Empire of Freedom: The History of the American Empire
- Thread starter Kaiser of Brazil
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That actually sounds like a fun idea. Holy Britannia rules forever ! All hail Lord Protector Marx ! All hail the Savior Wellesley ! Death and Destruction for all enemies of Britannia !
INTERLUDE I: THE YOUNG CHARLES MARX
THE YOUNG CHARLES MARX
London, 1837
The city of London was in a climate of celebration, it was November and the war was over. After almost two decades ever since London was liberated by the savior of Britannia, the victory came once again, another step until the eventual revenge against the French. The Irish traitors were defeated, the greatest symbol of the Briton humiliation, the Irish State, was destroyed and its citizens brought under the domination of the Anglo armies. Further south, where Wellesley was once forced to evacuate to save thousands (as it was expected from his merciful spirit), the armies of the new Lord-Protector Cochrane were now marching, creating a foothold in the peninsula and saving millions of civilians from the fury of the Devil incarnated. Now the city was in celebration as it’s young soldiers came back, marching in a parade full of fanfare and showing of Patriotism and devotion to Holy Britannia, the promised land of God’s new chosen.
As the soldiers marched through the streets, they were greeted by thousands carrying the Union Jack. The young seemed to be more enthusiastic than the older generation, as they continued seeing these new changes, especially in the doctrine of the Anglican Church, with suspicion and skepticism. While the majority of those less than 20 years old were born in this new system, raised with the principles of Britannia and learned to trust the Lord Protector in all situations, many became depressed and even committed suicide when the news of Wellesley’s death struck, now they trusted the new father of the Nation. Amongst these young was Charles Marx, the son of lawyer Heinrich Marx, a German refugee from the Napoleonic domination that fled to England in 1814, only to be caught in the middle of the English campaign a few years later. Charles was born in 1818, on the day Wellesley’s Army of Liberation took their city back from the French, and their parents would take it as a sign.
Marx grew up in the turbulent 1820s, when England was in reconstruction and conflicts between Monarchists and the Government threatened to start a second civil war. Marx would grow up under Wellesley’s programs of education, using the power of Universal Compulsory Education as a means to spread the national values and virtues to the future generation, with Marx being part of the first batch. By coincidence, the Great European War would start one year into his service, with him serving until the end of the war in the Irish Front. Marx would go into the war fueled by a fanatic belief of fighting against the Papist traitors for the Lord Protector and Holy Britannia, and he always repeated that to himself as he was forced to be part in mass executions and brutal battles against guerrillas, including being part of the army force that captured the Irish government by mid-1837. He spent a few more months as part of the peacekeeping force, and now he was marching down Downing Street together with his regiment, the 11th Infantry.
As he went down the streets, he was cheered, with rains of flowers and confetti raining over them, a young woman even pulled him and kissed him, it was the 4th one already, he couldn’t blame his good looks in anyone but God. Charles would later be in the pub with the rest of his regiment, as a show of gratitude, all soldiers of Britannia were to have their bills paid by the Government (with money confiscated from Ireland), and most of the pubs of London ran out of beer by the next morning. Usually Charles wasn’t one to like drinking but he made an exemption for that night, celebrations with his comrades, some of them growing up ever since school, ensured all the night. Eventually, Charles and his 2 best friends started talking about the future.
Adam: “Rule Britannia boys, what now ?”
Charles: “What do you mean Adam ?”
Adam: “Those Irish are good as dead, what now ?”
Jackson: “Now we swim across the channel and hang Bonaparte by his boots !”
Charles: “Did you forget why we are here already, Jack ?”
Jackson: “Oh, yeah... duh, it’s because I won the bet Charlie ! I killed more Irish than you.”
Charles: “Oh hell no ! I killed so many of those walking potatoes that I lost the count.”
Jackson: lThen we call it even, so, what do we do now ?”
Adam: “I think I will go back to my family’s farm in the Midlands, father has been sick lately, I guess I have to take care of it now.”
