As we all know the reign of Napoleon II is seen by most historians as the one of the most unexpected and pivotal moments in history. After the final defeat of Napoleon I at Leipzig or "The Battle of Nations" as the Coalition powers dubbed it, the French Empire quickly fell apart with France being occupied, the monarchy being restored, Napoleon I being exiled to Elba, and the young Napoleon II Prince-Imperial being locked inside a gilded cage in Vienna. While things would work out for Napoleon II in the future, Napoleon I unfortunately died suddenly and suspiciously while in Elba. Napoleon I was outraged when Louis XVIII cancelled his pension, and it was rumored that he was plotting a return to France. It was highly suspected that he was assassinated on orders by the French King Louis XVIII. This provoked a rise in Bonapartist fervor in France that was barely suppressed by the Bourbons with the help of the Austrians and Russian forces during their occupation of France. While the rule of the Bourbons was secure for the time being, the royal family didn't escape unscathed with Louis Duc d'Angolueme being assassinated and Charles Duc d'Berry being critically wounded during the insurrection. Though the Duc d'Berry survived to have an heir in the form of Prince Henri. This attack on the Royal Family was later attributed to be the primary catalyst for Charles X's ultra-royalist reactionary program that targeted anything remotely related to the French Republic or the French Empire. Indeed many Bonapartist era officers were purged from the army ranks or were cast under deep suspicion. This provoked widespread discontentment among the army officer corps created by Napoleon I and the rank and file soldiery, and was one of the primary reasons Napoleon II was able to retake his throne.
The Congress of Vienna where a lasting settlement between the various Great Powers was attempted had failed due to the mutual distrust among the other powers. There were conflicts over spheres of influence with Russia and Austria wanting control over the Balkans. Austria and Prussia wanted control and influence in German affairs. While Prussia was devastated, it was propped up by the British whose King still held claim to Hanover, and wanted to protect his ancestral lands. All these competing issues prevented any real solidarity from emerging between these powers who left the negotiating table dissatisfied. It was this dissatisfaction and lack of unity that Napoleon II would expertly exploit in his wars to restore his father's Empire.
Napoleon II for the rest of his adult life had grown up in Austria with the title of the Duke/Prince of Parma under the tutelage of his Hapsburg relatives and under the watchful eye of the Austrian Court who feared giving him any real power. As Napoleon II matured he expressed a greater desire to imitate his father. This concerned people like Metternich who was able to convince Emperor Franz not to give him any real power. This all changed in 1832 when the Prince-Imperial was struck by Tuberculosis. It seemed a very real possibility that Napoleon II would die as he had become comatose. But miraculously he started to recover. Later in life, the future Emperor would swear that at this moment he saw a vision of his father telling him to go forth and restore France’s glory. Though modern scholarship views this as part of a fever dream or Propaganda issued by Napoleon II after retaking his throne. After Napoleon’s miraculous recovery his grandfather Emperor Francis against the advice of his ministers have Napoleon command over the army of Italy and allowed to rule in Parma. Emperor Francis likely did this out of sympathy for his grandson who was on death’s doorstep. This decision proved to be his most fatal mistake as it would lead to the loss of Austria’s Italian position and be the first domino in the collapse of the Austrian Empire.
Where Napoleon II truly made waves was in his role as the Duke of Parma. Seeing it as a chance to truly prove himself, he set to work improving the Duchy. Much like his father, the Prince-Imperial had a natural talent for administration and soldiery. He built new roads and helped finance schools for the poor implementing many reforms that made him very popular in Italy. His regular drilling of his assigned contingent of soldiers and charisma made him popular with the troops of Italy as well. This naturally attracted the attention of many people on the international stage and domestically. This rise in prestige allowed him to gain Princess Sophie of Bavaria's hand in marriage which would later prove instrumental in Napoleon's Wars against the Germans.
Fearing that Napoleon II's influence was growing too much, Metternich began to oppose him and developed a rivalry with the Prince-Imperial. Napoleon II while liberal, was still monarchical in nature, and in many ways mirrored his father's approach to government. Though thanks to his Austrian upbringing, he was more tactful and cautious that his father. Metternich being a reactionary was suspicious about the revolution and liberalism in general. As the prominence of Napoleon grew within Austria and abroad, he grew his own faction of supporters within the Austrian government who desired more liberal reform. Thus Napoleon II and Metternich competed to gain the attention of Emperor Francis who became more detached from governing as he grew older.
