God is a Frenchman - a Timeline (Seven Yrs War POD)

1838 -- The First Italian Campaign (Part 2)
1838: The War of French Succession -- The First Italian Campaign (Part 2)

The years-long occupation of Genoa by French troops creates a deeply embittered populace, particularly among the youth. With the young leaders of the nationalist Recovery jailed in the Tower of Grimaldi, the underground press foments the dissatisfaction among the population in the face of French and Neapolitan soldiers roughly asserting themselves on the populace. When thousands of ill Spanish soldiers arrive in June, 1838, consume more of the city’s resources, and firmly establish Genoa as a logistical hub for the Alliance, disgruntled Genoese youth begin to antagonize the occupiers raising tensions in the city. On the night of July 13, a group of boys begin verbally harassing a pair of French sentinels at a ferry dock. An altercation develops in which a Genoese boy is struck with the butt of a guard’s musket, leading to the guard being shoved into the water by the others. The second guard, enraged by the insolence lunges with his bayonet at the boys, piercing 17-year old Domenico Garibaldi, leading to his death.

Garibaldi had been the third son of a prominent merchant family known for their Genoan nationalism and distaste for the domineering French presence. His death shocks the city and mobs swiftly form, demanding retribution against the soldier involved. Jurist and writer Carlo Mazzini, an intellectual leader among the city’s sovereign nationalists, fans the flames of protest rapidly producing anonymous pamphlets denouncing the Holy Alliance as “the chains binding our rightful sovereignty to the domination of France, just as a slave is bound to his master.” Mazzini also writes to sympathetic contacts in the government in Turin, knowing the elites of Savoy-Sardinia likewise resent the Bourbon domination of their surrounding states.

On 6 June, an encampment of Alliance soldiers, mostly recovering Spanish troops, comes to flame in what becomes a great conflagration and kills over eighty. The French commandant overseeing Genoa, Colonel Nicolas de Neufville, blames the fire on arson and calls for French reserves in Turin to storm Genoa and help restore order. By 24 July, uprisings against small local garrisons are reported all across the Ligurian coast. In Genoa itself French-issued arms mysteriously begin appearing in the hands of Genoese rebels. A major confrontation takes place on 27 July at the Battle of Grimaldi Tower in which well-armed rioters confront the guards at the prison. Six men are killed in a shoot-out before the rebels storm the tower and release a number of political prisoners, including Cesare Cybo Malaspina the figural leader of the sovereign nationalist movement.

Learning of the chaos in Genoa on 23 July, Marshal Breme flies into a rage from his headquarters outside Verona. “How can I progress against the menace before us when our rear tears into our backs?” He reportedly yells to his aides-de-camp. Breme insists that reserve elements in Turin can handle the rebellion in Genoa and continues planning a forward attack against Schrattenbach’s regrouped Austrian forces near the valley community of Rovolon. On 29 July, the Battle of Rovalon is raging and Breme is preparing to commit his reserves to deliver the retreating Austrians a crushing blow when a dispatcher appears in his command post. The nationalist uprising has spread to Turin and reinforcements are requested to aid in the pacification of the mobs. Snarling, Breme orders his reserves to commit to their assault, but Schrattenbach’s formations are successfully disengaging and conducting an orderly retreat into the high ground to the southeast. No longer able to trust his supply lines through Turin, Breme leaves several corps in Verona and Milan to hold against the Austrians while he disembarks with nearly 30,000 troops back towards Turin and Genoa, furious at leaving his mission to liberate Venice incomplete.

Breme orders 12,000 troops to Turin and proceeds himself to Genoa. The Alliance forces who arrive at Turin swiftly pacify the city as armed rebels melt into the countryside and the troops are welcomed by the Savoyard officials. In Genoa however, the administration under Col. Neufville controls less than half of the city, while the countryside lacks any order. At the town of Toirano, nestled in the foothills of western Genoa, Malaspina and Mazzini lead a number of other Genoan nationalist in declaring the Sovereign Republic of Liguria, independent of all nations and unbeholden to any imposed international dictums such as the Holy Alliance. While the prospects for this attempted government seem slim, the news of the declaration is quickly spread and inspires a number of smaller risings in Florence, Milan, and even in Nice. More significantly the Alliance plans for an easy victory against Austria in the Po Valley are dashed by the Genoan Uprising, as troops intended to be fighting Schrattenbach are bogged down in police actions in the Piemonte.

