Pretty much this. Massena's the Co-Dictator, but because of the structure of the Duumvirate (the two dictators are the head of the government and the head of the military), the balance of power skews towards Fouche. This is especially true because Massena has spent the last few months doing recruitment and training, and so only really knows the strategic picture through other sources (i.e, Fouche). Also, at a glance, it seems like a really good plan, so the Generals are just kind of going along with it.
Omens on a Bad Wind: a Napoleonic TL.
Pretty much this. Massena's the Co-Dictator, but because of the structure of the Duumvirate (the two dictators are the head of the government and the head of the military), the balance of power skews towards Fouche. This is especially true because Massena has spent the last few months doing recruitment and training, and so only really knows the strategic picture through other sources (i.e, Fouche). Also, at a glance, it seems like a really good plan, so the Generals are just kind of going along with it.
Plus, nobody wants to express diagreement too loudly. That way lies being purged.
I didn't expect this turn of events. Clearly in France everyone is playing his own game, but whoever will win would rule over a nation in shambles. Well I guess this would be the real meaning and outcome of Severak's line about the end of the Revolutionary wars... Still would bring with her at least two powers.
(My bet is on HRE/Austria and Ottomans. And another about the fact the real winner in this would be Nappy - always if my guess over him in Levant would become reality)
(My bet is on HRE/Austria and Ottomans. And another about the fact the real winner in this would be Nappy - always if my guess over him in Levant would become reality)
Ch 2, Pt 8.
Part 8: Janiss-reactionary
Early Spring, 1800. Istanbul.
The effects of Fouche decision to go on the attack might have been much smaller, if not for the machinations going on at the same time at the far end of the Mediterranean. In the Sublime Porte, events not dissimilar to those occurring in Paris were turning a simple attempt at military reform into an increasingly a powder keg.
The Nizam-i Jedid (New Order in Ottoman Turkish) was the main cause of the problems. By all accounts, the modernized force had been one of the very few Ottoman formations that had managed to hold their own against the French, if not the only force that could match the invaders period. This came to the attention of the Sultan, Selim III, who had first began building the New Order with foreign aid in 1797.
Selim III had always wished to reform the Ottoman Army, and had begun experiments with European-style warfare as early as 1792. The utter failures of the Janissaries in the Egypt and Palestine campaigns had vindicated his views, and now the Sultan began to focus more and more resources to what had once been a meer pet project. Recruiting from the youths of Anatolia, armed and equipped in the European style and with an officer corps composed largely of foreign advisors, The Nizam-i Jedid soon began to resemble a modern army.
The Janissaries were not exactly fans of all of this. They had been the tip of the Ottoman Spear for centuries, and quite like the privileges that came with that, thank you very much. Now, this new Sultan seemed to be going out of his way to undermine them. That wouldn’t do.
They were joined in this line of thinking by some of the Derebeys, low-to-mid level feudal lords that had previously enjoyed high levels of autonomy and independence from the government in Istanbul, with those in the fringe territories of the Balkans being only nominally subject to the Sultan.
(The most notable of these was Osman Pazvantoğlu, whose pseudo-state stretched from along the southern bank of the Danube from the outskirts of Belgrade in the west nearly to the Black Sea in the east and spanned southwards as far as Sofia. He also printed his own currency and held diplomatic relations with other states independent of the Sultan)
Then along came Selim III’s reforms, including attempts at a more centralized government for the Empire. Pushing the Derebeys even further away from the Sultan was his favored method for funding the reforms: extracting heavy taxes from those that refused to honor their military obligations.
And now, with the creation of the Nizam-i Jedid in full swing, the taxes had increased even further. The New Order was being built up en masse, with thousands throughout Anatolia recruited into the new force. The Sultan had no confidence in the Janissaries to drive the French out of Palestine and into the sea, and when said Janissaries refused to work with the New Order Selim III had simply decided to ignore them and build up his New Order anyways.
