Empire of Freedom: The History of the American Empire

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Hello.

Just saying. Although I really hoped for the continuation of Golden Eagle (oh the cliffhanger), what you've done here is quite marvelous.

Well Done, I'd also really hope for a gigantic American Empire soon.
 
XVIII: THE WAR OF THE THIRD COALITION
XVIII: THE WAR OF THE THIRD COALITION

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The brilliance and genius of the new French Emperor was about to clash against the greatest powers of Europe in a Continental War, defeat meant the destruction of France, and a victory would imortalize his name in the same league of Alexander and Caesar, Napoleon marched to War. The Emperor raised and organized the first universal conscription in history, raising the "La Grande Armeé", the largest army Europe had seen: Over 300,000 soldiers, more than the Roman Empire in all its glory, including the Grand Bombard, hundreds of artillery pieces capable of breaking the enemy force just before the infantry and the dragons shattered their ranks. Together with one of the best General Staffs of Europe, with names like Murat, Lannes, Soult, Bernadotte, Ney and others, The Emperor led that force against its enemies.

The Austrian army in Bavaria was the first challenge of the French Army, led by General Karl Leiberich, it had 100,000 men while the Grande Armee was spread from Italy to Hannover, representing a serious threat to the Emperor's plans. It culminated in the Campaign of Ulm, where the faster French force outflanked and surrounded the Austrians in a series of skirmishes that ended in the Battle of Ulm. The result was the surrender of over 60,000 Austrians with minimal French loses, one of Napoleon's most brilliant victories. The surrender of this Austrian force on the 20th of October of 1805 opened the way to Vienna, with the French Imperial Army marching to Vienna and forcing Franz II to flee the city, giving the command of the Allied forces to the Russian Tsar Alexander I.
After taking Vienna, Napoleon marched north to meet the combined Coalition Army in the Pratzen Heights, a place that History would remember as Austerlitz: Napoleon's greatest victory.

While both sides had roughly equal numbers (75,000 vs 89,000), the Russians had Alexander in command, who cared more about personal glory than military strategy. Napoleon employed an unorthodox tactic, abandoning the high ground in Pratzen Heights and hiding his troops on the left flank, covered by a mist, then the right flank under Marshal Davout was weakened to the bare minimum. The Allied armies were baited by the exposed flank and concentrated their attacks on Davout's 12,000 who held strong against the seemingly endless hordes of Russians. Until Napoleon's forces struck back, retaking the Pratzen Heights, capturing the Russian artillery and turning them on the surrounded Coalition army. Russian forces tried to escape using the frozen lakes, only to be drowned after the artillery shells broke the ice, on the 2nd of December of 1805, the Coalition army was defeated with both Franz II and Alexander I requesting an armistice, signing the Treaty of Pressburg.

The Treaty essentially gave Napoleon the lands of Germany, Tyrol was given to Bavaria, and Veneto was given to the Kingdom of Italy. Napoleon planned to reorganize the Eastern territories, but he still had one enemy left: Perfidious Albion. And with Admiral Nelson going to the Americas with a large portion of the Army and Navy gave Bonaparte a Golden oportunity. Admiral Villenueve and the Combined Franco-Spanish navy set sail to meet the British fleet led by Admiral Collingwood in Trafalgar. The battle War by no means easy, the Allied fleet suffered more loses than the British and many considered it a tactical draw or a French Phyrric victory, but the British navy was severely weakened, exposing the Home Islands to an invasion. Napoleon organized his Grande Armee, a force of over 80,000 men to invade Britain, and that gave the despair to the British negotiatiors that forced them to sign away Canada in order to have Nelson's fleet back. But the time until the Treaty of Lisbon was signed, news of it arrived to Nelson, and Nelson's fleet came back (with many fleets still having the damages of Chesapeake Bay) was a window for Napoleon. And one does not just give an opportunity to the Emperor of the French.

On the 28th of October of 1806, the Franco-Spanish fleet was spotted in the coast of Ireland, along with a massive number of transport vessels, preparing to set foot on the Emerald island in the first invasion of the British Islands since 1066 (or 1688), and leading it was Napoleon I Bonaparte.
 

On the 28th of October of 1806, the Franco-Spanish fleet was spotted in the coast of Ireland, along with a massive number of transport vessels, preparing to set foot on the Emerald island in the first invasion of the British Islands since 1066 (or 1688), and leading it was Napoleon I Bonaparte.
That was exactly what I was waiting for the moment you told me Nelson was in America.
 