Jackson: *burp* “I can’t go back, my father hates me, he will probably be disappointed that I wasn’t shot by a Potato.”
Charles: “I never thought what I would do, maybe just continue to be a useless burden to my poor mama. Heh, or remain in the army, Lieutenant Pryce told me I had a future there, I shall continue to serve Britannia and the Lord Protector Wellesley until Paris turns into Seville !”
Jackson: “Wellesley is dead you dumb wanker !“
They laughed a little, but then it suddenly turned into a mourn, Wellesley was always taught as a father figure to them, an ideal they should always inspire to be.
Charles: “Hey, do you remember that time Wellesley visited our school ?”
Adam: “How could I forget ? That was the highest point of my life ! I shook the hand of the Savior of Britannia himself !”
Jackson: “Shook his hand ? I got his autograph !”
Adam: “Showoff.”
Charles: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I turned into the Lord Protector ?”
Jackson: “Pffft, keep dreaming German... keep dreaming...”
Name: Francisco de Paula
Birthplace: Mexico City
Date of Birth: 1810
Sex: Male
Culture: Spanish
Political Leaning: Constitutionalist
Background: Born on a merchant vessel heading to the new world, Francisco’s parents were fleeing Spain to escape the restlessness and chaos of the spanish countryside after Napoleons invasion. He lived his whole life in Mexico and dreamed as many other boys born to the peninsular class dreamed of, reclaiming the home land. Since he belongs to the peninsular class he enjoys the privileges of minor nobility although he’s never even stepped foot in Spain and sees the cast system of Mexico as pointless. Growing older he joined the spanish army but is disgusted at its state, seeing it as nothing but a nobles playground to make some extra cash and gain more power. Also recognizing that the monarchy while divine has become to centralized and bogges down the ability for the state to act. This thinking has led Francisco to study the teachings of Diderot and the separation of powers in government and other revolutionary works. Even though Francisco has dabbled in revolutionary works he's still condemned separatist like bolivar as nothing but Bonapartist.
Fransico has formed the idea of a new spanish empire were all viceroyalties are transformed into kingdoms ruled by spanish infantas who answer to the spanish emperor serving as representatives of the bourbon dynasty and of the people they ruled. All corners of the spanish empire would have say and representation in a new parliament in Madrid that appoints a council to advise the emperor. Francisco is not alone in these ideas, representing a growing faction of more liberal leaning people tired of the stagnation and collapse of the bourbon crown. With Spain now once again holding land in Europe Fransico sees this as the time for the Phoenix to rise once more.
Birthplace: Mexico City
Date of Birth: 1810
Sex: Male
Culture: Spanish
Political Leaning: Constitutionalist
Background: Born on a merchant vessel heading to the new world, Francisco’s parents were fleeing Spain to escape the restlessness and chaos of the spanish countryside after Napoleons invasion. He lived his whole life in Mexico and dreamed as many other boys born to the peninsular class dreamed of, reclaiming the home land. Since he belongs to the peninsular class he enjoys the privileges of minor nobility although he’s never even stepped foot in Spain and sees the cast system of Mexico as pointless. Growing older he joined the spanish army but is disgusted at its state, seeing it as nothing but a nobles playground to make some extra cash and gain more power. Also recognizing that the monarchy while divine has become to centralized and bogges down the ability for the state to act. This thinking has led Francisco to study the teachings of Diderot and the separation of powers in government and other revolutionary works. Even though Francisco has dabbled in revolutionary works he's still condemned separatist like bolivar as nothing but Bonapartist.
Fransico has formed the idea of a new spanish empire were all viceroyalties are transformed into kingdoms ruled by spanish infantas who answer to the spanish emperor serving as representatives of the bourbon dynasty and of the people they ruled. All corners of the spanish empire would have say and representation in a new parliament in Madrid that appoints a council to advise the emperor. Francisco is not alone in these ideas, representing a growing faction of more liberal leaning people tired of the stagnation and collapse of the bourbon crown. With Spain now once again holding land in Europe Fransico sees this as the time for the Phoenix to rise once more.
