Empire of Freedom: The History of the American Empire

[Kaiser of Brazil]

EMPIRE OF FREEDOM
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

I: THE WINTER DREAM

"The Christmas Eve of 1777 was one of the most important nights of American history, for it was on that frozen night in Valley Forge that an soldier and an angel changed the fate of America, forever."
-Alexander Gerald Smith, Harvard Historian, 1977
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Washington looked, seeing only the white of the snow and fireplaces set by his soldiers, who grouped around them in an attempt to survive the winter. He walked around the soldiers on his horse, attempting to raise the morale, but it was hard when his own was low. He has been begging the Congress to approve funds and supplies for his army, but it couldn't even have the States agree on a constitution or even the delegates to show up for voting. The weak congress had its hands tied by uncooperation of the delegates who wasted time with interstate disputes, about border tariffs and territories. Seeing the bickering was frustrating to Washington, but it made him sick when he saw the toll it was leaving to his men. There were many without sufficient clothing, and many more dying of sickness and frostbite, hunger was also common due to the supplies never being able to reach the lines thanks to the Congress.

Reaching the end of the camp lines, Washington was about to turn around, when he saw a single soldier. He had dropped his musket and was sitting on the cold ground with his back against the tree, he was still alive appearently not for much longer. Washington saddled out of his horse and went to the man, getting into one knee in front of him, holding an gas lamp. Now with the light and the closer look, he saw that the man looked to be on his 20s, with his lips blue and snow on his hair. He barely could look up to his General, he was with hypothermia, his feet and fingers even had gangrene.

"S-Sir ?" He said with a weak voice, almost a whisper.
"Soldier, what are you doing out here in the cold ? You are going to die out here." Asked Washington in a calm but alarming voice.
"M-My partner and I... went scouting... redcoats... he didn't make it... I got s-shot... I'm g-gonna die S-Sir..."
"You are too young for that, you have your whole life in front of you, soldier. I will get you back, come."
"It's t-too late sir... just... tell me it wasn't in vain... t-tell me that... America will have a b-bright f-future... p-promise me p-please..."
"Soldier, I promise you that as long as I breathe, I will do whatever it takes to assure that our children and their children after them will live in a better future. I promise you, I will do whatever it takes for this nation."
"T-Thank... you... sir..." And then his eyes closed. History would never know the name of that man, but would remember Washington's promise.

Seeing such a young lad breathe his last was enough for Washington, he went back for his horse and rode back to his tent. He would go to sleep after it, and then he opened his eyes to an explosion sound, the camp was under attack.
"General Washington ! The camp is under attack by redcoats sir !" yelled Nathanael Greene, Washington's most trusted officer, as he slammed the door open desperately.
"General Greene, have our supplies arrived ?!"
"No, sir, the congress couldn't get enough delega-" An explosion knocked out Washington, he would wake up disoriented in a dark place, seeing a light form in front of him.
"George Washington, I have something to show you." Said the voice in a calm authoritarian manner, Washington couldn't believe what he was seeing, he walked towards it and saw himself on the clouds.
"Is this... Heaven ? Am I dead ?"
"No, fear not for the Lord has given you a chance." The light revealed itself to be an Angelic figure, Washington knelt before it, and saw that down the clouds there was a city. It was a city with clean streets, a river of pure water and buildings of marble, with a closer look, Washington saw that there wasn't one that wasn't smiling, there was no disease or hunger, and all lived in perfect happiness.
"What is this place ?"
He was then transported to another place, seeing the opposite of that previous city. It was a slum, with decadent buildings, streets of dirt and the river was black of dirt. There wasn't one smiling, people had leper, smallpox, and all diseases known to man, there was infighting and screams of pain and suffering.
"Rejoice, for you have been given a chance to save your nation, the first one is what America can be if you are its leader. But the latter is the America led by the corrupt and evil, one destroyed by vice and sin. For the Lord has anointed you as Prince of these people, like Solomon, David and all Princes of Israel. You shall lead America as another chosen people like the sons of Abraham, you shall lead a great nation that shall rule above all others, from sea to sea. But if you so desire to abandon your duty to the Lord, so will the Lord abandon the American people. You shall be given triumph over the British as a signal, of God's favor, the future of your people on the eyes of the Lord is in your hands."

Washington woke up, sweat on his head, it was a dream of course, but for Washington it was a vision. He promised the dying man to do whatever it takes for the future generations and America to have a better life, and as the Angel showed him, he had to be the ruler. He was chosen to redeem his people and save America from the hands of the corrupt and evil, whatever the cost may be.

And just like that, the history of America and the World would change forever.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

II: THE NEWBURGH CONSPIRACY

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Years after the dream at Valley Forge, Washington's dream seems to have been prophetic, with his victory over the British in Yorktown on the 19th of October of 1781 ending the main British force in the continent. But ever since then, the Continental congress did what it did best: Nothing. It was the 15th of March of 1783, the Treaty of Paris was being signed and several States didn't see the need to keep an National Army with the peace arriving. The Congress was broke, it couldn't issue taxes on the States, and the Superintendent of Finance, Robert Morris, resigned after failing to pass an National Import Tax. The Army was months without payment and it was believed that the pensions would never be paid, an conspiracy started brewing to end the weak central government once and for all.

Several army officers wrote an petition, threatening the congress in case the army wasn't paid or was disbanded. When George Washington discovered it, he called a meeting of officers, he made an impassioned speech reminding them about all they went through and how the Congress abandoned them in times of need like in Valley Forge. The officers cheered, and an unanimous declaration by the Continental Army officers, including George Washington, was made and sent to the Congress, threatening of "harsh consequences" if those men who fought for the independence didn't receive their due payments. One congressman, Alexander Hamilton, was frustrated by that. He had been warning the Congress about the consequences of not paying the Army, and now his warnings were proven true.

Alexander Hamilton
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Upon receiving the Army's demand, the Congress finally went to work to avoid a civil war, and Hamilton managed to get funds from the States to pay Washington's Army on the 12th of April. An military coup was averted, but the Congress became increasingly divided about the "Military Issue", with a group led by Thomas Jefferson supporting the disbandment of the Army. Claiming that the British threat was over, and the army was an dangerous institution made up by snakes that could turn against the Republic at the Republic at any moment, instead, they supported that State Militias would make up the defense force of the nation. To oppose them, came Alexander Hamilton and an increasingly number of deputies that considered the army's complains legitimate, arguing that the Articles of Confederation were too weak to keep the integrity of America, instead they proposed a constitution with a strong Executive, with many even supporting a Monarchy. With the payment of the Army arriving and the Treaty of Paris signed, George Washington announced his retirement, but he didn't plan to stay out of politics. Instead he would use the time away from the army to enter in contact with Hamilton and his group, raising slowly a group of supporters of the idea of an American Monarchy.

North America after the Treaty of Paris (1783)

Thomas Jefferson
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Between 1784 and 1786, the Articles of Confederation would show its weakness. On the 12th of April of 1785, Benjamin Franklin, one of the main Republican supporters in America, died by being stuck by electricity during his experiments. His death would be mourned in America as one of the Great founding fathers, but his death also removed one of the main critiques of the Monarchical idea in America that was already taking roots, especially on the "Hamiltonians". The Congress meanwhile was attempting to organize the Western territories taken in the Treaty of Paris. There were many states like Virginia that claimed rights to annex the new territory, while the smaller ones like Maryland and Rhode Island feared that it would make the Congress dominated by the Southerners. The Congress stepped in and took the Northwestern territory as "Federal Land", open for settlements for the creation of new States. Of course this little victory for the congress would be overshadowed by its failures, states like Maryland and Pennsylvania were literally engaging in border skirmishes for territories and other states were creating tariffs and taxes against other states, it seemed like the United States of America was less and less "United" by the day.

And on the 29th of August of 1786, the last straw blew up in the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

III: SHAYS' REBELLION AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

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On the 29th of August of 1786, an rebellion would break out in the State of Massachusetts. On the 27th of May of 1785, the Governor John Hancock would leave office, with James Bowdoin taking his place in the State leadership. Hancock was known to be a relaxed man when came the time to pay taxes, his populist policies to the commons on tariffs and taxes made him popular but threw the State into debt, with the war debts still unpaid. Bowdoin was the opposite, he wasn't charismatic like his predecessor, he was an bureaucrat focused on paying back the Massachusetts massive debts, and for that he looked to the ignored taxes and put his hand on them. Demanding the resumption of the payments for the taxes and debts, but Bowdoin seemed to have an amnesia problem, because as the British discovered, the people of Massachusetts HATED taxes.

Governor James Bowdoin​

Led by the Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Shays, a rebellion was organized in the State to overthrow the Governor. With over 4,000 rebels spread around Massachusetts, Shays attacked the Springfield Armory on the 29th of August, overwhelming the garrison and seizing the weapons and gunpowder of the armory. The news of a Second Revolution in Massachusetts would mobilize the State, with protests and riots for the resignation of the Governor in Boston, the State Guard was not capable of dealing with the unrest and the revolt that was now taking the countryside including Petersham and Sheffield. Governor Bowdoin would appeal to the Continental Congress, begging other States to send support against the rebellion. But the typical congressional inefficiency was in the way, and the Congress argued that the Articles of Confederation didn't allow other States to intervene in the affairs of another, at that moment Alexander Hamilton saw an opportunity.

