So France is getting back on it's foot and Napoleon is already making his name know, for now same as OTL with some exceptions (like the bigger french fleet which definitely will have a impact later), so I'm curious to see what you're gonna do differently.
Ventis Ferrum: Dupleix's Success and Beyond
- Thread starter Drex
- Start date
Will france invade spain in this timeline ? if not that would have major ramifications
France will invade Spain, but they'll be nowhere as succesful as OTL. However that's like at the very least five or six chapters on the future, so you'll have to wait.
Oh, let's say Lazare Hoche is going to have some fun across the seas.
Then portugal wont be invaded , that means that the portuguese royal family wont escape to brasil , that has massive repercussions in the hisory of portugal and brasil .
Indeed, Brazil night actually stay within the Portuguese empire for much longer and expand beyond it's borders (Cisplatina/Uruguay and Paraguay and Bolivia come to mind) as the central authority of Spain collapses and the colonies start to act independently. Portugal may also not have the Porto Revolution as the Portuguese won't feel outshined by Brazil and their monarch being there during the brutal Napoleonic occupation.
Well, up until that point the French invasion of Spain (and Portugal) will happen as OTL, later due to various circumstances it will start to divert from OTL until it becomes a disaster for the French.
I dont know about expanding , but keeping brasil longer seems plausible , but i would like to see brasil elevated to a kingdom and having some of the reforms tht it had when the royal family was there , this could be the turning point for portugal that makes it a relevent power again.
For it to go badly, first the invasion has to start, and by that point the Portuguese royal family is already in Brasil thou.
Maybe, independence wasn't seriously considered by the majority of the population or the elites, so they have no reason to rebel and hopefully will give Portugal the time to repair themselves.
For that to happen, the situation in Spain has to be practically the same as Napoleon's invasion of Spain, but it seems that the French will not have the success they had in our world, so I doubt it.
Funny thing about the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, Napoleon was fuming like never, because his own father (whom he hated for siding with the French when they invaded Corsica) was one of the leaders of the Corsican Republic, alongside Paoli and others Corsican aristocrats. Now, Napoleon was a huge Corsican Nationalist and advocated for its independence until a few years after he had joined a French Officers school on the mainland, and was even quite adamant to keep Corsica a French realm, because while his father did sided with the French when the Corsican Republic was defeated, he never really abandoned his Corsican Nationalism, and Napoleon proposed to the Directory to retake Corsica himself several times as the French defeating Paoli and all of his Father's old pals would've been to Napoleon a pure delight. He later said during the late days of his Empire that he actually would've liked to see how Corsica would've done on its own if France hadn't defeated it in 1769.
Chapter 16: The Columbian Consolidation
~ Chapter 16: The Columbian Consolidation ~
What historians often dubbed as the Second American Revolution only lasted for a couple of months in 1797 between the secession of New Hampshire on March 9 and the signing of the truce between New York and the New England Coalition in September. The feared war between the states only applied to three of them and was very brief, yet its effects were notable to the economy of the states that now had to build their own paths either as sovereign nations or as much reduced unions.
Arguably, Virginia was the state that came in the best shape after the breakup. It had not gone to war with any of its neighbours and demonstrated its influence when Maryland agreed to a shared control of the Potomac, thus renouncing their claims, while Virginia did not legally do so, albeit the matter would be buried never to surface again. Prior to the breakup, Virginia had a population of almost 750,000, the highest number in the Union followed by Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts, with almost one out of every five Americans being Virginian. Virginia also had a slave population of around 290,000 people (almost 40% of the population), but even if those were discounted Virginia was still the most populous state of the United States of America. The population was more rural than in other states, with Virginia’s largest city (Richmond) being the 22nd largest in terms of population at the moment of the breakup [1]. Virginia extended from the Delmarva Peninsula all the way to the Mississippi river, but had scarce control over the lands west of the Appalachians. The government, that feared an uprising in Kentucky backed by either the leftovers of the US, the Spanish or the British, approved in 1793 a territorial reform of the country, dividing Virginia into three departments [2], with Kentucky occupying the lands west of the Appalachians and south of the Ohio, Westsylvania covering the Appalachian mountains and the Shenandoah Valley, and finally Vetustia [3] which covered the rest of the country.
