Ironically I do occasionally come back and read this. The Bonaparte thing is a fair criticism, honestly I did it because I had intended to use it to draw dichotomy with the Bourbons who would be restored at the end of the war and eventually position France as a third pole (or so they would believe) on the continent to the Habsburgs and the Soviets. It was more a literary choice I suppose than a Alternative History one I suppose.I was excited to see this thread pop up in the new threads list, but then I saw it was a necro'd thread.
Ah well, if Imperial Vienna is looking by any chance, here's some legitimate criticism either way. Your treatment of the Bonapartes. Just why and how the fuck would
a) Hitler make France a monarchy, one based on the legacy of the man who utterly demolished Germany?
b)Said family member take up such an offer unless he was practically put there? Even then though, why would the Nazi's put him there? They have a whole field of collaborators like Petain and Darlan to work from still.
This mainly irks me because the actual Bonaparte heir at the time, Prince Louis, was a member of the French Resistance. He was even decorated for bravery once the war is over! It just seems to me that the whole treatment of the Bonapartes here is over some weird hate you have for them that isn't at all applicable to this point in history. That's my two cents though, I haven't seen anything else like that here, so I wanted to say it on the incredibly off chance you're actually reading.
One other thing, as I've said your criticism is valid, and now that I've explained my thinking (and I would like to think, at least to a point, that I've shown the "logic" behind the decision), I guess I would like to have been given the benefit of the doubt. The statement, "It just seems to me that the whole treatment of the Bonapartes here is over some weird hate you have for them," doesn't do anyone any good. You can privately think that sure, but stating it before I've even explained myself only serves to turn a fair criticism into an accusation (or at least one from my perspective) and honestly my gut reaction was originally to get defensive, because in my mind I knew it had nothing to do with any hatred I had for the Bonapartes. I dunno, I guess I just felt the need to put that out there.