The showing of weakness of a constrained congress prevented it from interfering where it was necessary, Hamiltonian ideas of having an new constitution were swaying the deputies after the failure of the congress to intervene in the rebellion, even Thomas Jefferson considered that an new constitution was becoming not a matter of if, but a matter of when. George Washington took the matters to his own hands, sending letters to General Horatio Gates, the commander of the Continental army after his retirement, to prepare the men. He came out of his Estate and back to the army, he made a speech that the "If the gentlemen in congress are not able to save one of it's members from falling apart, it is the Army's duty to do so". Washington took back his command and marched North into the burning countryside to crush the insurrection.

Daniel Shays knew he was doomed, his men made a last stand in Springfield, he and 120 of his rebels died while the others surrendered, begging Washington to negotiate a deal with the Governor to prevent harsh reprisals. General Washington meet Governor Bowdoin, and after a day of negotiations in Boston, an amnesty was given to the rebels, the debts were pardoned and new elections would be anticipated to 1787. Washington came back as a hero for both sides, being both an agent of Law and Order, but also an friend of the common people. He was now even more popular than he was, being called "The Father of the Nation", and both him and Hamilton would use the new peak of popularity of the General.

With the failure of the Congress to crush the rebellion, in contrast to the efficiency of George Washington and the Continental Army, Hamilton called for a Constitutional Convention on the 25th of May of 1787 to discuss an new constitution. Delegates from all States would come to see the Historical debates between Hamilton and Jefferson, with George Washington chosen as President of the Convention. For the next months, the shape of America would be form, and would see the rise of the American Empire.

Constitutional Convention of 1787
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Alexander Hamilton would propose the "New York Plan": The Plan argued for the creation of an strong executive led by an Monarch, with a Bicameral house with an elected lower house and an appointed upper house. The Lower house would be divided in proportion to the population of each state, while every state would have 2 seats in the upper house for equal representation. There would also be a Supreme Court formed by 9 Judges appointed for life by the Monarch. Opposing it came the "Virginia Plan" of Thomas Jefferson, proposing instead an stronger congress instead of an executive power, formed by an Unicameral house with equal representation to each State, and the Supreme Court being appointed in a Congress voting. The debates would rage for months, each side showing their arguments, while the Jeffersonians claimed that "America didn't get rid of a King to have another one", Hamilton replied "It's not a king we need, but an Emperor".

There would be other proposals like the "New Jersey Plan", who argued for an elected president serving 6-year terms instead of an Monarch, but keeping the rest of Hamilton's plan unaltered. Division also came from the Hamiltonians: George Washington had no Biological sons, and since he was the obvious choice for a Monarch, America would have a succession crisis within a few years. Hamilton and Washington brainstormed for ideas, and then they reminded themselves of the European precedent: The Holy Roman Empire. Hamilton proposed that "If the Monarch is to die heirless, the Senate (Upper House) shall vote, after an mourning period, on an new House to lead it.

By the 17th of September of 1787, the debates were finished, with the "New York Plan" being approved as the new American constitution. The Convention would vote for the first Emperor of America, and the unanimous vote was for General George Washington unsurprisingly, with him becoming the First Emperor of America. It would still take 2 years for all States to rectify the Constitution, but finally it would be signed on the symbolical 4th of July of 1789, beggining the American Empire.

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[Kaiser of Brazil]

IV: EMPEROR WASHINGTON I

Emperor George I visiting Valley Forge
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On the 4th of July of 1789, George I Washington would be crowned Emperor of America. The title of Emperor was inspired by a quote by Washington himself to Hamiltonians of the convention: "America is a nation larger than Western Europe, from the swamps of Western Florida, to the forests of New England, to the vast lands to the west, such a vast nation of many peoples and Commonwealths, deserves the title of Empire, anything less would be unfitting for America". Technically, that placed George I Washington above George III of Britain and Louis XVI of France, which personally irritated the Hannover monarch.

George I went in a chariot along the streets of Philadelphia, waving to the crowd of over 60,000 Americans from all the Commonwealths (The name of the States after the Constitution). The chariot stopped in front of the Philadelphia State House, the same place the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed, Washington left the chariot hailed by the people, he then went to the top of the building, on the clocktower. He put his hand on the Bible, swearing to protect the Empire and its citizens, uphold the American Constitution and values. He then knelt and was crowned by the President Bishop of the Episcopalian Church William White (Much to the protests of Jeffersonians), future Emperors would have different church leaders, Washington is reported by historians to have become much more religious after The Valley Forge experience, abandoning the Freemasonry and joining back his childhood church. Then he would make a 7-minute speech to the crowd, that would usually end the ceremony and create the precedent to be followed by future coronations.

William White
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The First congress elections would mark the beggining of the Party system, much to Washington's frustration. The old division of Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians would have the official names of "Federalist Party" and "Whig Party". The Federalists were led by Alexander Hamilton, controlling 61% of the House and 60% of the Senate, they supported an strong Federal government, closer relations with Britain, the creation of a National Central Bank, Protectionist tariffs and an strong Imperial Army. The Whigs were led by Thomas Jefferson, controlling 35% of the House and 30% of the Senate (the rest was composed of Independents), they supported the autonomy of the Commonwealths, closer relations with France, opposed tariffs, and many had Republican symphaties, even if they wouldn't say it publicly due to Washington's popularity. It was set a system that would dominate US politics for years, the "First Party System".

Washington's first act was to head to Valley Forge, he went to the place where the unknown soldier died and said a prayer alone. He would carve an cross in the tree and came back, going back to Philadelphia where he sent his first decree to the Parliament: The construction of an New Capital by the Potomac, reminding himself of his vision and seeing the Potomac as the river of clean pure water, the city would be called "Columbia" named after the romantic name of the American Empire. The congress approved the transfer of the capital by a large margin including most of the Whigs (since an city built closer to the south would reduce the fears of abolitionism).

Washington started to organize the government, appointing the 9 Justices of the Supreme Court, with John Jay as the first Chief Justice, the appointments were mostly considered fair and neutral by both sides. He also approved the creation of protectionist tariffs to incentivize the growth of the domestic manufacturing and the recent industrial sector. And in 1791 was created the "Imperial Bank of America" (IBA), the first central bank of the Empire, with the Federal government assuming the debts of the Commonwealths. Washington also invested in the Armed forces, expanding the Imperial Army to 40,000 men and approving the creation of the Imperial Navy in 1793 to combat pirates. Revolutionary War Admiral John Paul Jones would oversee the creation of the first ships. By the end of George I's reign, America would have 6 Ships of Line and 20 Frigates, led by the IAN (Imperial American Navy) "Valley Forge", one of the most impressive ships of the world in his time.

John Jay​

In foreign policy, Washington's reign would see the French Revolution arising. He knew that America would eventually be drawn into the conflict in some way or another, with both Britain and France pressuring the newly-born nation. Washington would follow the suggestions of Prime Minister Hamilton, forging closer ties with the British by signing the "Jay Treaty" in 1793, negotiated by the Supreme Justice John Jay. The Treaty solved some disputes concerning the Treaty of Paris, with the last British forts finally withdrawing from the Northwestern territory, the AE (American Empire) gained trade rights into British Caribbean in return of limiting Cotton exports and also the Anglo-American border in Canada would be settled via international arbitration. The Treaty would be what Hamilton hoped to be the reconciliation of America and Britain, while the Whigs opposed the Treaty, their opposition wasn't enough to prevent the Emperor's approval.

George I also had some difficulties, in 1791, in an attempt to raise money to pay the debts (and influenced by his vision), Washington created an tax on destilled beverages, especially Whiskey. The frontier farmers of Western Pennsylvania would refuse to pay those taxes, and fabricated their own illegal Whiskey. In July 1794, with the continued refusal to pay the taxes, the District Attorney sent American Marshal David Lenox to crack down on the farmers, and led by Revolutionary War veteran James McFarlane, the farmers formed a minutemen militia and fought against the police forces. The militia defeated the law forces and attacked the house of General John Neville, the Tax collector managed to escape and pleaded the Emperor for help. George I would take command of the Imperial Army personally, going with 6,700 men to crush the revolt. The militia didn't stand a chance, with their leaders arrested and the rest of the men dispersing, ending the small farmers' revolt in Pennsylvania. The Emperor pardoned many leaders, assuring them that no reprisals would happen if the taxes were paid, reinforcing his image of having a heavy but fair hand. It is usually considered the ending of the first half of his reign.

The Emperor inspecting the Army during the Whiskey Rebellion​

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

In this Timeline, like in my previous one, you can create your own characters that can be added to the History and make their own mark. The format is the following:

Name:
Birthplace:
Date of Birth: (DD/MM/YYYY)
Sex:
Culture:
Political Leaning:
Background:

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

V: FRENCH REVOLUTION

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After the Austrian Succession War, the Seven Years' War, and the support in the American Revolutionary War, France was on the brink of bankruptcy. Due to the eruption of the Laki in 1784 in Iceland, crops failed across Europe and France in special saw the price of bread skyrocket, to compensate the failed crops in the economy, the King Louis XVI decided to increase taxes to pay the War debts, increasing the unrest. With the spread of Liberal enlightenment of ones like Voltaire and Rosseau, several intellectuals, burghers, and members of the "Third Estate" started looking at France and desiring to change, fighting the almost feudal economy and the privileges of the nobility. The recipe for the revolution was there and left was to make the cake.

