hey, all. one of the things im working towards in my ATL is that Napoleonic France wins the wars against Britain and has
de facto control over much of Europe for a time before eventually shrinking down to a slightly beefed-up version of OTL France.
anyway, i'm trying to figure out how i can make this the most plausible. here's a run down of what i have so far for it, but keep in mind that this is a work in progress and just about everything is subject to change:
- the French Revolution goes as it did IOTL: Robespierre rises and falls, Napoleon I replaces him and names himself Emperor of the French
- the Napoleonic Wars are mostly the same as IOTL, but there are some changes that ive determined thus far to make it a bit better for France: for one, Napoleon convinces the Mamelukes to join forces with him to defeat the Ottomans and British. there may need to be other events in the first part of the wars which make France lose only slightly
- perhaps more importantly than getting help from Egypt, Napoleon calls off invading Russia, instead deciding to deal with threats closer to home (namely Britain and the Germans)
- after Napoleon is deposed and sent into exile at Elba, Britain tightens its grip over Europe; perhaps Napoleon's actions have stirred revolutionary fever in other parts of the continent. all in all, this causes Britain to lose some of its support
- when Napoleon returns, he uses what Britain has done against it to garner more support for himself. consequently, Britain and Prussia have fewer allies while Napoleon has more when it comes to the Battle of Waterloo and Wellington and Blucher are killed in the battle
- at the same time as Napoleon's return, infantry warfare breaks out between Britain and the United States in Canada, so the British have to divert some soldiers to defend their colonies. as a result, they are not at full strength in EITHER war and lose both of them
- after Napoleon wins at Waterloo, he turns his attention to the British across the channel, the Germans next door, and the Russians on the horizon, who are still threats to France. in particular, the Russians are still pretty much at full strength, having not been fighting Napoleon before. France tries to invade Britain, occasionally making landfall but never taking any beachheads, and holds back the Germans in occupied territory for years until Napoleon's death, which is officially attributed to cancer but rumored to be the work of assassins, at the same date as IOTL
- when Napoleon I dies, the "Channel Wars" essentially end in an armistice while Napoleon II decides to focus on conquering the Germans; at this time, France has alot of its old imperial territory on the continent, Italy is an ally, and Austria is on speaking terms with France. perhaps they have also undergone a revolution, but more peacefully than France did (ie, their royalty is still around, but no longer influential)
- after the Germans are conquered (though not necessarily annexed; they may just become puppet states, except maybe for a fully conquered Prussia), France turns its attention more towards Russia and they essentially go into a cold war, with some brief skirmishes but never going into full-blown war until 1894 when a treaty is signed to end hostilities between the two nations
- as a result of France's domination (and possibly annexation) of the Low Countries and German states, colonies belonging to those countries declare independence and hold loyalty to their original royal houses instead of to France (think of it like the OTL commonwealth being independent but still loyal to the crown). these include the Dutch East Indies and Boer republics. other colonies may become French or even Austrian or Italian colonies while some OTL colonies that appeared later are butterflied away or into the control of different countries
i seem to have lost my train of thought; hopefully, ill get it back on track soon, but in the meantime, i would
really appreciate getting some help on this
im gonna need to do some more reading on the napoleonic wars, but this is the gist of what im going for with this. and remember, everything about this is all subject to change, as im still working on trying to make it as plausible as possible