The Austrians take full advantage of the Alliance difficulties. Verona changes hands again on 26 August with little resistance from the Alliance forces, which opt to retreat towards Milan. On 3 September, after a swift advance into Parmesan Lombardy, Schrattenbach defeats an Alliance force at the Battle of Gambara and occupies Cremona by the 5th, threatening to cut the road between Parma and Milan as well as blocking overland reinforcements from Naples. This sets up a race to control the key Po crossing at Piacenza. Breme is unable to muster the numbers he needs to hold off the overwhelming Austrian force at the Battle of Piacenza. On 12 September Schrattenbach drives the Alliance west of the town after a long artillery duel. The Austrian control of this key crossroads forces the Alliance to consider temporarily abandoning Milan until the situation in Genoa can be brought under control, an unthinkable proposition at the start of campaigning.

As Austrian troops enter a somber Milan in mid-September, Breme is recalled to Paris and Marshal Charles de Paladines, his most senior corps commander assumes responsibility for the Alliance efforts in Italy. Austria is eager to consolidate its gains and wary of overstretching supply lines through partisan-active areas. Schrattenbach is satisfied with his progress and sets up his headquarters in Verona. Major actions in the first Italian campaign conclude in late-September, 1838, with a stunning victory for the Coalition. News in France reports on the bungled campaign in a variety of ways. Most conservative and mainstream publications squarely blame the "radical revolutionaries" in Genoa. Various military publications target Marshal Breme, invariably blaming both his "smug certitude" and also his "timid distractibility." One radical French nationalist paper, Vive la France!, blames the "lackluster Spanish mobilization" for slowing down the offensive and giving the Austrians an advantage. King Henri is upset by the news but not overly concerned. "Our alliance is a juggernaut," he says to his Cabinet. "Once we build our momentum we will not be stopped. Certainly not by the likes of a fading empire and a backwards Eastern facsimile of our own grandeur."

Marshal Paladines continued Breme’s efforts to stabilize Genoa and the Piedmont as well as deter the Austrians from any attempts to press further west before winter. There are several cavalry skirmishes near Novara and Pavia through the autumn as both sides probe defenses. Schrattenbach’s infantry forces focus on garrisoning and securing supply lines to Trent and Weiden in Friaul. By mid-November the City of Genoa is back under control and on 2 December Royale troops land at Loano in an operation to secure the so-called Ligurian Republic government in Toirano. Though several collaborators are arrested, Mazzini, Malaspina and other leaders successfully flee the town into the hills and are smuggled to Sardinia on Giuseppe Garibaldi’s merchantman Amore per Nizza.

Alliance naval forces provide an important victory before the conclusion of 1838. French and Spanish reinforcements rendezvous with the Neapolitan fleet at Taranto and make their way into the Adriatic. On 14 December they engage the Austrian Navy at the Battle of Kamenjak. Modernized steam-assisted ships allow many Alliance vessels to maneuver against the wind and the Austrians are routed. As the Austrians retreat to Triest, the Alliance cruises to the City of Venice and liberates the island, landing a regiment of Royale troops on 22 December. Although Austria continues to control the mainland, freeing the city and controlling the seas provides a major propaganda coup for France in the New Year.
 
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I hope the hory alliance wins, go henry
Could any other nations join the conflict ?

At the start of the war neutral nations in Europe include:
  • The UK
  • Portugal
  • The Netherlands
  • Hanover
  • Denmark
  • Sweden
  • The Swiss Confederation
  • The Ottomans
The Rhenish Confederation and the Papal States are nominally neutral, but are clearly assisting the Alliance with logistics.

Bavaria-Franconia are also nominally neutral, but on the Coalition side.
 
At the start of the war neutral nations in Europe include:
  • The UK
  • Portugal
  • The Netherlands
  • Hanover
  • Denmark
  • Sweden
  • The Swiss Confederation
  • The Ottomans
The Rhenish Confederation and the Papal States are nominally neutral, but are clearly assisting the Alliance with logistics.

Bavaria-Franconia are also nominally neutral, but on the Coalition side.
Portugal is a strong catholic cowntry , maybe they can join . also the ottomans could play a part .
 
