1838:
Russia, along with Austria, Prussia, Saxony and a few other minor German states, issues a communiqué saying that order must be restored in France and that the thrones of France and Spain cannot be united. Mobilization of armies begins. By March, a large Russian army with allied German contingents is assembling east of the Elbe, while a similarly-sized Austrian force is preparing to move into northern Italy.
Many Reformists, alarmed at the specter of a Russian invasion, pledge their support to Henri in the name of national unity, though they also call on the king to respect the rights of the people and, in due time, institute the so-called “1836 Reforms” that King Louis called for before he died (or was killed, depending on who you believe).
For the time being, Henri makes a show of forgiving the rebels, aside from those who hold out in La Rochelle and Brest. The streets of the cities become much quieter, even in the Free Areas of Paris, as everyone focuses on the Russian threat. Far from further disuniting the French, the action of the Russians has largely united them.
French armies are assembled and Spanish forces are brought into France to reinforce them (rather to the displeasure of many French civilians, who have to feed and shelter them during their transit). Soon, a Holy Alliance army of 125,000 has moved into central Germany just west of the Elbe, facing a Russo-German army of 150,000.
The initial battle takes place on August 3, near Leipzig as the Russian forces cross to the western bank of the Elbe. Uncertain of the loyalty of their men and with French and Spanish soldiers distrusting one another, the Holy Alliance army is uncoordinated and the result is a resounding Russian victory; both sides lost about 20,000 men. Russian armies are now firmly on the western side of the Elbe River and prepare to drive westwards. The Holy Alliance army, meanwhile, retreats to the west bank of the Saale River and attempts to recover from their defeat.
In northern Italy, a Holy Alliance army of 75,000 (mostly French but containing many Papal and Neapolitan troops) engages an Austrian of roughly equal size near Milan. The French win, driving the Austrians into retreat. However, a massive citizen uprising in Genoa, the main supply center for the Holy Alliance, causes huge logistical problems and delays pursuit. 10,000 men are required to put the rebellion down and many Genoese are massacred.
In India, prompted by Russian demands and promises of support, the power Sikh army, numbering 50,000 men, invades French-allied Hindu and Muslim states which border their realm. A French army of 25,000 men, reinforced by Indian allies, moves up to engage them. In an encounter which shocks the French even more than the defeat at Leipzig, the Sikhs are victories at the Battle of Aliwal, killing 1,500 French troops and about the same number of Indian allies, although the Sikhs suffered 5,000 losses themselves. In particular, the effective Sikh artillery proves deadly to the French.
The French navy provides some comfort to King Henri, as its squadrons move into the Baltic Sea and raid Russian towns along the Baltic coast (although the immensely strong defenses of St. Petersburg prevent any raid on the Russian capital). Similarly, in the Adriatic Sea, raids are launched against Austrian targets.
Diplomatic activity is fervent as each side tries to gain allies or keep potentially hostile nations neutral. The Netherlands, no longer an effective military power and entirely under the thumb of the French, was ignored. The French attempted to convince the Turks to join in the war, promising them territorial gains at the expense of Russia and Austria when the war was finished. But the Turks were fearful of Russian and Austrian power, uncertain of their own military potential and far from convinced that the Holy Alliance would win the war.
The British, of course, were the main prize. Russia and Austria tried hard to convince the British to join in the war, while the French were just as determined to keep them neutral. Having no concern with colonial matters, the Russian and Austrians promised the British, in effect, the entire French colonial empire at the conclusion of the war. The British rightfully saw the possibility that they could be given control of millions of French subjects as utter nonsense. Hey also saw that any war between them and the Holy Alliance would be fought primarily at sea, where the French had a much larger fleet and Russia and Austria would be unable to provide assistance.
The French were more realistic, promising critical trade concessions and some minor border adjustments in favor of the Dominion of America (which would have effected Indian tribes but few French colonists). Furthermore, the French promised not to interfere in the Irish question. The British decided to bide their time and await events.
In October, the German campaign saw another fierce battle at Weimer. This time, the Holy Alliance fought the Russian army to a stalemate and inflicted heavier losses than they received. While only a nominal victory, the battle prevented the Russians from advancing further westward. The Russians retired to the east bank of the Saale and campaigning halted for the winter.