After Emperor Francis died in 1825, Emperor Ferdidnand I who was Napoleon's uncle took power. He too like Metternich was suspicious of liberalism and opted to chart Austria along Metternich's vision. Napoleon seeing where the wind was blowing went back to Parma. However in 1830 Revolution spread to Italy.The Savoyards and the other Italian states with their conservative and reactionary rulers were unable to stop Revolutionary movements. Napoleon who never formally abdicated his title as the King of Rome was a natural candidate for revolutionary movements like the Cabonari to rally behind. Indeed it was through the Cabonari that Napoleon II meet his cousin Louis-Napoleon who would become one of his key subordinates in the years to come. Metternich fearing Napoleon becoming a figurehead for revolutionary movements seeking to undermine the government, convinced Emperor Franz to issue an order for the arrest of the Prince-Imperial deeming him an outlaw. This was met with outrage the Austrian parts of Italy where Napoleon was very popular. The Southern armies with troops recruited from Italy also defected to Napoleon's side. With the support of the Revolutionaries and his new loyal soldiers Napoleon re-assumed the title of the King of Rome. Within Austria proper, Metternich was trying to re-assert his control as liberal revolutionaries rose up in cities forcing the Austrian court to flee Vienna. In the chaos, Napoleon was able to steamroll Northern Italy who didn't really put up much resistance to Napoleon.
The idea of Italian unification was also popular with Pope Pius IX who favored the idea of united Italy in a confederation with the Pope as its head. Napoleon II ever the shrewd politician was able to secure a deal with the Pope guaranteeing the integrity of the Papal states in exchange for recognizing Napoleon's claim to the French Imperial Throne. Thus in 1836 Napoleon was formally recognized as King of Rome, Protector of Italy, Defender of the Faith, and Emperor of the French. While this was a victory for Napoleon in many ways it saved the Papal States as many historians speculate that it would have likely been overthrown by Revolutionaries without Napoleon's protection of it. The Bourbon Kingdom of Two Sicilies did not sit idly by, and planned to declare war against Napoleon, but were occupied with revolts by the Sicilians who wanted more autonomy and a separate Kingdom. Seeing this dispensary, Napoleon with the Pope's blessing invaded Southern Italy and restored the Kingdom of Naples. One of Napoleon's key policy initiatives was to initiate Land reforms which won over the peasants to his side solving the economic woes of the region. He also appeased the Sicilians by promising them local autonomy in their own Kingdom of Sicily.
This rapid and unforeseen success of Napoleon shocked many monarchs in Europe. However thanks to the collapse of the Congress of Vienna, no real solidarity among the old powers were reached. Each power had their own individual problems to deal with before coming to the aid of the other. Britain was rocked by the ineptitude and political controversies of George IV and the Queen Caroline affair. Russia was suffering from Polish revolts and the effects of the Decembrist Uprising in favor of a more liberal monarchy. By the time Tsar Nicholas put down these revolts, Russia was internally unstable and it focused on reconstruction and political reform. In Austria, after Napoleon declared independence he defeated the Austrian Army sent to crush him on the field like his father before him. This left Bourbon France as the only real power to oppose Napoleon.
Indeed Charles X sent an army to arrest the Young Bonaparte. But things were not going well in France. Charles’s ultra-royalist and very reactionary program alienated the populace. An economic crisis that began in the last years of Louis XVIII’s life only worsened making him deeply unpopular within France. Charles purge of the officer corps, and promotion of his noble friends and cronies to officer posts angered many of the common born troops and older Napoleonic Veterans so it was no wonder that the armies sent to kill or arrest the young Bonaparte, joined him instead. Soon after Napoleon entered France a riot ensued in Paris forcing the Bourbons and their supporters to flee France.
