Foreign Policy of a successful First French Empire

I've been wondering what kind of course a nation formed by a successful Napoleon would pick for itself.


So lets assume a successful Napoleon. France, Italy, Germany and Spain are part of his empire. Poland and Hungary are Vassals. Russia is cowed and Britain is shut out of the continent.


What kind of foreign policy would this nation pursue?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Well, Napoleon's going to be looking for ways to boot the Ottomans out of Europe. I can certainly see the French taking advantage of the Greek Revolution to launch an invasion of the Balkans, probably taking the Danubian principalities under their wing. You could potentially even see the French campaign in the Balkans evolve into a conquest/vassalization/partition of the Ottoman Empire and the whole of the Near East.

Britain, though shut out of the Continent politically (expect trade to resume shortly after the conclusion of hostilities) will do all it can to frustrate French ventures abroad. They'll probably support the Ottomans in any Franco-Ottoman War, and certainly if the French follow the Ottomans into Asia since this could start threatening British India.

Though officially neutral, the US and France will be friendly and Napoleon may encourage the Americans to not give up on their dreams of conquering Canada and kicking the British out of the Americas.

How Russia is cowed is going to play a big part in this. If you mean there's no 1812 War, there's going to be a 4-way cold war in Europe. France vs. Russia vs. the Ottomans with Britain supporting Russia and Turkey.

If, however, you mean that France successfully invades Russia, defeats her, cuts off the Ukraine, Finland, and perhaps the Baltics and parts of White Russia (given to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw which may grow into an actual German-dominated Polish kingdom) and installs a puppet tsar (Konstantin is the most likely candidate), then Russia is probably not going to play an important role in European affairs for some time.
 
Seems like most of Europe is Internal, Who's left to have a foreign policy about.:p:p

OK -- Assume one of the 1808 or 1809 or the 18?? Peace proposals actually works.
Whe are now in the mid 1810's

France is focused on Helping maintain Spain's Empire as a Market for France, and sewing up Control of the Mediterranean as a French Lake.
 
How Russia is cowed is going to play a big part in this. If you mean there's no 1812 War, there's going to be a 4-way cold war in Europe. France vs. Russia vs. the Ottomans with Britain supporting Russia and Turkey.
I'm not sure if Russia would oppose France. While Napoleon and Tsar Alexander had some grievances with each other, they were pretty good friends and Russia would certainly support France in an invasion of the Ottomans. After that, Russia might stay neutral but friendly towards France, especially if they can come to some sort of agreement about what to do with Poland.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
I'm not sure if Russia would oppose France. While Napoleon and Tsar Alexander had some grievances with each other, they were pretty good friends and Russia would certainly support France in an invasion of the Ottomans. After that, Russia might stay neutral but friendly towards France, especially if they can come to some sort of agreement about what to do with Poland.
While I agree that France and Russia would begin by staying friendly, the resurrection of Poland (in the guise of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw) was actually much more of an issue than it's usually presented as. It scared the hell out of Russia since the very existence of an independent Polish state could (and IMO would) inflame a lot of the Polish population in Russia and have them grow increasingly unruly.

And while Russia would support France in a Franco-Ottoman War, they're going to be mighty pissed when they realize France isn't going to let the Balkans fall into Russian orbit or allow the Russians to have control of Constantinople or the Straits. These things, if nothing else, are going to cause an immense cooling in Russo-French relations and probably have Russia seek a counterweight to French power abroad (the UK) and in Europe (Orthodox ethnicities in the Balkans), both of which will alienate France.
 
I am actually planing a TL where Napoleon is a lot more successful. Instead of a French Empire, he's reviving Rome. I planned on him annexing Greater Greece.

What this State's foreign policy would be is what I'm drawing a blank on though.
 
While I agree that France and Russia would begin by staying friendly, the resurrection of Poland (in the guise of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw) was actually much more of an issue than it's usually presented as. It scared the hell out of Russia since the very existence of an independent Polish state could (and IMO would) inflame a lot of the Polish population in Russia and have them grow increasingly unruly.
Could Napoleon and Alexander come to a solution regarding Poland? Perhaps giving Poland autonomy along the lines of the creation of Congress Poland?

And while Russia would support France in a Franco-Ottoman War, they're going to be mighty pissed when they realize France isn't going to let the Balkans fall into Russian orbit or allow the Russians to have control of Constantinople or the Straits. These things, if nothing else, are going to cause an immense cooling in Russo-French relations and probably have Russia seek a counterweight to French power abroad (the UK) and in Europe (Orthodox ethnicities in the Balkans), both of which will alienate France.
Hmmm, that would be a strain on their relations. If only Napoleon was pragmatic and let Russia gain at least some of the Balkans. Because really, only the Adriatic coast and Greece are strategically important for France, right?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Could Napoleon and Alexander come to a solution regarding Poland? Perhaps giving Poland autonomy along the lines of the creation of Congress Poland?
...which would basically be selling Poland out to Russia. Congress Poland was really just a sad, sad joke and the only ways it was "autonomous" was that the Tsars let their viceroys behave however they wanted, esp. post-Alexander II (I'm generalizing, obviously, but you get my point).