This model of departments would later be copied by other southern states, but during the first decades of their independence the basic administrative division was the county, with new ones forming west of the Mississippi, gradually displacing the natives, albeit conflicts with the natives in the south would not intensify until the 1810’s, battles and skirmishes took place from Kentucky to Florida. The Virginians, yet again, were the swiftest at dealing with the natives, having secured the entirety of eastern Kentucky by 1784 after the Battle of Blue Licks [4], and from there would proceed to clean the rest of Kentucky out of Indian resistance, having fully pacified the region by 1793. Part of the reason for Kentucky’s easy colonisation was geographical, as Virginia controlled the Cumberland Gap and a series of minor mountain passes that allowed for an easy crossing of the Appalachians. Virginia also pioneered the Post-US militaries with the creation of a proper force by licensing the state militia and turning it into a proper national army, as well as creating the Virginia Military Institute in 1794 [5]. The rest of southern states struggled more with their new independence, specially South Carolina, as the great harbour of Charleston now found itself lacking products to export, being reduced from the southern port of the US to simply the port of South Carolina.
The Virginia Military Institute
For the northern states, the period of Columbian history referred to as the “Consolidation” (1787 - 1812) was more difficult. The main reason being that both the UAS and New England were unions of several states, thus the creation of a constitution was needed for the governments to operate properly, while their southern neighbours employed slightly altered versions of their state constitutions. The Union States of America, or more concretely, the four states that remained a part of the Union, continued to operate under the Articles of Confederation until 1789, when a Constitutional Convention was called. This new constitution formally established the Union of Atlantic States in 1790, composed of the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio. This new constitution forbade any of the member states from pursuing their own foreign policy, not even in trade and tariffs, with interstate and international commerce regulated by the Federal Government of the Union, however states could regulate their own intrastate commerce and could pass their own taxes and regulations regarding their internal trade organisation, as long as those did not interfere with the federal regulations.
The form of government consisted in a bicameral parliament, with a House of Representatives acting as a Congress, and a Senate [6]. Both chambers are elected by direct suffrage of all free males above 25, and the five states that composed the Union (Ohio entered in a rush and without meeting the requirements) would have a representation on the House of Representatives equal to the proportion of their population in the grand total of the Union, to be divided between the 100 representatives. The states with the highest populations (Pennsylvania and New York) were the ones that had the most power in the House of Representatives, and thus if they aligned they could easily overwhelm the rest of states put together (something prevented by the Senate, composed of 15 members, 3 per state), however New York and Pennsylvania often chose opposing presidential candidates. The New York-Pennsylvania dispute also extended to the seat of government, with Pennsylvania proposing that the capital be established in Philadelphia, while New York proposed New York City. Ultimately, New Jersey and Delaware backed the option of Philadelphia, however the New York delegation pressured for the creation of a “Federal District” in the city of Philadelphia, so the state of Pennsylvania could not legislate over the federal capital, thus creating a capital that was not controlled by any state.
The form of government consisted in a bicameral parliament, with a House of Representatives acting as a Congress, and a Senate [6]. Both chambers are elected by direct suffrage of all free males above 25, and the five states that composed the Union (Ohio entered in a rush and without meeting the requirements) would have a representation on the House of Representatives equal to the proportion of their population in the grand total of the Union, to be divided between the 100 representatives. The states with the highest populations (Pennsylvania and New York) were the ones that had the most power in the House of Representatives, and thus if they aligned they could easily overwhelm the rest of states put together (something prevented by the Senate, composed of 15 members, 3 per state), however New York and Pennsylvania often chose opposing presidential candidates. The New York-Pennsylvania dispute also extended to the seat of government, with Pennsylvania proposing that the capital be established in Philadelphia, while New York proposed New York City. Ultimately, New Jersey and Delaware backed the option of Philadelphia, however the New York delegation pressured for the creation of a “Federal District” in the city of Philadelphia, so the state of Pennsylvania could not legislate over the federal capital, thus creating a capital that was not controlled by any state.
Philadelphia F.D., capital of the Union of Atlantic States
The situation was different in New England. For starters, there was a feeling of a common identity among the states, which made the process of granting powers to a new federal government easier. The New Englander constitution was the first one in the Americas to abolish slavery in all of its member states, despite opposition from some landowners in Rhode Island and Connecticut. New England saw political parties organising quickly in its territory, with the Federalist party taking the lead, inspired by the nationalist factions in the ex-US, arguing for a strong central government and pursuing policies aimed at a focus on trade and protecting the local industry. The power of the states was more imbalanced, as out of a total population of over a million inhabitants [7], Massachusetts had 475,000, almost half of the population of the Commonwealth. A system of election based on states and population was feared by the smaller states, as they could get swamped if Massachusetts population grew more, and with Boston acting as the national capital that was a given. Massachusetts agreed to concede the District of Maine to the government of the Commonwealth for it to become a state later, but Massachusetts was still home to a third of New England’s population.
Ultimately, the outcome of how elections were to be realised was changed, as now elections would not be decided by representatives at a state level, but by representatives at county level, which was slightly more favourable for the smaller states, albeit it created the problem of how to deal with different populations in each county, and this was solved by the New England Census of 1791 which established the population of the Commonwealth, the population of each state, and the population of each county. Then, out of a Congress of 400 representatives, counties would be given a representation according to the percentage of the population they had, with a minimum of 2 for each county. This electoral system helped with disestablishing the primacy of state identities over the New Englander identity and reinforced the Commonwealth’s cohesion, albeit it would lead to a couple of electoral scandals later.
