Britain deals with the Portuguese Fleet instead of the Danish

[ghappy1000]

Congress of Vienna and the death of Napoleon


After Napoleon's defeat, the former emperor was exiled to Elba on HMS Bellerophon, but the ship carrying him was aground 5 days after setting sail on 5 July and Napoleon was transferred to custody on Spanish land. Napoleon's loss of temper and fighting with several sailors in a lifeboat were reasons why Napoleon escaped with his bodyguard. Many survivors in the water saw Napoleon and fought against him. Eventually, the last fight of Napoleon saw a lucky ship wrecked in his last fight as he was captured and sailors abandoned damage control to deal with French prisoners following him, including a Marshal. Despite the minimal casualties, the chaos brought Napoleon to Vigo, where he was shot en route to France by extradition. Napoleon was later dead from injuries received a fortnight before turning 45 [1 August 1814] from injuries and infection just after arriving at Paris. His bodyguard and accompanying Marshal [Davout] would be sent to St. Helena with the emperor's corpse initially until Davout's death on 5 May 1821 due to poisoning [1 June 1823 in reality].

Although a dead man, politicians feared the impact of Napoleon being buried in Europe. An attempt to send the body to the Azores was cancelled as anti-British sentiment in the former Portuguese colony was high. Burial at sea was considered an option and on what would be his 45th birthday, Napoleon's body was sent to the bottom of the Atlantic. Although rumours of his remains spread over Europe, they were useless without Napoleon, politicians with his thinking and his officers to motivate them, plus repressive measures later condemned and reduced in France.

As HMS Tonnant [instead of Northumberland] sailed to St. Helena, the politicians in Vienna started discussing peace and how to deal with the defeated powers. France was to be severely punished, but with 1792's borders. The deportation of some surviving Napoleonic French Marshals [25 including Grouchy, later reduced to 20 due to the invasion of Britain instead of 23 in 1814 with 5 imprisoned and selected] weakened the French Army, but these were useless anyway. Discussions at the Congress of Vienna began in December 1814 and continued, the last version being signed on 9 June [faster negotiations due to Napoleon's death]. Russia was still to be dealt with after losing most of its army in 1812-13, but peace was to be made quickly instead of another campaign with a treaty on 11 August 1815.

The congress's terms were [as listed below]:
1. Sweden to receive Finland and some of Karelia. Norway was to be included in Sweden, but made independent later. Danish colonies went to Norway or Sweden, gaining Swedish Pomerania and Lauenborg as compensation. Schleswig-Holstein ended up in Prussia.
2. Most of Western Poland was ceded to Prussia along with Saxony and southern Baltic provinces in Russia. Later, only sufficiently 'Prussian' territory was ceded. The Russians lost their influences against the Ottomans and Crimea. Austria was given much of northern Italy and would lead a new German Confederation of 38 states, contributing to unification under Austria as Prussia had to fend Russian attacks.
3. France was allowed to retain its 1792 borders.
4. Britain was allowed to maintain control of many French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and Danish colonies, although some were ceded to their original owners, Cape Verde to Sweden and some Portuguese islands to America [with Cuba] in return for Maine.
5. Many gains by German states from 1801 to 1807 were recognized and compensated.
6. Austria regained territory lost earlier and took Galicia.
7. End of the slave trade
8. Freedom of the seas
9. Decisive actions to be taken against revolution.
10. Guaranteed Swiss neutrality.
11. Dutch Republic replaced by a kingdom under Orange-Nassau and the Austrian Netherlands were to be included.
12. Italian states restored to their original rulers [except for Naples and those under Habsburg control].

 

[Alt History Buff]

I enjoyed the timeline. Short and to the point. I like the alternate and plausible shift in British target from Denmark to Portugal. It might have happened.

A couple of comments:

1. I'm not sure that Austria and Prussia had the capacity to defeat France on land without Russian aid, especially after their defeats at French hands over the previous couple of years.

2. Also, I don't believe that the Royal Navy would keep 300,000 French/Allied troops occupied by coastal bombardments. There are only so many soldiers whom can man coastal defenses. Most French soldiers and their allies would still be available to fight in the land campaign against the continental powers.

3. I think the attrition rates of the naval battles you mention are much higher than normal in OTL. Note that battles like Trafalgar, where a whole fleet was wiped out, were the exception rather than the rule. Usually, less than 20%, or even 10%, of ships in such engagements were lost or captured.

 

[ghappy1000]

Colonial depositions

After the last delegates left the Congress of Vienna with the final points added [besides 12 mentioned above, Marie Louise of Austria was given Parma and Lucca ended under Bourbon control, but these were reality and could be condensed under the last point], the dispute of colonies became an issue. Cuba, which was nearly captured by America in early 1812 during the distraction of the Royal Navy's French Campaign and transferred to the nation at Vienna in exchange for the Dutch Caribbean islands off Venezuela and a few ships to quell uprisings in South America, was an issue of difficult pacifying until a few years after. Meanwhile, many Spanish South American colonies surrendered to local revolutionaries after experiencing a few years of British or restored Spanish rule, helped by discontent and Brazilians mindful of their former colonizers, the British and Spain. Florida was also American as a result of the War of 1811 [instead of 1812], but Maine ended in Canadian hands. The Azores were also given to America for Atlantic trade.

