Perhaps the French do something that they do not want the Spanish to do or the king sees having a population that does not speak your language is very risky. Although populating Louisiana I think it is more important, because it is frankly massive and first we will have to go through Louisiana (except Florida) to get to the rest, besides that the attempts to populate Louisiana could come close to Texas. Maybe they don't need the French, an Anglo revolt could have the same effect as a French revolt.
I mean the Kings didn't saw having a French elite as a threat because a lot people trading in New Orleans were French AND Spanish. Anglos too but much less. Spaniards there would eventually adopt French or English after Louisiana's annexation by the US, and many others would move to Mexico.
 
I mean the Kings didn't saw having a French elite as a threat because a lot people trading in New Orleans were French AND Spanish. Anglos too but much less. Spaniards there would eventually adopt French or English after Louisiana's annexation by the US, and many others would move to Mexico.
Yes, honestly, for the Spanish to be the ones who surpass the French in Louisiana, they need either a massive immigration policy or to stay in control of Louisiana for longer. Without the United States and with Great Britain it is possible to retain it for longer, it could even remain like Paraguay if it rebels later.
 

Gabingston

Kicked
I don't see Upper Louisiana (north of the Missouri or even the Arkansas River) staying in Spanish hands long term. They simply don't have much of a capacity to settle it, and either the British or squatters from the former U.S. are going to make their way to Upper Louisiana eventually.
 
I don't see Upper Louisiana (north of the Missouri or even the Arkansas River) staying in Spanish hands long term. They simply don't have much of a capacity to settle it, and either the British or squatters from the former U.S. are going to make their way to Upper Louisiana eventually.
Well the region from south Iowa to south Missouri was settled on the shores of the Mississippi by "Canadians" by that I mean French speaking fur traders, so there was some activity there, but the region around Arkansas and Oklahoma was kind of empty of French, Spanish or Anglo presence
 
Main settlement patterns on Louisiana followed the Mississippi and the waterways to the east. After all, the French discovered the Mississippi coming from the Great Lakes through rivers such as the Ohio and the Illinois. These rivers served as the main path of settlement, being easy to navigate and being well connected to the coast and the Atlantic. Meanwhile, the Missouri river is a tributary coming from the west, where there is no European settlement, and the northernmost area of the Mississippi barely receives any attention past the point where the Illinois rivers joins the Mississippi, just north of Saint Louis. Plus, climate grows in aridity as one progresses further west, which disuades settlers.

In the case of Upper Louisiana, the Angloamericans and Canadians have a head start as they already control the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, which makes transporting settlers way easier than having them sail up the Mississippi, so Upper Louisiana is likely to become majority Angloamerican soon.
 
Chapter 14: The Republic Does Not Pardon Traitors
~ Chapter 14: The Republic Does Not Pardon Traitors ~

French expectatives of winning offensive wars against the Habsburgs like Louis XIV did a century ago were rapidly crushed when the disorganization the revolution had caused on the army became apparent, with troops deserting en masse and even murdering their officials, such as the case of Theóbald Dillon, one of the Rochambeau’s subordinates and tasked with preparing an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, being murdered after his troops fled even before the Battle of Marquain started. The French expected the support of the local population, as they had already risen in rebellion against their Austrian overlords in 1789 and proclaimed the United Belgian States until being crushed by Austrian forces in December 1790, even if the city of Liège held until January 13 1791 [1]. French troops would try again in June and would be repelled by the Austrians. It was during this time that a war song for the Army of the Rhine began to popularise, eventually morphing into La Marseillaise.

By July a true coalition had been formed against France, comprising Austria, Prussia, the rest of the Holy Roman Empire and Sardinia. The army of the Duke of Brunswick was waiting on the Rhine accompanied by a strong contingent of Émigrés commanded by the cousin of the king, Louis Joseph de Condé. The French Assembly declared the nation to be in danger, and ordered the levy of 100,000 National Guards to defend the nation, a decision that Louis XVI tried to veto. For the Assembly, this proved that the king was not loyal to France but to his throne, and that he was expecting foreign troops to march on Paris and restore his rule. This was confirmed when the Duke of Brunswick issued a manifesto declaring that the towns opposing the restoration would be considered in a state of rebellion and martial law would be applied, as well as stating that no harm would be done to the civilians unless they harmed the royal family. The Brunswick Manifesto had the opposite effect of what the Coalition intended, and infuriated the French public, rallying it around the Assembly and against the monarch.