SpaceOrbisGaming
Banned
I have a feeling Charles will one day become the Lord Protector if that last bit is anything to go by. Also is this the same guy who Communist Manifesto or is this somebody else?
In another reality where he was born in Germany, he had the name Karl instead of Charles. Also sorry but he isn’t growing a massive hobo beard this time, a Lord Protector must look respectable and gentlemanly.
last admiral
Banned
Humph, Cromwellist scum! Reclaim the crown, sons of Brittania! Its your birthrights! We rather die than bend the knee to the oathbreaker!
XLIV: NEW TURKISH ORDER
NEW TURKISH ORDER
The Ottoman Empire was among the defeated in the Great European War, yet was also one of that lost the less, merely reverting back to the borders before 1811 (Except for Moldavia that was given as a Russian vassal State). But what seemed as a recoverable defeat at first for the Ottoman dynasty, revealed itself to be the seeds for their own destruction. In a space of 2 years since the Constantinople conference, the Ottoman Empire would be destroyed, and from its ashes the world would almost throw itself at war once again. All of that would happen because of two men: Kara Iskander Pasha and Muhammad Ali.
Iskander was born in 1795, child of a carpenter and a mother that died giving him birth, in the metropolitan Konstantinnye, growing up fascinated by the stories of Steppe Horsemen told by his father, only for his father to die and him to be left at an orphanage. Iskander learned to hate the Janissaries and the old Ottoman order the day a group of Janissaries sacked his orphanage during the coup attempt against Selim III, instead he thought highly of the Reformist Sultan, watching the March of the Nizam-I Cedid troops after the dissolution of the Janissary Corps. Inspired by that, he would beg to join in the army, barely being capable to join in at the age of 16, marching with his troops to fight Bagration’s Army in Ukraine at the Battle of Mykolayiv, only to see the Turkish soldiers being led by incompetent old men who ordered a retreat even when the army was capable of holding them off, that would fill him with anger. Iskander grew inside the Ottoman ranks, being one of their youngest generals by the time of the death of the Eagle of Europe, a figure he greatly admired, he was stationed in Georgia when the Russian army crossed the border, fighting in the Great European War in the only front the Ottomans emerged victorious. He won victory after victory against superior Russian troops by using the terrain and an impressive knowledge of tactics to outmaneuver Russian forces twice the size of his and defeat them, like in the Battle of Kut where 40,000 Russians were captured. In 1836, he received the news of the death of Prince Orhan, the Warrior son of the ill Sultan Selim III, and then after the death of the Sultan he so admired. Instead would rise to the throne Mustafa IV, a drunken spoiled brat who spent the entire day in the Harem, humiliating the Empire by showing at the Conference blackout drunk and half naked with 3 concubines. Iskander couldn’t continue to let those incompetent degenerates rule a warrior people like the Turks, and he wouldn’t.
Further south, another man made himself a rising star. After Napoleon broke the power of the Mamelukes and left Egypt in a power vacuum, a commander from Albania would emerge out of a decade of bloodshed, Muhammad Ali. Ali would become known as a reformer, inspired in the French to introduce revolutionary reforms to the backwards province of Egypt, turning it into a rival to the power of the Sultan himself. The armies led by his son Ibrahim would be one of the strongest forces of the whole Empire, subjugating Sudan and providing help to put down the Greek revolt. By 1837, the Ottoman armies had exhausted themselves in the Danube halting the Russian advances, meanwhile Mehmed’s troops were fresh, highly trained by French instructors, and ready to fulfill the Governor’s long ambition of becoming Sultan himself. In January 1838, seizing this opportunity, Egyptian troops led by Ibrahim Ali Pasha would cross the Sinai, starting the Ottoman-Egyptian War.