Ultimately, the outcome of how elections were to be realised was changed, as now elections would not be decided by representatives at a state level, but by representatives at county level, which was slightly more favourable for the smaller states, albeit it created the problem of how to deal with different populations in each county, and this was solved by the New England Census of 1791 which established the population of the Commonwealth, the population of each state, and the population of each county. Then, out of a Congress of 400 representatives, counties would be given a representation according to the percentage of the population they had, with a minimum of 2 for each county. This electoral system helped with disestablishing the primacy of state identities over the New Englander identity and reinforced the Commonwealth’s cohesion, albeit it would lead to a couple of electoral scandals later.
The town of Boston in 1790
New England recovered the fastest from the collapse of the US thanks to centralised economic policies and the creation of a Commonwealth Bank in 1793, as well as enjoying a positive trade balance for years to come, as New England signed the Adams Treaty with the United Kingdom in 1794, making Britain New England’s major economic partner and forging a strong relationship with the former metropole. The implications of the Columbian nations in international politics started after Louis XVI was executed. The southern nations, while initially favourable to the developments in France, were shocked by the downfall of the aristocratic Ancien Régime and their sympathies quickly shifted to the émigrés, offering them lands and seeing the exiled French aristocracy as brothers expelled by a radical revolution. Meanwhile, in the UAS the republican regime of France was seen as a natural ally against the encroaching redcoats in the Northwestern Territory and their Indian Allies. While the 1778 Treaty of Alliance technically did not apply as the United States did not exist anymore, Philadelphia opted to renew the alliance with the French Republic in 1795, with a purely defensive cause, stating that the Union would only join their allies if they were attacked. Which is exactly what happened some years down the line.
[1] - The numbers come from the 1790 US Census, with the numbers lowered down a bit to make up for the 3 years of difference.
[2] - Name inspired from the French departments.
[3] - Vetustia comes from the Latin, and means “old”, referring to it being the first area settled permanently by the colonists.
[4] - That happened in 1782 IOTL.
[5] - OTL established in 1839, now that Virginia is its own sovereign nation it needs a good military as soon as possible.
[6] - Both operating in very much a similar way to their OTL US equivalents.
[7] - Based on the 1790 US Census. For Nova Scotia I used a population figure from 1806, adding the numbers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and reducing them by 30%.
[1] - The numbers come from the 1790 US Census, with the numbers lowered down a bit to make up for the 3 years of difference.
[2] - Name inspired from the French departments.
[3] - Vetustia comes from the Latin, and means “old”, referring to it being the first area settled permanently by the colonists.
[4] - That happened in 1782 IOTL.
[5] - OTL established in 1839, now that Virginia is its own sovereign nation it needs a good military as soon as possible.
[6] - Both operating in very much a similar way to their OTL US equivalents.
[7] - Based on the 1790 US Census. For Nova Scotia I used a population figure from 1806, adding the numbers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and reducing them by 30%.
Had this infobox ready for a while but forgot to post it
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? The Second Revolution happened in 1787, a decade earlier than in the previous instance of the Timeline, so the infobox is correct.
When they stabilize and their population grows, they will start looking for where to expand, so that leaves them three options: the English, the Spanish and themselves. It also depends a lot on their economy, I doubt that everyone can have a good economy, in this case the Southern States would end up looking like Brazil, only worse since they are not the size that our Portuguese friend has.
From what it seems Spain may do better than in our time, without an invasion like the one it received in our country, its colonies would not reveal themselves, or at least not all and not almost at once. The Columbian nations could expand to Florida or Lusiana, Lusiana for the year 1763 had a population of around 50,000 inhabitants, suppose that it becomes independent in about 100 years, with a growth rate of 2% its population would reach about 150,000 Inhabitants, not counting immigration, with that small population it would not withstand an invasion from the rest of the countries, already elderly and with a larger population, honestly it would be better if it stayed under Spanish rule for longer, to prevent someone from coming and taking away their territory. In fact, it is much more likely that they cannot even successfully rebel.
This Spain is much more robust, it would need a coalition of the Columbian nations, to even take territory from it in a war.
As for Britain, they are screwed right now, but they will not stay there for long or they may get worse if things go wrong, there is no way they will take territory from it.
They can only fight each other in the best of times, and bleed to death.