On the 8th of August, the Royal treasure was declared empty by the Minister of Finances Étienne de Brienne who called a meeting of the Estates General on the 5th of May, he resigned shortly after and instead was replaced by Jacques Necker.

Jacques Necker
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When the Estates meet, France was divided into three: The First Estate composed by clergymen, the Second Estate composed by members of the nobility, and the Third Estate composed by the other 95% of France. The meeting to decide on the taxes started with a clear bias by the King, with the delegates of the first two Estates being recieved with cerimonies while the Third Estate members had no such honors. Necker desperately attempted to get the first two Estates to give up their privileges, some of them would agree, the lower clergy and lower nobility, but wouldn't be enough to win the vote to change it. With the failure of the Estates General, the Third Estate, and defectors of the nobility and clergy would join into an National Assembly, swearing to not separate until they give France a Constitution. The King dismissed the Estates General and closed the building the Assembly was in, instead they went to the Hôtel de Ville and continued their work. Angered, Louis XVI dismissed the popular Minister Necker, as response a mob would storm the Bastille, the Royal prision, and captured the gunpowder to arm themselves, taking control of Paris and starting the Revolution.

The King ordered the army to stand down, he instead went to meet Assembly and compromised, the constitution would be finished and Louis XVI became a figurehead and the Declaration of Man and Citizen Rights was created. France would adopt ideals of the enlightenment: All men were made equal and have equal rights and opportunities, including freedom of speech and assembly. It took several elements from the American Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, and while all of that was happening, the King was in an essential house arrest, while members of Nobility fleed to other nations.

The Assembly divided itself in two groups: The Girondins and Jacobins. The first group was composed by burghers and defected members of the other two Estates, they were called "Right-Wing" due to their position in the assembly, and were composed of the most conservative members of the assembly who wanted to keep a Monarchy and an more strict suffrage. The second one was composed of the lower Peasants and urban workers called "Sans-Culottes", they were called "Left Wing" due to their positions, they wanted to abolish the monarchy and declare a Republic under Universal suffrage.

Typical San-Culotte
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In 1792, fearing the spread of the Revolution to their own nations, Austria and Prussia entered an alliance and appointed the Duke of Brunswick as the head of a joint invasion force. The Assembly declared war in a preemptive strike, starting the French Revolutionary Wars. But the Austro-Prussian army started pushing to Paris, and the King attempted to flee, fearing for his life after a mob invaded the Tulleries in 1791 and forced him to wear the red bonnet of the Revolution. He was intercepted dressed as a servant in a border checkpoint, the King was arrested and the Jacobins called him a traitor, demanding his execution. Due to the opposition of the Girondins, Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the Jacobins, calls the people to storm the Tulleries. The King took refuge in the Assembly and Robespierre threatened an armed uprising if the assembly didn't call an National Convention to take its place. They complied and a Jacobin Convention took control of the Revolution.

Meanwhile, the Austro-Prussian army was defeated on the 20th of September in the Battle of Valmy. The Convention created Revolutionary trials and the "Commitee of Public Safety", the first being used to judge "Enemies of the Revolution", which were anyone opposing the Jacobins, and the second would take control of the Finances and the "Terror". The King was put to death by guillotine on the 21st of January of 1793, outraging the other European Nations, the First coalition was composed by Austria, Prussia, The Netherlands, Spain and Britain who swore to destroy the revolution and avenge Louis XVI. Robespierre closed down the Assembly and arrested the Girondins, taking full powers of the revolution. But when the Jacobin journalist, Marat, was assassinated by his mistress, Robespierre became paranoid and started the "Reign of Terror", executing anyone considered enemy of the revolution.

The Execution of Louis XVI

Maximilien Robespierre

"The foundations of a popular government in a revolution are virtue and terror; terror without virtue is disastrous; and virtue without terror is powerless. The Government of the Revolution is the despotism of liberty over tyranny."
-Maximilien Robespierre
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The Reign of Terror would kill thousands around France, with Robespierre losing his mind every day, the Jacobins themselves feared the Head of the Commitee of Public Safety and of their Party. Robespierre even ordered the execution of Danton, one of the Jacobin leaders and Minister of Justice who wanted to stop the Revolutionary Terror. Robespierre even made Catholicism illegal and wanted to replace it with a Deistic religion of the Enlightenment called "The Cult of the Supreme Being", even creating a festival for it. By that point, the National Convention convinced themselves that Robespierre went insane, and had to be stopped before all of them died. The Terror was accelerated after the festival, with witnesses not being necessary in trials, and the judges were only to pass the death sentence.

On the 26th of July, Robespierre went to the Convention and gave a violent, and paranoid, speech, accusing that there were members of the Convention and the Commitee of Public Safety who were plotting to destroy the revolution. Fearing for their own lives, the members of the Convention demanded that Robespierre gave them names, he refused to and that activated the instincts of self defense of the Convention. Instead of waiting Robespierre to kill them too, they voted to denounce Robespierre as a traitor, condemning him to, ironically, death by guillotine. Robespierre took refuge in the Hôtel de Villes guarded by Sans-Culottes militias, but the Convention would send in the army to arrest him. He would be executed on the 28th of July along with Saint-Just and other Jacobin leaders, ending the Reign of Terror. The Convention would take another year dismantling the Jacobin structures, with the Girondins put back in power by the new Constitution signed on the 22nd of August of 1795, creating an Lower and Upper houses on the British and American style, led by a directory of 5 members.

The changes of government in the Revolution would halt for now, with France focused on the coalition of external enemies, Belgium was captured and annexed, the Dutch Kingdom was invaded and overthrown, with the Batavian Republic taking its place, Spain was forced into peace and gave France Louisiana back. And now with the Republic focused on external enemies, one man would become a rising star in the military, leading the Army of Italy into victory after victory against the Austrians in Northern Italy, his name was Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon Bonaparte, c. 1798​

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

VI: EMPEROR WASHINGTON II

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In 1795, there was a march to the West by Americans, settling down on the Midwestern Territory and forming new Commonwealths. But they weren't alone there, instead there were several tribes who prevented the settlement of the Ohio Valley. Militias of Pennsylvania and Virginia were fighting the tribal Confederacy for years, but on that year Emperor George I decided to end it.

The war was ongoing for 10 years, the Shawnee-Miami coalition led by Blue Jacket and Little Turtle had the support of Great Britain in the war, but in 1793 the Jay Treaty ended the support of Britain and forced the British to leave the forts of the Northwest. They were now alone against the "American Legion": 3,500 men led by General Anthony Wayne, nicknamed "Crazy Wayne" due to his tactics in the Revolutionary War. The two sides came to a decisive clash in Fallen Timbers, the Natives were decisively defeated and were forced to submit to the Treaty of Greenville, forcing the Shawnee to reallocate to the west of the Mississippi and expelling the tribes from the Northwestern Territory and opening the Ohio Valley for settlers.

But after this war was finished, Washington had to deal with a much worser conflict: Economics. The Imperial army and the growing Navy were sucking money like a baby sucked milk, and the two children of Washington were drying up America. The tariffs and Whiskey tax helped, but were not enough and the Empire risked bankruptcy. To make matters worse, the American trade ships were being harassed by the Barbary coast pirates when trading with Europe. The Pirates charged a fee for American ships to cross into the Mediterranean, with the economical situation deteriorating, the Emperor decided to make use of his fleet, sending the AIN (American Imperial Navy) to the coast of Algiers and Tunis to deal with the pirates once and for all, with other European nations like Sweden joining the war.

The Barbary War lasted 2 years with American Experditions sent to bombard the pirate ports, ending in 1800 with the attack of Derna. The American fleet revealed itself to be a formidable navy, with the ships of line and frigates burning entire port cities, but that didn't mean that they didn't suffer loses. The AIN Philadelphia, an frigate commanded by Commodore William Bainbridge, ran aground on a reef in Tripoli Harbor, the pirates would capture the ship and hold the crew hostage, but a daring raid by Stephen Decatur, captain of a captured pirate vessel, would invade the ship and explode the gunpowder barrels, preventing the Pirates from turning its guns against the American fleet.

AIN Philadelphia, 17th of October 1799
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The Grand Admiral of the American Navy, John Paul Jones, now in his 50s, would lead the attack on the Port of Tunis, using 4 Ships of Line and 12 Frigates to deliver a coup d'grace on the Tunisian Sultan. The bombardment of the port and the city crippled the morale of the Barbary Sultanates, and, under the command of William Eaton, a force of US Marines and mercenaries would invade and capture the city of Derna, raising for the first time the American flag on foreign soil. The Sultan was forced to negotiate, fearing that the Americans would install his brother as ruler, releasing the hostages, allowing free passage of American ships to the Mediterranean, and paying a large sum of 5 million dollars to the American government. The Barbary Wars would end with the pirate bases destroyed, trade with Europe restored, and with a relief coming to the Imperial coffers, paying back the investiment made in the Navy.