This angered his opponents even further. They began to try to block the Sultan’s army building at every turn, working to weaken the New Order and preserve the current order. They did this by restricting recruiting, delaying weapons shipments and generally trying to strangle the New Order in its cradle. But the Sultan pressed on, and by early spring the Nizam-i Jedid had gone from a handful of experimental army corps to 15,000 trained troops, with thousands more on the way.
To say this went over badly with the Janissaries is a severe understatement. The Old Order was being torn down around them, and despite all their machination the New Order was continuing to increase in power. And so they began to plot. The Sultan was not blind to all of this, and soon begin seeking allies of his own. The mess that resulted would help to bring the Ottoman Empire to its knees.
Early Spring, 1800. Istanbul.
The effects of Fouche decision to go on the attack might have been much smaller, if not for the machinations going on at the same time at the far end of the Mediterranean. In the Sublime Porte, events not dissimilar to those occurring in Paris were turning a simple attempt at military reform into an increasingly a powder keg.
The Nizam-i Jedid (New Order in Ottoman Turkish) was the main cause of the problems. By all accounts, the modernized force had been one of the very few Ottoman formations that had managed to hold their own against the French, if not the only force that could match the invaders period. This came to the attention of the Sultan, Selim III, who had first began building the New Order with foreign aid in 1797.
Selim III had always wished to reform the Ottoman Army, and had begun experiments with European-style warfare as early as 1792. The utter failures of the Janissaries in the Egypt and Palestine campaigns had vindicated his views, and now the Sultan began to focus more and more resources to what had once been a meer pet project. Recruiting from the youths of Anatolia, armed and equipped in the European style and with an officer corps composed largely of foreign advisors, The Nizam-i Jedid soon began to resemble a modern army.
The Janissaries were not exactly fans of all of this. They had been the tip of the Ottoman Spear for centuries, and quite like the privileges that came with that, thank you very much. Now, this new Sultan seemed to be going out of his way to undermine them. That wouldn’t do.
They were joined in this line of thinking by some of the Derebeys, low-to-mid level feudal lords that had previously enjoyed high levels of autonomy and independence from the government in Istanbul, with those in the fringe territories of the Balkans being only nominally subject to the Sultan.
(The most notable of these was Osman Pazvantoğlu, whose pseudo-state stretched from along the southern bank of the Danube from the outskirts of Belgrade in the west nearly to the Black Sea in the east and spanned southwards as far as Sofia. He also printed his own currency and held diplomatic relations with other states independent of the Sultan)
Then along came Selim III’s reforms, including attempts at a more centralized government for the Empire. Pushing the Derebeys even further away from the Sultan was his favored method for funding the reforms: extracting heavy taxes from those that refused to honor their military obligations.
And now, with the creation of the Nizam-i Jedid in full swing, the taxes had increased even further. The New Order was being built up en masse, with thousands throughout Anatolia recruited into the new force. The Sultan had no confidence in the Janissaries to drive the French out of Palestine and into the sea, and when said Janissaries refused to work with the New Order Selim III had simply decided to ignore them and build up his New Order anyways.
This angered his opponents even further. They began to try to block the Sultan’s army building at every turn, working to weaken the New Order and preserve the current order. They did this by restricting recruiting, delaying weapons shipments and generally trying to strangle the New Order in its cradle. But the Sultan pressed on, and by early spring the Nizam-i Jedid had gone from a handful of experimental army corps to 15,000 trained troops, with thousands more on the way.
To say this went over badly with the Janissaries is a severe understatement. The Old Order was being torn down around them, and despite all their machination the New Order was continuing to increase in power. And so they began to plot. The Sultan was not blind to all of this, and soon begin seeking allies of his own. The mess that resulted would help to bring the Ottoman Empire to its knees.
Incoming clusterfuck?
What is it that makes it so hard to re-train the Janissaries in modern tactics anyways?
What is it that makes it so hard to re-train the Janissaries in modern tactics anyways?