1838 -- The First German Campaign (Part 1)
1838: The War of French Succession -- The First German Campaign (Part 1)

In Germany, the French make a show of using the new railway from Paris to Cologne to transport troops out of France in late-May, 1838. In Frankfurt the corps of troops that entered Cologne by rail rendezvous with others from across France, over 100,000 men in all. Despite the officially neutral status of the Rheinbund, the French are greeted with celebrations in many cities and towns and in Frankfurt a vast parade ground is prepared by the Grand Duke of Hessia. King Henri himself travels to Frankfurt, escorted into the city by his honor guard and riding a white stallion alongside the Bundeskanzler of the Confederation, Alexander von Sternberg-Mandersheid, and Marshal Maupeou, who is in overall command of the German campaign. Henri’s personal inspection of the troops ensures high morale as they prepare to embark into Saxony. In particular, the visit from the King helps to blunt the bad news coming from the Italian front. The pomp of the expedition also swells the ranks of Rhinelanders who sign up for the Deutsche Korps, and the unit is nearly 25,000 strong by the time they march out of Frankfurt on 14 June.

Meanwhile the Coalition forces muster outside Berlin. By mid-May, three Austrian corps have arrived from Prague and Breslau, joining two Prussian corps and three Saxon brigades. The Saxons have left the bulk of their forces in their territory, guarding against a French invasion from Hessian territory. Philipp Johann von Schwarzenberg and Friedrich Georg von Hacke are in overall command of the Austrian and Prussians respectively, while the Saxons will be led by their king himself, Maximilian I. Based on prior negotiations, the supreme commander of the Coalition in the campaign will be Russian general Alexander Nikolayevich Dobrovolsky, but apart from several brigades of Cossack cavalry and Polish infantry, the Russians are slow to arrive. After three weeks of waiting they receive word from Maximilian that the French are on the move in the Rhineland. Schwarzenberg is impatient and wants to lead the Coalition forces into Saxony without Dobrovolsky and let the Russians catch up, but Hacke refuses to leave Prussia without the main Russian army, which will make up nearly 100,000 men. Saxony will begin the campaign facing the French alone.

On 1 July the French army of over a hundred thousand men encounters 70,000 Saxon troops outside the town of Eisenach. At the Battle of Eisenach, Saxon artillery is skillfully placed by Ludwig Karl von Aster and savages the leading French formations. But a genius flanking maneuver utilizing the natural terrain by French cavalry under Brigadier Alexandre Lepic neutralizes the Saxon left artillery emplacements long enough for a French breakthrough that forces Maximilian to pull back his army to the north to avoid encirclement. The Saxons fall back through the valleys in the Hainich Forest, which hinders French cavalry harassment and enables them to regroup at Mühlhausen. Maupeou decides against chasing Maximilian and has the French army advance east towards Erfurt. Between 4-6 July several skirmishes with militias at Gotha marginally slow their progress. The largest of these is the Battle of Gamstädt, where the local militia have the support of a brigade of Saxon cavalry. The French march through Erfurt on 8 July with no organized resistance. Maupeou reports back to Paris about his easy progress into Saxony, and his anticipations for more difficult battles to come, noting that the three biggest belligerent armies in the Coalition have thus far not made themselves known.

The same day the French clash with King Maximilian at Eisenach the Russian army begins to arrive at Berlin. General Alexander Nikolayevich Dobrovolsky parades into the Coalition encampment with almost absurd grandeur. The conservatism of the Russian army is on full display for the more modernized Austrian and Prussian forces, which were reformed and rebuilt over the decades. Going over war plans, Schwarzenberg begins to question the wisdom of allowing the Russian commander to assume overall command; afterall the Austrians have familiarity fighting against France, while the Russians haven’t stepped foot east of Poland since the Six Years War. He privately notes that, while their troops are numerous, the Russian order of battle is inefficient and its officers inadequate to modern field command. Russian artillery is poorly incorporated into infantry support and is highly immobile relative to its allies in the Coalition. "This manner of order may be adequate on the eastern steppes, but I fear for its preparedness for the fields of Europe," he writes to Schrattenbach, his counterpart in Italy. Schwarzenberg endeavors to incorporate adjustments to Dobrovolsky’s plans to handicap the perceived Russian mobility problems. The massive Coalition army leaves their Berlin camp on 5 July and makes for Leipzig, where Coalition commanders have determined they will halt the French advance…
 
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1838 -- The First German Campaign (Part 2) The Battle of Leipzig
1838: The War of French Succession -- The First German Campaign (Part 2) The Battle of Leipzig

As the French move northwest from Erfurt cavalry scouting reports the clearing of towns with residents moving east towards Leipzig. Maupeou correctly interprets the local evacuations as a sign that he will be fighting a great battle at the largest Saxon city. Maximilian’s retreating army also heads for Leipzig, marching through the crossroads of Sangerhausen on 10 July. Roving French cavalry units encounter the Saxon rear and they skirmish at the limited Battle of Sangerhausen, but the main French force is still nearly 15 kilometers behind them and Maximilian’s army is able to rendezvous with the Coalition army at Leipzig on 13 July. Marshal Maupeou is less than a day behind the Saxon army and he halts his forward progress east of Schkeuditz north of the Elster River to give his men respite and send scouts around Leipzig to note the condition and location of the enemy.