The Battle of Derna​

But the foreign adventures didn't stop there. In 1798 also started a shooting war between France and America, with the directory seeing the Jay Treaty as a signal of possible US-British alliance, French ships were ordered to attack American ones in the Atlantic. That was the "Quasi-War" an undeclared shooting war between American and French ships that lasted for an Year. The repercussions were felt mostly in the politics: The President of the Senate, Alexander Hamilton, would use it to approve the "Alien and Sediction Acts", increasing the requirements for immigrants to Naturalize in America, and banning "Speech against the Government" essentially creating the first censorship of America. It passed the Lower House thanks for the efforts of the President of the House Charles Pinckney of the Federalists, but when came the time to be reviewed by the Emperor, he refused to sign it. It was unprecedented that Washington would refuse to approve a law, he used his veto on the Sediction act based on his "Oath to protect the Constitution, which includes the freedom of speech of every American to criticize the government". Jefferson and the Whigs were surprised by this turn of events and applauded Washington's decision, while Hamilton was humiliated. Washington was not only protecting the constitution, but also asserting his status as an Independent monarch, which would set the precedent of "Impartiality of the Throne" upon which the Monarch was not supposed to side with a party, but stay above partisan politics and be an neutral sovereign.

On the south, on the 1st of April of 1801, another relief was discovered in North Carolina for the bank. Jason Morrison, an landowner of the Eastern Mecklenburg County, struck an Appalachian gold vein, the Black Cat Gold vein was part of the Charlotte belt in the Appalachian mountains. Morrison soon became rich, his lands attracted thousands of prospectors to attempt to strike gold, with small "Boomtowns" growing near the mines to provide services for the workers. The economy of North Carolina received a boost due to the Golden Rush, with Morrison rising as a prominent politician in North Carolina, becoming Governor of the Commonwealth in 1806.

In 1801 also came the rise of Columbia, with the city being inaugurated on the symbolical 4th of July. Emperor George I Washington would take residence in the Imperial Palace, called "The White House" due to its color, with the Senate and the House moving soon after. The city of Columbia became the New Capital of the American Empire, with the Potomac river side by side with the Marble buildings of the Government district, it reminded Washington of the city he saw in his vision all the way back to Valley Forge. Washington sat outside the White House, seeing the sun setting over the Potomac, at such beautiful sight and feeling his greatest legacy completed, he closed his eyes and breathed his last, resting in peace looking at the Nation he created. The First Emperor of America, George I Washington, was dead on the 4th of July of 1801.

Senate Building of Columbia, 1801​

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

VII: IMPERIAL ELECTION OF 1801
(CANDIDATES)
​

The death of Emperor George I Washington was the end of the line, with the Father of the Nation having no biological children, the Constitution mandated that the Imperial Senate voted for an new dynastic house to rule America. The power vacuum of the most powerful position in America would open up the hunt season for many politicians and even ones who weren't interested, but wanted it for a sense of duty.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

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Hamilton was an obvious contender from the very beginning, he wasn't content with the Senate and dreamed of a "House of Hamilton". The Federalist leader seemed like an natural successor until his autocratic nature was shown on the attempt to pass the "Alien and Sedition Acts", that's when many saw him losing Washington's favor. Nonetheless, he is still an strong contender running the platform of the Federalist Party, if not a little more Autocratic, which puts fear on the hearts of many Liberals, and is no doubt Jefferson's worst nightmare.

JOHN MARSHALL

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Marshall wasn't ambitious, he didn't want the office for sake of power or ambition, he even refused to be an Imperial Minister, but after seeing the rise of the autocratic tendencies of Hamilton, he decided to run as a moderate Federalist. He is gifted by knowledge of Law and a strict constitutionalist, even going against the Party on the "Alien and Sedition Acts" based on the Constitution. He also grew close to Washington in his later years, and is considered the "Washingtonian" or "Status Quo" candidate.

AARON BURR

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Burr is a Monarchist Whig, as opposed to the silent Republican Jefferson, he decided to represent the party in the White House. He is considered the "Farmers' candidate" due to his pro-agrarianism and has an small tendency to settle things on duels, he is also the main rival of Alexander Hamilton.

JAMES MADISON

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James Madison is Hamilton's political rival in the Federalist Party, and has been distancing himself from the mainstream party line while not joining the Whigs. He keeps most of his Protectionist and Military policies, but he oppose Hamilton in being radically anti-British while taking a pro-French stance.

Who will become the next Emperor of America ?

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

VII: IMPERIAL ELECTION OF 1801

Emperor Washington's Funeral
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America lost it's father, Washington led the nation as its first Emperor, and now it was time to decide a new one. Between the 5th of July and the 25th of September, heated debates happened in the Senate building, with 4 men seeking to take the throne. Hamilton had the delegates of the "Pure" Federalists, Marshall had the moderates and "Anti-Hamiltonian" Federalists, Burr had taken "Anti-Hamiltonians" from both sides of the spectrum, and Madison had the Whigs.

For days, debates raged from tariffs to insults between Burr and Hamilton, while Marshall became known as "Silent John" due to his quiet atitude during debates, Monroe spent most of his speeches in Anti-British rethoric, promising to take Canada from Britain. No candidate was ideal and all had their defects, but one had to take the crown, and with the 4 being balanced in support, only one man could break the tie: George Washington.

The final will and testament was hidden by his wife Martha, who refused to break the silence on the letter content, only claiming that Washington had a chosen successor. To this day, it isn't known why the silence was kept, probably Martha was still mourning for her husband's death, or even for manipulating the candidates to keep family privileges in return of having his name announced. On the 18th of February, a week before the voting started, Martha Washington, the ex-Queen of the Emperor, broke the silence and released it in a Maryland newspaper called "Tribune of America" owned by a Creole called Henry Bellamy.

WASHINGTON'S LAST ADRESS TO AMERICA​

"For years, ever since that Christmas night in Valley Forge, I saw a vision of America, spreading its wings from sea to shinning sea, from the cold Tundra of the Artic to the forests of Yucatán. And all I did was to prepare America to fulfill it's fate, especially Columbia, my grand legacy, a city of marble bordering the Potomac. I wish to die seeing this new America, seeing the sun setting over Columbia, but I know that I'm not immortal, and my great regret was not leaving a son of mine to lead this new Empire. I have seen many men that would be worthy of the throne in Valley Forge, but they are with the Lord now and can't rule in the human realm. Instead, Alexander Hamilton was my chosen successor for many years, but I saw him grow too ambitious, seeking to turn America into another Britain and end the constitution by becoming a dictator. If I am Augustus, Hamilton is Tiberius, and should not have the throne, in fact, I could count on fingers who is capable of having it. There is only one that I could consciously support for the throne: John Marshall. He is a man I know for long years, he is committed to the law and order of the nation, and is the only one of them that would follow the Constitution to the grave, like all Emperors are required to in the Oath. He is the one that won't sell our soul to neither King George nor Napoleon, he is the one that can work both parties and isn't enemy of neither. Burr would not be able to govern with Hamilton and Madison would throw us into a war we might lose. My best wishes for the Nation, and may the Divine Light and Providence guide us into an Era of Gold like never seen before since the days of Rome, for we are a new Rome, and Columbia will be the 3rd Rome."
​

Washington's letter was a bomb in the Senate, 7 days later, over 50% of the Senators would vote for John Marshall, more than the other 3 combined. John I Marshall humbly accepted the nomination and the "House of Marshall" would take power in America. Even if Emperor John I would start to rule from the 25th of September of 1801, his coronation only happened on the 4th of July following the Washington precedent, taking the oath and being crowned by William White, the same one that crowned Washington. No one was particularly satisfied with the election of Marshall, but the other 3 were mostly relieved that it wasn't one of the others. It was the beggining of the Marshall Dynasty in America.

Emperor John I Marshall​

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

IX: RISE OF NAPOLEON

​

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the 15th of August of 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica. Son of Carlo Maria Bonaparte, a member of the lower nobility of the island that was recently sold to France by Genoa on the last year. Napoleon studied in the military school of Brienne, having great interest in Mathematics and History, and later went to the Military College of Paris, becoming second lieutenant of an artillery regiment. When the Revolution started, he aligned himself with the Jacobins by publishing a Republican leaflet in 1792 that attracted the attention of Agustín de Robespierre, the brother of the feared Maximilien Robespierre, who appointed him as the artillery commander during the Siege of Toulon in 1793. Showing great knowledge and innovation in artillery tactics, Napoleon was able to force the surrender of the port, making him known in the military circles. He was arrested in 1794 due to his association with the Jacobins, but was soon released and defended the Directiory from an counter-revolution attempt in January 1795, putting him back in the Army leadership.

Napoleon was the youngest General of the Republic, named to take command of the Army of Italy during the Italian Campaign between 1795 and 1797. Taking control of an undermanned army of conscripts with few artillery, Napoleon triumphed against a much superior Austrian army in the battles of Lodi and Arcole, also capturing the mighty fortress of Mantua, forcing the Austrians to sign a peace treaty, giving the control of Northern Italy to France and giving hundreds of artillery pieces to the French Army. Napoleon came back to France as a hero, beloved by the public and soldiers, especially on how he risked himself: Instead of staying back like most of the generals, Napoleon went straight into action, even commanding the attack on the bridge of Arcole personally, carrying the French tricolour.

Napoleon in the Battle of Arcole
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Fearing his rising popularity, the Directory decided to approve his Experdition to Egypt. With a force of 40,000 troops, Napoleon planned to take Egypt and cut the British ties with India, possibly even marching to the Subcontinent. His forces landed in Alexandria on July 1798, clashing with the Mameluke army near Cairo, where 20,000 French fought 25,000 Mamelukes, including their feared cavalry. Napoleon countered it by putting his troops in square formation, causing a brutal death ratio: While the French forces lost between 200-600 men, the Mamelukes lost around 15,000 and had their resistance shattered, giving full control of Egypt to Napoleon.

