King Theodore's Corsica
- Thread starter Carp
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Following Corsica's royal George Washington would be hard enough, but it looks like Federico's caught between two peaks.
He's like the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock of Corsican monarchs
It is fun to see him attempting to follow the Prussian model of building his reputation by (trying to) conquer new territory, even though he knows how badly it ended for Old Fritz.
All right, for fun, here's my outline of a maximalist Corsican Empire where pretty much everything goes right for them:
- Corsica proper, including a liberated Bonifacio
- Capraia
- Pianosa (part of the dowry of the Prince of Piombino's eldest daughter to the Prince of Corti)
- Montecristo (claimed by Corsica, in dispute for a ludicrously long period of time considering it's a desolate rock)
- Elba and Piombino proper (inherited by the eldest daughter of the Prince of Piombino, personal union with Corsica until their son inherits everything)
- Tabarka (handed over by Britain in an "Ionian Islands" situation, eventually becomes the Ceuta or Melilla of Tunisia)
- and the Maddalena Islands (presumably Sardinia allows Corsica clear title to them as payment for something else - troops, perhaps?)
Don't worry too much about it. I wrote that rule 4 years ago (wow, how time flies) when the TL was brand new and I was worried that any thread about Corsica would immediately go down a rabbit hole of Napoleon-chat. After 133 pages and nearly 150 updates, I'm not too concerned about that anymore.
That said, I don't really want to get too deep into a "meta" discussion about handling historical butterflies. We've had a few of those in this thread already, and it's not really possible to resolve because it comes down to literary taste. My preference, generally speaking, is to say that people born post-POD are not OTL's people (although they might sometimes be very similar). Even if I fudged that rule for Napoleon, however, there's still the matter that the events of this TL make it extremely unlikely that his parents would ever wed. Giovan Ramolino, Napoleon's maternal grandfather, was a loyal Genoese army officer who was probably evacuated from Ajaccio ITTL, years before his OTL daughter was born (and indeed, even before his OTL marriage). I haven't explicitly said so - I don't think I've mentioned the Ramolinos at all ITTL - but it seems very likely they are living in Genoa now, and marrying into the Corsican noble family of Buonaparte would not even occur to them (or to the Buonapartes, for that matter).
I understand exactly how difficult that makes my task - which is why, since the very beginning, I have said that I will probably end the TL sometime in the late 18th century. Constructing an alternate 1790s without Napoleon (and without a lot of other important historical people, for that matter) is not something I am eager to take on. I have occasionally detoured into European alt-history ITTL (the "Schleswig War" of the 1760s, for instance), and that can be a fun sideshow from our Corsican story, but there's only so far I'm willing to go in that direction.
Oh, and some unrelated news: The Corsican town of Mela, which Theodore stopped at briefly during his 1736 reign, recently had a commemorative Theodoran mural painted.
Looks a bit familiar! Not sure why they made the field of the Neuhoff coat of arms red, though. That's a new one to me...
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I really like this list, it's useful for reference, interesting and quite refreshing because normally when this thread talks about possible territorial growth for Corsica it's Corsica unifying Italy or getting involved in the scramble for Africa or at least uniting with Sardinia.He's like the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock of Corsican monarchs
It is fun to see him attempting to follow the Prussian model of building his reputation by (trying to) conquer new territory, even though he knows how badly it ended for Old Fritz.
All right, for fun, here's my outline of a maximalist Corsican Empire where pretty much everything goes right for them:
It'll be interesting to see how much of this territory ends up Corsican in the end, or if they make gains which are later reversed (easy to see Piombino proper fall to an Italian nationalist movement, for example).
- Corsica proper, including a liberated Bonifacio
- Capraia
- Pianosa (part of the dowry of the Prince of Piombino's eldest daughter to the Prince of Corti)
- Montecristo (claimed by Corsica, in dispute for a ludicrously long period of time considering it's a desolate rock)
- Elba and Piombino proper (inherited by the eldest daughter of the Prince of Piombino, personal union with Corsica until their son inherits everything)
- Tabarka (handed over by Britain in an "Ionian Islands" situation, eventually becomes the Ceuta or Melilla of Tunisia)
- and the Maddalena Islands (presumably Sardinia allows Corsica clear title to them as payment for something else - troops, perhaps?)
Whereas your maximalist Corsican Empire is basically Corsica plus a bunch of barely inhabited rocks nearby. Enjoy the small scale of it.
