The Two Unlucky Soldiers

The battle has been called by contemporaries a slaughter, where Deucolours were cut down by rifle fire and cannonade and force to abandon the position, allowing South France to become fully Royalist.
Did I miss something, or how did rifles get introduced to general use about a century and a half early? Why would any military cut their rate of fire in half?
 
Part XXI

On August 24th, 1795, Dutty Boukman gave the call for rebellion in Saint Domingue. A slave revolt of unprecedented proportions quickly took the North Province in a fortnight. The slaves' revenge on the whites was swift and bloody. By 1796, the former slaves held most of Saint Domingue. The General Assembly was faced with a crisis. Saint Domingue was France's last major colony in the New World, barring Guiana and a few islands. A smart move might have been recognizing the revolt as allies against the Royalists. Instead, Danton sent an army under Alexandre de Beauharnais to crush the Revolt...


Short update today, just to show what the Haitians have been up to. More will follow later tonight.
 
Part XXII: The Return

August 17th, 1984
Queen Charlotte University, Charlotteville, Ursalia [Tacoma, Washington]

The professor entered the classroom like a man on a mission.

"Right then, if you're lucky, this is Class WH405. The History of European Imperialism in the 19th Century. Now then, don't think this will just be a class where we watch empires fill up spaces on maps. There is more to this period than Denmark blobbing across Africa [1]. This was a period of staggering economic, societal, and political change on six continents. Before we continue, I am Associate Professor John Harrison VI - you'll notice my grandfather wrote one of the assigned readings. My family has lived here since my ancestor Dr. W. Henry Harrison moved the family to Oregon City to continue his missionary work."

"Now, our subject begins with the end of the French Civil War. After the Bernadotte Coup, Royalist forces were able to easily enter Paris from the east, ending the Assembly's attempt at rule. Louis XVI returned to the Tulliere - Versailles still being a burned out wreck - and resumed rule. He died in 1804 from natural causes, allowing his son, Louis XVII, "The Soldier King", to ascend the throne."

A girl's hand shot up. "Excuse me, profesor?"

"Yes, Miss ... (shudder - moneyed students were never good news) Bounaparte?"

"Que ... Why is this important?"

Professor Harrison looked at the girl for a moment, then pulled out a newspaper.

"This is yesterday's London Times. Now let's see the headlines. Hmm, 'Mahdist uprisings in Aethiopia', 'Coreans lynch French tourists', 'Technocratic nations meet in Recife, Bahia, to discuss new economic treaties', Federation of West African Kingdoms closes border to Benin-Sahelite refugees' - all of which can be traced back to Louis XVII's impetuousness. And Egyptology..."


[1] You heard me.
 
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Part XXII: The end of subtitles

August 17th, 1984
Queen Charlotte University, Charlotteville, Ursalia [Tacoma, Washington]

"... The French had always had a fascination with Egypt. It was a frenchman who first translated the hieroglyphs. Thus, Egpyt became something of a tourist destination for wealthy Frenchmen, whether for health or for curiosity. There was, of course, a problem - the Mamalukes. The Mamalukes had long been rulers of Egypt, and hated their Ottoman overlords with a passion bordering on fanaticism. The Ottomans were friendly to the French, so the Mamalukes naturally, if wrongly, assumed the French tourists were spying for the Sublime Porte to make sure the Burjids stayed loyal."

"In 1806, the Mamaluke leader Ibrahim Bey detained all French nationals in Cairo, declared independence from the Ottoman Empire, and demanded the French consulate agree to his demands. Unfortunately for him, one of the hostages was Louis XVII's brother the Duc d'Orleans, a noted intellectual and scholar. Instead of recognition and supplies, the King of France sent an invasion force. The Franco-Burjid War, as historians would term it in the Thirties, was something of joke, as Egypt could not possibly stand up to the combined might of France and Turkey. Ibrahim Bey himself was captured in Idfu, trying to escape to the friendly Funj of Soudan as so many other Mamalukes had."