Incoming clusterfuck?
What is it that makes it so hard to re-train the Janissaries in modern tactics anyways?
They weren't hard to retrain. The thing was that the didn't want to retrain, being the most conservative, reactionary group that you could probably come up with.
Basically, they became entrenched in their position, which came with a lot of privileges.
"The sun was in my eyes."What else is their excuse for getting their buts kicked by Napoleon then?
Ch 2, Pt 9.
Part 9: The Circling Vultures
Spring, 1800. The Middle East.
The political situation in the Middle East by the spring of 1800 has been described as a Byzantine Labyrinth of confusion, intrigue and lies. The web stretched from Persia to Egypt, with a dozen different factions, all with different motivations, capabilities and methods.
First off, the ones that had started the whole mess: the French, now settling in in Palestine and parts of the Levant. It seemed that they were there to stay. Bonaparte’s motives for the invasion seemed to have been something along the lines of “invade Egypt, march on Constantinople, take over the entire Middle East, march on to India, drive out the British.” Now, having lost the majority of his European-style and experienced troops, that plan was dead in the water. His remaining forces were stretched thin, even with the support of their Lebanese allies.
Changing gears, the Elder Bonaparte had taken to nation building. He had noted that, while they did lack effective training and equipment, the locals were not short on bravery and determination. With a proper officer corps and a better logistical situation, they could conceivably be molded into a formidable force, especially considering the opposition.
The lesson of Egypt had been learned. Forced conscription of those that had been until very recently serving the other side simply didn’t work. Lacking manpower, the ability to mass produce arms and ammunition and cut off from reinforcement, the French couldn’t afford an uprising from the locals, and so did everything possible to placate them. The occupation was kept as light as possible.
This proved rather successful. By keeping the populace happy, Napoleon was able to paint himself as a liberator instead of an invader. Especially popular were the reforms introduced by his new regime, most significantly his civil code. By declaring that all of the various ethnic, religious and tribal groups within their territory were subject to the same laws and rescinding the outright medieval land ownership laws of the Ottomans, the French were able to win broad popular support, especially among the Christian and Druze minorities.
On the far end of the Empire lay the resurgent Persians, under their young Shah Fath-Ali. The Qajar dynasty, less than two decades old, had brutally unified the squabbling powers in Iran under a single banner, and had been planning to drive the Russians out of the Caucuses when their brilliant leader, Mohammad Khan, had been assassinated in 1797.
Fath-Ali was not as much as a warrior as his uncle, but was still determined to see Persia return to great power status. To this end he looked northwest, towards the Caucasus and more specifically towards Georgia. Mohammad Khan had driven the Russians out of Tbilisi in 1795, but hadn’t been able to fully incorporate the region into the resurgent empire. Heraclius II of Georgia had continued to resist Persian influence until his death in early 1798, and his son George XII continued the trend. Fath-Ali intended to end this defiance.
The problem with this plan was, of course, the Russians. Tsar Paul I’s gaze had been drawn southwards by Napoleon’s campaign, and he had sent troops to the Georgian frontier at the request of Heraclius II, as the Georgian King had been desperate to repel the Persians. The Tsar responded with a small sending force. The Russians’ main interest in the region lay further west.
Paul I had little interest in starting a war with the Turks, but the eccentric Tsar continued to make enemies, and his removal from power seemed ever more likely. His son and heir, Alexander, held much more aggressive designs for the European territories of the Ottomans, especially towards Moldavia and Wallachia. In his heart, he had the same desire as any Russian: the liberation of Constantinople from the hedonistic Muslims and to turn the Hagia Sophia from a Mosque back into an Orthodox Christian Basilica.
The Ottomans themselves were increasingly fractured. The Barbary States were for all intents and purposes independent. The same was true in Mesopotamia, where the Mamluk Dynasty of Hasan Pasha had ruled by themselves for more than half a century. Sulayman Pasha, the current ruler, was faced with constant raids from the southwest, as the fundamentalist Wahhabi Saudis attacked the Shias in the southern reaches of Mesopotamia.