From what it seems Spain may do better than in our time, without an invasion like the one it received in our country, its colonies would not reveal themselves, or at least not all and not almost at once. The Columbian nations could expand to Florida or Lusiana, Lusiana for the year 1763 had a population of around 50,000 inhabitants, suppose that it becomes independent in about 100 years, with a growth rate of 2% its population would reach about 150,000 Inhabitants, not counting immigration, with that small population it would not withstand an invasion from the rest of the countries, already elderly and with a larger population, honestly it would be better if it stayed under Spanish rule for longer, to prevent someone from coming and taking away their territory. In fact, it is much more likely that they cannot even successfully rebel.
This Spain is much more robust, it would need a coalition of the Columbian nations, to even take territory from it in a war.
As for Britain, they are screwed right now, but they will not stay there for long or they may get worse if things go wrong, there is no way they will take territory from it.
They can only fight each other in the best of times, and bleed to death.
Just in case it was not clear before, Napoleon still invades Spain and the regime crumbles mostly IOTL. What goes worse for the French are later campaigns in the peninsula, but the anarchy still ensues. Well, a bit less than IOTL, you'll see later, but don't expect Spain to come out unscathed of the Napoleonic wars.
So depending on how you do, you could lose La Plata and / or Nueva Granada. They could stay with Peru and maybe New Spain or at least the northernmost part of New Spain.
Chapter 17: Sapphires and Emeralds
~ Chapter 17: Sapphires and Emeralds ~
When the Netherlands finally surrendered and signed the Treaty of The Hague with France on May 16 1795, the French did not treat the new Dutch government as a friendly ally, but rather as a defeated enemy. The treaty stipulated that the lands south of the Rhine would be ceded to France, that the new Batavian Republic was to become a French ally and go to war with Great Britain, that they should pay an indemnity of a 100 million guilders, that they would loan money to France at a very low interest rate, and that they would pay for the 25,000 French soldiers that would occupy the Batavian Republic. The Dutch surrender was a shot in the arm for French finances, and with one of the major fleets of Europe either destroyed or fighting along them and with the Spanish soon to be out of the war, the French fleet was now free of further constraints and was ready to challenge the Royal Navy for superiority on the seas. The British, meanwhile, treated the Dutch as enemies and invaded their colonies of Guyana and South Africa, also taking Ceylon with help from the French East India Company.
As the situation in America stabilised, the French could begin to import grain from their ally in the continent, the Union of Atlantic States, to deal with the food crisis the country had suffered for years. In order to secure shipments, the French needed at least partial control of the Atlantic ocean. The French had tried to secure a route to the west of the British isles since the war with Britain began in 1793, but they had mixed success and no real motivation to push for the opening of shipping lanes to North America, focusing on the Caribbean instead and managing to recover the islands that the British had captured, but now the situation was different and the French fleet decided to set sail and battle the Royal Navy [1].
French admiral Bouvet set sail from Brest on September 1795 to prove the waters, encountering Sidney Smith’s fleet 120 miles southwest of the Scilly Isles, the battle was largely inconclusive and due to strong winds [2] the fleets struggled to reach each other until Smith repositioned his ships and used the wind on his favour, pursuing Bouvet and capturing three vessels. Further French raids were equally unsuccessful, albeit Admiral Nielly managed to defeat Alexander Hood in December 1795 off the Breton isle of Groix. The British were forced to spread their forces thin in 1795 and 1796, having to cover shipping routes to the Americas, to India, and to keep an eye on the Mediterranean while not weakening their own home fleet [3], and 1796 would be the year the French would attack.
The Battle of Groix
The French had already been preparing a force to assault Great Britain when Theobald Wolfe Tone arrived in Le Havre in representation of the Society of United Irishmen, a republican (albeit not anticlerical) secret society in Ireland that hoped to expel the British from the island and turn Ireland into an independent state. Lazare Carnot supported Tone and offered the SUI over 10,000 professional French troops and guns to supply another 20,000 men, in exchange for the Society not rising up until the French landed. The command of the expedition fell on Lazare Hoche, a skilled and quick-thinking general that Carnot deemed ideal as commander of a force that could, and was likely to be, isolated. As French preparations had already begun, a fleet was dispatched in August to distract the British from guarding the Western Approaches and facilitating the success of the Ireland Expedition, which was assisted by a Spanish declaration of war on Great Britain that same month. That endeavour was successful, and the French departed Brest on October 18 [4], and after dividing to avoid detection, the French fleet of 51 ships and 20,000 men landed at Bantry Bay on October 22.