"The new ruler of Egypt was nominally Koca Mehmed Husrev Pasha - no need to write that name down, as the real power in Egypt now spoke French instead of Turkish. French soldiers now roamed the streets of every major Egyptian city from Aswan to Alexandria, preliminary plans for a canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea were drawn up, even though they wouldn't be realized until the 1870s, and the French gained a sudden drive to continue expanding. Of course relations with the British Empire needed to be patched up - Britain had numerous investments in Egypt as well, and didn't enjoy seeing those investments being safegaurded by Frenchmen. But France's imperial nature could be traced to Egypt. With all of their New World colonies except Guiana and a few islands gone, the French now looked east - colonies were set up on Eastern Meridonia [Australia] in 1812, and by 1836 trading posts doted the Ivory Coast and Gabon. End of class"
 
France looks to be continuing its overseas empire. With no Napoleon to focus on dominating Europe, France is focusing more on competing with Britain in colonialism.
 
Part XXII continued

"So wait, didn't France just appoint governors in her colonies and do what she pleased?" A student spoke up when class began. Professor Harrison responded.

"In later years yes, but Egypt didn't officially become a French colony until Francis III issued a decree and bought out the Ottomans' rulership, and even then they ruled through a khedive. Egypt was always ...unique in France's empire, and there's a reason why Egypt is the only former French colony not currently going through political troubles today - except the FWAK, and that's because of Britain. And that brings us to Britain's start in African imperialism. Britain, like France, started out with trading posts in Guinea, but didn't really focus on Africa until the 1810s. In the wake of the Imperial Act of 1801, Britons had been bitten by the imperial bug, and looked around for new lands to gain. This led to new colonists arriving in the Ohio River Valley, to the disgust of the American colonials and natives already there, and the growth of the Hudson's Bay Company, as well as greater influence in India after direct rule was established."

A slide came up, showing a map of North Africa.

"It was Algiers, however, where the modern British Empire began. The Barbary Pirates had been preying on European shipping for a considerable amount of time. Originally, one could have depended on the Knights of St John to defend against them, but the Knights had declined over the years. When Algerian pirates seized an important British frigate in 1811, however, that was the last straw. The Royal Navy, under the command of Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, launched a furious assault upon the region. By 1813, Algeria was a British possession in all but name, while Tunis and Tripoli had been cowed by this show of strength into curtailing their raids."

"Any further attempts to increase Britain's empire would have to wait, however. The Second American Insurrection had begun."

Several students who had the look of Ozarkians about them perked up. So did the Buonaparte girl. He wasn't surprised. The Buonaparte fortune, Ozarkia's entire existence, his own family's fate, were inexplicably bound up to the second Insurrection. In fact, didn't the Harrison and Buonaparte patriarchs know each other?
 
Ozarkia? So the Americans have the midwest as their core territory?

And British Algeria + French Egypt = switcheroos ahoy. And nice to see a Bourbon king not named Louis.
 
The Sea of Time

September 14th, 1984

Professor Harrison looked at the paper Teresa Buonaparte had turned in. The girl herself was seated across from him with apprehension in her eyes.

"So many mistakes. So, so many. At one point you list the overthrow of Colonel Ktumba in 1964 as the major source of strife for Kongo in the last half century. Assuming you meant Colonel Manoel Ktumba, he was executed by the Portuguese in 1943 for inciting rebellion. Kongo wasn't even independent until 1955. And this is ignoring the fact that your paper looks like it was written by commitee and has no paragraph breaks to speak of. Luckily for you, this is just a draft. Go make the changes, and you should squeak by with a C mark instead of a D."*

"Ah, Gracias, Profesor Harrison. Gracias."

Harrison leaned back as the girl left, contemplating the weird, intwined history of their two families.