The Coalition sets up camp in the village at Gohlis just north of the city. Dobrovolsky set up his command in the city-owned Gohliser Schlösschen, a rococo-style manor with ample room for the Coalition’s general officers. After several hours of reviewing maps and strategies, the Russian commander insists on hosting a lavish meal for all the officers of brigade-commander rank and higher. While many of the generals favor such treatment, there is notable discomfort among their number. Schwarzenberg notably leaves the meal early as it drags into the evening, writing that he hopes “the amount of pure vodka imbibed at that table this night will clear any hidden uncertainties in the minds of these men. Foggy heads will surely ruin us against such a foe as Maupeou.”

The French Marshal is also aware of the fight ahead of him. Maupeou has had little sleep when he rises on 14 July and upon seeing the vistas of rolling green dells blanketed in morning fog he remarks, “it is a tragedy of man to sully these lively fields with such bloody work.” The French commander has frequently waxed poetic about the greenery of Europe since his return from a four year stint commanding French forces in Algiers. Maupeou is anxious to begin the engagement, feeling the pressure to demonstrate French battlefield prowess after twenty-years of peace between the powers of Europe. He dispatches Lepic’s cavalry brigade to scout ahead with orders to engage any Coalition forces “if practicable” and call for reinforcements.

Lepic’s chasseurs encounter a regiment of Austrian Hussars and give chase to Lindenthal, a village northwest of the city, where a pitched dismounted firefight ensues. By the afternoon both sides have called for infantry reinforcements, the first elements of which arrive in the 1400 hour. As the bulks of each army decamps by the evening a line takes shape from Leutzch in the west to Wiederitzch in the north. While little infantry fighting occurs the first day, with corps commanders testing each other’s strength, by nightfall it was clear that the Battle of Leipzig had begun in earnest.

On the second day of fighting the two armies clash all along the Coalition’s defensive lines wrapping around Leipzig from west to north. The Coalition has the larger force but the French are more cohesive, being mostly from one organizational force. Schwarzenberg has ensured that the bulk of Austrian troops are held in reserve to plug anticipated gaps in Russian lines. The Russian corps are a combination of inexperienced recruits, conscripts and a number of units with experience in central Asia. While ferocious, this so-called Army of the Steppes is unaccustomed to large-scale field action.

One Russian corps commander underestimates his opponent on the southern line and preemptively charges on the French, leading to the breaking of the line when the French corps facing them shatters them with infantry and artillery fire. The ill-advised charge leads to a French breakthrough at the Frankfurter Fields by Marshal Paul Frederic Duval’s corps, but the advance is halted by fresh Austrian troops under Ewald Paul von Hauser. Likewise, there is a breakthrough by Ludwig Adolf von Bar’s Deutsche Korps on the north end of the line with the Rhinelanders pushing Prussian troops back to Mockau that is ultimately blocked and swept back to the north by Coalition reinforcements. Bar is forced to fall back to avoid encirclement. At the conclusion of the second day, the Coalition’s center has held, while the Alliance left near Wiederitzch has wavered and the Coalition left is at serious risk of collapse having been pushed out of Leutzch.

Overnight both sides reinforce the southern line and Dobrovolsky is certain that the position can be salvaged, discounting the Prussian Hacke’s argument to extend the line with reserves to preclude any flanking encirclement. Schwarzenberg personally is quite pleased with himself for his management of reinforcements and moves two divisions to reinforce the Coalition center between Wahren and Lindenthal. For the French, Maupeou plans a strong drive at the center to break through and cut the Coalition lines in half. He vetoes a plan by Marshal Duval to attempt to flank the Coalition to the South, owing to marshier ground and certain reinforcement.

