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Well I have come to a book about the Portuguese Army in the Napoleonic Wars and a idea came to my mind and....

YOU BLOODY TRAITOR!! Can't writhe for An Age of Iron and Rust because of tests, wasn't it?

This is an idea for after I finish that part of my Roma Invicta Series.

I will bite, you, if you don't keep your word on that.

May I explain the idea please?

Yes, but you better don't leave your current TL unfinished or....

So after this little part the POD is like this.

Count de Lippe was the commander of the Portuguese army during the Seven years war and he...


SEVEN YEARS WAR!!! You said it was a Napoleonic TL.

May I bloody finish the POD?

Ok.

As I was saying de Lippe reformed the army but made two mistake. First thought that the Portuguese army would keep the same discipline standards after he left the country (not much I can do about that I am afraid) and second he dissolved the, I can't the bloody name, government agency in charge of keeping the army bureaucracy and supplies/pay, leaving the regimental commander to take care of that, ignoring the centuries old portuguese tradition of corruption.

So initial POD is that he leaves the army supplies in the hands of government (lowering corruption) and then the other POD is that the reforms that count der Goltz, another Prussian in charge of the Portuguese army in 1800, are approved (in OTL because of opposition from portuguese generals the count got angry and left instead of forcing the aproval). And the last POD is that Junot isn't appointed ambassador (in our TL he was able to convince the Prince reagent to cut military funds, using the "a neutral power doesn't needs a big army, so you should cut in the funds, and the did you noticed the amount of money you can save that way?").[EDIT] Forgot to add the fourth POD, the secretary of war and foreign affairs, passed a law in 1793 that would improve the army officer ranks, by a reward/promotion system based on merit and ability (in OTL it would be revoked on 1797 by the Marquis of Alorna (have to check that part, I don't have the book with me)), by a law that forced the nobility to serve as army officers, this made the former professional officer corp to disappear and would be replaced by the aristocracy), and the POD is that the law is keep, instead of being revoked in 1797.


The POD's might not look like much but they will seriously improve the fighting ability of the Portuguese army, putting the paper 82000 strong army in a fighting strength of some 60 thousand men which will be important for the actual war (I am not including the ordenanças and the militias in this. The number was taken from the total paper strength of the units after the October 1807 reforms, that were basically the same as der Goltz, approved one month before the invasion).

So any thoughts? Do you think this is a good idea? Any problem with plausibility?

Comments are appreciated.

P.S. The name of the possible TL is based on The War of the Oranges, Wellington calling the Portuguese troops the Fighting Coks, and the redcoats being called Lobsters by the men of the Royal Navy.
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