Hmmm, that would be a strain on their relations. If only Napoleon was pragmatic and let Russia gain at least some of the Balkans. Because really, only the Adriatic coast and Greece are strategically important for France, right?
Eh. Containing Russia's just as important. Even though he invaded Russia, he knew what a threat they could pose in the future, especially if allowed to expand in Europe. Britain later took up this view, though it was more due to a combination of not wanting to rock the European BOP and to make sure nobody would ever be in the position to threaten India.

Besides, any strong Continental powers are going to inevitably draw the attentions of those nations subjugated to France (except for maybe the Confederation of the Rhine) in an attempt to play both powers off of one another, which will obviously weaken French hegemony in Europe.

Basically, Napoleonic France cannot allow for a rival on the Continent, especially one with the size, resources, and potential of Russia.
 
I am actually planing a TL where Napoleon is a lot more successful. Instead of a French Empire, he's reviving Rome. I planned on him annexing Greater Greece.

What this State's foreign policy would be is what I'm drawing a blank on though.

Nice! I assume he crowns himself HRE then starts going after the Second Rome too?
 
Nice! I assume he crowns himself HRE then starts going after the Second Rome too?


Yep, Crowns himself HRE, demolishes all the armies Russia sends at him for a few years until they come to the peace table, kick the British out of Spain, then Annexes Greater Greece and crowns himself emperor of all Rome in Constantinople.
 
The initially outlined scenario seems a bit outlandish. Why would he directly annex all Germany, Italy, and Spain? How did Austria came to such grief?

Okay, let's assume Napoleon follows a more tactful policy in Spain and is able to get peace with Britain in 1812 or so on the basis that the status-quo be recognised in Europe and some French colonies be returned while Britain keeps other colonial possessions. This also probably means no 1809 disaster for Austria: they have to downsize their unsustainable army and thus temporarily accept their status as France's bitch, but they keep a lot of what they lost.

Now, I really don't see what interest France has in "booting the Ottomans out of Europe". They weren't just mad expansionists. Napoleon already felt too old for all this in 1812 OTL. The weakening of Ottoman power in the Balkans (extremely wobbly at that point anyway, what with the powers of local warlords) can only possibly lead to an increase in Russian influence there, which France has no particular interest in and will avoid if at all possible (the French agreed to Russian designs southward at Tilsit and then did everything they could to thwart them anyway).

Of course, in my scenario no French invasion means that the Russians can carry on the war longer. I imagine they'll want everything it took them until the rematch in 1828 to acquire OTL (the dismantlement of the last Ottoman fortifications on the northern Black Sea shore, the evacuation of the bridgeheads north of the Danube, a border adjustment giving Russia key points on the frontier of Anatolia and the Caucasus, a stake in Serbia, the right to occupy the Romanian principalities pretty much whenever they wanted), at the very least; but assuming they don't go any further, this need no change the situation too drastically.

France is now interested mainly in the status-quo. They don't want to endanger their colonies (Caribbean sugar-islands still had huge disproportionate value at the time, speaking of which this scenario is unlikley to mean good news for Haiti :() and trade by fighting Britain again, and any chaos in Europe is openings for Britain. But they also have to avoid any unnecessary alienation of other European powers

I think that without the choking CoSys restrictions on Russian trade, the DoW can be stomached. If there's no 1809 war, the Russians have less cause for suspicion (there was a sort of feeling of "two down, one to go" after the Poles retook New Galicia). Poland is a handy casus-belli that will go down well with the political public in Russia, but they don't need to go after it for its own sake.

Austria, I think will get used to appeasement. They have a deferred ace up their sleaves in the guise of Napoleon II. They may figure (and quite possibly correctly) that if France grows to trust them, they can become partners in the French control of Germany and France's enforcer in the Balkans.

So France wants to juggle the need to appease Russia to prevent them from allying with Britain, and to limit their power and influence in case they do. Really, though, it's in the interests of both Britain and Russia to start co-operating. French domination of Europe puts the Straits in the shade as the principal threat to Britain; and Russia needn't put all its eggs in one basket.

I'd imagine France making it clear that hands aught to be kept off the Ottomans after the Russians complete their campaign against them, and then trying to keep everything the same as much as possible. The status-quo will probably last about as long as Napoleon I; ie about as long as it takes for Greece to go off, presenting an opportunity for Anglo-Russian meddling.
 
Would Greece go off if he crowned himself Caesar in Constantinople?

I don't believe Napoleon had any interest, practical or sentimental, in Megalism. As I said, any and all destabilisation of the Ottoman Balkans is an opportunity for Russia to extend her influence (as everyone could see from the example of Serbia) and Napoleon, who displayed a wierd Islamophilia in Egypt, had no reason to attack the Ottomans rather than propping them up (which he basically did OTL: there were French (well, Italian in French service) engineers hellping keep us out of Constantinople.

And if attitudes for some reason changed later, he might find Russia and Britain willing to back up the Ottomans.
 
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