Spain sought solace with African colonies, gaining present day Angola, Sao Tome and Guinea. Portugal was heavily in debt and paid for by money from colonial trade, but refused British assistance. Although a new ally was found in Spain, credibility was lost as the Spanish took Portuguese West Africa plus some towns like Elvas and Olivenca. Britain maintained control of Macau and Goa [plus Danish India] while East Timor was under Dutch control after capture. The loss of Portugal's ships and empire was felt with great sorrow, but many Portuguese felt divine punishment for joining Napoleon and their nation's sins. In the aftermath, Portugal's king, John VI, dissolved a constitution and started extreme political and religious control, although without many deaths. Money spent to assist Portugal and the decimated navy resulted in the loss of Spanish American colonies.

Denmark lost its entire empire to Sweden, independent Norway and Britain. Later, the Danish West Indies were exchanged for the unpopular Azores with America. Why America was rewarded that much was an issue of debate, but weakening the threat to Canada was the main objective and swapping the threat [Maine, the Great Lakes and some border towns] for distant colonies helped to solve the issue. France was also weakened in empire along with the Netherlands, but not as badly. [Compared with reality or o.t.l., same unless mentioned in this thread except for India.]

Sweden would attempt to expand from Cape Verde into Africa and Guadeloupe was profitable, but no further ventures could be made after the Monroe Doctrine, the Latin American wars and the Russian response to losing Karelia [in different versions]. Helgoland, Corfu and Malta were also transferred to British imperialism in Europe.

 

[ghappy1000]

Russia, Greece and the Mediterranean

The Russian defeat of 1815 [caused by failed offensives in Central Europe against Austria and Prussia in 1813-1815 apart from retaking the Romanian and Finnish provinces captured earlier and fermenting national consciousness in them before withdrawal] would reduce support for Russian intervention in foreign affairs. The Russians retook Finland in 1813-1814 after an initial Swedish conquest despite coastal defence duties, using slightly more than the same time spent in the earlier war for Finnish annexation [18 months] due to losing the Russian Navy in invading Britain. As it turned out, many ships of the Black Sea Fleet were either sunk in 1811-12 in the Mediterranean or neutralising the recently defeated Ottomans after a campaign for the Russian captured Dardanelles [war with the Ottomans was a year shorter at the o.t.l. ending place, but with the Ottomans starved to surrender later and liberating Serbia and Bulgaria, plus an unsuccessful landing against Constantinople that weakened the Ottoman Navy]. Although the Dardanelles Campaign was difficult for the British when the first landings were made, Royal Naval and Ottoman support would rout the Russians in November 1812 from the straits and Constantinople. This, along with Napoleonic defeats and British coastal assaults that defeated the Russian Black Sea Fleet on 1 May 1813 off the Crimea, would cause the Ottomans to advance into Russia again. For 1814, the Balkans and Caucasus were cleared after resources freed from defeating Napoleon arrived, along with the Crimea. Meanwhile, the Finnish gains were negated when the Sixth Coalition, now the Seventh, took on Russia in 1814 and secured Poland, leading to defeated assaults in 1815 that led to peace after a bombardment of St. Petersburg.

Tsar Alexander I was overthrown by a coup d' etat on 1 December 1815 and was replaced by his eldest son in a revolt. The former would abdicate and sought asylum in Britain. Meanwhile, the French Revolution and Russian Balkan victories started a wave of revolutions in the Balkans, especially in Greece and Romania. Serbia also rose up after being promised Austrian and British support. The Ottomans, weakened by earlier Russian campaigns, were defeated in Greece. After the Ottoman Army defeated Romania and Serbia, Austria and Britain decided to intervene, along with France and Russia after being controlled. Russia was in such a debt from the shelling of St. Petersburg that several ships in the Baltic were sold or scrapped for wood to repair buildings. Also, many ships were damaged severely by flooding in Kronstadt that they were disposed.

The Greek Question was to be solved, though, by a naval battle mostly involving British ships in 1827.


After several political protests and executions in March 1821, the Ottomans declared war on revolting Greek states and Greeks moving south from Romania successfully linked up with the Greek Revolutionaries to the south. The Serbs were prepared to rise against their invaders and were supported by Austria and Russia, although both powers were reluctant in the first year of war. Meanwhile, Greek revolutionaries in the south rose up in April 1821 after a patriarch was executed and in late June 1821, the Greeks were in control of the Peloponnese. Ottoman troops searching for Greek rebels ended up invading the Ottoman provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, but they found nothing. Serbia, after unsuccessful revolts from 1804-1815, saw another national uprising.

The first few years of war were successful for the Greeks and Serbs although rebelling Romania was defeated in the end of 1821. Due to the Congress of Vienna, the Great Powers were reluctant to assist revolts against monarchy. But the Serbian-Romanian defeat of 1821 and refuge in Austria, along with sympathies for the plight of Balkan Christians, resulted in action being planned against the Ottoman Empire, along with Ali Pasha and his Janisseries's brutality on Serbs, Romanians and Albanians.