XIX: THE IRISH WAR
XIX: THE IRISH WAR
8 years before Napoleon landed in Cork, the Emerald island was in revolt against the British, in a rare alliance between the Protestant elites and the Catholic population led by Thomas Wolfe. The revolt was crushed by force of arms but the Irish population were not forced to like the British occupation, dreaming on the day that a United Irish Realm would be funded in the emerald island. And that would come on the 28th of October, when Napoleon's army of 60,000 men landed in Cork overwhelming the local resistance and was welcomed with open arms. Crowds lined up on the streets and threw flowers to Napoleon as he was hailed as the liberator of Ireland. As the news of Bonaparte's arrival spread, riots broke in the island, in some villages the British garrisons were overwhelmed and were taken by the "Irish Free Army", an army formed by several militias who rose and took control of their cities. By November, most of Ireland was in open revolt, with Munster and Leinster fully occupied by Franco-Irish troops.

William Piett, Prime Minister of Britain, almost had a stroke when those news fell on his desk. He scrambled to rally British forces from all the cities of Great Britain, from the small village to London. An decent army of 60,000 men was shipped to Belfast, avoiding the French fleet by a miracle, but that was what Napoleon wanted, a decisive battle to break the British morale and force their surrender, maybe he could even invade the Home island if some storm struck Nelson and delayed him. The British forces in Ireland regrouped in Dublin, 30,000 men under General Rowland Hill, the Viscount of Hill organized the city's defenses and prepared for a siege, planning to delay Napoleon long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.

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General Rowland Hill
Napoleon's March to the North was halted, the strong British resistance in Dublin was able to defeat the Irish rebels and prepared the city for a siege. The Franco-Irish forces couldn't allow such a massive enemy presence in their right flank, the 60,000 men army of Napoleon laid siege on the city, leaving about 70,000 Irish militias under Marshal Ney to capture the Northern Duchies. On the 6th of November, the siege of Dublin began. The British forces in the city can't have their bravery understated, having to fight repeated French assaults or resist heavy bombardment by the French Grand Batteries. But on the 22th of November, the British forces under Lord Charles Stanhope, the Commander-in-Chief of Ireland who went to London during the initial Napoleonic Invasion to call reinforcements. Later, on the 24th of November, Sir Arthur Wellesley and 24,000 troops came back from Canada escorted by Nelson's fleet.

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With Wellesley arriving, the British forces in Ireland now numbered 114,000 against the French 130,000, but most of the "French" force was composed by Irish militias. But the 3 British forces were separated, Stanhope in Belfast, Rowland in Dublin, and Wellesley in Connaught. Wellesley underestimated his enemy once, and it cost Canada falling to the Yankees, he would certainly not underestimate Bonaparte or the strength of Militias. He marched East to relieve Dublin, raising his force to 30,000 with Protestant recruits, with Stanhope doing the same and heading towards Dublin.

The siege was impossible to keep now that the British navy under Nelson arrived, Napoleon's men would go through hell if necessary but the Emperor feared that the British could overwhelm him by attacking from 3 sides. He called back the Irish Free Army sent to the North, dividing in 2 forces, one of 40,000 would attack Wellesley before he could join Stanhope, and the rest would form a reserve of Napoleon's Grand Army. On the 1st of December of 1806, the Irish Free Army under Marshal Ney meet Sir Arthur Wellesley's Force 56 miles West from Dublin. But Wellesley's professional army was able to repeal and pursue the enthusiastic militias, sending them away and meeting with Stanhope's Army, with the two commanders merging their forces with Wellesley at the head (Stanhope believed Wellesley to be a superior commander).

Sir Arthur Wellesley led his men into the Battle of Dublin, the largest battle fought on Irish soil. Napoleon's army was standing between Dublin and Wellesley, with the British commander attacking the French positions in Strawberry Beds. 60,000 French held against 80,000 British troops while the Irish militia surrounded Belfast. By the late afternoon, with both sides (especially the British) exhausted, Rowland's force attacked the Irish from the flank. Until the night, both sides attempted to control the Right flank in the city's outskirts. Eventually, the British failed to break the Franco-Irish lines, and the French were too exhausted to push for a counter attack. The first day of Battle was over with no clear winner.

