Corsican takes over Europe

Is it possible that the son of a Corsican lawyer could become a general of a nation gripped by revolution and executed its king. Then become its leader, subdue the great states of Europe then declare himself Emperor of the Nation....its a little ASB if you ask me.
 
Well, without more to go on, I don't see why it should be ASB.

Son of a lawyer - he has knowledge of the legal code and can become quite well-versed in law, an astute politician.

Country in turmoil and has executed its king, ripe for a revolutionary leader who is very good at passing laws and developing a legal code. So far it's actually quite *plausible*!

General: Mmmm, it's hard to say what makes good generals. Without more knowledge I can't say either way, there have been generals who have risen from nothing without going to a West Point or something, so as long as you don't make him the best general ever, still plausible, and even if he's a great general, possible.

Declares himself Emperor: Okay, there's a more questionable one, but they say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If he gets really power hungry, or even feels he needs to because of various threats...are we talking about Julius Caesar here, by any chance? No, wait, he wasn't Corsican, even ignoring the part about a country in turmoil.:)

Subdus the great states of Europe, now there's a place where I can see your point, it all depends on how ravaged by war they were before and how much of an advantage they had. If he had some great generals with him and far superior numbers, though, it's quite possible.

So, 1st 2, plausible, #3 and 4, a little less likely but still possible, maybe even quite possible, #5, we'd need more information.

Overall, I'd say if you want to put it in yoru TL, go ahead, but you might want to at least make mention of some real distrust of him once he becomes Emperor, maybe an assassination attempt even?:)
 
General: Mmmm, it's hard to say what makes good generals. Without more knowledge I can't say either way, there have been generals who have risen from nothing without going to a West Point or something, so as long as you don't make him the best general ever, still plausible, and even if he's a great general, possible.
He might become an able general, but subdueing all the great states of Europe? No way! He might win some minor wars and battles, but as soon as he is seen as a real threat to the balance of powers all the other powers of Europe will form a coalition against him and even France couldn't hope to beat all of them at once.

BTW, what's about this recent trend of soldier from humble origins conquers all of Europe. Not long ago I read about a TL where an insane Austrian corporal manages to get control of Germany and quickly occupies all of Europe. That just doesn't make sense.

Declares himself Emperor: Okay, there's a more questionable one, but they say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If he gets really power hungry, or even feels he needs to because of various threats...are we talking about Julius Caesar here, by any chance? No, wait, he wasn't Corsican, even ignoring the part about a country in turmoil.:)
If they just had abolished their monarchy, they probably wouldn't want to replace their King with an Emperor. That doesn't rule out him declaring himself one, but then he probably won't be sane enough to be a good military leader.
 
Is it possible that the son of a Corsican lawyer could become a general of a nation gripped by revolution and executed its king. Then become its leader, subdue the great states of Europe then declare himself Emperor of the Nation....its a little ASB if you ask me.

This is as implausible as the United States beginning as Thirteen Colonies, gaining independence and then expanding to the Pacific in the space of 70-odd years.
 
This is as implausible as the United States beginning as Thirteen Colonies, gaining independence and then expanding to the Pacific in the space of 70-odd years.
Yes, as we all know, the US currently is bordered by the Kingdom of Louisiana, and Canada to the North. Suddenly saying some Corsican randomly conquers Europe, is as bad as saying the US could conquer these two countries who are immensely powerful.
 

Cook

Banned
Not long ago I read about a TL where an insane Austrian corporal manages to get control of Germany and quickly occupies all of Europe. That just doesn't make sense.

Especially the bit where there first place he tries to take over is Austria and they resist, opposing the idea because they don’t want to be dominated by Prussians!

Then he allies himself with Poland to carve up Czechoslovakia and then stabs Poland in the back and divides that in half with his life-long enemies.

I mean, come on!
 
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