Napoleon II had entered France with much fanfare. The assassination of Napoleon I had made him into a martyr for Bonapartism and that of Imperial France making Napoleon's seizure of power smoother. Through shrewd politicking he was able to make use of his Bonapartist supporters to spread propganda about himself. With his military victories in Italy French papers compared to that of Napoleon I who also rose to prominence with the wars in Italy. They also portrayed him as a figure to bring about stability and prosperity playing up the glories of Imperial France under the Bonapartes lamenting France's stagnation under the tyrranical Bourbons. However unlike Napoleon I, Napoleon II did not immediately begin mustering an army to go about invading the Rhineland just yet. He instead focused on consolidating the restored Empire and worked to integrate Italy as a co-equal part of France. Indeed the Austrian and Italian units serving the Emperor were integrated into the restored Grand Armee.
Using the period of chaos and distraction of his rivals and foes, Napoleon initiated a program of rapid industrialization and modernization of French industry and its military capacity. This provided huge boons to the French Economy which soared under Napoleon II which only served to increase his popularity among the French. The resouces from Wallonia which broke off from the Netherlands to join with their fellow French brethren also helped aid industrialization. With the riches of Lombardy-Venetia he used that capital to finance his massive overhaul of the administration and army. Many old Napoleonic veterans were brought out of retirement and restored to their posts. The last surviving veterans of Napoleon I's Old Guard proved to be critical in training new recruits. Some of the more prominent Napoleonic Marshalls like Marshal Massena, Marshal Ney, and Marshall Davout who served into his 70's advised the young Emperor in matters of military tactics and formation, and helped Napoleon's new troops gain the institutional knowledge needed for future campaigns. Napoleon II rewarded them for their services handsomely by rewarding them with many titles and honors. His father's stepson Eugène de Beauharnais was also restored to his post as viceroy of Italy by Napoleon II.
Eventually the uprisings were put down due to the divided nature of the Revolutionaries which allowed the Conservatives and Reactionaries to divide and rule in order to defeat them. Of course these new conservative counter-revolutionary governments were forced to make some token concessions like the adoption of a Constitution and some more liberals social reforms. Many of the old Coalition allies were alarmed by Imperial France which had in the chaos, had retaken the Rhineland along with extending its control over Italy without anyone the wiser. Instead of expanding into Europe, Napoleon announced his neutrality and instead chose to expand into places like Algeria which proved to be popular conquests for the fledgling new Imperial regime.
Of course the next set of wars occurred after the 1848 German Revolution. During the Congress of Frankfurt, the German Revolutionaries proclaimed the birth of a united pan German nation seeking to counter the French who had annexed most of the Rhinland. Indeed German nationalism which was born in opposition to Napoleon I, had soared after Napoleon II began making waves into the German speaking Rhineland. In Prussia, revolutionaries rose up and forced King Frederick Wihlem IV to accept the Frankfurt Crown over a united German Empire. This greatly alarmed Napoleon II who did not want such a geopolitical threat on his Rhine border. This also threatened his Bavarian allies whom he was related to via his marriage to Empress Sophie. The Austrians were in a panic as Hungary had broken away, and the army had lost cohesion with Marshal Radetcsky being killed by a stray bullet during the Battle of Budapest. With Hungary split off from the Empire, the central government in chaos and bankrupt, and the army in shambles, Austria was but a rump state waiting to be put out of its misery. In desperation the Austrians and Bavarians reached out to Napoleon to prevent the Prussian dominated German Empire from annexing them. This laid the foundations for the Second Napoleonic War as historians would later dub this conflict.
As France began seeking to annex Luxembourg and expand its influence into the Netherlands, German nationalists grew angry at what they viewed as French aggression. and thus war broke out among the Germans and French with Russia and Britain waiting to see which power emerged victorious. Of course Napoleon with his revived Grand Armee was easily able to defeat the Germans thanks to his superior officer corps and better logistics like the early adoption of railroads allowing for the rapid mobilization of French troops to the German border. The decisive battles of Berlin, Frankfurt and Salzburg saw the German army defeated and humiliated with Napoleon rapidly marching on Berlin like his father did after the battle of Jena. The Germans fearing the worse, appealed to the British and the Russians for aid. However for Britain, another large scale war on the continent was the last thing the needed as they were occupied with their own domestic crisis. In Russia, Tsar Nicholas who had to deal with a bankrupt treasury and an ineffective central government, tried to improve his popularity by declaring war on Prussia only for the Poles to rise up after Napoleon proclaimed himself the protector of the Poles and restorer of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. This had backfired on him tremendously leaving Russia a shell of the nation it had been under Tsar Alexander I or Catherine the Great.
