
The Rus were Orthodox in Religion and, as such, fair game for the crusaders in the Baltic. Polotsk and Novgorod had already fought against the Brotherhood and Denmark, supporting their onetime enemies, the pagan tribes of Latvia.
In the south Kiev, Galich-Volyn and the Cuman Tribes had recently been devastated by the scouting Tuman of the Mongol forces which were now en-route back to Samarkand via the Volga Bulgars.
The recent past had been eventful in the Balkans and Greece. The Fourth Crusade, suborned by Venice, attacked the Byzantine Empire, capturing Constantinople and using this base creating the Latin Empire and its vassals, the Duchies of Athens, Morea and the Kingdom of Thessalonika. Three claimants to the legacy of Byzantium, the Empires of Trebizond, Epirus and Nicaea fought against them, each other and the Sultanate of Rum. One or the other were often alied with the Bulgarian Empire of Ivan Assen II.
Epirus was making the most progress and, having captured Larissa and Thessalonika, were approaching Constantinople when the decision was made to attack Bulgaria first as they were threatening to take the city first. This was a mistake and, by the end of the year Bulgaria had decicively defeated the Epirotes and were setting up vassal states such as Thessalonika to control their new territory. Hungary is very concerned about the new powerhouse to their south.
This map is my starting point, it shows Europe in 1230; My question is- What happens if Ögedei dies in 1247 instead of 1241?
I'm open to ideas.
Onslaught 1247;
In 1241, having conquered the Rus states, the Mongol Hordes descended upon eastern Europe.
One Army looped north through Poland, defeating a combined Army of Poles, Templars & Empire troops at Legnica. A second Army crossed the Carpathian Mountains whilst a third followed the Danube.
The now combined Mogol force feigned a retreat from the Army of King Bela IV of Hungary.
Bela's Army included Cuman troops but the Hungarians turned on them & they fled, devastating the land as they went. Bickering also saw the departure of Duke Frederick of Austria.
The battle at the Sajo River saw the Hungarian Army outmanouvered, out-fought & almost destroyed. Bela escaped but was pursued south, by 1242, into Croatia then into Dalmatia.
The Mongols experienced the same difficulty they had during the first invasion of China, namely, they were unable to take fortified towns. Croatian troops had defeated the pursuing Mongol force outside the fortress of Klis & it was here, whilst Bela continued to retreat from the re-inforced Mongols, that Stephen, Bela's son, was born.
Employing skilled citizens from the captured cities of Hungary plus imported engineers fro their new rus vassals the fortified places of Hungary fell during the seasons of 1242-1244. Bela was finally captured & killed in Bosnia, the arpad line extinguished except for Stephen whose mother fled with him to the presumed safety of the Empire.
The main Mongol force had sent out strong forces to investigate neighbouring states &, after the near destruction of weiner Neustadt, south of Vienna, Duke Frederick followed the example of previous Rus princes, putting himself under the protection of the Khan.
Other forces raided deep into the Empire, both north & south of the Alps reaching the River Rhine in the north whilst the southern force sacked Pisa & Rome, among many other rich Italian Cities. Emperor Frederick II was killed in battle near Ancona in 1244 plunging the Empire into Civil War over the succession as well.
In the early 1230's Genoa had reached an agreement with the Mongols that saw only the trading posts of their rivals attacked. This agreement now stood them in good stead, they were successful against depleted Pisan forces on Sardinia & also made gains in Liguria. Similarly Nicaea made alliance with this Northern branch of the Mongols which gained them protection from the southern forces of Hugalu who was entering Anatolia after capturing Mesopotamia.
The new Mongol lands were organised into two new states or Ulus, Ulus Jurchj & Ulus Orda. The death of Khan Ogedei, in 1247, was not unexpected. He had suffered a long illness. For this reason, raids in 1246-47 were severely curtailed.
All claimants to the Great Khanate headed towards Karakorum to decide on the new ruler. Civil War seemed certain. The death of Guyuk, in 1248, left Batu & Mongke as front runners. As Jochi, Batu's father, had not been of pure Mongol parentage, suppoert swung towards Mongke who was proclaimed Great Khan in 1251.