The Ottoman armies had greatly increased in quality thanks for Selim’s reforms, but those troops took the fury of the Russian assaults with half the regiments with less than half the strength and were exhausted, but we’re battle-hardened. The Levant would be the main frontline as Acre would see the first major battle of the war, with the Egyptians under Ibrahim crushing the local Ottoman garrisons and capturing Jerusalem, all while cutting off Hedjaz from the rest of the Caliphate. For the next months, Egyptian troops would push all the way to Aleppo, where 45,000 Ottoman troops were defeated by an outnumbered Egyptian force, opening the way for Constantinople and bringing panic for the Sublime Porte. General Iskander Pasha and his army would be the last hope of the Sultan, with his army (which was the strongest intact force of the Empire) being called from Trabzon to attack Ibrahim. Iskander’s Army would March west, running parallel to the Egyptian army in Southern Anatolia, and suddenly the Imperial Court noticed what was happening.
On the 18th of October of 1838, 50,000 Turkish troops of the Army of the Caucasus would be sieging the Capital, with no fleet left to defend it (The Russians sunk the Ottoman navy in the last months of the GEW). Iskander’s troops would assault the city of the world’s desire and crush the loyalist Guard of the Sultan. Mustafa IV would be pathetically caught by Iskander’s troops in his Harem, drunk as always, covered with prostitutes and bottles of wine. Iskander was proven right as the whole city would see their decadent sultan who was too worried about missing a drop of wine to care about them. Iskander took the Palace, making a grand speech to his troops and the people, announcing the end of the Ottoman sultanate and their degenerate dynasty who succumbed to decadence, and declaring himself “Emperor of the Turks”. He would get mixed reactions from a confused people who didn’t understand the magnitude of what was happening, while his troops and most of the Turkish population celebrated in the city. Emperor Kara I Iskander would emulate Bonaparte, his great idol, couping a corrupt government and placing himself at the power. But while the Turks seemed to be starting to embrace this greater emphasis on Pan-Turanism and “going back to their roots”, other subjects would feel sidelined by that sudden change, from Algeria to Wallachia, Arabs and Christians, Greeks and Slavs, all would see the New Order proclamation as a rejection by Constantinople (or Istanbul as Iskander called it). Meanwhile, the Egyptians planned to crush this upstart “Emperor of the Turks” and marched to the Capital, while Ottoman loyalists rallied behind Prince Abduhamid, the son of Mehmed II, Selim III’s brother, in the city of Edirne. Chaos was about to engulf the dying corpse of the Empire, with many vassals breaking away and oppressed minorities rising for their liberation. Meanwhile, Russia watched these developments with attention, while Napoleon II prepared his Empire to defend its interests. It has barely been a year ever since the Conference of Constantinople, and now that same city threatened to restart the conflict once more.
I have a feeling Iskander has only accelerated the collapse of the Turkish caliphate. Russia has no reason to not march into Bulgaria now.
With the catastrophic war they just faced? I really doubt the Russians would attempt something, especially with the French waiting in the sidelines waiting for them to make a move.
I tried my hand at map-making, based on the 1819 map posted on here before. You can expect there to be some mistakes peppered along this map, since I'm still a novice and Mapchart only has modern states and provinces for me to make use of, the OP's word is still law of course.
Why do you think France would support the Turks, especially a usurper that has no legitimacy like iskander? The last thing Napoleon II wants after loosing a war is every ambitious general thinking that they can be emperor. France would also receive massive backlash from the church for not supporting Christian separatist. Don’t forget that Russia during the GEW also took on the ottomans with half there troops committed and still pulled a soft victory. With a more committed Russian force under the banner of “liberation” into ottoman territory’s in open revolt and the ottoman military in complete disarray Russia would be in Constantinople by the end of the year. France is in really no position to help anyone. The continental system has now lost all of the Eastern European markets and British markets so people like the Dutch who are mainly Protestant and rely on British trade will be questioning French leadership and wanting revolution.
I don't expect France to help Iskander, I expect France to do everything in it's power to stop Russian opportunism and obstruct everything they try to do in the Balkans. Furthermore, even this Britain would be a little leery of a Russia that enters the Mediterranean and they still have to deal with their conquests. Russia's best choice here is to lick their wounds, digest their conquests (they just took Poland, that's not an easy thing to swallow) and wait for every side in this civil war to bleed themselves into a stump and swoop in after all is said and done.