These attacks originated from the first Saudi state, the Emirate of Diriyah. Under Imam Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad bin Saud, the Emirate had been expanding for nearly two decades. He had grand designs for a Saudi-dominated Arabia, such as taking over the Muslim Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, and the waning of the Ottomans gave him the chance to make them realities.
The Sultan’s allies were few and far between. His closest supporters were Alemdar Mustafa Pasha and Hadji Mustafa Pasha. This was a problem, as Hadji was the ruler of the Belgrade Pashaluk and Alemdar’s domain was on the far side of the Danube from Istanbul, leaving them both largely cut off from Selim III by Osman Pazvantoglu’s quasi-state of Vidin.
Pazvantoglu himself was no friend of the Sultan, and spent his time raiding nearly at will into the territories of Alexander Mourousis, Prince of Wallachia, a reformer and ally of the Sultan. As it stood, however, Mourousis’ forces were far weaker than Pazvantoglu’s, and there was little that the Prince could do but defend his lands with ever diminishing strength.
In Egypt, there was chaos. The traditional Mamluk ruling class, bent by the French occupation, had not fully broken. This proved problematic, as the Ottoman troops sent there to retake the country for the Empire had little interest in restoring the old order. The Janissaries and the Albanians that made up the bulk of their forces feuded between themselves over who would take control.
In Serbia, a certain Kucuk-Alija was planning a takeover of the aforementioned Belgrade Pashaluk. He was but one of many Janissaries and Feudal Lords seeking power. All of these men, from Kose Musa (the man who held the position equivalent to interior minister) to Kabakci Mustafa (one of the Yamaks, a class of soldiers who shared in the prestige of the Janissaries and were responsible for defending the Bosphorous from Cossack raiders), held one thing in common: sincere dislike, if not outright hatred, for the reforms of one Sultan Selim III.
Put simply, the entirety of the Middle East could be described as one giant powder keg. All that was needed was a spark.
Spring, 1800. The Middle East.
The political situation in the Middle East by the spring of 1800 has been described as a Byzantine Labyrinth of confusion, intrigue and lies. The web stretched from Persia to Egypt, with a dozen different factions, all with different motivations, capabilities and methods.
First off, the ones that had started the whole mess: the French, now settling in in Palestine and parts of the Levant. It seemed that they were there to stay. Bonaparte’s motives for the invasion seemed to have been something along the lines of “invade Egypt, march on Constantinople, take over the entire Middle East, march on to India, drive out the British.” Now, having lost the majority of his European-style and experienced troops, that plan was dead in the water. His remaining forces were stretched thin, even with the support of their Lebanese allies.
Changing gears, the Elder Bonaparte had taken to nation building. He had noted that, while they did lack effective training and equipment, the locals were not short on bravery and determination. With a proper officer corps and a better logistical situation, they could conceivably be molded into a formidable force, especially considering the opposition.
The lesson of Egypt had been learned. Forced conscription of those that had been until very recently serving the other side simply didn’t work. Lacking manpower, the ability to mass produce arms and ammunition and cut off from reinforcement, the French couldn’t afford an uprising from the locals, and so did everything possible to placate them. The occupation was kept as light as possible.
This proved rather successful. By keeping the populace happy, Napoleon was able to paint himself as a liberator instead of an invader. Especially popular were the reforms introduced by his new regime, most significantly his civil code. By declaring that all of the various ethnic, religious and tribal groups within their territory were subject to the same laws and rescinding the outright medieval land ownership laws of the Ottomans, the French were able to win broad popular support, especially among the Christian and Druze minorities.
On the far end of the Empire lay the resurgent Persians, under their young Shah Fath-Ali. The Qajar dynasty, less than two decades old, had brutally unified the squabbling powers in Iran under a single banner, and had been planning to drive the Russians out of the Caucuses when their brilliant leader, Mohammad Khan, had been assassinated in 1797.