1839:
The anti-Henri Reformists in La Rochelle and Brest, promised amnesty by the King, surrender. They had lost the support of the citizenry once the war began, as most found it absurd that Frenchmen should be fighting Frenchmen when the French army was fighting for its life in Germany. Shortly afterwards, Henri goes back on his word and has the ringleaders arrested and guillotined. The military units which had defended the two cities are sent to fight in Germany, where Henri orders them place in the most exposed positions and to be used as spearheads for suicidal attacks.
Throughout France and Spain, Henri orders a full-scale mobilization, unpredicted in European history. The industrial power of France is geared to the production of war materials and the numbers of troops which are called to the colors is staggering. Through the press, now firmly under his control, anti-Russian and anti-Hapsburg propaganda is spread continually, distracting the people from the constitutional questions regarding his rule.
At Russian instigation, Prussia and Saxony sign a treaty creating the German Confederation, with a common military structure. Several smaller German states allied with the Russians are also made a part of this confederation. Czar Paul II takes the title “Protector of the German Confederation.”
In Italy, the difficult terrain results in few decisive battles, although losses are heavy. The French navy has imposed a tight blockade on its enemies, cutting them off from their main sources of imports (particularly British) and severely hampering their economies.
In India, French forces win a decisive battle against the Sikhs, thus restoring their reputation. But the Sikhs continue to fight hard against the French, tying up large numbers of troops which are badly needed in Europe. In addition, detachments of Russian artillery have begun arriving and are serving with the Sikhs.
Unexpectedly, Russian armies moving to the German front found themselves under attack from guerrillas in Poland. With French support, a group of Paris-based Polish nationalists had armed and trained themselves before making their way back to their homeland to begin an uprising against Russian rule. The Polish Front for National Liberation called for an independent Poland to be allied to the Holy Alliance.
The main theater continues to be Germany, where the fighting is heavy and the losses high. From March to July, there were several fierce engagements, but neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage. Finally, on August 7, the Russians defeated the French at Halberstadt, forcing the Holy Alliance army to retreat once again. During the retreat, the commanding French general was killed by Cossack raiders.
At this point, a French corps commander took command named Andre Epstein took command of the French army. Wanting to maintain the army on the east bank of the Rhine and so protect French soil from invasion, he halts the retreat at Frankfurt and prepares for another battle. At the same time, reinforcements from France and Spain are arriving in large numbers, although they are rather disorganized.
Using the newly-arrived levees as a defensive line, Epstein forms the bulk of his veteran units into a strike force and moves them to a position southeast of the French defensive position. As the Russian army reaches the main line and deploys for battle, he intends to attack their left flank.
On October 1, the Battle of Frankfurt takes place. It goes precisely as Epstein intended and the left flank of the Russo-German army is shattered. Within hours, the entire enemy army is retreating eastwards in disarray. King Henri immediately makes General Epstein a Marshal of France.
Throughout the fall, under winter conditions bring campaigning to a halt, Epstein advances eastward, driving the defeated and confused Russo-German forces before him. Many of the civilians, having been badly treated by the Russians during the occupation of the countryside, greet the Franco-Spanish troops as liberators.
1839:
As the war continues, King Henri continues to consolidate power in France. Reformist politicians who had opposed his coronation are rounded up quietly and either exiled or executed. With public opinion focused entirely on the war and the press completely under his control, few people notice what is happening. Gradually, every government position is filled with his supporters. He makes an effort to appoint only qualified people, but the first an foremost requirement is absolute loyalty to him.
Marshal Epstein, wit his forces now outnumbering the Russo-German army, launches a springtime offensive. The fighting is fierce and the losses heavy, but gradually the Franco-Spanish troops push their enemies back across the Elbe. Epstein now hopes to launch a campaign to capture Berlin in the fall.
On the Italian front, an Austrian attempt to capture Venice fails. Heavy fighting across the northern Italian plain slowly drives the Austrians back, with both sides suffering heavy losses. The Franco-Italian army plans a renewed drive for the coming spring into Austria towards Vienna itself, hoping to join forces with the right flank of Holy Alliance armies coming down the Danube from Germany.
In Poland, guerrilla fighting continues, as well as urban terrorism in Warsaw, Krakow and other cities. Russian soldiers badly needed at the front are tied down attempting to suppress the rebellion.
In the summer, Sweden declares war on Russia, hoping to regain its territory in Finland.