On Day 3 the French nearly break through at Lindenthal but face intense holding actions from Schwarzenberg’s well-positioned reserves. Meanwhile on the southern line Russian formations break interfering with the movements of the Saxon rear guard. Sensing an opportunity, the French corps under Marshal Duval breaks formation in the south to chase crumbling Russian left towards Connewitz. This move allows elements of the Saxon reserve corps under Albrecht von Gräfe to maneuver into position on the Frankfurter Fields and move towards Leutzch, cutting off Duval’s formations from the Alliance. Schwarzenberg directs Hauser’s battered but well-formed corps to move on Connewitz and destroy Duval’s now-isolated troops.

To the north, a Prussian corps under Ernst Georg Kurtius savages Bar’s Deutsche Korps, collapsing their position when his artillery is successfully moved to a small hill to the northeast. This breakthrough proves to be decisive as the Prussians are able to curl back the French lines and create an unsustainable “kink” in the line that ruins its integrity by early-afternoon. As French reserves are rushed to the northern flank, Schwarzenberg is able to punch through the center, leading nearly all Alliance corps to fall back. Maupeou, fearing a rout, signals his corps commanders to disengage and withdraw and regroup at Halle. Two northern Alliance corps are detained by the Coalition encirclement, with only a few companies able to break free and rejoin the French columns. Duval’s corps, mostly unaware, is also left behind, dangerously isolated near Connewitz.

Dobrovolsky is ecstatic at the French collapse and wants to move in pursuit for a knockout blow at Halle. Schwarzenberg protests, backed up by Hacke that the Coalition needs to take stock of their captives and deal with Duval’s forces before moving the army. The Russian is adamant and insists that the Russian units move on Maupeou while his Coalition partners consolidate their positions in Leipzig. “This is precisely the type of fight a Russian warrior lives for! I will not deprive him!” Dobrovolsky is reported to exclaim. His German counterparts cede to his wishes, with Prussian, Austrian, and Saxon forces remaining to clean up in Leipzig. The Rhinelanders and French in the north undertake an orderly surrender. Meanwhile, Duval and his corps hunker down in Connewitz and force the Coalition to siege the village. He doesn’t surrender until 18 July, two days after Maupeou’s retreat to Halle, and only then insists on being received by Schwartzburg personally. The three days at Leipzig cost over 24,000 casualties across both armies and nearly 30,000 Alliance men captured.

Dobrovosky’s march to Halle proves to be an unproductive endeavor. While his pursuit does convince Maupeau to withdraw further, rather than regroup for a second attempt at Leipzig, French rear and cavalry units savage the Russian vanguard, already exhausted from days of fighting. The Battle of Halle successfully screens the French retreat from Leipzig, ensuring that their army will be able to rest and regroup. On 20 July Maupeou musters his army to march southwest from Halle to Weimar, which he finds more suitable ground for an active defense, abandoning the idea of capturing Leipzig in the current campaign. The Coalition dispatches Cossacks to harass the French on their way, prompting several grueling cavalry fights near Weißenfels and Droyßig, but the French successfully reach Weimar by 27 July, where they strategize a defense that will hopefully set up further offensives in the future.

The Coalition finally moves on Weimar, reaching the French position on 4 August. Maupeou has two additional fresh corps from France at his disposal, while the Coalition also has reinforcements from Prussia. The Battle of Weimar lasts for a week, as Maupeou conducts an active defense shifting the French position at night and surprising the Coalition with new lines in the morning. Though exhausting for his soldiers, the tactic works at frustrating the coalition and bleeding their forces considerably until Dobrovolsky countenances ending the engagement. Dubbed “Maupeou’s Revenge” in the French papers, the “seven days at Weimar” severely reduce the Coalition’s capabilities to advance without significant reinforcements.

News of the defeat at Leipzig is not welcome in France. Coupled with worsening news from the Italian front, the war is seeming to shape into an embarrassment for the ambitious Franco-Spanish King. While Weimar softens the blow, expectations had been high to capture Leipzig and hold it until an advance on Prussia could be mounted. Henri begins discussing higher mobilization with his cabinet–a levee en masse–to ensure that the French are prepared for battle on multiple fronts. Despite his disappointment with the 1838 campaign, Henri has faith in his ultimate victory. He starts to pressure the Rhineland to officially enter the war and contribute their armies to the effort. He also makes plans for a sweeping blockade of the Baltic and Adriatic to cut off the Coalition from maritime trade. Despite an early end to campaigning, both sides are bloodied. Tensions within Coalition command are heightened after the loss at Weimar, and both sides are eager to reinforce, reassess, and strategize for the next major thrust.
 
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