"Forward! Remember that from those monuments yonder 40 centuries look down upon you."
-Napoleon to his soldiers during the Battle of the Pyramids

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Napoleon brought a team of scholars to the experdition, discovering the "Rosetta Stone", the inscription of several ancient Egyptian words which would be used to translate texts of Ancient Egypt, being invaluable to Egyptology nowadays. Napoleon also pushed into Gaza, took Jerusalem, and was about to invade Syria when news came from the sea. The support fleet was sunk by the British fleet and it's Admiral Horatio Nelson, with the supplies cut by the British blockade, a plague spreading in the army, and the growing unrest of the Muslim Egyptian population, Napoleon was forced to abandon his army and go back to France.

He came back as a legendary figure, a hero for the Army and Population. The directory saw Napoleon's return as a threat, with the French population turning against them due to its own corruption and inefficiency. Napoleon used the situation and launched a coup d'etat on the 18 Brumaire, the 9th of November on the Revolutionary Calendar, dissolving the Directory by forcing them to vote by the bayonet to create a Consulate between Napoleon, Emmanuel Sieyès, and Roger Ducos. The date is considered the end of the Revolution, and the beggining of the Napoleonic Era.

Napoleon in the coup of the 18th Brumaire
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After taking power, Napoleon's first actions were to end the War against Austria and Britain. During his time in Egypt, Austrian troops overran Italy and threatened to attack the South of France in Marseille and Lyon. To prevent this and take back his conquest, Napoleon led the Army of Italy once again at the Battle of Marengo, breaking the back of the Austrian Army. Peace would finally be achieved in 1802 in the Treaty of Amiens, giving a break for Napoleon to administer France... only to discover he was almost bankrupt. France had spent almost its entire treasury into the military during the wars, there were some members of the directory who had more money in their pockets than the national treasure, as Napoleon remarked. He needed money and fast, for that he looked into a massive territory owned by France that had almost no usefulness other than its costs: Louisiana.

​

On the month of April of 1803, Napoleon sent the offer for America to purchase the Louisiana territory for the sum of 12 million dollars. It caused an uproar in the Congress, with Hamiltonians arguing that no deal should be done with Bonaparte, and instead the American Empire should "At last put its military force into work to expel the French ogre from the Continent without emptying our coffers". Even some Whigs opposed it by claiming that adding more states would break the balance between Slave and Free states, causing tensions and division in the Union. While moderates argued it was a great opportunity to double the size of America by a relatively cheap value. As the authority to both make war and foreign treaties was in the hands of the Emperor, the final say would come from Emperor John I on the 30th of April of 1803.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

X: DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

Minister Talleyrand
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On the 30th of April of 1803, Emperor John I sent to Paris his expert diplomat and pro-French advocate with a secret mission. He arrived in the Toulleries, entering the cabinet of the First Consul, where he saw Napoleon Bonaparte, dressed in the red consular clothes, and his Diplomat Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.

Napoleon: "Greetings, monsieur Madison. Please take a seat." .
Madison: "Thank you, now, your excellency, I have brought another offer that you might be interested with."

James Madison gave Napoleon a document signed by the Emperor himself, Napoleon and Talleyrand examined it for a minute and handed it back.

Talleyrand: "That's an ambitious proposition, Monsieur Madison, would your government be capable to fulfill its part of such deal ?"
Madison: "Well, if it isn't, I just came here for nothing, I wouldn't offer you a deal that couldn't be offered, and neither would the Emperor. It would be a grave insult to your country and a humiliation to me."
Napoleon: "We would have to enter in contact with the Spanish crown before accepting."
Madison: "I can wait for your decision, I have heard Paris is beautiful this time of the year.

On the 11th of May of 1803, the American Empire signed the Treaty of Paris with the Republic of France and the Kingdom of Spain. The Treaty agreed on the transfer of Louisiana and Florida to the American Empire in return of 10 million dollars. What on the outside seemed like giving it for free, there was a secret part of the deal that was known only between Napoleon, Talleyrand, John I, and James Madison: The American Empire and the French Republic would enter in a secret alliance against Great Britain, in the case of either power entering at war with the United Kingdom, the other one would come to their help. It was created the Franco-American alliance, one of the worst nightmares of London.

The New territories of Louisiana and Florida brought a large amount of riches, lands, opportunity and issues. With the exception of New Orleans, most of the territory was not settled and was controlled by hostile tribes like the Sioux Confederacy in Northern Louisiana.

There was also the imbalance between Slave and Free States, a possibility that worried both the North and the South, with one fearing that the other could get enough seats in the Senate to impose their will on the other. The Emperor was also known for being anti-slavery, even if he had his own slaves, John I had signed several restrictions on slave trade in 1802 and was thinking about taking control of an African territory to send freed slaves back to Africa, in 1805 was created the American Colonization Society. It was created with the idea of sending freed black to Africa since they weren't expected to integrate in American society, and as a way to spread Christianity to the Dark Continent. The Emperor put Bushrod Washington, the Nephew of Emperor Washington, in charge of the ACS that established itself in a land called "Liberia" in Western Africa.

Bushrod Washington​

To explore and map this new territory, John I sent an experdition into Louisiana led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, leaving from Pittsburgh and going all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Fort Clatsop, Oregon. The experdition had both scientifical and colonial reasons, entering in contact with several tribes of natives and discovering new species of animals and plants. While also charting the land that God had given to America, as seen in Washington's final address, soon America would be destined to extend from Sea to shinning sea.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark​

In Europe meanwhile, it wouldn't be long before hostilities restarted. In 1804, Napoleon executed Louis Antoine, the Duke of Enghien, after a failed assassination attempt on him by Jacobins on the Christmas of 1803. Napoleon thought that it was a Monarchist plot to kill him after he declared himself Consul-for-life, in retaliation he sent his troops to arrest and shoot the Bourbon. That shocked Europe, and what came next was a not just a step, but a jump too far, on the 2nd of December of 1804, after a referendum, Napoleon declared himself Emperor of the French. And instead of being crowned by the religious head (In his case the Pope), he crowned himself and his wife, and the supreme audacity of declaring himself equal to the European traditional houses was enough for the formation of the 3rd coalition. With Britain, Austria and Russia declaring war on France, it was time to America fulfill its part of the deal.

Coronation of Napoleon I​

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XI: THE CANADIAN WAR
I

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As in the terms of the Treaty of Paris, the American Empire was obliged to come to help Napoleon in the 3rd coalition war, but the Emperor soon ran into problems. The alliance was kept as a secret, and an attack by America to the British possessions would not be justified, especially with Alexander Hamilton's wing of the "true Federalists" that radically opposed aggression against Britain, with the movement supporting Anti-French policies instead. There was also the difficulty of selling the Conflict for the American people, especially New England merchants who traded with Britain. Luckily, those problems would be solved soon.

On the 29th of January of 1805, after a particularly violent wave of insults between Hamilton and Burr in a birthday party in the house of the Virginian Senator Henry Lee III, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel and the latter accepted. They both drew their pistols in the garden of the Senator's house and fired, ending with the leader of the Federalist Party dead with a shot in the head. Burr was not prosecuted, in fact, many historians believe that it was a plan of Emperor John I (who was present at the party and left a few minutes before the challenge) to get rid of the main Pro-British voice in America. The proof for that was that the Emperor suspiciously meet Burr before the duel in private, but others claim that a man so obsessed with Law would never endorse an illegal duel, and if he wanted to get rid of Hamilton, there were less risky alternatives. No matter the Emperor's involvement, Hamilton was dead and silenced, with John I Marshall being the one that profited the most of it.

The duel between Hamilton and Burr​

The Casus Belli was given to the British, during the Napoleonic Wars, Britain issued an Embargo on France and forbid any nation to trade with the new Empire, but the American traders opted to ignore it. British ships attacked American merchants, boarding the ships and forcing the sailors to be impressed in the Royal Navy, while also stealing its cargo. On the 28th of February of 1805, one incident happened near the coast of Ireland, where an American ship called "Emperor Washington" was intercepted by the British Sloop "HMS York", the American ship disobeyed the order to stop and recieved a warning shot, the Captain was forced to stop and when the British ship approached, the trade ship revealed covered cannons and blasted the main mast of the ship, crippling the "HMS York", the Americans boarded the British ship and a brutal combat followed, with the Yankee marines capturing the ship. But 4 British sailors escaped in a boat and sailed for 3 days until they arrived in Kinsale, spreading the news that American marines captured the ship. Actually, the ship was registered in the name of James Madison, who recruited a crew of mercenaries and dressed them like Marines to capture a British ship and cause a war. A few days later, the HMS York would show up in the port of Cork, with its entire crew decapitated and the bottom full of gunpowder, it was a fire ship that exploded into the harbor, putting 3 other Sloops on fire.

