Free Corsica: A TL without Napoleon

I've been working on this idea for a while. It's still kind of rough, so please bear with me.

Genoa has no choice but to sell Corsica to the French. However, Corsica does not go quietly. TTL, Britain intervenes on Corsica's behalf. The British public is highly in favour of this action, but Britain does not stand alone. Sardinia and Spain are also keen to support the Coriscans.
The Junius letters allege that France would have backed down if Britain showed firm opposition; I think this is correct. Faced with British intervention in Corisca, they withdraw, humiliated.
This has the effect of butterflying away Napoleon. He never joins the French military, instead remaining in Corsica.

Britain OTL lost a lot of international standing for failing to intervene in Corsica. This is believed to have negatively impacted efforts to secure an alliance with Russia. TTL, this effort thus succeeds; by 1770 Britain has successfully negotiated an alliance with the Russian Empire.

I see the Revolutionary war as ending roughly the same way it did OTL. The French Revolution, however, will turn out quite differently. The same goes for the War of 1812...
 
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Timeline: 1768-1800

1768: France invades the Corsican Republic. Strong Corsican resistance is encountered across the island. The Coriscans receive arms from Britain, Spain and Sardinia.
1769: A British expedition is sent to Corisca, defeating a major French army and prompting a French withdrawal. The island nation's independence is recognized, and it allies itself closely with Britain and Sardinia.

1770
: A dispute over ownership of the Falkland isles begins. Spain and France nearly go to war with England, the eventual victor of the crisis. The French King, having refused to defend France against British aggression twice in two years, is highly unpopular with the army.
1772: Lord North rises to power in the English government.
1775: The War of American Independence erupts with the Battle of Lexington. France and Spain begin supporting George Washington's Continental Army with gunpowder.
1776: A failed invasion of Quebec loses the Americans the support of the British public. Although the year started poorly for the Americans, with the Continental army nearly disbanding, the tables turn at the Battle of Trenton.
1777: British forces emerge victorious in Saratoga and Philadelphia. However, the tide soon begins to turn against the British. The French, fearing what appeared to be imminent rebel defeat, entered the war formally. Soon thereafter, Spain follows.
1778: Beginning of the Siege of Gibraltar. The French navy also begins to achieve success in the Caribbean.
1779: The British begin to withdraw forces from the North to reinforces their positions in the Caribbean, achieving many victories but failing to drive the French and Spanish from the Caribbean and failing to definitively defeat the Continental Army.

1780
: The Dutch Republic formally enters the war. The British, faced with a potential joint invasion of England, are forced to the bargaining table. The British are forced to grant independence to the 13 colonies, but fail to surrender all territory beyond the Appalachians. The Dutch gained virtually nothing through this treaty, Frances gains were much less than her expenses fighting the war, and Spain's hold on newly gained territories would prove short lived.
1785: Members of the Western Confederacy, in retaliation against American attacks on their villages during their War of Independence, had led attacks on illegal American settlers beyond the Appalachians for five years. Responding to settlers demands of protection, George Washington leads his army into a standoff with the natives. The skirmishes along the border only help drive the natives closer together.
1787: Tensions in the Northwest erupt into all-out war. The Americans are generally defeated. The war prompts the natives to create a formal governing body; representatives from each village meet annually to attempt to solve inter-village disputes and protect their territorial integrity against American aggression.
1789: Tensions in Paris erupt, beginning the French Revolution. France quickly becomes a constitutional monarchy, with the king stripped of almost all of his power and feudalism abolished. Many French nobles have been forced to flee by armed peasantry and urge surrounding countries to support them in counter-revolution; surrounding countries are increasingly fearful of spreading liberalism.

