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Flag of the French Republic as a member of the European Union of Republics.
ITTL French Republic survived and remained fairly radical republican. However Denmark-Norway and several German monarchies would ally with the revolutionaries and over the course of 14 Wars of Coalition non Republican allied monarchies were almost thrown out of Europe (Ottoman Balkans, Iberia and British Isles are the non republican aligned monarchies in Europe). Over the course of these wars the United States of America was destroyed and brought back into British fold. France and its ally would find more allies in India and China against the Grand Coalition. Free Republic of Annam and Republic of the Kongo are are the other anti coalition allies (these two being EUR allies).
The plain red banner of Revolutionary France was the iconic symbol of the revolution. Its main sister republics and later founded republics all followed the French example by adopting red banners. To help differentiate between flags national mottoes or the name of the nation were often written on the flags. This practice even became the official flag of several allied republics. Eventually France and its 7 close sister republics would join together to form the European Union of Republics. The plain red banner was adopted as the flag of the union while member nations adopted red flags with national mottoes (such as the Italian SPQI and the Rheinish "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"). France, despite being the ones to least often to modify the red banner, would follow suit and adopt the above flag with the revolutionary motto of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death" on a field of red.
(From the below map)
Here goes then:
Revolutionary Britain
The History
A quirk of birth leads to a Wittelsbach on the thrones of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and a later, milder political union of all three, albeit with heavier oversight from the Lords and the Crown.
Rebellion in the American Colonies is averted and representation in the form of the Colonial Chamber provided. This dampens down reform but not the clamour for it from the commoners who see rich colonials having greater influence on government than they.
Across the channel France hasn't needed to overspend as much it might but the financial cracks and lower class discontent remain. This boils over when a riot over bread prices leads to massive overreaction by local troops and a full blown rebellion occurs. Rebellion leads to revolution and the King flees to a friendlier Britain.
However this inflames the local British poor. One thing leads to another and the Revolutionaries now control northern France and southern Britain...
The Flag
The early flag was the simple horizontal blue-white-green of the republicans but has since been modified as the Revolution senesced and the least aristocratic moneyed classes brought on board.
The British Tricolour now has cottices and is overlain with the new symbol of the Revolution in Britain, a voided white star on red. This is surrounded by a golden laurel and surmounted by 3 golden stars for Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality.
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The Revolution to End All Revolutions
Point of Departure: Napoleon Bonaparte - A Subtle Man
From the moment he was thrust into command via battlefield commission in Italy, Napoleon became the fulcrum on which the Revolution leveraged change throughout the continent. His superiors, upon learning of his strategies, called him “mad,” but by then, it was often too late. Those serving under his command – and his army swelled to fantastic size – loved him. Napoleon was a believer. He believed in the ideals of the French Revolution. He believed in the ideals of the perfect republic. He believed that the people deserved to have the biggest voice in their own fate.
And so, wherever he went, he used spies and informants to organize and prepare the people, to create cells of natives who supported those same ideals and who wanted to avoid bloodshed if they could. Napoleon set up political units and took on volunteers to join his Armée de la République. He established true republican governance and put real power in the hands of trusted, local folk. He eschewed political power, making attempts to control him via bribery doomed to fail. His most famous quote was in response to such an attempt:
“The Council has met, and they want to make you Emperor, Napoleon!”
“Then they do not understand how a Republic functions at all. A Republic does not need an Emperor.”
Monarchs, tyrants, and despots were forced to flee. The Catholic Church, although not forbidden, was severely restricted and taxed. It lost political power. In the end, even the French Republic found itself unable to waver far from its own principles. Napoleon and his Armée de la République were simply too powerful, and always watching. Napoleon was elected President of the National Assembly and oversaw the European Republican Convention which was tasked with creating a permanent governing charter. This landmark document had provisions for organizing the political units his army was creating into larger structures, and formalized sister-republics took shape out of the chaos of European revolution.
Iberia was one of Napoleon’s great successes. Officially, he never campaigned in Spanish territory. It was Napoleon’s refusal to answer communications as President that eventually led Spain’s King Charles IV to a sweeping declaration of the new Republic of Spain. Although the Republic of Spain was not organized according to the ERC Charter, Napoleon agreed that the benefit of avoiding war was well worth the compromise. The Spanish royal family remains to this day, although in a beloved advisory role.
Portugal had established itself as an ERC Republic, but voted to reorganize as part of the Republic of Spain in 1822 when Brazil declared its independence. This led to the institution of the Republic of Iberia.
For those interested:
The Republic of Iberia - The Star of Unity (1822)
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This flag was arrived at after weeks of negotiation. Until it was approved, a simple tricolor in red, blue, and gold was in fairly wide use as a celebratory flag of union. The union flag, however, was never approved as an official flag of the republic. This one was chosen to contrast with the many evolving flags of Europe and her republics. Among the rules agreed upon in committee:
Thus was conceived La Estrella de la Unidad, as the flag came to be known.
- No tricolor bands
- No crosses
- No heraldic crests
- Preserve the colors of the new flags in use in Spain and Portugal
- Add a new icon to symbolize the unity of the Iberian peninsula under the new republic
Republic of the Third Estate (R3E)
The Reign of Terror is even more bloody as Jean-Paul Marat survives the assassination attempt on him by Charlotte Corday when she slips on the wet floor while speaking with him during his bath. Her knife sliced his arm as she fell, but she could not complete the murder as her head struck the floor killing her. Marat's wife Simone blamed the Girondins and a greater purge of their numbers occured, even into their hiding places in Normandy where many had fled.
The Flag of the R3E was based off the French cockade. The red and blue remain the same, being identified with Saint Martin and with Saint Denbut. The white was replaced with gray, since gray had been associated with peasants and workers for some time. The field is divided diagonally in-two and represents the guillotine that freed France from the monarchy. Along the divide is a red slash with three droplets representing the Third Estate or any one not of the First and Second (Clergy and Monarchy). A quartered cockade is place in the canton.
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