On the next day, the British repeated their attacks, with the Franco-Irish army repealing them again and again. But, in the 3 PM, a cloud on the horizon announced the arrival of reinforcements. Ney's militias came back and struck Wellesley's army from behind, with the French army seeing that, Napoleon ordered his dragoons to strike on the left, after moving strategically during the night. Wellesley still ordered a desperate last assault by the Foot Guards in the French right flank, finally breaking the Irish there and allowing Rowland's force to escape Dublin and head for Belfast. The night arrived and the Franco-Irish forces couldn't pursue the British, who quietly slipped into the Night and headed North to Belfast. Napoleon had a victory with the British repelled, unable to mount another attack, and with Dublin on his hands, Napoleon declared the "Kingdom of Eire", as a French Client State under the "Marshal of the Irish" Michael Ney. He was hailed as liberator in Dublin, and the British control of the island was restricted to Belfast. Over 31,000 British laid dead on the battlefield with many more wounded, while the Franco-Irish army lost about 24,000.

On the 6th of December, 4 days after the Battle of Dublin, the Franco-Irish force marched North, surrounding the city of Belfast. In the path to the city, Napoleon noticed that the population was resisting, and the Northern Irish didn't want to be a part of the Irish Kingdom. Wellesley's exhausted army had barely recovered from the destructive battle, and was now fighting another one. The siege of Belfast lasted from the 8th to the 15th of December, but with supplies coming by the sea, and the Franco-Spanish fleet avoiding to meet the Royal Navy since Wellesley's return, it was not a siege and both sides reached a stalemate.

Knowing that they lacked the forces to push Napoleon out of a rebellious island, and the cost of raising enough forces would be too great, there was pressure for a peace before "Bonaparte gets lucky again". While Napoleon also had to deal with the increasing threat of Prussia while he was away, fearing that he could be struck on the Island like in Egypt years before, the Emperor of the French proposed an armistice, where Ulster would remain part of Britain, while the rest of the island was made a Kingdom under French protection. The British accepted, but both sides knew that there would be no peace, and each side prepared for an eventual second round, in a nearby future.

 
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any deviation in the course of the 19th century feels can be called a Brit screw just like changing the 20th feels like an American screw. lol keep up the good work
 
XX: THE WAR OF THE FOURTH COALITION
XX: THE WAR OF THE FOURTH COALITION

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Map of Prussia, 1805

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King Ludwig I
After the death of Frederick II "der Grosse" (The Great), the Prussian Army stagnated, becoming arrogant and overestimating it's own abilities. It didn't help that the successor of "Old Fritz" was a man that didn't care about the state of the Army at all, giving his duties to the more competent Duke of Brunswick. As result, the Prussians lost the Battle of Valmy and the territories in the Rhineland, to make matters worse, Prince Frederick Wilhelm died of tuberculosis, followed by the death of Frederick Wilhelm II in 1797, the throne was passed to the 24-year old Prince Frederick Ludwig. But Frederich Ludwig I (or Ludwig I) would have a more militaristic outlook, and would put his hands in the dirt to start reforming the Prussian military.

Ludwig looked at the failure of the Army in the First Coalition War as a chance to reform the Prussian military. But he soon would discover that it was almost impossible, the military establishment blocked the army reforms in order to keep aristocratic privileges. The resistance would soon prove fatal when Prussia and France went to war once again. Inside of Prussia, the "War Party" desired to join a coalition against Napoleon, invading Germany while the Emperor was in the Irish campaign. The King was part of the "Peace Party" who desired to keep the peace, in the King's case, because he knew the army was in no capacity of fighting the French. Two events would pressure the King into war: The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and Hannover.

After almost 900 years of existence, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by Napoleon. The last Emperor, Francis II, abdicated his title in order to prevent Bonaparte from claiming it, instead of that, Napoleon dissolved the Empire. In it's place, before going to Ireland, Napoleon created the "Confederation of the Rhine" with himself as Protector, uniting the German States into a massive buffer Confederation to serve as a buffer with Prussia and Austria. The dissolution of the centuries-old German order and the creation of a third power in Germany to serve as a French puppet was outrageous for Prussia.