If Federico wants fighting ships on the cheap there might be a solution: In Ottoman Greece, the Orlov Revolt has just been quenched. Young Greek privateer Lambros Katsonis is left without a job. There might be an opportunity for him not to settle in Crimea, but to be given an opportunity to combat Barbary corsairs, something at which he was excellent. But from where Federico could find ships? The Ottomans have just destroyed the island of Spetses, an island famous for its naval tradition. Most of the surviving locals found refuge in the Peloponnese and returned after the war. If given an opportunity, I could see a couple of armed brigs escaping west to Corsica. In addition to this, there might be Maniots escaping west, as the revolution failed and the Peloponnese is being plundered. Maniots would fit rather nicely in Corsica: organized in clans, warlike and with blood feuds. They were also notorious pirates, usually operating galliots.
But how could Federico pay for Spetsiot armed brigs and armed golettas ? Well, I don't think he has to. These were armed merchantmen, used in peacetime for trade and their crews had extensive experience fighting Barbary corsairs. Moreover, a number of men had experience from the Ottoman Navy as they were regularly drafted to it. Their owners are merchants that pay for the ship in peacetime. I think if they found shelter and protection under Corsican flag, they could become the naval equivalent of militia.
There was also a connection between Corsica and Greek merchants: Livorno - the main port-of-call of greek merchantmen in west Mediterranean.
But how could Federico pay for Spetsiot armed brigs and armed golettas ? Well, I don't think he has to. These were armed merchantmen, used in peacetime for trade and their crews had extensive experience fighting Barbary corsairs. Moreover, a number of men had experience from the Ottoman Navy as they were regularly drafted to it. Their owners are merchants that pay for the ship in peacetime. I think if they found shelter and protection under Corsican flag, they could become the naval equivalent of militia.
There was also a connection between Corsica and Greek merchants: Livorno - the main port-of-call of greek merchantmen in west Mediterranean.
To be fair, Pianosa and Montecristo are not that helpful for Corsican nation-building. They don't have much in the way of resources, and are relatively difficult to reach. For example, Pianosa had a prison for most of the XIX and XX centuries, and Montecristo had a monastery, and as you point out was more or less a desolate rock. The Romans had some agriculture and quarrying on the islands, but it was mostly to support the villas on other, more comfortable islands.
They could be useful for prestige, and to claim control of sea routes and fishing grounds. They could be sold for cash.
Another possibility could be the dowry including a revenue from the Elban iron mines. This gives the Corsican royal house cash to invest and build infrastructure, and frees them a little from begging the Assembly for extra money.
Editing to add: could King Federico think of the islands as a place to settle non-Catholic immigrants, such as Greeks or Jews?
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Yeah. It would not be a good idea, but it might be one that occurs to someone - such as King Fred.
Pianosa used to be cultivated in Roman times; Wikipedia says "intensively cultivated", but let's take it with a grain of salt, so maybe there's space for a small community. But it's going to be a restrictive environment. Edited to add: Montecristo is the "desolate rock", Pianosa is larger and possibly more fertile.
I appreciate this TL as sort of an ode to little nations. Being a great power is overrated.
The issue is, Corsica does not have very good relations with it's own Greek community. A large chunk of it is in the town currently still in Genoan hands for a reason. It is likely that these Greek shipwrights and seamen are aware of this and in all probability will choose a place where they are more welcomed by the populace, even if king Federico would want them.
British Minorca is where greeks and jews often moved otl, they were 500 strong when the island was retaken by the spanish and they were deported. Jews will probably go to corsica instead in ttl but I imagine the greeks will still go to minorca. The british actively encouraged them moving there for the same reasons the genoans did in corsica originally.
Thank you! As others have already said, a Corsica which "acquires" Italy or even Sardinia really isn't Corsica anymore. Even inheriting smaller principalities on the peninsula through the female line like Piombino would really only be useful to be traded away for more desired (and easily-defended) insular territories, or ceded in peace negotiations after the territory is inevitably overrun by France/Spain/Naples/Austria/Sardinia/Italy in exchange for not having to grant economic or military privileges.
IOTL Antonio, born just one year before the POD, lived until 1805 and had two sons who lived to adulthood, according to Italian Wikipedia anyway.