Hoche’s landing caught the British authorities in Ireland almost with their pants down, as they only expected a minor uprising of Irishmen, not the landing of an entire French army on the island. Hoche waited some days in order to let news of the revolution spread and to organise his forces and supplies, departing Bantry on october 26 and heading west towards Cork in a rapid assault, trying to gain as much territory as possible before the British consolidated. In the interior, the United Irishmen rose in the counties of Tipperary, Kildare and Offaly [5], while other uprisings took place in Wexford, Dublin and Belfast, with the latter two being quickly suppressed by the Commander in Chief of the Army of Ireland, the Earl of Carhampton. Carhampton’s reprisals were extremely brutal, often ignoring legal considerations, but were effective, and British hold over everything north of Dublin was solid. Hoche laid siege to Cork in November and the city surrendered as the garrison was confused and demoralised, then marching east to meet with the Wexford rebels.
Hoche’s landing caught the British authorities in Ireland almost with their pants down, as they only expected a minor uprising of Irishmen, not the landing of an entire French army on the island. Hoche waited some days in order to let news of the revolution spread and to organise his forces and supplies, departing Bantry on october 26 and heading west towards Cork in a rapid assault, trying to gain as much territory as possible before the British consolidated. In the interior, the United Irishmen rose in the counties of Tipperary, Kildare and Offaly [5], while other uprisings took place in Wexford, Dublin and Belfast, with the latter two being quickly suppressed by the Commander in Chief of the Army of Ireland, the Earl of Carhampton. Carhampton’s reprisals were extremely brutal, often ignoring legal considerations, but were effective, and British hold over everything north of Dublin was solid. Hoche laid siege to Cork in November and the city surrendered as the garrison was confused and demoralised, then marching east to meet with the Wexford rebels.
British forces quashing resistance in Ulster
Hoche had no reinforcements except for those Irishmen that enlisted the Army of the Republic of Ireland, which was proclaimed at Waterford on November 16 1796, and with the British slowly regaining naval supremacy, supplies would soon be critically low, so Hoche decided to move north to Dublin and take the city, taking a route through the center of the island, expecting the British to descend on Wexford following the coast. Hoche entered Tullamore on November 23 and split his forces, with a small detachment sent west to cut the British retreat, while the bulk of his force then swung southeast and encountered Carhampton’s army close to Carrigslaney, and in the ensuing battle French experience, Irish knowledge of the terrain and Hoche’s tactical genius won the day for the Franco-Irish forces, with 890 Frenchmen dead compared to 1,700 Brits. The Army of Ireland managed to save most of its forces, but they were unable to reach Dublin [6] before Hoche caught up with them again at Roundwood and defeated Carhampton again, inflicting over 2,000 casualties. Only the presence of the Royal Navy and reinforcements brought from Liverpool prevented the fall of Dublin, but the city was laid siege in December. Carhampton was sacked and replaced by the Scottish Ralph Abercromby.
By 1797 the French had secured a third of Ireland and the British were growing desperate. That year the Parliament passed the 1797 Militia Act, which called for the recruitment of 90,000 young men, an act that was despised in Scotland, where the Society of the United Scotsmen launched an uprising inspired by that which was seemingly successful in Ireland, however this one was quickly crushed by the British Army without foreign interference [7]. Hoche’s last hopes of reinforcements died out when he received news of Admiral Lacrosse’s defeat at the Battle of Porspoder on February 1797, in which the French fleet that was supposed to send 10,000 men and military supplies was defeated by Lord Howe, with the French losing 6 ships of the line to meager British losses. Hoche made one last attempt to capture Dublin on March 2, but his assault was repelled thanks to the defensive works built by the British, as taking the trenches redoubts the British had built was too costly for the French, Hoche decided to lift the siege four days later and headed south with his army.
Abercromby was a more cautious man than his predecessor, and expected Hoche to set up a trap somewhere in the southeast of Ireland, deciding for a cautious advance and counter insurgency operations against the Irish before pressing on with the advance. This worked against Hoche’s limited supplies, with the French having to live off the land, and the Irish view of French soldiers started to shift after some incidents where French troops sacked Irish farms and torched them. Hoche would not go down without a fight, and attacked Abercromby’s forces at Enniscorthy, again inflicting heavy casualties on the British, but his flanking maneuver was intercepted and the French cavalry was subsequently routed back.
By 1797 the French had secured a third of Ireland and the British were growing desperate. That year the Parliament passed the 1797 Militia Act, which called for the recruitment of 90,000 young men, an act that was despised in Scotland, where the Society of the United Scotsmen launched an uprising inspired by that which was seemingly successful in Ireland, however this one was quickly crushed by the British Army without foreign interference [7]. Hoche’s last hopes of reinforcements died out when he received news of Admiral Lacrosse’s defeat at the Battle of Porspoder on February 1797, in which the French fleet that was supposed to send 10,000 men and military supplies was defeated by Lord Howe, with the French losing 6 ships of the line to meager British losses. Hoche made one last attempt to capture Dublin on March 2, but his assault was repelled thanks to the defensive works built by the British, as taking the trenches redoubts the British had built was too costly for the French, Hoche decided to lift the siege four days later and headed south with his army.