Napoleon had given Hannover to Prussia after annexing it during the Third Coalition War, as a way to placate the War Hawks in Prussian nobility and keeping peace with Ludwig. But when the French Emperor made peace in Belfast on the 15th of December, he exchanged Hannover for Ireland, and that would mean Prussia would lose its benefit. Hoping to strike a victory before Napoleon came back from Ireland, the War Party finally pressured the King to go to war, one that Ludwig knew that they would lose. An ultimatum was sent to Napoleon retreat from the East bank of the Rhine, of course he refused, and War started on the Christmas of 1806.

The plan by the Duke of Brunswick was to push the Prussian army south to Stuttgart, cutting off the French army and marching west to fight Bonaparte's forces. Initially, the push by the Prussian army was a success, taking Saxony and advancing into Thuringia. The Prussian and French armies had roughly equal numbers, but the French were underestimated by the Prussian Generals, and they would pay heavily for that. Napoleon came back from Ireland, leaving a small force under King Michael I, and organized the Grand Army, marching to meet the Prussians. 120,000 Prussians meet 78,000 French in the Battle of Erfurt, and the Prussians hoped to end Napoleon's reign right there.

That didn't happen, instead, the Prussians were beaten so badly that the entire army organization collapsed, even the Duke of Brunswick died and Ludwig was forced to retreat with the rest of the army to Eastern Prussia. French troops took Berlin in 2 weeks and reached the Vistula by the 6th of February. With the Prussian army collapsing, the Polish population of the Prussian part of the partition rebelled, Napoleon marched into Warsaw as a liberator, even having an affair with Countess Walewska. The Russian army intervened, 80,000 troops under General Benningsen marched to the protection of their ally in Eastern Prussia. Napoleon's army didn't waste time and went into campaign against the Russians in East Prussia, meeting them on the 17th of April in the city of Eylau. After an entire day of battle, Napoleon managed to break the Russian lines with a cavalry charge supported by the Grand Bombard in the center of the Russian lines, 12,000 cavalrymen (including over 2,000 poles) broke the Russian lines and forced them to retreat. The Tsar Alexander asked for a Peace Treaty in Tilsit, ending the 4th Coalition War.

Prussia was forced to give most of its territory to France, with the French carving out the "Duchy of Warsaw" out of the Prussian partition (not including Danzig) as a client state. Tsar Alexander and Napoleon ended up signing an alliance treaty, entering a mutual defense agreement against Great Britain. The Prussians also had to pay heavy reparations, with the destruction of their army and half their territory taken, King Ludwig would finally have the chance to reform the Prussian State deeply. With the help of Gnesienau and Scharnhorst, Prussia would soon make revolutionary changes into the army and administration of the country, preparing themselves to one day have their revenge against Bonaparte.

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Map of the Duchy of Warsaw after 1807
 
XXI: CIVIL WAR II
XXI: CIVIL WAR II

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The American Civil War was a short affair, lasting for less than a year, but it would have profound changes in the continent for the next decades. The American society, especially the Northerners, were not ready to throw themselves into a total war after the Canadian War. The country was suffering of a large debt and there were many who questioned if the southerners shouldn't have the right to secede, while the Northerners had the initial enthusiasm to "destroy the republican masons", the reality shock in the Battle of Gainesville was a wake up call for many. There was also Canada, that still needed a permanent military presence to combat the guerrillas, pinning down several thousand men that could've been sent to the south. When the Emperor declared General mobilization, many flocked into arms, but those who remained were certain that the war the government was sending them too was an assurance of death, and they resisted violently when the draft began in January 1807.

The New York riots were the most famous ones, they happened on the 16-21th of January of 1807, with many mobs of young men attacking recruitment stations and assaulting draft officers sent to conscript them. The Governor of the Commonwealth sent the militia to crush the riots, forcefully dispersing the crowds, arresting hundreds, sending them to the frontlines. Penal batallions were formed with the promise of freedom, it was rarely an option to join them, the penal batallions were sent in the first waves. The Imperial Army managed to increase in size to 120,000 men, but with 30,000 being kept behind to keep order in Canada and the cities. In Boston, famous for its republican symphaties, a rebellion broke against the Imperial government, only to be violently crushed after a Naval bombardment and a blockade of the city. This showed just how far the Empire would go to crush the rebellion.