The "HMS York" incident caused outrage in the Parliament, who approved more radical measures on American trade ships, instructing the blockade ships to sink them without warning shots. An embargo on American products was placed, causing uproar amongst New England Merchants, once the main pro-British supporters of the Empire. The congress retaliated by approving armed escorts to the trade ships, with the IAN and the Royal Navy entering in a de facto war in the ocean, with Frigates of both sides clashing on the blockade line, with even French chips joining to help the Americans. This would continue until on the 25th of May of 1805, the British sent their own "HMS York", by capturing the "Emperor Washington" near Nova Scotia and sending it back against the Boston harbor, causing a large fire on the city. On the following day, Emperor John I declared war on the United Kingdom and sent over 14,000 men into Quebec, 9,800 into the Niagra, and 4,200 into the Midwest, the Canadian War had started.

Tecumseh
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The British had an ally in America, controlling a large territory of modern Illinois and Northern Ohio, the Shawnee Confederacy under Tecumseh Allied itself with British interests as a protection against the rising American Empire. Tecumseh was an able leader who wanted to create a great tribal Confederacy East of the Mississipi, he established his Confederacy into the city of Prophetstown, leading several raids on American supply lines. Knowing that it was dangerous to leave a strong Indian army behind during the invasion of Canada, the Emperor sent a 3,000 men army to attack Prophetstown and kill Tecumseh. For such task, the men were put under the command of General William Henry Harrison, a veteran of the Northwestern War, used to fight against guerrillas and Indians. Harrison led his men into 3 pincer attacks across the Shawnee lands, sacking and burning tribal towns in the way, provoking Tecumseh to attack, while on paper the 4,000 men army of the Shawnee was large, it couldn't beat the firepower advantage in a direct confrontation. Instead he harassed the pincers and directed them to the region of the Maumee river, away from the tribal lands and separating them further away to prevent reinforcements. But he was the one being baited, for a 1,200 men army under Harrison's rising star commander Horatio Leeper attacked and destroyed Prophetstown, massacring its population and sending the heads to Tecumseh. The enraged tribal leader acted with emotion and headed back West, defeating one of the pincers and outmaneuvering the other two to attack Leeper in the Tippercanoe River, where the Yankee troops managed to repeal the Indian attack across the river from entrenched positions and later counter attacked the exhausted native Americans. On the 8th of October of 1805, after months of playing cat and mouse, Tecumseh was killed by an American bullet and his body was carried away by the river, being found two days later by his own men, after the death of their leader and Capital, the Shawnee Confederacy collapsed.

The American troops charging the Natives in the Tippercanoe River
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Meanwhile, the American attack broke the British defenses of the Niagra peninsula, taking Forts Eire and George, pushing and capturing the City of York. General Zebulon Pike restrained the American troops and treated the city fairly, then pushing to the North and attacking Kingstown. The siege of Kingstown lasted from the 18th of October of 1805 until the 6th of January of 1806 after a brutal winter siege starved the city, with the Imperial army capturing over 2,000 British troops and militias. The second attack was headed by General Henry Dearborn, pushing 14,200 men into Quebec and capturing the South of the St. Laurent river. The British General Sir Isaac Brook mounted a desperate defense of the city with 6,800 men, for 3 times the Americans attempted to cross the river, and only succeeded on the 4th, with General Brook killed in action during a desperate defense, leading one last charge to halt the Americans. Over 2,700 British troops were lost, while the Americans lost almost 5,000, but the city of Quebec fell on the 5th of November of 1805. The American troops stopped the advance due to the Winter, but now the cities of Montreal and Ottawa were essentially isolated from Britain, Canada (with the exception of the Maritimes) was now almost in American hands, but Britain wasn't out of the War yet.

IAN "Trenton" against the HMS "Guerriere"
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On the seas, the American Imperial Navy and the Royal Navy entered in a full scale war in the Great Banks of New England and New Scotia. The Royal Navy decreed a blockade in the American coast, but enforcing it was an issue, with the threat of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet in Europe pinning down a large portion of the Home fleet, reinforcements couldn't be sent to the North American holdings. That allowed the American Imperial Fleet to defeat the North American squadron in the Battle of Halifax, with the elderly Admiral John Paul Jones leading the IAN "Valley Forge" a 120-gun juggernaut into battle. One of the main fights of the battle was the duel of the IAN "Trenton" and the HMS "Guerriere", while not as important, it was the most remembered, seeing the British frigate being blown up after getting hit in the gunpowder room. The British navy in North America was powerful, but was spread from the Caribbean to Newfoundland, allowing the faster American frigates to defeat them in individual engagements and retreat before reinforcements arrived. These hit-and-run tactics would cause massive loses to the Royal Navy, with the port of Halifax full of damaged ships, only for it to be burned by a fire ship on the 19th of September, a hijacked HMS "King George II" was able to infiltrate in the harbor and got lightened on Fire by a team of marines in a boat hit behind it under the cover of the night. The Raid of Halifax burned over a dozen ships and crippled the double, forcing the Royal Navy to send reinforcements to the New World in 1806, led by Admiral Lord Nelson.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XII: THE CANADIAN WAR
II

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On the 7th of March of 1806, Admiral Nelson led the British fleet to the New World, keeping Admiral Collingwood in charge of the Home Fleet. Nelson led a large squadron of 4 Ships of Line, 14 Frigates, and 18 Sloops, and while still outnumbered by the Imperial American Fleet, Nelson said that it was enough. He led his fleet to Bermuda for supplies, and then sailed straight to Chesapeake Bay, threatening the Capital in Columbia. Upon discovering that, Admiral John Paul Jones led 5 Ships of Line, 22 Frigates, and 15 Sloops to halt the British advance, believing that his superior numbers would give victory. That might have been true, if he wasn’t fighting Admiral Nelson, and on that day of March, the Battle of Chesapeake Bay started.

The two sides formed two lines, with the HMS Victory and the IAN Valley Forge staying in the front of the left line. Both sides advanced against one another and the cannons began to fire, the 120 guns of The Valley Forge were the first to fire, damaging a British Frigate. And from there, the battle became a bloodbath, with two massive fleets engaging one another, where the Americans saw that their bit more than they could chew, even if they had superior numbers, they had nowhere as close to the British quality in crew. As the old British proverb said, “It takes 3 years to build a ship, but 300 to build an admiral”, and the Americans were less experienced, the time that took for an American canon to reload was enough for the British to fire twice.

In the middle of the battle, the Victory and The Valley Forge saw one another, and a duel of John Paul Jones’ superior ship and Nelson’s superior gunnery would begin. They clashed into broadsides, the British fired cannonades to make the American crew bleed, with Nelson planning to board the ship and take it as a prize. The Valley Forge fired incendiary ammunition on the Victory, putting fire on the second deck, they both went so close to one another that their crews were trading musket and pistol shots, Nelson would be remembered of holding the Union Jack while firing at the American crew, becoming a symbol of British Naval Tradition.

After 40 minutes trading shots, the IAN Valley Forge rammed the Victory, but the iron parts of the hull resisted the ramming, and the Victory used that to fire a full broadside on the Yankee ship, damaging its mast and sails. The wounded titan was then boarded by the British crew, with Nelson leading the assault himself, meeting the old American Captain and dueling him himself while the battle raged on around them. John Paul Jones was old, almost 20 years older than Nelson, and this allowed the younger and faster Admiral to disarm him after 4 full minutes. Seeing his admiral defeated, one of the Marines shot Nelson in the shoulder, allowing Jones to reach for his saber and continuing the fight. But Nelson, even with his right shoulder shot, managed to defeat the exhausted veteran, claiming the prize of the ship with the American crew surrendering. But one of the Yankee marines would rather die than be a British POW, he escaped to the lower decks and lightened up the gunpowder barrels, with the Ship exploding just after Nelson and the captured Admiral went back to the Victory. The explosion of The Valley Forge could be seen from Baltimore, and seeing their Capital ship destroyed, the rest of the American fleet escaped to Baltimore.

The British lost 5 Sloops, 3 Frigates, and One ship of Line had to be scuttled. While the IAN lost 3 Ships of Line (Including The Valley Forge), 10 Frigates, and 8 Sloops. And with that the Royal Navy blockaded Columbia and bombarded the port of Baltimore, even sending one of the heavily damaged sloops to ram it with fire. The tide of the Naval war had turned, and an army of 3,400 British Marines landed in the Bay and attacked Columbia. Emperor Marshall would not flee, he would stand and fight, leading the Imperial Guard of 2,000 men into the defense of the city. It would start the Battle of Columbia.

The White House burned by British Troops​

The Battle of Columbia would be vicious, with the British supported by Naval Artillery bombarding the city. Between the 10th and the 13th of March, the British would launch several assaults into Columbia, and on the last day, under the leadership of Sir Thomas Picton, the Yankee lines broke. The Emperor and hi guard stayed behind and fought the British to the last, to give time for the Civilians to escape. John I Marshall would be shot 3 times and, when the last guards were defeated, either shot himself in the head, died of his bleedings, or was killed by a British sniper. Either way, the second Emperor of America was killed and Columbia was burned, with reinforcements arriving under General Andrew Jackson on the next day to drive the British marines out of Columbia, finding the body of the Emperor and swearing to avenge him. The British started a much bloodier phase of the war, because now America wanted nothing but Blood and Revenge

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XIII: THE CANADIAN WAR
III

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The aftermath of the Battle of Columbia saw a new phase of the War, with the end of the winter, the American armies resumed their offensive to Montreal, but this time they were fueled by hate. A massive propaganda campaign was made, describing the heroic last stand of Emperor John I Marshall in Columbia, in a attempt to buy time for the people to escape a rampaging British horde of Barbarians. The press went into action, comparing it to the Boston Massacre and the Battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, the country recieved the Newspaper edition for free in the morning by order of the Senate President James Monroe. John Marshall was made a martyr, and the American people would avenge him, on the moth that followed, more than 60,000 men enlisted in the military, what they lacked in training, they had in enthusiasm and anger. The military recruiters had problems on how to dress up and arm this army of Volunteers, instead 20,000 joined the regular army and the rest was recruited as militias. This new army was called "Marshall's Legion" and was led by General Andrew Jackson at his personal request.