In Poland, Napoleon crowned his illegitimate half brother Alexandre Walewski as the Grand Duke of Warsaw establishing the Polish cadet branch of House Bonaparte. In Hollande, Napoleon's cousin Louis Napoleon was restored to his father's throne as King of Holland. Saxony was restored to a Kingdom and give Prussian lands that it had lost as a reward for its steadfast loyalty to Emperor Napoleon I. Austria was forced to give up its Illyrian provinces, but gained Silesia back from Prussia along with a personal union over the newly independent Duchy of Pomerania. Prussia was reduced to a rump state as the Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia with its territorial gains since Frederick II being stripped from it by a vengeful Napoleon II. Prussia's Rhine provinces along with Luxembourg were added to France proper, giving France control over the Rhineland's resource which aided in further development of French industry. Napoleon II restored his uncle Jerome as King of Westphalia and proclaimed the restoration of the Confederation of the Rhine.
After these conquests, Imperial France prospered under the steadfast leadership of Napoleon who worked to integrate the various Germans, French, and Italians peoples into a common national identity. Napoleon II funded new infrastructure projects and public works to help integrate his conquests together. Emperor Napoleon II also proclaimed himself as the heir to Charlemagne with many pieces of propaganda and royal heraldry. Thanks to Napoleon's long reign and that of his son Napoleon III, the foundations for the French Empire were secure with the role of the Emperor defined as the protector of merit and a watchful parent seeking to guide his subjects on the right path (HOIV Autocratic Paternalism).
How would the world have been different if these wars never occurred or Napoleon II never took power? Would the French Empire still survive as it currently does under Napoleon VIII? If Napoleon I was allowed to simply die in exile would that have weakened his legacy? If Napoleon I had managed to escape Elba during the disunity of the Congress of Vienna would he have been able to restore the French Empire and play off his rivals against each other, or would this have united the other powers against him once again? If Napoleon II had died of tuberculosis in 1832 which Bonaparte would have carried on Napoleon I's legacy? Would the Bonapartes have been able to retake power, or would the Bourbons have managed to ride out the turmoils of the 19th century into the modern era? What would French demographics look like without the addition of the Rhineland into France? Would a united Germany be able to exist today? If it wasn't for Metternich's blunder, and Napoleon II stayed in Austria, could he have reformed it into a more liberal and federal state with rights for its various minorities?
OOC: What do you guys think? Should I make a timeline out of this in the future?
The Congress of Vienna where a lasting settlement between the various Great Powers was attempted had failed due to the mutual distrust among the other powers. There were conflicts over spheres of influence with Russia and Austria wanting control over the Balkans. Austria and Prussia wanted control and influence in German affairs. While Prussia was devastated, it was propped up by the British whose King still held claim to Hanover, and wanted to protect his ancestral lands. All these competing issues prevented any real solidarity from emerging between these powers who left the negotiating table dissatisfied. It was this dissatisfaction and lack of unity that Napoleon II would expertly exploit in his wars to restore his father's Empire.
Napoleon II for the rest of his adult life had grown up in Austria with the title of the Duke/Prince of Parma under the tutelage of his Hapsburg relatives and under the watchful eye of the Austrian Court who feared giving him any real power. As Napoleon II matured he expressed a greater desire to imitate his father. This concerned people like Metternich who was able to convince Emperor Franz not to give him any real power. This all changed in 1832 when the Prince-Imperial was struck by Tuberculosis. It seemed a very real possibility that Napoleon II would die as he had become comatose. But miraculously he started to recover. Later in life, the future Emperor would swear that at this moment he saw a vision of his father telling him to go forth and restore France’s glory. Though modern scholarship views this as part of a fever dream or Propaganda issued by Napoleon II after retaking his throne. After Napoleon’s miraculous recovery his grandfather Emperor Francis against the advice of his ministers have Napoleon command over the army of Italy and allowed to rule in Parma. Emperor Francis likely did this out of sympathy for his grandson who was on death’s doorstep. This decision proved to be his most fatal mistake as it would lead to the loss of Austria’s Italian position and be the first domino in the collapse of the Austrian Empire.