In 1822, the Ottoman Navy was committed in force to defeat the Greek rebels and divert Greek attention. This time, the navy won with the assistance of 10 ships of the line paid as reparations for Ottoman navy losses in the Napoleonic Wars and captured Chios. After the subsequent massacre of its inhabitants, the Greek Navy sent fire ships and destroyed an overconfident and celebrating Ottoman fleet, with a few ships of the line lost. With the victory, fire ships were used aggressively at Samos, Psara and Nauplia. The Ottomans faced humiliation when a new fleet of ships used against the Greeks was burnt, although only approximately 10 ships of the line and flagships were actually lost as they formed the first defence line. However, an Ottoman naval attempt to reconstruct the fleet was replaced with Egyptian support from the south. Meanwhile, the Greeks managed to unify themselves and waited for Austrian assistance.

During the year of 1823, the Greek Army managed to reorganise itself and prepared for an offensive in the north. Although Greek fire ships proved their usefulness, they were repeatedly sunk by Ottoman warships in return and the heavy losses of Ottoman frigates produced were the only positive results. Also, atrocities and the strength of the newly independent Greece would pose danger to Europe. In the end, political pressure from the European nations by intellectuals and nationalists decided the issue.

In 1825, the uprising was faced with Egyptian intervention. Despite a civil war in 1824 [the second butterflied by greater success of a faction and less Ottomans], the Egyptians would make successful landings on the Peloponnese and several islands. Usage of fire ships further weakened Greek resolve at Messolonghi in 1826 and the peril of Greek defeat was a concern after Egyptians started their atrocities and power assertion in Greece. By 1827, all of Greece was under Ottoman control when an appeal from Austria to stop Egypt's expansion and the Ottoman refusal led to a battle on 20 October 1827. Russia and France might support the Greeks, if able to do so, but concessions had to be made while Britain struggled to keep the Mediterranean under its control.
After the battle, which saw the entire Ottoman Navy destroyed despite heavy fire losses, the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet was criticised for the chaos that resulted. Admiral Codrington was recalled, especially since 5 major ships of the line were lost to fireships and none to guns. The Ottomans truly learned their lessons in dealing with the Greeks and allies. Now, the Ottoman Empire was vulnerable to invasion by sea and the British would send an expeditionary force to the nation to defeat the Ottomans while the Royal Navy made the Ottomans divert troops from Greece and Asian territories to coastal defence.

In early 1828, the Russians joined the conflict and invaded the Ottoman Empire from Romania. The Ottoman Empire was defeated the next year when the Russian Army stopped Ottoman offensives into Romania and launched attacks that would bring its troops to Constantinople in late October 1829 [after the Ottoman Empire's initial armistice demands were refused]. Greece was newly formed and besides its original configuration, also received Thessaly and Salonika, the latter as compensation for Epirus and Corfu to be ceded to Austria. A Bavarian Prince also became the 1st king of Greece. [Treaty terms related to Greece are similar to reality for both Greece and the Ottoman Empire apart from Greek territories and $500,000 more to be paid for the losses and new state. Romania later declared its allegiance to Russia and independence in December 1829, leading to annexation by Russia, but Ottoman and Russian naval weaknesses prevented foreign intervention.]

In Russia, prestige was restored after its defeats during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars and nationalists began to ask for the destruction of the Ottoman Empire along with Egypt's revolting sultan. In the 1830s, the Ottomans were invaded by Egypt while Russia and Greece were prevented from supporting Egypt by all the other European Great Powers. The results were similar to reality in 2 wars by Egypt against the Ottoman Empire [1831-33 and 1839-41].

 

[ghappy1000]

Copenhagen 1801 [as possible p.o.d.]

At 13 30 on 2 April 1801, Admiral Horatio Nelson had just seen the signal to retreat from the fighting when a shell hit him and caused severe injury through a telescope observed by Danish sailors. As he was taken down HMS Elephant for treatment [minimal butterflies would have him injured or replaced by someone equally competent such as Collingwood], Admiral Parker suggested a retreat that was to be obeyed at 14 00 that day. The Royal Navy retreated and in the process, managed to save HMS Bellona and Russell, with Agamennon just managing to survive the few pursuing Danish vessels.

Denmark-Norway lost 2 barges sunk and 2 ships lost to explosion [one being the flagship and an artillery barge sent to rescue the flagship]. In the aftermath, Admiral Parker was court martialled, but he was relieved of charges. His timidity just as the battle was fought to a near victory which would be obtained within an hour of 14 00 that day would result in controversy, but perception was completely different from reality to him.

As a result, an attempt was made to destroy the Danish Mediterranean Squadron in June 1801, which struck to the British and was sailed to Gibraltar after losing its frigates. The ship that was captured [Sejeren] would be renamed HMS Nassau [instead of Holsteen] and commissioned in 1805. [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMS_Holsteen for its hypothetical career]. The remaining ships were reclassified as blocking ships and were sunk in December 1807 in a very costly battle for Britain and Denmark at Copenhagen.