Meanwhile, came the matter of succession. As the constitution demanded, if an Emperor were to die, there would be an election between his sons (or daughters if he didn't have male heirs), with Marshall having 4 children, only one was older than 18: Thomas Marshall, a recent graduate of Princeton at the age of 22. But there were many who had second thoughts, Thomas was a political icognite and was considered too young to lead a country at war. Instead, some favored a General, since all candidates of the 1801 election were either dead, disgraced, or in Europe, claiming that only a strong hand could lead America in that time of despair. But many felt that it would be a dishonor for the late Emperor and a clear breach of the Constitution, so on the 4th of July of 1806, Thomas I Marshall was crowned as Emperor in the temporary capital of Philadelphia.

While the Senate crowned an new Emperor, Generals Zebulon Pike and Henry Dearborn led their combined forces to force the surrender of Montreal, the last great Canadian city, by controlling it, the Americans would control the Saint-Laurent river and both Upper and Lower Canada. The city was defended by a British force of 8,900 men and 7,200 Militias, which was low compared to 21,200 men and 9,100 Militias of the American Imperial Army. Zebulon and Dearborn laid siege to the city on the 18th of March, with the siege lasting until the 7th of May, the city defenders surrendered on the promise that the citizens would be treated fairly, but a mix of hate and whiskey prevented that. The Army invaded the city and killed everything in their way, massacring the POWs while screaming "For Marshall !", the heads of the commanders were put on pikes by the shore of the St. Laurent, the city population would experience terror for 3 days. The generals attempted to control their soldiers, but it was useless, in the end Montreal was burned to the ground with civilians trapped inside the burning houses, being shot if they attempted to escape. The sack of Montreal would be remembered as one of the most brutal events perpetrated by the Imperial Army.

After the destruction of Montreal, Canada was in American control, and the population was tamed by the threat of more massacres and exterminations. The British control was reduced to New Brunswick, New Scotia, and Newfoundland, while American militias took the North of Canada. Upon receiving such news, some in Britain wanted a peace, claiming that Napoleon was a bigger threat and the military shouldn't be split holding a colony. But others wanted revenge, and they won the debates of the Parliament and recruited an army of 40,000 men under the rising star commander Sir Arthur Wellesley. Those men were embarked in Nelson's fleet and sent to Halifax, Wellington planned to strike from the South of Canada, marching North to Quebec and then follow the St. Laurent to Kingston, defeating the Yankee armies and liberating Canada.

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But the arrival of a massive army wouldn't go unnoticed, French spies in London would find out about the organization of the "Army of Canada" and send it to America. Emperor Thomas I would order the Canadian armies to unite under a single command, led by none other than Andrew Jackson, at his insistence to avenge his father. Jackson was given the command of 36,000 troops, plus 15,000 militias, and invaded New Brunswick, halting at Moncton, isolating New Scotia and waiting for the British Army. On the 9th of September, the British forces landed in Halifax, Wellesley recruited Canadian militias to bolster his numbers and meet the American defenses, with roughly equal numbers, the Battle of Moncton began and would decide the fate of Canada.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XIV: THE CANADIAN WAR
IV

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The Battle of Moncton happened on the 11th of September of 1806, when the British bombardment started the attack on the American trenches, mortar shells fell on the Americans in what seemed like a show on how wars would be fought in the future. Inspired in Napoleon's "Great Bombard", Wellesley decided to soften the enemy lines by blowing the enemy defenses, the inexperienced militias retreated into the woods fearing for their lives. The British then launched an attack against the Yankee positions, over 15,000 men marched into the first wave, expecting that the Americans had retreated into the woods, but were surprised by a barrage of canister shots and volleys of fire from the trenches, where the veteran army awaited. The British ran to cover terrain faster, the Yankees fires 2 more volleys before fixing bayonets and receiving the British in their defenses. Both sides clashed in the trenches, but the outnumbered British troops underestimated the savagery and experience of those Yankee troops who conquered Canada. The British first wave would be repulsed and sent back to their positions, Wellesley needed to think of a new plan.

Seeing how the Americans repelled his first wave, General Sir Arthur Wellesley continued to press on, believing the Yankees to be outnumbered. After 2 more waves, by the 6 PM, the night was coming and the Yankee troops were on their last legs, but on Wellesley's last charge with the cream of the British army, the American militias returned. Driven by revenge at the screams of "For Marshall !" and "For Columbia !", the thousands of militia men charged on the exhausted British with savagery and fury, inspiring the exhausted army units to follow in the charge. The British troops lost heart seeing thousands of Americans coming out of the forest to their camp, Wellesley sounded the retreat and the British troops were pursued all the way to Halifax, until General Jackson allowed his troops some rest and laid siege on the port. The strategically placed artillery pieces kept Nelson's fleet away, drastically affecting the sea supplies and isolating the last British city in mainland North America.

Upon receiving the news, the Parliament feared another Montreal, in a potential disaster of losing 30,000 troops including their best General and the local population. With Napoleon defeating the Third Coalition on land and the Combined Fleets of Spain and France preparing to invade the island of Great Britain, the United Kingdom couldn't fight a two-Front war. On the 29th of September, the peace negotiations would start, but only on the condition that the British troops in Halifax were allowed to retreat, instead the Americans let supplies come to relieve the starving troops in Halifax. Negotiations would begin in Lisbon, with the American and British delegations arriving with the young Thomas I in the American delegation, and an increasingly mad George III in the British delegation.

The Americans demanded war reparations for the raid of Columbia and the murder of Emperor John I Marshall, while also demanding the entirety of the British Canada. The proposal was called an insult by the British delegation, and both sides reached a stalemate only broken on the 13th of October, when news reached that Collingwood's fleet was defeated by the Allied Fleet in Trafalgar. It made the American position a lot stronger: With Britain threatened by invasion, their only hope was to call back Nelson's fleet, but that would end the blockade, risk an invasion of Newfoundland, and practically admitting defeat in Canada. On the other hand, due to the terms of the Secret Treaty, if Britain was defeated by France, the Americans could get Canada anyways. The British delegation became desperate to end the war while the Americans bid their time and stalled the negotiations to increase the desperation of their enemies. Finally, on the 19th of October, the British agreed to give up Canada with the exception of Newfoundland, Anticosti, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton Island. The reparations on the cost of 15 million dollars were paid due to the propriety damages made to America.

On the 20th of October, the official "Treaty of Lisbon" was signed, with the American Empire raising it's flag over the occupied territories of Canada (with the exception of the Maritimes islands) and starting the integration and assimilation of Territories. Over 67,000 Americans died, including civilians from Columbia, while the British lost almost 108,000 including POWs and the massacred population of Montreal and other cities. It was the bloodiest war in North America up to that moment, shaping the fate of America forever, but there would still be many headaches before peace.

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[Kaiser of Brazil]

XV: THE CANADIAN WAR CREEK WAR

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Happening in parallel with the Canadian War, the Creek War between the "Red Stick Creeks" and the "Lower Creeks" and the Imperial militias of the Commonwealths of Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and later Imperial troops under Andrew Jackson. The war started as a Civil War between the Reactionary and Progressive Creeks, the first ones inspired in Tecumseh's Confederation, but as the conflict started affecting traders and settlers in Georgia, Western Florida, and the Mississippi Territory, the American Government had to intervene.

The division of the Reactionary "Red Sticks" and the Progressives "Lower Creeks" was an old one since the 18th Century, the Lower Creeks had started assimilating American practices like Trade and Christianity, whereas the Red Stick Creeks stayed true to their old practices. When the Canadian War started, Tecumseh called for all Native American tribes west of the Apalaches to rise and overthrow the Yankee Imperialist. The Red Sticks heard the call to purify their tribe of western elements, attacking the Lower Creek camps and starting a Civil War. A band of Red Sticks under William Weatherford attacked a settlement of mixed Creek-Americans in Fort Mims, massacring its population. The Georgian government called for neighboring Commonwealths to send in troops to avenge the massacre, with Tennessee and South Carolina joining.

The Imperial government was dealing with the Invasion of Canada at the time, only sparing 1,200 men under Colonel Andrew Jackson to defend the Mississippi from the Creek attacks. The unorganized State militias were generally considered ineffective, with the best men being Revolutionary War veterans, and had the bad habit of mixing up Lower Creeks and Red Stick Creeks during battle and considering both as savage enemies. Jackson arrived to put them into shape, imposing discipline into the militias and organizing them into an army. The Lower Creeks under William McIntosh helped the Americans, giving strategical advice and showing paths across their lands, allowing the American-Creek force to strike the Red Stick territory.