Where Napoleon II truly made waves was in his role as the Duke of Parma. Seeing it as a chance to truly prove himself, he set to work improving the Duchy. Much like his father, the Prince-Imperial had a natural talent for administration and soldiery. He built new roads and helped finance schools for the poor implementing many reforms that made him very popular in Italy. His regular drilling of his assigned contingent of soldiers and charisma made him popular with the troops of Italy as well. This naturally attracted the attention of many people on the international stage and domestically. This rise in prestige allowed him to gain Princess Sophie of Bavaria's hand in marriage which would later prove instrumental in Napoleon's Wars against the Germans.
Fearing that Napoleon II's influence was growing too much, Metternich began to oppose him and developed a rivalry with the Prince-Imperial. Napoleon II while liberal, was still monarchical in nature, and in many ways mirrored his father's approach to government. Though thanks to his Austrian upbringing, he was more tactful and cautious that his father. Metternich being a reactionary was suspicious about the revolution and liberalism in general. As the prominence of Napoleon grew within Austria and abroad, he grew his own faction of supporters within the Austrian government who desired more liberal reform. Thus Napoleon II and Metternich competed to gain the attention of Emperor Francis who became more detached from governing as he grew older.
After Emperor Francis died in 1825, Emperor Ferdidnand I who was Napoleon's uncle took power. He too like Metternich was suspicious of liberalism and opted to chart Austria along Metternich's vision. Napoleon seeing where the wind was blowing went back to Parma. However in 1830 Revolution spread to Italy.The Savoyards and the other Italian states with their conservative and reactionary rulers were unable to stop Revolutionary movements. Napoleon who never formally abdicated his title as the King of Rome was a natural candidate for revolutionary movements like the Cabonari to rally behind. Indeed it was through the Cabonari that Napoleon II meet his cousin Louis-Napoleon who would become one of his key subordinates in the years to come. Metternich fearing Napoleon becoming a figurehead for revolutionary movements seeking to undermine the government, convinced Emperor Franz to issue an order for the arrest of the Prince-Imperial deeming him an outlaw. This was met with outrage the Austrian parts of Italy where Napoleon was very popular. The Southern armies with troops recruited from Italy also defected to Napoleon's side. With the support of the Revolutionaries and his new loyal soldiers Napoleon re-assumed the title of the King of Rome. Within Austria proper, Metternich was trying to re-assert his control as liberal revolutionaries rose up in cities forcing the Austrian court to flee Vienna. In the chaos, Napoleon was able to steamroll Northern Italy who didn't really put up much resistance to Napoleon.
The idea of Italian unification was also popular with Pope Pius IX who favored the idea of united Italy in a confederation with the Pope as its head. Napoleon II ever the shrewd politician was able to secure a deal with the Pope guaranteeing the integrity of the Papal states in exchange for recognizing Napoleon's claim to the French Imperial Throne. Thus in 1836 Napoleon was formally recognized as King of Rome, Protector of Italy, Defender of the Faith, and Emperor of the French. While this was a victory for Napoleon in many ways it saved the Papal States as many historians speculate that it would have likely been overthrown by Revolutionaries without Napoleon's protection of it. The Bourbon Kingdom of Two Sicilies did not sit idly by, and planned to declare war against Napoleon, but were occupied with revolts by the Sicilians who wanted more autonomy and a separate Kingdom. Seeing this dispensary, Napoleon with the Pope's blessing invaded Southern Italy and restored the Kingdom of Naples. One of Napoleon's key policy initiatives was to initiate Land reforms which won over the peasants to his side solving the economic woes of the region. He also appeased the Sicilians by promising them local autonomy in their own Kingdom of Sicily.
