Empires Arising: The French Empire in Particular

1789

Europe. In the year of 1789, revolution broke out in Europe. Not all of Europe, though. It broke out in France. A little over a decade ago, the Kingdom of France had aided the American revolutionaries in securing their independence from the despised British Empire. France was a major part of the American victory. However, the victory against Britain had costed France. The cost, proved to be too much.

Much of the French people were inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution, even though it had been crushed. Freedom and liberty inspired the French. In early 1789, revolution broke out. France was at war with itself. After securing several victories, in May, 1789, King Louis XVI of France surrendered Paris to the revolutionaries. Thus the Republic of France was born. People in France cheered for the Tricolore, and they partied in the streets over their success over the tyrannical reign of the Bourbon monarchy.

"Vive la Revolution!" they said.

"Vive la Republique! Vive la France!" the men of France said.

Little did they know that they were about to be dragged into a war with all of Europe. Little did they know that they were going to become an Empire. Little did they know of Mason Devereux.

Little did they know of the glory they would achieve.

_______________________________________

This is my first alternative history story. I am new to alternatehistory.com, so please bear with me if I make some noobish mistakes. Also, my French is sadly not the best, so I will be using google translate for most of the French words found in the story. If I make horrible mistakes, please point it out and I will fix it.

This is going to be a alternative historical story based on the rise of the French Empire, and the wars they will go through. Note: Napoleon Bonaparte will not be emperor.
 
Last edited:
Good intro, it just that in 1789 only extremists wanted a republic, most of the population was in favor of retaining a monarchy ( a constitutional one). It is only in 1792, after the escape to Varennes that the French began to think about that option. So "Vive la République" is a bit odd in 1789.
 
1790

Early 1790 was a disaster for the new French Republic. A coalition was formed by Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, and Sardinia. In the middle of the English Channel, 16 French ship-of-the-lines and 21 French frigates were sunk by a British force of 27 ship-of-the-lines.

Meanwhile, Alsace-Lorraine was taken by the Holy Roman Empire, or Austria. In the south, a combined Spanish-Portuguese army of 31,000 had taken some of the lands north of the Pyrenees.

Over in America, however, the French had more success. The British had sent a force of 13,500 troops from the Thirteen Colonies to take Quebec. A smaller force of 9,200 French troops were able to inflict heavy losses on the British. By the end of winter, the British had lost 6,300 men to guerrilla strikes and better equipped French infantry. They retreated from Quebec and settled down in Boston.

1791

In 1791, a more unified French Republic had scored several victories on the Coalition. A French fleet under Admiral Louis Cartier in the Bay of Biscay had burned the British fleet. 26 SoTLs had successfully routed and destroyed the British force of 24 SoTLs. Meanwhile, Alsace-Lorraine was taken back by a force of 23,000 led by Napoleon Bonaparte. He decisively crushed the Austrians at the Battle of Strasbourg. 17,600 Austrians were defeated and retreated back into Austrian territory.

In the south, the Spanish continued to slowly creep deeper and deeper into France, however.

On the American theater, a great victory was won for France. Before the Revolution started, all of Florida was bought from Spain by France. All of the former Royalist territories in America were claimed by the Republic. So, in March 1791, an army of 12,300 led by General Jean-Jacques Mortier marched north. There, they fought an inferior force of 4,200 colonists at the Battle of Atlanta. Georgia was taken, and the Thirteen Colonies were reduced to Twelve. Massachusetts was also in danger, as a force of 9,000 troops in Quebec were ready to strike.

1792

In 1792, Massachusetts was taken by French forces. The lands north of Massachusetts were also annexed by France. Meanwhile, the British in North America were kept busy by France's native allies. Guerrilla strikes weakened the British severely.

On June 6th, 1792, the Spanish Army and French Army clashed at the Battle of Toulouse. Napoleon Bonaparte's force of 28,500 men clashed with General Alvarez's force of 31,000 men. Alvarez had a force of 1,200 cavalrymen. He had sent them to charge against the French flank, but wet weather and soggy ground prevented the charge to be executed before the French prepared. The charge was defeated and many Spaniards were slaughtered. Alvarez marched his men forward, and they were struck down by French riflemen. Alvarez began to retreat, but Napoleon ordered his men forward. Napoleon chased Alvarez's retreating force for four days. Eventually, Alvarez surrendered himself to Napoleon.

By the end of October, all Spanish land north of the Pyrenees was reconquered.

In November, the Armee d'Angleterre set off for England. The fleet, carrying 39,000 French troops was able to get across the Channel safely. The Royal Navy was too busy fighting a decoy French fleet. Though the decoys- 13 French SoTLs, were defeated by the British fleet, the Armee d'Angleterre made it safely to English soil.