Abercromby was a more cautious man than his predecessor, and expected Hoche to set up a trap somewhere in the southeast of Ireland, deciding for a cautious advance and counter insurgency operations against the Irish before pressing on with the advance. This worked against Hoche’s limited supplies, with the French having to live off the land, and the Irish view of French soldiers started to shift after some incidents where French troops sacked Irish farms and torched them. Hoche would not go down without a fight, and attacked Abercromby’s forces at Enniscorthy, again inflicting heavy casualties on the British, but his flanking maneuver was intercepted and the French cavalry was subsequently routed back.
Irish forces fighting at Vinegar Hill, near Enniscorthy
Abercromby then pressed onto Wexford, capturing the city on April 21 and pushing west, cornering the French into Munster. A relief force of the French navy managed to slip across the blockade and deliver some needed supplies, most critically gunpowder. Even if Hoche could inflict a new defeat on the British, morale was low and the consequences of said victory would probably doom the Franco-Irish army by depleting its reserves of both supplies and men, but Hoche tried. The decisive battle of the French invasion of Ireland would take place at Ballinameela, where Hoche was defeated for the first time as his forces could not counter the large amounts of artillery Abercromby had brought to the field after the fall of Wexford. Hoche retreated with the remnants of his army back to Cork, where he was cornered by the Royal Army of Ireland, and handed over his sword to Abercromby on May 28 1797. The French invasion of Ireland had failed, and with it one of France’s most skilled generals. Ireland formally became a part of the United Kingdom on January 1 1799.
[1] - The naval campaigns of 1794 have been butterflied away. This means that the Glorious First of June never happened, and neither has the Campaign of the Great Winter. Without these losses, the French fleet is a stronger combat force than it was IOTL, and one has to take into account that its size was larger to begin with.
[2] - ITTL I will not mess with the climate unless I want to for plot reasons. I usually will follow the OTL climate, even if by this time it should be different. Climatology is a mess and so unpredictable that I won’t even try. Just bear with me on alternate weather.
[3] - I know it was created in 1902, this is just a reference.
[4] - The fleet was scheduled to set sail in early October both OTL and ITTL. IOTL it was delayed until December due to the lack of supplies.
[5] - Then known as King’s County.
[6] - Irish partisans and Hoche’s northern forces slowing them down.
[7] - IOTL both the Militia Act and the Scottish uprising happened late in the year, and the Dutch tried to send an army to support the Scots, but their fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Camperdown.
[1] - The naval campaigns of 1794 have been butterflied away. This means that the Glorious First of June never happened, and neither has the Campaign of the Great Winter. Without these losses, the French fleet is a stronger combat force than it was IOTL, and one has to take into account that its size was larger to begin with.
[2] - ITTL I will not mess with the climate unless I want to for plot reasons. I usually will follow the OTL climate, even if by this time it should be different. Climatology is a mess and so unpredictable that I won’t even try. Just bear with me on alternate weather.
[3] - I know it was created in 1902, this is just a reference.
[4] - The fleet was scheduled to set sail in early October both OTL and ITTL. IOTL it was delayed until December due to the lack of supplies.
[5] - Then known as King’s County.
[6] - Irish partisans and Hoche’s northern forces slowing them down.
[7] - IOTL both the Militia Act and the Scottish uprising happened late in the year, and the Dutch tried to send an army to support the Scots, but their fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Camperdown.
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Same thing as in OTL then, but hopefully the French can liberate Ireland once they defeat the British.
Which will hopefully happen.
Which will hopefully happen.
Chapter 18: The Apex of the Republic
~ Chapter 18: The Apex of the Republic ~
Even if the French invasion of Ireland failed, it succeeded in forcing the British temporarily out of the European continent, allowing France to launch a series of campaigns in the years 1796 and 1797 that would bring an end to the War of the First Coalition. In the Rhine, general Jean-Charles Pichegru captured Mannheim in May of 1795, only to then betray the Republic, switching sides and handing over critical information to the Austrians, who defeated Jourdan to the south and lifted the siege of Mainz. On June 1796 French troops under Jean Moreau crossed the Rhine after capturing the fortress of Kehl and advanced deep into southern Germany, forcing many of the local states into accepting arminstices as the Austrians retreated further east to protect the Danube, however the northern prong of the French offensive was defeated at Amberg and Würzburg, allowing the Austrians to threat Moreau with an encirclement and he retreated, with the front stabilising along the Rhine in 1797.