Also, you seem to be underestimating the losses Russia took in that war, Berlin was a shitshow that has surely left them disoriented, and the Caucasus was not a walk in the park either. If Iskander (the same general who gave them a bloody nose despite being far inferior in terms of numbers) manages to make peace with Egypt he gets the chance to make this thing a slaughter for Russia, which would guarantee a French intervention no matter what happens.
EDIT: The Christian angle could easily be disregarded in terms of the French by calling them heretics, there seems to be a turn toward Religious Extremism akin to WMIT here with Britain and France is surely to follow suit.
Also the OP seems to have alluded to this not becoming a full on war again, so yes, I'm confident these events are going to play out relatively free of interference.
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All this depends on what support iskander gets, and I doubt he would get a lot. Those loyal to the ottomans will flee to Abduhamid, Arabs sick of ottoman rule will flee to Egypt, so what support does iskander get? Turkish Nationalist? Turkish Nationalism has no mainstream support outside of Turkish metropolitan centers and philosopher groups. Outside of Anatolia Iskander will quickly learn that he’s surrounded by hostile forces. Even though iskander is a good general many other people are competent generals, like Muhammad Ali. Keep in mind that at this point Nicholas is the defender of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. So not getting involved would be just stupid, and otl Nicholas was willing to get in stupid unproductive wars.
You assume he's going to go try and take back the Balkans then, I really doubt that considering he's a Turkish Nationalist and his aims lay in the East, not the west. The Ottomans practically have no army to speak of and if Iskander really establishes that he has no intention of going after the Balkans like the Ottomans certainly are on the off chance that they they beat him, he can secure his western flank until Russia tries its luck again.
Arabs are not the only people in the Middle East, and they could easily be persuaded to join Iskander's cause if they are promised their own homeland in return for their help. Lands which would be carved off of Arabian lands for the small small price of their support. Simply believing that he's the Young Turks come much earlier would be an easy assumption to make, but I believe it is a wrong one to make in this instance.
(I wrote his bio up to the point where he leads the Army of the Caucasus against the Russians, it is up to Antonio if he wants to keep parts of it and make him actually succeed -since I'm very aware how much of a precarious situation he's currently in- but I am optimistic in this instance)
So iskander is a Turkish Nationalist that’s main goal is a political movement that doesn’t develop until the 20th century? He also wants to abandon the balkans and Arabia? I get that he has support for getting rid of the corrupt ottoman government but if he pursues his other ideas he’s definitely getting coupd by his allies(proto young Turks) who are interested in keeping the territorial integrity of the empire.
First off, butterflies exist, so I think that answers your first question, and I don't think one has to be all that smart to notice that a large swathe of land whose people hate you for a myriad of reasons is not one that is going to stay in your hands for long, better to part on 'good' terms than to foster further resentment and go through a separation that's not going to be favorable toward you.
Last off, who's left to coup him? He's literally the only one who has access to an army that could do that, and successful generals who pull victories from the jaws of defeat in a repeated manner tend to gain a cult following amongst their men. That he's been one of them since the age of sixteen would only increase that following. His purpose is to create a 'Turkish homeland that receives all the attention it deserves' and not one where 'His people die by the thousands just to keep a hold of a strip of land whose people hate your guts, while the heartland is drained of its resources just to keep the rotten wheels of that system turning'.
He would have plenty of other reformers still in his ranks interested in the territorial integrity of the empire. For instance Mehmed Rushdi Pasha, a reformer and military man. Men like him would flock at the chance to overthrow the ottomans. Imagine if Napoleon said, “hey fight for me but also we’re giving up all gains made since the revolution.” No matter how strong the cult people don’t like concessions to what they perceive as filthy peasant rebels. Not to mention a good amount of Turks live in the Balkans, that’s a good amount of Turks that would lose their homes, and a good amount that would flock to the loyalist ottomans.