This rapid and unforeseen success of Napoleon shocked many monarchs in Europe. However thanks to the collapse of the Congress of Vienna, no real solidarity among the old powers were reached. Each power had their own individual problems to deal with before coming to the aid of the other. Britain was rocked by the ineptitude and political controversies of George IV and the Queen Caroline affair. Russia was suffering from Polish revolts and the effects of the Decembrist Uprising in favor of a more liberal monarchy. By the time Tsar Nicholas put down these revolts, Russia was internally unstable and it focused on reconstruction and political reform. In Austria, after Napoleon declared independence he defeated the Austrian Army sent to crush him on the field like his father before him. This left Bourbon France as the only real power to oppose Napoleon.
Indeed Charles X sent an army to arrest the Young Bonaparte. But things were not going well in France. Charles’s ultra-royalist and very reactionary program alienated the populace. An economic crisis that began in the last years of Louis XVIII’s life only worsened making him deeply unpopular within France. Charles purge of the officer corps, and promotion of his noble friends and cronies to officer posts angered many of the common born troops and older Napoleonic Veterans so it was no wonder that the armies sent to kill or arrest the young Bonaparte, joined him instead. Soon after Napoleon entered France a riot ensued in Paris forcing the Bourbons and their supporters to flee France.
Napoleon II had entered France with much fanfare. The assassination of Napoleon I had made him into a martyr for Bonapartism and that of Imperial France making Napoleon's seizure of power smoother. Through shrewd politicking he was able to make use of his Bonapartist supporters to spread propganda about himself. With his military victories in Italy French papers compared to that of Napoleon I who also rose to prominence with the wars in Italy. They also portrayed him as a figure to bring about stability and prosperity playing up the glories of Imperial France under the Bonapartes lamenting France's stagnation under the tyrranical Bourbons. However unlike Napoleon I, Napoleon II did not immediately begin mustering an army to go about invading the Rhineland just yet. He instead focused on consolidating the restored Empire and worked to integrate Italy as a co-equal part of France. Indeed the Austrian and Italian units serving the Emperor were integrated into the restored Grand Armee.
Using the period of chaos and distraction of his rivals and foes, Napoleon initiated a program of rapid industrialization and modernization of French industry and its military capacity. This provided huge boons to the French Economy which soared under Napoleon II which only served to increase his popularity among the French. The resouces from Wallonia which broke off from the Netherlands to join with their fellow French brethren also helped aid industrialization. With the riches of Lombardy-Venetia he used that capital to finance his massive overhaul of the administration and army. Many old Napoleonic veterans were brought out of retirement and restored to their posts. The last surviving veterans of Napoleon I's Old Guard proved to be critical in training new recruits. Some of the more prominent Napoleonic Marshalls like Marshal Massena, Marshal Ney, and Marshall Davout who served into his 70's advised the young Emperor in matters of military tactics and formation, and helped Napoleon's new troops gain the institutional knowledge needed for future campaigns. Napoleon II rewarded them for their services handsomely by rewarding them with many titles and honors. His father's stepson Eugène de Beauharnais was also restored to his post as viceroy of Italy by Napoleon II.
Eventually the uprisings were put down due to the divided nature of the Revolutionaries which allowed the Conservatives and Reactionaries to divide and rule in order to defeat them. Of course these new conservative counter-revolutionary governments were forced to make some token concessions like the adoption of a Constitution and some more liberals social reforms. Many of the old Coalition allies were alarmed by Imperial France which had in the chaos, had retaken the Rhineland along with extending its control over Italy without anyone the wiser. Instead of expanding into Europe, Napoleon announced his neutrality and instead chose to expand into places like Algeria which proved to be popular conquests for the fledgling new Imperial regime.