Fath-Ali was not as much as a warrior as his uncle, but was still determined to see Persia return to great power status. To this end he looked northwest, towards the Caucasus and more specifically towards Georgia. Mohammad Khan had driven the Russians out of Tbilisi in 1795, but hadn’t been able to fully incorporate the region into the resurgent empire. Heraclius II of Georgia had continued to resist Persian influence until his death in early 1798, and his son George XII continued the trend. Fath-Ali intended to end this defiance.
The problem with this plan was, of course, the Russians. Tsar Paul I’s gaze had been drawn southwards by Napoleon’s campaign, and he had sent troops to the Georgian frontier at the request of Heraclius II, as the Georgian King had been desperate to repel the Persians. The Tsar responded with a small sending force. The Russians’ main interest in the region lay further west.
Paul I had little interest in starting a war with the Turks, but the eccentric Tsar continued to make enemies, and his removal from power seemed ever more likely. His son and heir, Alexander, held much more aggressive designs for the European territories of the Ottomans, especially towards Moldavia and Wallachia. In his heart, he had the same desire as any Russian: the liberation of Constantinople from the hedonistic Muslims and to turn the Hagia Sophia from a Mosque back into an Orthodox Christian Basilica.
The Ottomans themselves were increasingly fractured. The Barbary States were for all intents and purposes independent. The same was true in Mesopotamia, where the Mamluk Dynasty of Hasan Pasha had ruled by themselves for more than half a century. Sulayman Pasha, the current ruler, was faced with constant raids from the southwest, as the fundamentalist Wahhabi Saudis attacked the Shias in the southern reaches of Mesopotamia.
These attacks originated from the first Saudi state, the Emirate of Diriyah. Under Imam Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad bin Saud, the Emirate had been expanding for nearly two decades. He had grand designs for a Saudi-dominated Arabia, such as taking over the Muslim Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, and the waning of the Ottomans gave him the chance to make them realities.
The Sultan’s allies were few and far between. His closest supporters were Alemdar Mustafa Pasha and Hadji Mustafa Pasha. This was a problem, as Hadji was the ruler of the Belgrade Pashaluk and Alemdar’s domain was on the far side of the Danube from Istanbul, leaving them both largely cut off from Selim III by Osman Pazvantoglu’s quasi-state of Vidin.
Pazvantoglu himself was no friend of the Sultan, and spent his time raiding nearly at will into the territories of Alexander Mourousis, Prince of Wallachia, a reformer and ally of the Sultan. As it stood, however, Mourousis’ forces were far weaker than Pazvantoglu’s, and there was little that the Prince could do but defend his lands with ever diminishing strength.
In Egypt, there was chaos. The traditional Mamluk ruling class, bent by the French occupation, had not fully broken. This proved problematic, as the Ottoman troops sent there to retake the country for the Empire had little interest in restoring the old order. The Janissaries and the Albanians that made up the bulk of their forces feuded between themselves over who would take control.
In Serbia, a certain Kucuk-Alija was planning a takeover of the aforementioned Belgrade Pashaluk. He was but one of many Janissaries and Feudal Lords seeking power. All of these men, from Kose Musa (the man who held the position equivalent to interior minister) to Kabakci Mustafa (one of the Yamaks, a class of soldiers who shared in the prestige of the Janissaries and were responsible for defending the Bosphorous from Cossack raiders), held one thing in common: sincere dislike, if not outright hatred, for the reforms of one Sultan Selim III.
Put simply, the entirety of the Middle East could be described as one giant powder keg. All that was needed was a spark.
I wonder of Boney can get Russia and/or Persia to join him in a war against the Ottomans?
I think that the war would be seemed to a 'melee' with multiple sides and fronts fought simultaneously rather than somebody joined/allied to the other against the Ottomans.
