New France after 1803

Hi all,

I'm working on a timeline with a POD circa 1800 wherein Louisiana remains a French possession past 1803. Obviously, a French Louisiana would curtail westward expansion and dramatically alter the course of the 19th century and offers a lot of interesting ATL possibilities...

But my immediate question is: If Leclerc's expedition were successful in Saint-Domingue, would that be enough to keep Napoleon's colonial aspirations alive? Or do I need to engineer a peace between France & Britain to give France time to reassert French control?
 
The British would force the French by the time of Napoleon's defeat to either hand it back to Spain, or take it themselves and sell it to the American's (which they had intended to do for some time, at least in regards to New Orleans). Saint Domingue I can see remaining in French hands, but not Louisiana.
 
The British would force the French by the time of Napoleon's defeat to either hand it back to Spain, or take it themselves and sell it to the American's (which they had intended to do for some time, at least in regards to New Orleans). Saint Domingue I can see remaining in French hands, but not Louisiana.

Britain intended to sell a captured Louisiana? Fascinating. Is there a source?
 
The British would force the French by the time of Napoleon's defeat ....

But at this point, Napoleon's ultimate defeat is not a foregone conclusion. If the peace following the Treaties of Luneville and Amiens could be extended, France might have time to secure its hold in the new world. Or if Napoleon concentrated his expansionist tendencies in the western hemisphere, mightn't the uneasy peace in Europe continue?
 
Britain intended to sell a captured Louisiana? Fascinating. Is there a source?

Somebody else asked me that, and I forgot to jot it down. :eek:

I'll try and get it tomorrow. Something about relations between the United States and British North America.
 
But at this point, Napoleon's ultimate defeat is not a foregone conclusion. If the peace following the Treaties of Luneville and Amiens could be extended, France might have time to secure its hold in the new world. Or if Napoleon concentrated his expansionist tendencies in the western hemisphere, mightn't the uneasy peace in Europe continue?
Napoleon's aspirations were always largely directed towards Europe, and any Empire he sought to create in the America's would be cut off by the British Navy should conflict arise. In Europe he at least doesn't have to worry about the Navy, outside as a minor economic annoyance, whereas it can effectively destroy any ambitions he has in the New World when it sees fit to do so.

Now, Napoleon could try and match the British Navy, but that would involve moving resources from the Army which sorely needed them to maintain his Empire.

Unless he defeats the United Kingdom, he can't effectively expand his power in the America's, at least as he envisioned.
 
So if I'm to have my persistent New France, Napoleon needs to actually carry out and succeed at his (in OTL aborted) invasion of Britain? Hastings Part Deux: The Sequel...

But he'd have to dent Britain's naval dominance before he could do that. So how about this: let's give Trafalgar to the Franco-Spanish fleet. This allows a victorious Villeneuve to join up with Ganteaume (as Napoleon had intended) and support a invasion of England. Napoleon is able to force Britain to capitulate, and British colonial aspirations are curtailed allowing the French colonies thrive.
 
Alright, I came across information that made me give this a second look.

The lynchpin is Florida; initially, with Louisiana, the Floridas were to be transferred to France by Spain, which was considered necessary to the defense of Louisiana. The moment Spain refused to sell the territory killed most designs that Napoleon had in place. It would also help for a peace to be reached earlier, which comes to my second point.

While the expedition sent to Haiti managed to reach the Caribbean, the one destined for Louisiana was iced-in in Holland, and ultimately was never deployed. If the treaty is signed earlier, the deployments would likely be made earlier, and in time to beat the freeze. I am not sure what the purpose of the proposed garrison in Louisiana and Florida was beyond protection, but suffice to say, knowing Napoleon, there were ulterior motives in place. Possibly one of them might have been reclaiming territory Spain had desired lying from West Florida to the Tennessee River.

Third, you must, absolutely MUST, pacify Saint-Dominique; while Florida serves as the military lynchpin of Napoleon's plans, Saint-Dominique serves as the economic lynchpin. Now, there are various ways to do this, but if there was some way to mitigate the devastation caused by the Yellow Fever, that might prove enough for a time.

From then on, it depends on the strength of the French Royal Navy in the coming years.
 
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