alternatehistory.com

Twenty years ago, my friends and I played a Napoleonic campaign using a combination of Empires in Arms and Napoleon’s Battles rules. We had so much fun, we continued after the official conclusion of the game which saw Napoleon triumph over a grand coalition but not without cost in 1815. Later wars would increasingly feature technological and organizational advances but remained recognizably Napoleonic in style.

The results of these later wars were written up by me and initially circulated as bulletins amongst the players but eventually grew to short campaign stories in the Osprey style. Having found them again, I guess they fit the alternative history tag.

N.B. The original layout and pictures don't easily copy&paste so this is just the bare bones....



Return to Spain


Chapter 1 The Return of the King

Ferdinand VII was crowned King of Spain in 1814 at the successful conclusion of the bitter Peninsular War. A popular figure head for the Junta’s which had fought the French, he was returned to power after many years of gilded captivity in France but shackled to a liberal, progressive constitution formulated by the Spanish politicians, Junta leaders and the common people who had sacrificed much fighting the French and wanted something in return.

Ferdinand loathed the new constitutional monarchy the Junta’s had forced him to accept and quickly sought adherents to overthrow this affront to absolute power which had been the hallmark of previous Spanish kings. Faced with independence movements in the Spanish colonies in America, Spanish politics fractured into pro-independence movements which favoured a close but equal relationship with the colonies and hard-line conservatives which favoured military action to crush the rebels. King Ferdinand realized this was the opening he needed to regain executive power in Spain. After securing a powerbase in the army and the Catholic church, both strong reactionary powers, Ferdinand repudiated the constitution, executed liberal politicians and tried to govern as an absolute Monarch while sending large numbers of soldiers to the colonies to crush the rebellions.

This failed due to his own lack of capacity and character and by 1820, the Spanish populace was in open revolt. Three years of total anarchy followed and the nations of Europe looked at Spain in alarm as atrocity followed atrocity and revolutionaries and adventurers from all over Europe flocked to Spain.

While most European countries favoured the monarchy as a political system, a stable monarchy still required both a competent monarch and a measure of political representation if only to retain a measure of legitimacy and acceptance from the masses. King Ferdinand’s bloodthirsty rampages and ineffective rule undermined the stability of Europe and caused concern in the capitals of Europe yet none favoured military intervention as the memories of the Peninsular War were still fresh.

The former leaders of the Junta’s against the French were now desperately dodging Ferdinand’s agents. Their dream of an independent and strong Spain had been betrayed by the man they had welcomed back as their King. Ferdinand seemed determined to drag Spain back to middle ages with his misrule, leaving her once again a victim of stronger nations.

All over the country side, the peasants were once again up in arms but the royal army held sway in the cities. The leaders of the uprising against Ferdinand knew their improvised peasant armies could never defeat Ferdinand's royal army in open battle or successfully take the fortified cities, much as they had struggled in similar fashion against Napoleon's French. They needed foreign support and regular troops. And the only realistic options were Great Britain or France.

In many ways, Spain was never a unified kingdom. It consisted of separate, semi-independent realms ruled by a common King. During the Peninsular War, each province mostly fought its own war against the French. While strategically a weakness, their very independence prevented the French from crushing the rebellion. Any defeat of Spanish troops had only a very limited and localized effect. In the latter part of the war, the diverse Junta's did cooperate in a fashion but relations remained fractious. And so it proved once again as the Junta's reassembled to fight their own King.

Luckily, one man arose to lead them. In 1808, a young guard officer named Jose de Palafox made a brave attempt to free Prince Ferdinand from French captivity. Although this failed, the heroic attempt catapulted the sub-lieutenant to the rank of Captain-General of Aragon, surely the only time in history that a Lieutenant rose to Marshal in a single promotion. Palafox was not a particularly skilled or experienced field commander but he proved to be a highly charismatic fighter who could incite commoners to great acts of courage and perseverance.

His stubborn defence of Saragossa became a national epic which inspired the Spanish during the years of warfare against the hated French. Captured after the fall of Saragossa in 1809, Palafox was held captive in France until 1813. After the war, he refused many honours offered to him and retired from public life, further endearing himself to the common people.

As King Ferdinand's popularity declined, he enticed Palafox back into service as the commander in chief of the Royal Guard. The King hoped Palafox' popularity would rub off on him but received a serious setback when Palafox chose the side of the constitutional forces. He was stripped of his rank and honours but Ferdinand's agents were unable to arrest him before he slipped away. With his reputation sky-high, Palafox was the natural leader of the insurrection and he gave it a face and political direction.

Having been comrades in arms, the Junta’s naturally appealed to the British first. The conservative British government however sided with King Ferdinand. Great Britain was up to its old tricks once again. While it politically favoured a conservative Spanish government with limited political representation, it also recognized that Ferdinand was a weak King. And that meant a weak Spain and thus less competition to Britain’s position as a global trading power.

With this avenue unexpectedly closed, the Junta leaders had no other option than to appeal to the French. Surprisingly, this actually was their best chance. When Napoleon made his daring return to power in 1815, he had been forced to formulate a very liberal constitution to secure the necessary political backing. Even after his successes in the field, the political opposition was too strong for Napoleon to impose his previous one-man dictatorship and the largely liberal French senate wielded considerable power. As such, they had a lot in common with the Spanish leaders, especially as the rebels did not necessarily want to abolish the Spanish monarchy, just reign in the absolute power of the King, abolish the worst excesses and allow for more political representation. In effect, the Spanish leaders and the French liberals were speaking the same language. In addition, the Spanish appeal offered France the chance of gaining a friendly neighbour, something France had lacked since 1813.

But while the French senate slowly moved towards supporting the Junta, Marshal Davout, Minister of War and regent for the 12 year-old Napoleon II, was loath to send French armies into Spain again. Spain had proven a veritable graveyard for the Grande Armée and Davout recognized the messy situation in Spain for the hornet’s nest it was. He and the imperial army loudly opposed the idea of military intervention.

Under the French constitution, the Emperor and thus his regent acted as the political executive but parliamentary approval was required for every decree. The opportunity to gain an ally and reopen Spanish markets to French commerce was simply too attractive to ignore and eventually, Davout was forced to consent. France would once again send troops across the Spanish border.

The protracted political deliberations in Paris were held quite openly and King Ferdinand had little trouble staying abreast of developments. As the spectre of another French invasion loomed ever greater, King Ferdinand sent his diplomats to London to renew their alliance against the French. And just to ensure the diplomats would do their utmost to secure the alliance, the cruel King had their families imprisoned.

Lord Liverpool, the British Prime Minister, was not adverse to a bit of violent repression himself and thus had less animosity towards King Ferdinand of Spain than the majority of the British. His problem lay in weighing the dangers of facing the vaunted French in battle once again against loosing Spain as both ally and weak competitor. Since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Spain had been a strong market for British goods and even the Spanish colonies had been opened up to some trade with Britain.

The British government did not favour a continental war, especially without multiple coalition partners but the memories of its earlier successful campaigns in Spain eventually won the day. Another expeditionary force would be sent. And Field Marshal Wellesley would command it.
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