Napoleon invade America

Mrstrategy

Banned
It's kind of asb but could napoleon invade the USA if he had a big navy and the British and other countries did not get in the way(neutral)
 
The British would never allow Napoleon to develop such a navy. That and the problem that the USA was the only 'ally' Napoleon had outside of Europe.

- BNC
 
Why would he invade the USA? It as likely as him going there and running for president and winning.
 
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Years back, there was a discussion of WI Napoleon had worked with Touissant Louverture, keeping (a free) Haiti, and by extension Louisiana, as part of the French Empire. The idea of the U.S. later joining another anti-French coalition was raised, and we got the spectre of a Haitian army making its way to the nation to join with rebellious slaves and native nations.

Not saying there aren't challenges with making this happen -- for example, the Peace of Amiens would have to last longer, allowing at least some kind of French navy to be built in the Caribbean. But, as far as plausible if unlikely points go, I think the rule of cool gives at least some leeway on this.
 
Years back, there was a discussion of WI Napoleon had worked with Touissant Louverture, keeping (a free) Haiti, and by extension Louisiana, as part of the French Empire. The idea of the U.S. later joining another anti-French coalition was raised, and we got the spectre of a Haitian army making its way to the nation to join with rebellious slaves and native nations.

Not saying there aren't challenges with making this happen -- for example, the Peace of Amiens would have to last longer, allowing at least some kind of French navy to be built in the Caribbean. But, as far as plausible if unlikely points go, I think the rule of cool gives at least some leeway on this.
Rebellious slaves and natives nations are not realistically going to win the war, even with Haitian or French support, more so if the US join a coalition, a big problem is also how do you even organize such a thing, as far as I know the South was very paranoid over slave rebellions and in any case the Natives are not that strong to be able to just invade the Eastern coastal cities and also they would be hard for the French to contact and convince to join.
 
Rebellious slaves and natives nations are not realistically going to win the war, even with Haitian or French support, more so if the US join a coalition, a big problem is also how do you even organize such a thing, as far as I know the South was very paranoid over slave rebellions and in any case the Natives are not that strong to be able to just invade the Eastern coastal cities and also they would be hard for the French to contact and convince to join.
Well I never said they'd be successful, did I? However, the sheer pants s**ting panic of the U.S. is fun to imagine, in a grim dystopian way:
 
Years back, there was a discussion of WI Napoleon had worked with Touissant Louverture, keeping (a free) Haiti, and by extension Louisiana, as part of the French Empire. The idea of the U.S. later joining another anti-French coalition was raised, and we got the spectre of a Haitian army making its way to the nation to join with rebellious slaves and native nations.

Not saying there aren't challenges with making this happen -- for example, the Peace of Amiens would have to last longer, allowing at least some kind of French navy to be built in the Caribbean. But, as far as plausible if unlikely points go, I think the rule of cool gives at least some leeway on this.

Thing is, Louisiana was populated with refugees from Haiti/Saint Domingue, white planters coming with their slaves. If Napoléon worked with Louverture, the planters (who had already made deals with the British during the war) would certainly seek the protection of a more "comprehensive" state, ie allowing slavery. Napoléon would not go to war to re-annex Louisiana if the local élites, the Spanish local administration (still in place) and the US make a deal to annex Louisiana. More probably, he will seek a financial compensation, as he did OTL when he saw his inability to use Louisiana.

I think the needed conditions for an attack (both Haiti and Louisiana in french hands, British navy out of the game for diplomatical or military reasons) links to PoDs so radically divergents it can not be expected. Working an alliance/protectorate with Louverture and seriously harass the British in the Caribbean is a more reasonable scenario, IMO.
 
What about Spanish Louisiana? If things with Spain go as OTL, I can see the French thinking of it as low hanging fruit, and set an army to the continent that way. How things go from there...
 
The best scenario I've encountered is have Napoleon flee to French Louisiana, and exploit divisions within the US and the central government's relations with territorial Tennessee/Kentucky to either get those states to join Louisiana or otherwise get a flow of settlers to Louisiana. How much territorial leaders in the West would care to acknowledge Napoleon as their emperor, I don't know--you'd have to really make the US disfunctional for that happen no doubt, but let's say the US is a bit worse off for this scenario to work.

So I suppose with this you could have Napoleon defeat US attempts to reclaim the trans-Appalachian lands and establish an independent Empire of Louisiana. Followed by a trans-Appalachian campaign (aimed at maybe Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania) to break the back of the United States from interfering for years to come. Not very plausible, I know, but it's an intriguing concept.
 