1791: Vermont officially joins the province of Quebec after negotiations with Britain.
1792: With radicals in France urging the spread of the revolution and counter-revolutionaries encouraging invasion of France abroad, war between France and Austria breaks out. Belgium is occupied by the end of the year, as are Savoy and Nice.
1793: The Dutch Republic is drawn into the war on the Austrian side as rumors of French atrocities in Belgium mount. Spain and Portugal also enter the war. The French declare war against Britain soon thereafter. Although pushed out of Belgium, the French policy of internal repression and conscription leaves them in an unexpectedly strong position. The King is executed, and France becomes a Republic.
1794: A revolt in Ireland, backed by the Americans and the French, begins to see moderate success. A French invasion of the Spanish Caribbean is vastly successful, with Hispaniola conquered within the year.
1795: The Irish Revolt is finally crushed. French forces take the Netherlands, establishing a puppet Batavian Republic. Spain exits the war, as does Prussia, which secretly negotiates with France to cede the Rhineland.
1796: The French are bested by joint Corsican-Sardinia forces under the joint command of Napoleon Bonepart, blocking a plan to seize Vienna via the Italian Peninsula. British and Portugese forces, with assistance from a large Russian contigent, land in the Batavian republic, and it is liberated by the end of the year.
1797: France is finally beaten into submission through Coalition invasion of Flanders. Peace is established between Portugal, Britain and France. Belgium and parts of Flanders are incorporated into the Dutch Republic, reformed into a monarchy under William Frederick of Orange-Nassau, as a result of the peace.
1798: Peace is established between Austria and the French Republic. The Austrians are extremely resentful of being deprived of Belgium and abandoned by their allies.
 
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Timeline of 1801-1820

1801: Austria, furious over how its supposed allies treated it in the wake of the French invasion, begins a period of consolidation. Numerous small states are forced into closer relations with Austria, similar to the situation of Bavaria in the German Empire OTL.
1803: Prussia declares itself no longer a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria's failure to prevent this leads to the breakup of the larger HRE.
1804: Saxony becomes a nominally independent but de-facto vassal of Austria in exchange for absorbing many of its smaller neighbors.
1806: The Anglo-Russian Alliance collapses over the Polish Question.
1810: Britain and diplomatically isolated Prussia sign an alliance against Russian or Austrian aggression.

1812: Angered by continuing British support of natives blocking American expansion, the United States declares war on the British Empire and initiates an invasion of Canada.
1813: The British response to the invasion of Canada, which had seen little progress, arrives in North America. Washington DC is captured and burned. The American capital is relocated to Philadelphia.
1815: Bavaria resigns itself to a similar position to Saxony within Austria.
1816: After 3 years of American guerrilla warfare and stiffled trade, the British and Americans sign a peace treaty. One notable casualty of the war is Andrew Jackson.
1820: An agreement between Prussia, Hanover and the Netherlands is signed, establishing a north German alliance.
 
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<Raises Hand>

Um, There is no German Confederation. At this point it's still The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
 
Timeline of 1801-1820

1801: Austria, furious over how its supposed allies treated it in the wake of the French invasion, begins a period of consolidation. Numerous small states are forced into closer relations with Austria, similar to the situation of Bavaria in the German Empire OTL.
1803: Prussia declares itself no longer a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria's failure to prevent this leads to the breakup of the larger HRE.
1804: Saxony becomes a nominally independent but de-facto vassal of Austria in exchange for absorbing many of its smaller neighbors.
1806: The Anglo-Russian Alliance collapses over the Polish Question.
1810: Britain and diplomatically isolated Prussia sign an alliance against Russian or Austrian aggression.

1812: Angered by continuing British support of natives blocking American expansion, the United States declares war on the British Empire and initiates an invasion of Canada.
1813: The British response to the invasion of Canada, which had seen little progress, arrives in North America. Washington DC is captured and burned. The American capital is relocated to Philadelphia.
1815: Bavaria resigns itself to a similar position to Saxony within Austria.
1816: After 3 years of American guerrilla warfare and stiffled trade, the British and Americans sign a peace treaty. One notable casualty of the war is Andrew Jackson.
1820: An agreement between Prussia, Hanover and the Netherlands is signed, establishing a north German alliance.

Technically all of Prussia was never part of the HRE - only Brandenburg and other German holdings. Which is why the Elector of Brandenburg became King of Prussia
 
Yeeeah you haven't given us the reason why Napoleon doesn't exist or why there isn't someone like Napoleon (which is something I've seen in a few TL's). The TL is great buuut uh why doesn't Napoleon exist. Handwavium?
 
Yeeeah you haven't given us the reason why Napoleon doesn't exist or why there isn't someone like Napoleon (which is something I've seen in a few TL's). The TL is great buuut uh why doesn't Napoleon exist. Handwavium?

Napoleon was Corsican. If France does not own Corsica then he can't become a French general or leader.
 
Napoleon was Corsican. If France does not own Corsica then he can't become a French general or leader.

Uhh doesn't mean he doesn't exist or that others won't fill the shoes he doesn't fill. France had a lot of verrrry talented generals at this point in its history. All that the current pod has done, is ensure that Napoleon is not french, that's it. He's lost one national label and acquired another.
 
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