All of Great Britain cowered in fear as thousands of French troops marched to London.
 
Good intro, it just that in 1789 only extremists wanted a republic, most of the population was in favor of retaining a monarchy ( a constitutional one). It is only in 1792, after the escape to Varennes that the French began to think about that option. So "Vive la République" is a bit odd in 1789.

Even in 1792, only a small minority of extremists were in favor of the Republic. The monarchy was upset only by a coup of a parisian mob (very distinct from the whole population of the city of Paris) whose leaders still were a minority of extremists.

The very wide majority of the population of course were in favour of the values of freedom and equality of rights. But most of them were passive witnesses of the political meltdown resulting from the incompetence of the king and the activism of political extremists.

If there had been free universal suffrage in the late 18th century, it would have been in favor of constitutional monarchy. Under the republic, the suffrage was in fact not free. Only 10% to 12% of the electors actually voted. The others were to a very large extent detered from voting or for others were not interested.
 
If there had been free universal suffrage in the late 18th century, it would have been in favor of constitutional monarchy. Under the republic, the suffrage was in fact not free. Only 10% to 12% of the electors actually voted. The others were to a very large extent detered from voting or for others were not interested.

Under the French 'constituante', only male above 25 (IIRC) who paid taxes and were not domestic servant were allowed to vote.
 
1793

London, once a proud and mighty city was now under siege by the French. Across Europe, people were bewildered.

How could the French reach London?

Women and children fled London as the husbands and fathers went to the front lines to halt the advancing French. The United Kingdom was unprepared for the Siege of London, and could only muster about 12,000 men to defend London from the terrifying force of 39,000. One Frenchman, Charles de Blanc wrote in his diary:

"As we, the Armee d'Angleterre, fought against the rosbif Redcoats, I felt a surge of pride and nationalism. We were upholders of the Republic- upholders of justice and liberty. We were freeing the people from their oppressive monarchies, though they did not yet know."

On April 17, 1793, London surrendered to France. Thousands of French troops stormed the city. The King of Great Britain was forced to sign a treaty. It came to be known as the Treaty of London, 1793. Great Britain was forced to withdraw from the coalition, and give up Gibraltar to France in return for Georgia and Massachusetts. The King did not want to sign, but he had no choice as his home was burning by the second. The war with Great Britain officially ended on that day, and Gibraltar became a French fortress in Iberia. Great Britain was also forced to give France 15 ship-of-the-lines.

This was to be only the first of France's great victories.


______________________________________________________

This was a rather short part, but stay tuned as the next part will be much longer, spanning perhaps 5-6 years.
 
1793

London, once a proud and mighty city was now under siege by the French. Across Europe, people were bewildered.
........................
This was a rather short part, but stay tuned as the next part will be much longer, spanning perhaps 5-6 years.
So the French Republic will become much more secular than IOTL, I assume?
 
So the French Republic will become much more secular than IOTL, I assume?

More or less. You'll have to keep reading to find out.

Also; in this story, the French Republic will mainly focus on North America, then as the French Empire, will consolidate rule in India, then revert back to a Republic for a long time.
 
Under the French 'constituante', only male above 25 (IIRC) who paid taxes and were not domestic servant were allowed to vote.

Yes, but :
- nowhere in the worls did women vote at that time,
- men above 25 paying taxes represented around 2 thirds of around 2 thirds of all men above 25.
- and participation in 1789, thoug exerted through a system of several degrees of electoral colleges, was overall much stronger in 1789 than in 1792/1797.

In 1789, nobody opposed the electoral process and nobody exerted phyysical threat to deter from voting those that did not share the opinion of the extremist revolutionaries. Testimonies describe a rather strong participation. I do not mean propaganda but testimonies from conservative nobles like Chateaubriand.

The 1789 movement reflected the will of the vast majority of the french people who wanted the end of arbitrary, freedom, equality of rights, and accountability of the government.

If you want to compare 1792/1794 with some other historical events, Russia in the years 1917/1924 would be a rather good example. It is not by chance that Lenine thought and wrote so much about the french revolutionary movements. His challenge was : how to take and retain power when you are a minority ? And he had a very good case to think about with the french revolution.

A minority had taken power by violence, thanks to the incompetence of the previous political system, though this system still enjoyed a strong ligetimacy (much than the french first republic ever had). Since it could not hold power with free universal suffrage elections, this extremist revolutionary minority had to terrorize the majority and deter it from voting so that their partisans could make sure to come out victorious in the elections.
 
French troops storming the streets of London? King George III forced to give up British possessions, and provide ships to a hated enemy?

What is the world coming to?

I'll definitely keep reading this.
 
Top