However, the war would be decided on Italy, as General Barthélemy Schérer was ordered to go on the offensive following a command by the War Ministry, coming from military planner Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte had been catapulted to fame for his success at the Siege of Toulon, and his rising star would continue when he quelled the royalist uprising of the 13 Vendémiarie by seizing large cannons and shooting them at the crowd, quickly silencing the royalists [1]. He then married Joséphine de Beauharnais, a former mistress of one of the leaders of the Thermidorian Reaction, Paul Barras. Back to Italy, Schérer defeated the Austro-Sardinian army of the Count of Wallis at Loano, opening the gates of Italy as the French gained a foothold in the east side of the Alps.
Bonaparte took command of the Army of Italy two days after his marriage and after Schérer resigned for unknown reasons (likely this was a political appointment), with Bonaparte expected not to do much with the poor condition of the Army of Italy, being the most neglected of three main French armies [2]. Napoleon decided to attack immediately but the Austrians stroke first hitting the French right flank at Voltri, and Napoleon decided to counter this move by assaulting the center of the Coalition formation at Montenotte, separating the Austrians from the Sardinians and keeping a force to check the Austrians while charging against the Sardinians, that surrendered after their defeat at the Battle of Mondovì, signing the Armistice of Cherasco. Following this, the Austrians retreated to the Adda river, but Bonaparte defeated them again at the Battle of Lodi.
The Battle of Lodi
Bonaparte’s Italian Army was reinforced with 50,000 men and French troops marched south, occupying the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and marching south into the Papal States, with the pope agreeing to cede Romagna to the Cisalpine Republic, a puppet state of France. Eventually rebels overthrew Papal rule and created the Roman Republic (as well as some minor republics such as the Tiberine and Anconine Republics), another puppet of France. Napoleon then decided to go back to the Po Valley and defeated the Austrians at Lonato and Castiglione. The new Austrian commander, Joseph Alvinczy, was also unable to stop Bonaparte and was defeated at the Battle of the Arcole Bridge, with a part of the Austrian garrison trapped at Mantua. Alvinczy opted to launch a counter offensive, but Napoleon defeated him again at the Battle of Rivoli, inside the territory of the Republic of Venice. Mantua surrendered soon after, and Napoleon marched to the Alps, advancing within 150 kilometers of Vienna before the Austrians sued for peace, ending the War of the First Coalition.
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on October 17 1797. As per the treaty, Austria renounced its possession of the Netherlands (to France) and Milan (to the Cisalpine Republic). All of Italy was turned into a series of French puppet states except for the Kingdom of Naples and the island, while the Republic of Venice was partitioned along the Mincio River, with the eastern part going to France and the western part to the Cisalpine Republic. Austria annexed Dalmatia and Istria, while the rest of Venetian possessions went to France. The Austro-French peace was not to last, as the compensation to German princes for their lost territories west of the Rhine never happened, and Naples was hostile to the French. Napoleon, meanwhile, was dispatched with the French Mediterranean Fleet to Egypt, conquering Malta on the way [3].
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on October 17 1797. As per the treaty, Austria renounced its possession of the Netherlands (to France) and Milan (to the Cisalpine Republic). All of Italy was turned into a series of French puppet states except for the Kingdom of Naples and the island, while the Republic of Venice was partitioned along the Mincio River, with the eastern part going to France and the western part to the Cisalpine Republic. Austria annexed Dalmatia and Istria, while the rest of Venetian possessions went to France. The Austro-French peace was not to last, as the compensation to German princes for their lost territories west of the Rhine never happened, and Naples was hostile to the French. Napoleon, meanwhile, was dispatched with the French Mediterranean Fleet to Egypt, conquering Malta on the way [3].
Western Europe after the peace treaties of Basel and Campo Formio
By 1797, France was almost completely broken, the Assignats had decreased in value so much the Directory replaced them with the Mandats territoriaux in March of 1796 [4] with a total value of 2,500,000,000 francs, however the currency was simply done that counterfeiting it was so easy that six months in they had lost most of their value and as 1797 started they were pretty much worthless. By 1797 France was virtually bankrupt, and the Directory would have to continue to wage war, not in an attempt to expand the Republic or create puppet regimes, but to obtain war bounty from other countries. For example, when Napoleon captured Modena he confiscated the equivalent of three quarters of a million francs and the entire art collection of the Duke of Modena. Further treasures would be taken from the Papacy, with a value estimated at twenty million francs. The situation was also complicated in internal politics, with the royalists headed by Pichegru and Barbe-Marbois gaining more power, and fearing that they would put an end to the revolution Augereau marched on Paris and arrested both, and the Directory imposed itself over the legislative power.