The War lasted from April 1805 until February 1806, when Jackson's men arrived at Econochaca, the Holy Ground of the Red Sticks and defeated them in Battle. The Creeks had never fought a major war before, and the rejection of innovation by the Red Sticks meant that they had very few muskets. The capture of the Holy Ground by the American Army broke their morale, Jackson would spend the next weeks building roads to attack their remnants in Horseshoe Bend. On the 26th of February, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend broke the Creek resistance and forced them to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson.

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Ignoring that thousands of Creeks fought by his side, Jackson forced the Creek Confederacy to give up parts of Southern Georgia and about half of modern Alabama Commonwealth. For his victories, Jackson was promoted to General, leading his forces back to Columbia, only to find the British razing the city and the Emperor dying on the field.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XVI: THE QUEBEC CRISIS

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Quebec was Catholic, and that was a problem. When the Treaty of Lisbon was seen by the parliament upon the return of the Emperor, the Federalists and Whigs united in condemnation of the Annexation of Canada, Quebec in specific. The Federalists were fierce anti-Catholics, claiming that they couldn't be patriotic because their true loyalty was with the Pope in Rome. The Whigs had more pragmatic reasons, their main support base were the Southern Commonwealths, and the annexation of Canada broke the balance between Free and Slave Commonwealths by adding several anti-slavery ones, and those new votes threatened to break the balance of the Senate.

When the recently-crowned Emperor Thomas I came back, he was recieved as a hero that won a victory that massively increased the Imperial territory, but upon arriving at his Estate in Germantown, Virginia, he was recieved by the Senate President James Monroe. After a cup of coffee, Thomas asked about how things were during the time he was away, Monroe explained the happenings in the Senate and his own concern. On the next day, they both went to the Senate where the Emperor started a 15-minute long impassionated speech about his Washington's dream of an America extending from the Arctic to Yucatán, he then went on to talk about brotherhood with Canada and that "Catholics could be righted from their sinful ways by our missionaries", he then became angry and spoke that those men were throwing away the sacrifice of his father and thousands of soldiers due to their "egoistic desires".

That last part attracted angry reactions from several Senators, they started booing the Emperor and calling him a "secret papist" who wanted to takeover America by flooding it with Immigrants and Catholics from Quebec and Mexico. Thomas started fighting back by accusing them of sabotaging the Manifest Destiny and even of Republicans. Senator Thomas Jefferson then left in protest as well as several Federalists and Whigs, the extremists of both parties left the Senate floor leaving the Centrists and Monarchists by Thomas' side. Between the 12th and 26th of October, America was functioning with half a parliament, negotiations over the status of Quebec started between Jefferson and Monroe, raging from making it a puppet state to selling it to France. After two days of negotiations without sleep in Jefferson's Virginian Estate, with both men functioning on coffee, the results were finally made on the Quebec consensus, sending them to the Emperor.

The problems restarted when Thomas Marshall refused to sign the deal, the deal assured the independence of Quebec by the north of the St. Laurent river, Quebec would be an American Protectorate, paying 1/10th of it's national revenue for American protection, while also giving special trade privileges to American citizens. The refusal of the Emperor was causing a unprecedented political crisis, and both the people and the army were with the Emperor, believing the Senate was corrupted by morally broken men who were sabotaging the hard-fought American conquest. Some Northerners of the rising abolitionist movement claimed that it was the plot of Southern Aristocrats to protect Slavery from the votes of the Anti-Slavery Canadians. The Emperor appealed to the people on the 21st of October, making a speech in Philadelphia claiming that "Terrible forces had taken over the Senate" and evoked the memory of his father's sacrifice for America in Columbia. His firely speech enticed the people and a crowd with pitchforks and torches surrounded the building that the defective senators were meeting, essentially putting them in a hostage situation.

Later, Andrew Jackson's Army came back from Halifax and was hailed by the crowd, Thomas recieved the General and informed him that there was a conspiracy of the Senate to bring an end to the Empire and make America lose the gains that so many died for, including Emperor John I. Jackson informed the army of the developments and locked down Philadelphia, the situation was tense and Thomas used it. Accusing the Senators of treason, he nullified his appointments and appointed half of the Senate, choosing loyalists from each state to fill the seats. He ordered the Senators' arrest when he noticed that one of them wasn't in that building: Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson was a Republican, he had silently accepted a monarchy awaiting for an opportunity. He was going to use that crisis, meeting with the Governor of Virginia William H. Cabell to discuss the Senate crisis, claiming that Thomas was becoming "America's Napoleon", and that he had made a coup to become a Tyrant. Jefferson called the Governors of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia for a meeting in Appotamox, Virginia. From that meeting, Jefferson was declared President of the United Republic of America (URA), with the Southern States (with the exception of Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky) declaring their independence from the American Empire on the 26th of October of 1806. Thomas I declared the secession illegal, and enraged crowds killed the defected Senators by burning the house down, the Emperor would send Andrew Jackson's army to the south. Jackson was a southerner, he symphatized with the cause of his fellow men in the Carolinas, but he absolutely despised treason. He also grew closer with the Marshall family, John I promoted him, and he felt guilty for believing to have caused the Emperor's death in Columbia, he owned a debt with his son Thomas. Jackson led a 40,000 men army to the South, ready to end the uprising against the Government.

Flag of the United Republic of America​

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XVII: CIVIL WAR
I

"After failing to achieve their victory against America in the Senate, the insidious snakes of America have gone to the South and declared open rebellion against the Empire and it's people. It is with great sorrow that I enact this order, for I am a Virginian myself, but I won't accept that the legacy of Washington and my father is left to burn. Today, I enact the General Mobilization and let history remember my words: I shall not, as long as there is life in my body, let the Empire fall, the traitors shall be hanged over Columbia and their bodies thrown in the Potomac. Today I call for the people of America to once more fulfill it's sacred duty and defeat the Atheist masons of Dixie. Down with the Traitors ! Up with America !"
-Emperor Thomas I, 1st of November of 1806
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The American Civil War is one of the most important events of American history, the escalation of the conflict on the month of October of 1806 may seem unexpected for a quick reader of American History, but the roots would come all the way from 1787. The Constututional Convention approved the greater centralization of Government under a Strong Executive headed by an Elected Monarch, but that didn't mean that Republicans like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine would change their minds. The Whig Party was initially composed almost 70% by Republican supporters, and that was one of the reasons George I choose to make the first Senate be made up mostly of Loyalist Federalists. There was always a significant Republican support in America especially in the South, the Monarchy became associated with the Federalists, with high tariffs, abolitionism, centralization, militarism and urban population. And those were values that opposed the "Southron (or Dixie) Way of Life", it was natural that most of the Southern politicians would ally themselves with Whig Republicanism.

But there was one thing left to spark the revolt: The direct threat of the Monarchy against the South. The Southrons saw that after the Canadian War, when the Emperor annexed a large territory composed by mostly abolitionists. The threat that the Canadian provinces would turn into Commonwealths and add several anti-slavery Senators allowing the Northerners to impose their will upon the South caused the opposition to the annexation of Quebec. The Senators of the South even found common ground with some Northerners, due to the Anti-Catholicism of "Hamiltonian" Federalists, and attempted to compromise, but Emperor Thomas refused and they left in protest. Only Jefferson came back to Virginia to rally the governors for what was a planned overthrow of the Government, with the others staying in Pennsylvania hoping to gain the sympathy of the people. But that backfired, the people sided with the Emperor and burned the Senators alive, knowing that the Army and the people of the north wouldn't side with him against the "Tyranny of Emperor Thomas", Jefferson changed tactics and argued for full secession.

Emperor Thomas rallied the people against the traitors, to say he was charismatic would be an understatement as he could manipulate crowds with emotional speeches in the open streets. The people were convinced that the rebellion (who now made Richmond their capital) was led by a secret order of atheistic freemasons who attempted to manipulate America as some kind of world conspiracy to destroy the American Empire of Freedom. The URA would be a base upon they could plot from, using its agrarian resources to fuel an army of spies to destabilize the Empire and provoke its collapse. The Northerners felt betrayed and they wanted revenge, with thousands forming militias and joining the growing "Army of the Potomac" in the city of Columbia.

For the people of the south, the secession was met with indifference for some and enthusiasm for others. For a Virginian, having a shared Dixie identity with the Georgians was as strong as having a shared American identity with the Yankees. Jefferson noticed that one would need to be forged by blood, combining the several Militias into a common army led by the Canadian War Veteran, William Henry Harrison, the Virginian commander who commanded the Indian Front against Tecumseh. The "Grand Army of the Republic" was formed with 55,000 men, many of them Creek and Canadian War veterans.

The War was concentrated in Maryland and Virginia, and the first battle between Jackson's 60,000 men "Army of the Potomac" and Harrison's "Grand Army of the Republic" would happen on the 5th of December of 1806, after Jackson started the first offensive into Virginia by crossing the Potomac river. The Battle of Gainesville would be the first battle of the American Civil War, with Jackson ironically attacking a defensive position held by the GAR. By the 6th of December, after both sides suffered heavy loses, Jackson's army was the first to retreat after a tactical draw, the weakened GAR was about to retreat when the Yankees blinked first, but they couldn't pursue them. The battle ended with 20,000 casualties from both sides left to rot in the field, 20,000 brothers who died fighting one another, the war didn't have a swift end as both sides hoped, and much more blood would be spilled until the end of the war.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

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.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XIX: THE IRISH WAR
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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.

General Rowland Hill
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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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