Well, by my count there's 4 foreign powers (France in the Levant, Persia, Russia, the Saudis), 3 de-facto breakaway states (Mesopotamia, Pazvantoglu, the Barbaries), 2 internal factions (the Sultan and his allies, the Janissaries and theirs) and a partridge in a pear tree. This will not be a war. It'll be a clusterf*ck.
Not impossible as the enemy of my enemy could be my friend and right now the Turks have all of three as enemy. Constantinople is just lucky Austria is too busy with the French to join the imminent carnage as well.
This is actually OTL. The Mamluks there had taken over by the mid-1700s, and acted more-or-less as a seperate state. Nominally, they were still a loyal part of the Empire, but in reality the Sultan had no real authority.
Part 10: Round Two Begins
March, 1800. France.
The combined strength of the French Army in March of 1800 amounted to roughly 420,000 men, divided into five main armies: The Army of the Alps, under Murat, with 70,000 troops guarding the passes out of the Alps as far north as Geneva; The Army of Lorraine, commanded by Soult, contained a further 80,000 men, split between Besancon and Nancy (with around 3/4ths of the army in the north); The Army of the Low Countries, led by Bernadotte out of Brussels, 75,000 strong; Jourdan’s Army of the West, now in Caen and numbering 65,000; and finally Massena and the Army of the Reserve, 100,000 men based out of Reims. A further 30,000 men were assigned to miscellaneous duties, such as garrisoning Paris and the Channel fortifications.
Opposed to them were six different Coalition forces: Korsakov, with 80,000 Russians, Neapolitans and other Italians was operating out of Turin. To his north was Von Hotze, ordered to rebuild the Swiss army into a functional force out of the various anti-French partisans, the remnants of the original Swiss army and anyone he could get to join him. So far, he had amassed between 20 and 30 thousand men.
Holding the land the Coalition had seized across the Rhine was Suvorov, put in charge of a force of some 75,000 men. On the other side of the Rhine was Archduke Charles and the main “Holy Roman” (read: Austrian) Army. Nominally about 100,000 strong, around half of the army was stuck pulling garrison duty and otherwise sitting on the Holy Roman Empire’s none-to-eager northern states. The rest was simply sitting around in Frankfurt, waiting for the domestic situation to calm down enough that the Army could resume its march to link up with the 75,000-strong Anglo-Russo-Dutch army now encamped near Antwerp.
The French plan (really, Fouche’s plan that Massena agreed was the Republic’s best chance) was to preemptively march into the Holy Roman Empire before the northwestern German states decided to calm down, thus hitting the Archduke while his army was out of position and unready. They would march on Frankfurt via Luxembourg and, optimistically, cause the various small states in the HRE to openly revolt against Vienna. At the very least, they would hit the Austrians at their weakest.
What they didn’t count on was Alexander Suvorov. This wasn’t without reason. By all reports, the Field Marshal was attached unwillingly to an unfamiliar command. On top of that, there were reports that he was badly ill, if not outright dying. Massena didn’t outright disregard Suvorov, but even the Savior of France didn’t consider the Field Marshal to be a massive threat. In the worst case, the Armies of Lorraine and the Reserve would be able to quickly link up and crush the Russian if he made any moves to stop Massena’s march into Germany.
This was the primary failure of the French in March of 1800. They assumed that if Suvorov moved at all he would move northwards to counter Massena. The biggest French fear was Suvorov and the Archduke would link their armies up march against the advance, attack Massena before Soult could move to support him and thus force open the road to Paris. The Army of the Reserve was thus ordered to march against the Archduke as quickly as possible, before the Austrians could pull their forces together and effectively counter. Soult was to move part of his force towards Saarbrucken, in order to protect Massena’s right flank.