I'm wondering if you can actually see Corsica from all of its insular colonies (excepting Tabarka, of course). Elba's western coast looks just far enough away from preliminary glimpses on Google Street View that the mountains of Capo Corso cannot be seen there, but Elba and Pianosa are probably visible atop the mountains given the height advantage. Montecristo is definitely too far away, which feels more apt for a disputed territory.
It's already been mentioned more than once by our illustrious author that Capraia's primary economic benefit to Corsica is its fisheries, so I'm sure that'll be true for Pianosa as well. Given that the island is uninhabited, I think the King of Corsica may attempt a deliberate colonization mission, creating a myth about how the hated "Saracens" exterminated the "proud Corsican defenders" from the island and that the Corsican nation-state is now reclaiming it. I'm not sure the 16th-century inhabitants of the island would have identified as "Corsican" even if they understood what being "Corsican" meant, but why let that get in the way of a revanchist myth? Just put a few shepherds or goatherds on the island (as has already been done in the Maddelenas), along with fishermen of course, and they won't even need to grow crops. If Pianosa is a success they might attempt the same with Montecristo later on.
You can indeed see Montecristo from Corsica, so I assume the reverse is also true. There's not much photography from Montecristo, though.
The only island you're missing from the list is Gorgona, the northernmost isle of the Tuscan Archipelago. It was also uninhabited in Theodore's time, but was owned by the Carthusians of Pisa until Grand Duke Leopold bought it in 1771 (IOTL) and settled some fishermen there. Gorgona is more habitable than Montecristo, and its acquisition might be a boon to the Capraiesi as it is located in a major anchovy fishery.
Well, I can see a scenario where Letizia Ramolino can meet Carlo Buonaparte. Carlo could be a Corsican ambassador in Genoa (because soon or later you will need to normalize relationships) and there he could meet Letizia, the daughter of an important family,
Fearless Leader
Donor
Carp, really interesting updates! Sorry for always harping about the Jews, but IMO that aspect has the biggest potential impact. Does Federico conscript Jews into the Corsican Provincial Infantry/Militia or do they pay an additional tax like the rest of Europe? If it's the former that would be yet another major step towards integration which would send shockwaves through Europe...though at this point, the continued existence of Theodore's Corsica has probably jumpstarted and altered the entire Jewish Enlightenment beyond recognition.
The Corsican Jews do not enjoy any special exemption from service. That said, the nature of their settlement makes it somewhat unlikely that they will actively serve at the national level (at least, at this moment).
Technically all able-bodied, military-age male citizens (who are not otherwise exempt, i.e. soldiers and clergy) are part of the general militia, Jewish or otherwise, but in practice the Corsican government has never attempted to enforce the militia regulations in the presidi. This is for a variety of reasons, but one of them is that the presidi already have their own militia: The "presidial dragoons" of the provincial lieutenants and the civic militia companies (compagnie urbane) administered at the local level. Because virtually all of Corsica's Jews live in the cities - and most of those in Ajaccio - their membership in the general militia is purely theoretical.
Jews could conceivably be drafted into the provincial infantry, but that seems unlikely. Provincial service is determined at the pieve or village level, and local leaders are likely to select their clansmen, allies, and clients (particularly younger sons and poorer members of the community). In Ajaccio, the likely targets of provincial service are going to be the urban poor and local peasants. Even if the local leaders were willing to "elect" a Jewish volunteer, I'm not sure there would be many interested Jews - provincial service takes you away from your community and your trade, it doesn't pay very well, and the Jews have no experience with military service.
The most likely avenue for Jewish military service at the moment is probably the Ajaccio compagnia urbana. The urban militia is a bit "higher class" than the provincial infantry, and their duties are more restricted (they don't have to leave the city). All you need to join is the permission of the anziani, or city elders. The anziani might be a little reluctant to do this, but the Jews of Ajaccio are probably numerous and influential enough at this point to compel the council to give them at least some militia appointments, and they might actively seek to do just that: Aside from wanting the prestige of being part of the civic militia (as I understand it, not something most Jews in Europe were able to do at this time), there is probably some value to having armed and uniformed Jews on hand in case there is civil unrest that targets the Jewish community.
Of course, Jews could always join the regular forces too. The army is fairly small and turns a lot of people away, but the navy is always desperate for recruits and is already a very multiethnic organization (fewer than half of "Corsican" sailors are actually Corsicans). Evidently there were at least a few Jewish seamen in the Royal Navy at this time, so a handful in the Corsican Navy is not out of the question.
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