Don Quijote
Banned
What if Tsar Alexander either joined the Continental System, or Napoleon didn't oppose Russo-British trade as long as Russia stayed neutral? Where does Napoleon turn to invade now, if anywhere?
What if Tsar Alexander either joined the Continental System, or Napoleon didn't oppose Russo-British trade as long as Russia stayed neutral? Where does Napoleon turn to invade now, if anywhere?
Tsar Alexander did join the continental system. The point is that he left the continental system and that France and Russia went on a collision course.
So if Napoleon had not gone against Russia, it is Russia that would have gone against France. Alexander was working on plans for a military attack, for some strategy that was quite similar to what Russia did in 1813 when Napoleon was defeated in Russia and then rolled back.
Napoleon is in a vastly better position as the British won't be controlling as much of Iberia
Knowing the British, as soon as Napoleon's back is turned they'll invade again, either reinvading Iberia or somewhere else in the Napoleonic Empire.
However I'm not sure that war with Russia was inevitable. I can see Napoleon compensating Russia for the loss of Poland by allowing them to take part of Sweden or the Balkans. I don't know if this is ASB but there might even be a second Egyptian campaign; France attacking the Ottamans from the south and Russia attacking from the north.
He goes to Spain to do what his marshals had failed to do: defeat Wellington.
If I remember reading Adam Zamoyski right the foul mood in Russia was due to more than just compensation.
Regarding the British, there is a limit to what every nation can endure. At some point the British public will have enough.
The British had been fighting France on and off since about 1688, and they were used to winning, even if it took a while.
The British had been fighting France on and off since about 1688, and they were used to winning, even if it took a while.
Napolen's Credibility would be damaged of he allowed Alexander to leave the Continental System just like that
It would lead to Prussia and Austria doing to the same and breaking it apart
The British (or rather, the English) had been fighting the French much earlier than that -since at least the time of the Hundred Years' War.
I do know that - but the period 1689-1815 is sometimes called the Second Hundred Years War. It includes King William's War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Seven Year's War, the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars - quite a list!
Knowing the British, as soon as Napoleon's back is turned they'll invade again, either reinvading Iberia or somewhere else in the Napoleonic Empire.
However I'm not sure that war with Russia was inevitable. I can see Napoleon compensating Russia for the loss of Poland by allowing them to take part of Sweden or the Balkans. I don't know if this is ASB but there might even be a second Egyptian campaign; France attacking the Ottamans from the south and Russia attacking from the north.