Of course the next set of wars occurred after the 1848 German Revolution. During the Congress of Frankfurt, the German Revolutionaries proclaimed the birth of a united pan German nation seeking to counter the French who had annexed most of the Rhinland. Indeed German nationalism which was born in opposition to Napoleon I, had soared after Napoleon II began making waves into the German speaking Rhineland. In Prussia, revolutionaries rose up and forced King Frederick Wihlem IV to accept the Frankfurt Crown over a united German Empire. This greatly alarmed Napoleon II who did not want such a geopolitical threat on his Rhine border. This also threatened his Bavarian allies whom he was related to via his marriage to Empress Sophie. The Austrians were in a panic as Hungary had broken away, and the army had lost cohesion with Marshal Radetcsky being killed by a stray bullet during the Battle of Budapest. With Hungary split off from the Empire, the central government in chaos and bankrupt, and the army in shambles, Austria was but a rump state waiting to be put out of its misery. In desperation the Austrians and Bavarians reached out to Napoleon to prevent the Prussian dominated German Empire from annexing them. This laid the foundations for the Second Napoleonic War as historians would later dub this conflict.
As France began seeking to annex Luxembourg and expand its influence into the Netherlands, German nationalists grew angry at what they viewed as French aggression. and thus war broke out among the Germans and French with Russia and Britain waiting to see which power emerged victorious. Of course Napoleon with his revived Grand Armee was easily able to defeat the Germans thanks to his superior officer corps and better logistics like the early adoption of railroads allowing for the rapid mobilization of French troops to the German border. The decisive battles of Berlin, Frankfurt and Salzburg saw the German army defeated and humiliated with Napoleon rapidly marching on Berlin like his father did after the battle of Jena. The Germans fearing the worse, appealed to the British and the Russians for aid. However for Britain, another large scale war on the continent was the last thing the needed as they were occupied with their own domestic crisis. In Russia, Tsar Nicholas who had to deal with a bankrupt treasury and an ineffective central government, tried to improve his popularity by declaring war on Prussia only for the Poles to rise up after Napoleon proclaimed himself the protector of the Poles and restorer of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. This had backfired on him tremendously leaving Russia a shell of the nation it had been under Tsar Alexander I or Catherine the Great.
In Poland, Napoleon crowned his illegitimate half brother Alexandre Walewski as the Grand Duke of Warsaw establishing the Polish cadet branch of House Bonaparte. In Hollande, Napoleon's cousin Louis Napoleon was restored to his father's throne as King of Holland. Saxony was restored to a Kingdom and give Prussian lands that it had lost as a reward for its steadfast loyalty to Emperor Napoleon I. Austria was forced to give up its Illyrian provinces, but gained Silesia back from Prussia along with a personal union over the newly independent Duchy of Pomerania. Prussia was reduced to a rump state as the Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia with its territorial gains since Frederick II being stripped from it by a vengeful Napoleon II. Prussia's Rhine provinces along with Luxembourg were added to France proper, giving France control over the Rhineland's resource which aided in further development of French industry. Napoleon II restored his uncle Jerome as King of Westphalia and proclaimed the restoration of the Confederation of the Rhine.
After these conquests, Imperial France prospered under the steadfast leadership of Napoleon who worked to integrate the various Germans, French, and Italians peoples into a common national identity. Napoleon II funded new infrastructure projects and public works to help integrate his conquests together. Emperor Napoleon II also proclaimed himself as the heir to Charlemagne with many pieces of propaganda and royal heraldry. Thanks to Napoleon's long reign and that of his son Napoleon III, the foundations for the French Empire were secure with the role of the Emperor defined as the protector of merit and a watchful parent seeking to guide his subjects on the right path (HOIV Autocratic Paternalism).
How would the world have been different if these wars never occurred or Napoleon II never took power? Would the French Empire still survive as it currently does under Napoleon VIII? If Napoleon I was allowed to simply die in exile would that have weakened his legacy? If Napoleon I had managed to escape Elba during the disunity of the Congress of Vienna would he have been able to restore the French Empire and play off his rivals against each other, or would this have united the other powers against him once again? If Napoleon II had died of tuberculosis in 1832 which Bonaparte would have carried on Napoleon I's legacy? Would the Bonapartes have been able to retake power, or would the Bourbons have managed to ride out the turmoils of the 19th century into the modern era? What would French demographics look like without the addition of the Rhineland into France? Would a united Germany be able to exist today? If it wasn't for Metternich's blunder, and Napoleon II stayed in Austria, could he have reformed it into a more liberal and federal state with rights for its various minorities?
OOC: What do you guys think? Should I make a timeline out of this in the future?