There was also a political change, the majority of the Whig Senators and deputies left for the south, provoking the "Federalist Era", a time where the Federalist Party turned America into a de facto one-party State. After the crisis in October, the Senate's authority was called into question, the Emperor distrusted the Senators after they attempted to "Sabotage the Manifest Destiny" and instead started to delegate more powers to the Congress. The President of Congress, John Quincy Adams, started to accumulate more responsibilities that were once of the Senate. On the 18th of February of 1807, the Emperor amended the Constitution, instituting the position of "Prime Minister", the President of Congress became chief of the legislative power instead of the President of the Senate. The proposal passed into the Congress with ease, and the Senate was pressured to do so in a attempt to save its popularity, there were even rumors that if it failed Thomas I would merge the houses and make the legislature unicameral. The first Prime Minister would be John Quincy Adams of the Federalist Party.

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John Q. Adams, First American Prime Minister

In the South, President Jefferson was suffering due to the very nature of the government he wished. The weakened presidency and decentralization of powers was actively sabotaging the war effort, with several States resisting the urges of the government to pay for the Grand Army of the Republic. It was ironical, the southern republic suffered of the same issues of the old Articles of Confederation that many romanticized. General Harrison's Army suffered with lack of recruits and resources, being forced to live off the land in Virginia itself, invading farms and conscripting recruits to ressuply their numbers. Even slaves were being forced into arms, with many instead using the weapons to turn on their commanders and flee to the North, the "Negro Batallions" were infamous for being unreliable, often being sent to die first in battle against the Northern penal batallions, ironically, the first deaths in a battle were usually from conscript regiments that hated their governments.

Then came the Slavery question: Slavery was a question not resolved since the independence, with growing abolitionist movements in the North while the South became more Reactionary in return. The war caused an explosion of those feelings, with the support of the Emperor, the war was also sold as a war to free the southern slaves, with the propaganda machine working in the North to boost abolitionism. Thomas declared that every Southron slave who escaped to the North would automatically become a freeman, creating the "Underground Railroad". Abolitionist groups would help escaped slaves to flee North and encouraged them to join the Army. In response, the southerners started seeing Slavery as part of the "Dixie way of life", with experditions being sent to the North to capture negroes and force them into slavery, those were the "Knights of the Golden Circle". Maryland was another problem for the Empire, the Commonwealth remained loyal to the Empire, but that threatened to change with the growing anti-Slavery tendencies of the government. On the 15th of April of 1807, the Congress passed the abolition of Slavery, with every slaveowner loyal to the Empire being paid 500 dollars per negro. The paid emancipation was accepted by the Marylanders, mostly because the Army of the Potomac went to each farm and forced them to accept. The great impulse to the Abolitionist movement was in large part to the own desire of the Emperor to end slavery, as he saw it as one of the greatest evils of mankind, he used his popularity and charisma to rally the Northerners, including even Canadians, to oppose slavery.

In military terms, the main offensives would happen in Louisiana and Virginia. The Louisiana campaign was launched by an army of militias of Georgia and Mississippi in a attempt to close the mouth of the Mississippi by taking New Orleans. The campaign was led by the Senator and General Charles Lee, commanding 12,000 men in a surprise attack against New Orleans. Opposing them, the city militia (composed mainly by French and freed blacks) mobilized to meet them in the "Battle of the Bayou swamps", a series of skirmishes and guerrilla attacks against the Republicans and their overextended supply lines. When the Republicans reached New Orleans, they fought a brutal battle in the city to capture it, only to discover that they were surrounded by the local militias. General Lee was forced to negotiate as the Imperial Navy blockaded them by sea and the militias by land. The campaign lasted from the 16th of February to the 3rd of May, until the Republicans managed to negotiate their retreat by threatening to burn the city to the ground, allowing 7,800 Southerners to retreat back after a humiliating defeat against guerrillas of negroes and Catholics, ironically.

The Virginian campaign continued, after the shock of Gainesville, the Army of the Potomac reformed itself, expanding its numbers and adopting many Napoleonic tactics. The GAR adopted a defensive strategy, planning to exhaust the North. On the 17th of February of 1807, a second offensive was launched with 84,000 men of the Army of the Potomac crossed into Virginia once again, meeting the 68,000 men GAR in the North Anna River. The Battle of North Anna was a massacre as the Imperial conscripts crossed the river to their deaths. After two days of battle, the Republicans retreated back to Richmond, with an exhausted Army of the Potomac halting in the river to rest and ressuply. After both sides suffered 24,000 casualties in the largest battle in American soil yet, the Imperial forces marched towards Richmond on the 1st of March of 1807.
 
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