With Austria out of the war, now Britain was facing the same coalition of nations it had faced back in the American Revolution, fighting against Spain, France and the Batavian Republic. However, Britain had a head start compared to the previous war, having already crippled or defeated portions of the Dutch and French fleets, and also controlling parts of the French and Dutch fleets that defected, including most of the fleet of the French East India Company. However, Britain was still hard pressed to replace lost ships and train new sailors, resorting to the capture of neutral ships [5], especially focusing on ships from its former colonies in North America, in which American sailors were captured and forced to serve in the Royal Navy. The issue of the recurrent kidnapping of the sailors damaged relations between Britain and the Columbian Nations, but none was strong enough to challenge the Royal Navy, and the British were making distinctions, concretely with New England, their main economic partner in North America.
British and French ships engaging in battle
But for one Columbian nation the stretched status of the Royal Navy presented an opportunity. Despite the 1783 Treaty of Paris stating that the Northwestern Territories were to be handed over to the United States, British troops still occupied a number of forts, with the only territorial exchanges being the surrender of forts in Lake Champlain and the UAS purchase of Connecticut’s Western Reserve for the equivalent of 1.2 million pounds sterling. By 1797, the British still occupied Fort Lernoult [6], Fort Mackinac, Fort Miami, Fort Niagara, Fort Ontario and Fort Oswegatchie; all of them in territory that now belonged to the Union of Atlantic States. The UAS began to prepare its forces for a takeover of the forts, and opened negotiations with Virginia, who also desired the northern bank of the Ohio River about a coordinated assault on the Northwest and the Northwestern Confederacy of native tribes.
The Virginians were initially sceptical, but a spy secretly filtered the negotiations to the British and they offered Virginia all lands south of the parallel 39º N [7], and the Virginians jumped at the opportunity. Ultimately, the British prefered to concede a patch of land rather than risking losing the entire Northwest. When news spread of the spy, relations between the UAS and Virginia collapsed, albeit they had been declining since 1794. This setback would not stop the UAS from using an attack upon a trade ship heading towards France on February 2 1798 as an excuse for president George Clinton to present a motion to the Congress, and the Union of Atlantic States declared war on Great Britain on February 27, honouring their alliance with the French Republic. The French Revolutionary Wars had made the jump to the American mainland [8].
[1] - The revolt had some more people fighting for the Royalist cause than IOTL, nothing that a couple more cannon shots can not fix.
[2] - From north to south, the Army of Sambre and Meuse under Jourdan, the Army of the Rhine and Moselle under Moreau, and the Army of Italy now under Bonaparte. There are also other forces active, such as Kellermann’s Army of the Alps.
[3] - As a neutral nation, the Order of Malta refused to let more than two ships at once of the same nation in their harbours. Napoleon decided to bomb Valletta and take over the island, needing the harbour for repairs.
[4] - OTL in February of that same year, the Mandats are a paper based currency created as land-warrants for the lands confiscated from the royalty and the clergy.
[5] - Which led to the creation of the Second League of Armed Neutrality in 1800.
[6] - The British name of Fort Detroit.
[7] - The British miscalculated the position of the Illinois river’s junction with the Mississippi, believing it was further north. They missed by 2.5 km.
[8] - There had been ample conflict in the Caribbean for years, with the British and French exchanging islands. The Haitian Revolution goes as IOTL.
The Virginians were initially sceptical, but a spy secretly filtered the negotiations to the British and they offered Virginia all lands south of the parallel 39º N [7], and the Virginians jumped at the opportunity. Ultimately, the British prefered to concede a patch of land rather than risking losing the entire Northwest. When news spread of the spy, relations between the UAS and Virginia collapsed, albeit they had been declining since 1794. This setback would not stop the UAS from using an attack upon a trade ship heading towards France on February 2 1798 as an excuse for president George Clinton to present a motion to the Congress, and the Union of Atlantic States declared war on Great Britain on February 27, honouring their alliance with the French Republic. The French Revolutionary Wars had made the jump to the American mainland [8].
[1] - The revolt had some more people fighting for the Royalist cause than IOTL, nothing that a couple more cannon shots can not fix.
[2] - From north to south, the Army of Sambre and Meuse under Jourdan, the Army of the Rhine and Moselle under Moreau, and the Army of Italy now under Bonaparte. There are also other forces active, such as Kellermann’s Army of the Alps.
[3] - As a neutral nation, the Order of Malta refused to let more than two ships at once of the same nation in their harbours. Napoleon decided to bomb Valletta and take over the island, needing the harbour for repairs.
[4] - OTL in February of that same year, the Mandats are a paper based currency created as land-warrants for the lands confiscated from the royalty and the clergy.
[5] - Which led to the creation of the Second League of Armed Neutrality in 1800.
[6] - The British name of Fort Detroit.
[7] - The British miscalculated the position of the Illinois river’s junction with the Mississippi, believing it was further north. They missed by 2.5 km.
[8] - There had been ample conflict in the Caribbean for years, with the British and French exchanging islands. The Haitian Revolution goes as IOTL.
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