In India, the Sikhs sue for peace after suffering another tactical defeat at the hands of the French. The treaty is merely a status quo ante bellum, as the French do not have the resources to launch an offensive into Sikh territory itself. Both sides see this as a mere truce.
A French frigate hunting Russian commerce in the Sea of Japan is damaged in a storm and shipwrecked on Japan. The xenophobic Japanese massacre the entire crew, side from a few who manage to escape in a lifeboat and, in an epic crossing, reach th Korean peninsula. The French ignore the Japanese for the time being, but plan on dealing with them when the time is right.
The British and the Dominion of America watch from the sidelines, satisfied that their decision to remain neutral was correct.
1840:
The situation of the Russo-Austrian alliance is becoming desperate. Because of the levee en masse King Henri has called for in France and Spain, the armies of the Holy Alliance now outnumbered them strongly. In Germany, the Franco-Spanish force numbered roughly 250,000, while the Russians and their German allies had barely 175,000 men to oppose them. On the Italian front, the Franco-Italian army numbered 125,000, with only 75,000 Austrians opposing them.
To make matters worse, the French blockade was strangling the economies of Russia and Austria. Denied access to imported goods or access to markets for their exports, their currency reserves were nearly exhausted and their ability to finance the war almost gone.
Czar Paul II hoped that one decisive battle might turn his luck around and intended to keep the field for at least one more campaign season.
King Henri, his position in France now secure, ordered his generals to use their massive forces in simultaneous offensives in both theaters. Despite heavy losses, the Holy Alliance troops ground forward, with the Russian and Austrian troops unable to stop them. On July 17, French and Italian troops entered Vienna and the Austrian Empire sued for peace.
In Germany, Berlin fell to the French in early August, knocking Prussia out of the war. A final battle with the outnumbered Russians took place at Posen. Aided by Polish guerrillas, the Franco-Spanish army under Epstein decisively defeated the Russian forces, whose morale was now at the breaking point.
In St. Petersburg, court intrigue now took hold. A conspiracy of nobles assassinated Czar Paul II and replaced him with his pliable young brother Constantine. Immediately, a cease-fire took effect.
King Henri had emerged victorious both domestically and abroad. The day the cease-fire went into effect, by royal decree, he announced the fusion of France and Spain into a single kingdom, Franco-Iberia, with himself as its king. He also called for representatives from all European nations to come to Munich, in southern Germany, for a conference “to settle the affairs of the Continent.”
1841:
At the Council of Munich, King Henri dominated the proceedings. Little was negotiated but much was dictated.
To the surprise of many, King Henri decreed that the so-called German Confederation be maintained, with the King of Franco-Iberia replacing the Russian Czar as “Protector.” Franco-Iberia would have control over the Confederation’s foreign policy and would be allowed to call upon the Confederation for troops when needed. The Holy Roman Empire, long simply a legal fiction, is officially abolished.
Poland became an independent state under its own king. King Albert IV, from the House of Saxe-Coburg (the nearest relation to the House of Wettin) is proclaimed king. The kingdom’s independence shall be guaranteed by Franco-Iberia.
Russia is forced to cede Finland back to Sweden.
The Kingdom of Italy is formed out of the northern Italian states and the Kingdom of Naples. King Ferdinand III, the Bourbon King of Naples, is proclaimed King of Italy, with his capital still in Naples. The Papal States remain the Pope’s territory, with the French garrison in Rome to ensure his safety and the security of his realm. Much Austrian territory in the Alps is turned over to the Kingdom of Italy as well.
The Republic of Venice remains independent, still a member of the Holy Alliance. Most Austrian islands in the Adriatic are turned over to Venice.
Franco-Iberia provides for generous trade concessions to Great Britain but reneges on its promise of border adjustments for the Dominion of America.
The delegates are stunned at the complete overturn of the European system, but all sign the agreement. Russia is particularly bitter over the lose of Finland and Poland. The Austrians are in despair at ever being even a second-rate power again. The Germans and Italians are happy at achieving the dream of unification, but uncertain at the overweening power of their French master.
The Reformists in France are either dead, exiled, imprisoned or in hiding. While French patriots, they cannot but look on the victory of Henri over Russia and Austria with gloom. Their reactionary king having achieved such great power, their dreams for French society seem to have been utterly destroyed.