The best scenario I've encountered is have Napoleon flee to French Louisiana, and exploit divisions within the US and the central government's relations with territorial Tennessee/Kentucky to either get those states to join Louisiana or otherwise get a flow of settlers to Louisiana. How much territorial leaders in the West would care to acknowledge Napoleon as their emperor, I don't know--you'd have to really make the US disfunctional for that happen no doubt, but let's say the US is a bit worse off for this scenario to work.

So I suppose with this you could have Napoleon defeat US attempts to reclaim the trans-Appalachian lands and establish an independent Empire of Louisiana. Followed by a trans-Appalachian campaign (aimed at maybe Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania) to break the back of the United States from interfering for years to come. Not very plausible, I know, but it's an intriguing concept.

Louisiana was under French control only in 1800-1803, and even in these times, the cession being secret, the Spaniards kept control locally. Why would Napoléon go there ?
 
There is a bar/ restaurant in New Orleans that is supposedly the house that Napoleon's supporters there set aside for him to live if he came there.

Or do you mean Napoleon III?
 
There is a bar/ restaurant in New Orleans that is supposedly the house that Napoleon's supporters there set aside for him to live if he came there.

Or do you mean Napoleon III?

No, I mean Napoleon himself. I admit the scenario is very farfetched however. But it makes more sense than any other Napoleonic campaign in the US.
 
It seems highly unlikely that Napoleon would have a great deal of interest in invading the USA while he had toy soldiers to play with in Europe, where his abilities could be put to some use.

Given that unpromising start, perhaps we need to think a bit laterally. Once he had been exiled to St Helena, he had been effectively taken out of play, and he's unlikely to be entirely happy with this. After all, given a rather more pleasant exile to Elba, he chose to have another crack.

So let's assume that he manages to get onto a ship while in St Helena, and by the time news that he has left the island has reached anyone who can do anything about it, the ship he's on is well into the middle of the Atlantic. By force of personality, he persuades the captain of the ship to take him to Brazil, and from here he makes his way to Mexico, arriving in 1817. In 1817, Mexico is in the middle of its war of independence from Spain, and at this time, the rebels were, not to put to fine a point on it, losing. Napoleon, however, sees the opportunity, takes a significant role, and leads the Mexicans to independence in 1819.

Because of his pivotal role in winning the Independence, and his reputation, Napoleon is made Head Honcho of Mexico.

Mexico is too small for a man of Napoleon's ambitions, and once the Mexican army has been reorganised and modernised, the next target is the USA.

And thus we get Napoleon invading the USA.

It might not be what you had in mind, but it's the best I can do while trying to retain some semblance of plausibility.
 

Mrstrategy

Banned
It seems highly unlikely that Napoleon would have a great deal of interest in invading the USA while he had toy soldiers to play with in Europe, where his abilities could be put to some use.

Given that unpromising start, perhaps we need to think a bit laterally. Once he had been exiled to St Helena, he had been effectively taken out of play, and he's unlikely to be entirely happy with this. After all, given a rather more pleasant exile to Elba, he chose to have another crack.

So let's assume that he manages to get onto a ship while in St Helena, and by the time news that he has left the island has reached anyone who can do anything about it, the ship he's on is well into the middle of the Atlantic. By force of personality, he persuades the captain of the ship to take him to Brazil, and from here he makes his way to Mexico, arriving in 1817. In 1817, Mexico is in the middle of its war of independence from Spain, and at this time, the rebels were, not to put to fine a point on it, losing. Napoleon, however, sees the opportunity, takes a significant role, and leads the Mexicans to independence in 1819.

Because of his pivotal role in winning the Independence, and his reputation, Napoleon is made Head Honcho of Mexico.

Mexico is too small for a man of Napoleon's ambitions, and once the Mexican army has been reorganised and modernised, the next target is the USA.

And thus we get Napoleon invading the USA.

It might not be what you had in mind, but it's the best I can do while trying to retain some semblance of plausibility.
Would some of napoleon officers come from France to support him?
 
Would some of napoleon officers come from France to support him?

There are some who theorise that Marshall Ney settled in America in 1819. It seems somewhat unlikely that this happened, but it would be nice to think that history could repeat itself, and Ney initially went to oppose Napoleon with US forces, then switched to supporting him, just as he did following Napoleon's return from exile from Elba.
 
It's kind of asb but could napoleon invade the USA if he had a big navy and the British and other countries did not get in the way(neutral)
What if he initiate a Southern Rebelion some 60 years earlier than OTL? Napoleon had been pro-slavery concerning his actions in Haiti.
 
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