***
February 22nd, 1802
Baltimore, Maryland, British North America

Girolamo Buonaparte stepped of the ship and looked at the city. His city. There was nothing left for him in France, and less in Corsica. Two of his brothers, Luciano and Napoleone, were dead because they chose the wrong side in the wrong war. Poor Luigi lost it and was confined to an asylum. Giuseppi decided he wanted nothing to do with politics and retook Papa's bank. As for his sisters - Elisa, trying to raise both her and Luciano's children with that disgraced soldier of a husband, Pauletta was stuck in Hispaniola with her husband, serving in de Beuharnais's "Empire of Ste. Domingue", and Caroline married that Murat fellow, who soon found himself permanetly stationed in Meridonie [Australia] when the Royals came back. So no, there was nothing left for him in France. Everything - fame, fortune, the future - was in America. Monsieur Burr was hiring any shipmen he could get to run his whaling business, and Girolamo had answered the call.

***

"And here is your room." The landlord gestured to Girolamo's new quarters. "I should warn you about your new roomate. He's a fine doctor, but his father was one of the bigwigs for the Continentals, and he's fallen in with those 'Spiritualists' who are running around. He's decided to call everyone by old-time names for some reason."

With that, the landlord moved back down the stairs, leaving Girolamo to face whatever waited in the room.

"Excuse me, monsieur?"

A thin, spectacled man rounded around.

"Ah, you must be Girolamo, my roommate. That name won't do, Heironymus is much more distinguished. My father called me William Henry, but I prefer Gulielmus Henricus Harrison, Doctor of the medical profession. Latin is a much more esteemed language than English, wouldn't you agree?"

Being Italian, Girolamo couldn't disagree, even if it meant he was now "Heironymus."

"So the landlord tells me you're a what was it, Spiritualiste?"

"Spiritualist. Yes, it's the new faith espoused by visionaries such as Emmanuel Swedenborg and Francis Mesmer. My wife Anna and I were awakened back in '97, when I was serving His Imperial Majesty..." and then the doctor went on a spiel that, as far as Girolamo could tell, meant Harrison thought he could speak to dead people.**

"Well, I'm here in Baltimore because Burr needs men with medical experience, and I have clearly have that, having practised the teachings of everyone from Hippocratus to Gulielmus Harvey."

***
March 5th, 1802
Baltimore

Bounoparte and Harrison couldn't feel happier. They had gotten a job on Burr's best ship, which would circle South America and hunt whales in the Pacific Ocean. The amn himself was congratulating them.

"My good men, William and Heironymus [Girolamo had decided to legally change his name to something less ... Italian], you will serve me well on this voyage. And now a toast - Theodosia, bring our guests some wine."

And then Heironymus saw the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on...

***
January 17th, 1803
The Galapagos Islands, Spanish America

"Fascinating, simply fascinating." Dr. Harrison had been like this every time a new creature had wandered into his vision. Heironymus, frankly, had become sick of it, but until the squall they were in let up, he was stuck listening to William go on and on about the wildlife, fantasize about Theodosia, and eat tortoises.

"These islands support several theories I had about the development of animals. When we get back, I will have to write a book about this when we get back"

***
August 7th, 1808
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, British North America

"Was it succesful?" Heironymus was wracked with stress. He wished William was here, but the doctor had completely forgotten about his book on the origin of species and moved with Anna to the Oregon Country, planning to spread the word of Spiritualism amongst the Red Men. The nursemaid calmed him down.

"It was, Mister Bounaparte. Theodosia carried a healthy baby boy. Do you have a name?"

"Yes. Louis Heironymus Bounaparte." Nothing could make this turn sour.

***
June 2nd, 1810
Hendersonville, Cumberland, British North America

Henry Clay banged the gavel several times.

"Order, Order! This meeting of the New Continental Congress shall come to order!"

The esteemed congressmen continued shouting at each other about the direction the second attempt at independence would take - then a pistol shot rang out, shutting everyone up. Andrew Jackson simply blew his pistol smoke away.

"Ah do believe Messer Clay called to ordah. Now, Ah suggest weeyal set down and lissen!"



* There is some debate about when the modern grading system came about OTL. The theory accepted for TTL's purposes is William Farish developing a prototype of the numerical system in 1792 in Cambridge.
**There is obviously more to Spiritualism than that.
 
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