The 80,000 men of the Army of the Lorraine were thus divided into three parts: 20,000 men in the vicinity of Dijon and Besancon, 45,000 at Nancy and 15,000 at Saarbrucken. In theory, if Suvorov moved to intercept Massena, he would run into the forces at Saarbrucken, which would slow him down enough for Massena to turn to face him. If Suvorov marched on Nancy, he would again be delayed enough for Massena to turn around and help deal with him.
Unfortunately for the French, they neglected to plan for if Suvorov went southwards.
March, 1800. France.
The combined strength of the French Army in March of 1800 amounted to roughly 420,000 men, divided into five main armies: The Army of the Alps, under Murat, with 70,000 troops guarding the passes out of the Alps as far north as Geneva; The Army of Lorraine, commanded by Soult, contained a further 80,000 men, split between Besancon and Nancy (with around 3/4ths of the army in the north); The Army of the Low Countries, led by Bernadotte out of Brussels, 75,000 strong; Jourdan’s Army of the West, now in Caen and numbering 65,000; and finally Massena and the Army of the Reserve, 100,000 men based out of Reims. A further 30,000 men were assigned to miscellaneous duties, such as garrisoning Paris and the Channel fortifications.
Opposed to them were six different Coalition forces: Korsakov, with 80,000 Russians, Neapolitans and other Italians was operating out of Turin. To his north was Von Hotze, ordered to rebuild the Swiss army into a functional force out of the various anti-French partisans, the remnants of the original Swiss army and anyone he could get to join him. So far, he had amassed between 20 and 30 thousand men.
Holding the land the Coalition had seized across the Rhine was Suvorov, put in charge of a force of some 75,000 men. On the other side of the Rhine was Archduke Charles and the main “Holy Roman” (read: Austrian) Army. Nominally about 100,000 strong, around half of the army was stuck pulling garrison duty and otherwise sitting on the Holy Roman Empire’s none-to-eager northern states. The rest was simply sitting around in Frankfurt, waiting for the domestic situation to calm down enough that the Army could resume its march to link up with the 75,000-strong Anglo-Russo-Dutch army now encamped near Antwerp.
The French plan (really, Fouche’s plan that Massena agreed was the Republic’s best chance) was to preemptively march into the Holy Roman Empire before the northwestern German states decided to calm down, thus hitting the Archduke while his army was out of position and unready. They would march on Frankfurt via Luxembourg and, optimistically, cause the various small states in the HRE to openly revolt against Vienna. At the very least, they would hit the Austrians at their weakest.
What they didn’t count on was Alexander Suvorov. This wasn’t without reason. By all reports, the Field Marshal was attached unwillingly to an unfamiliar command. On top of that, there were reports that he was badly ill, if not outright dying. Massena didn’t outright disregard Suvorov, but even the Savior of France didn’t consider the Field Marshal to be a massive threat. In the worst case, the Armies of Lorraine and the Reserve would be able to quickly link up and crush the Russian if he made any moves to stop Massena’s march into Germany.
This was the primary failure of the French in March of 1800. They assumed that if Suvorov moved at all he would move northwards to counter Massena. The biggest French fear was Suvorov and the Archduke would link their armies up march against the advance, attack Massena before Soult could move to support him and thus force open the road to Paris. The Army of the Reserve was thus ordered to march against the Archduke as quickly as possible, before the Austrians could pull their forces together and effectively counter. Soult was to move part of his force towards Saarbrucken, in order to protect Massena’s right flank.
The 80,000 men of the Army of the Lorraine were thus divided into three parts: 20,000 men in the vicinity of Dijon and Besancon, 45,000 at Nancy and 15,000 at Saarbrucken. In theory, if Suvorov moved to intercept Massena, he would run into the forces at Saarbrucken, which would slow him down enough for Massena to turn to face him. If Suvorov marched on Nancy, he would again be delayed enough for Massena to turn around and help deal with him.
Unfortunately for the French, they neglected to plan for if Suvorov went southwards.
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
So have you considered how this will change the history of Haiti? Because a few months from now, I think we're a lot less likely to see Leclerc head off on that disasterrous expedition.