Is this idea plausible?

The idea is that Napoleon, after realising (as he presumably did fairly quickly) that the Great Powers were determined to overthrow him, decides to depose their monarchs and replace them with his puppets when he gets the opportunity.

In OTL, Napoleon did not depose the Hapsburgs, the Romanovs, or the Hohenzollerns. Could taking the extra effort to do so have kept his empire alive?
 
Napoleon offered the crown of Hungary to Prince Esterhazy who turned him down out of loyalty to the Habsburgs

The problem you have, with the Habsburgs and Romanovs at least, is that you can only depose their monarchs from their territories by absolutely defeating them and conquering their territory

Maybe something would have been possible with the Hohenzollerns ?

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Taking the extra effort to do so would have just made more enemies. If he had attempted this in Austria (after Austerlitz?), the Hapsburgs would have fled to Hungary and declared war to regain Austria.

It may have worked in Prussia after Jena-Auerstedt, but the Hohenzollerns still would have been in Memel, claiming their lost land.

Was Napoleon ever in a position to do this in Russia?

But in any case, this would have resulted in a Fifth Coalition that also included Hohenzollern Prussia, and also Hungary. Would Napoleon have been strong enough to resist this?
 
a- What about after Wagram?
b- After Jena-Auderstat, to what extent would the Tsar resist or try to prevent the deposal of the King of Prussia?
c- I agree that Napoleon was never in a posistion to do this to the Romanovs.

EDIT: Didn't notice Grey Wolf's post.

What about Napoleon getting some other canidate for the throne of Hugnary? At the minimim, he could have tried to create, say, inter-Hapsburg conflict by trying to create seperate kingdoms from other branches of the previous ruling dynasty and hope the desire for power allows him to keep the branches on side.
 
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I wonder if he could simply partition Prussia. Pack the Hohenzerellens to Prussia itself, give Brandenburg to a marshal, and Silesia to the Austrians.

Austria might be harder, but IMO in the Fifth Coalition it could be done, assuming he hasn't bogged down in Spain...
 
I think Esterhazy was basically viceroy in Hungary for the Habsburgs, so was probably the only choice who might have got the support of the nobles, etc, without whom you would be a king but not rule

Napoleon did of course give all of Tyrol to Bavaria, which was a big change in the make-up of central Europe, and shifted Austria Eastwards

If Esterhazy had been willing, maybe there would NOT have been much Austria left

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
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