On August 10 1792 a mob stormed the Tuileries Palace, murdering most of the Swiss Guards that were protecting the king and capturing Louis XVI after he took refuge in the building of the Legislative Assembly. That same day the Assembly declared that the king would be “temporarily relieved of his duty”. Republican radicals took control of the government and a campaign of repression against priests began, resulting in The September Massacres. The French monarchy was abolished, Louis XVI was arrested and stripped of his titles, now being known as “Citizen Louis Capet”. Upon hearing of this, the Prussian Army invaded France on the 16 and the Duke of Brunswick crossed the Rhine three days later. The fortress of Longwy fell so fast that Verginaud declared that the fort must have been handed over to the enemy, and by the end of the month the Prussians were at the fortress of Verdun. 20,000 recruits were rushed from Paris to defend the north, being dispatched along with most of the artillery in Paris, and finally grinding Brunswick’s army to a halt at the inconclusive Battle of Valmy [2].

Valmy.jpg

The "Cannonade" of Valmy

Valmy was a massive boost of morale for the French as the Austro-Prussian army began to retreat 10 days later. At the same time evidence was found that compromised Louis Capet, and a legal process was initiated against the former monarch. On December 11 he was taken out of custody and the judgement started, with Louis already aware of the fate that would befall on him for the accusation of high treason, but still presented a solid defence. He was surprised when after being found guilty, the court decided to execute him with a difference of two votes [3]. The king pardoned those that were about to execute him in a speech before his execution but a drum beating ordered by Antoine Joseph Santerre silenced the monarch. Louis faced his execution with bravery and his body was dumped in an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery and covered with quicklime. The Virginian General Assembly named the city of Louisville in his honour, and deemed Louis as a noble man, while the execution of the king was much better received in the Atlantic Union and New England.

The execution of Louis Capet was met with a wave of disgust in Europe, and the French Republic opted to declare war on Great Britain and the Netherlands on February 1 1793, and shortly after also declared war on Spain. Later that year, Portugal, Tuscany and Naples also declared war on the French Republic. In March that same year, the National Convention [4] passed a decree ordering a national levy of 300,000 men with each department expected to fill a quota, being the first example of the “Levée en masse”. The French Army, still plagued by problems such as the rivalry between old and new elements (whites and blues, respectively), still proved to be an effective force when Dumouriez invaded and conquered the Austrian Netherlands after the Battle of Jemappes, while Custine reached as far as Frankfurt and Sardinian positions west of the Alps were occupied and annexed.

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Romanticised depiction of Dumouriez leading the troops at Jemappes

1793 was not so much of a good year for the French military, with Dumouriez disregarding orders from Paris and invading the Netherlands, being defeated at Neerwinden by the Austrians and having the siege of Maastricht lifted. An embarrassed Dumouriez tried to negotiate with the Austrians, but his reputation was in shambles and he defected, ending up as an aide in London. This disaster caused the fall of the Brissotins and the creation of the Committee of Public Safety, and they tried to blame the September Massacres on Marat [5], thus liquidating their remaining political influence. In late May the Brisottins attempted a coup supported by the Commune and elements of the National Guard. Two days later a crowd of 85,000 [6] surrounded the Convention demanding cheap bread, unemployment pay and political reform among others and they were dispersed.

In the summer, the French situation was desperate. The country was in a virtual state of civil war, with cities such as Bordeaux and Lyon being pro-republic but anti-government, and the Vendée and surrounding regions had risen up against wanting to restore the monarchy and fight the abusive levies of the army. It was also in summer when news of the execution of Louis XVI reached India, quickly followed by the proclamation of the French Republic and the closure of the French East India Company and nationalisation of all its assets. Governor-General Suffren [7], who knew of the execution of the monarch and had a strong loyalty to the crown, refused to hand over any power to the envoys of the Republic, and the company as a whole refused to acknowledge the government in Paris. Suffren contacted the British, who had received news of the French declaration of war, offering to collaborate with their former enemies to restore the monarchy in France. French India would fight against the Republic, and with it the rest of the possessions of the company, as well as French New Holland.

Suffren India.jpg

Pierre Andrée de Suffren, Governor-General of French India

[1] - Liège operated as an independent republic after their own revolution in August of 1789, they did not join the United Belgian States and operated as an independent state.

[2] - Where the French artillery distinguished itself, demonstrating that its reputation as the best artillery force in Europe was not in vain, this led to the battle also being referred to as the Cannonade of Valmy.

[3] - It is a common myth that everyone wanted to chop the king’s head off. IOTL the vote was decided by the majority of a single vote (361 out of 721), that of “Philippe Égalité”, one of Louis’ cousins, which led to much bitterness among French monarchists. I initially toyed with the idea of Louis XVI not being executed, but that would play against what I have planned for the rest of the TL. The entire royal family present at Paris is also executed, so Louis Stanislas is the candidate for the French throne as IOTL. Yes I think I have killed a ton of butterflies with this, but this TL is not focused on the French Revolution, and that being a highly volatile concept I don’t want to mess with things too much.

[4] - The organ that replaced the Legislative Assembly after the events at the Tuileries on August 10 1792.

[5] - Who avoids meeting Charlotte Corday and her knife. He’s not going to survive for long given his debilitating skin infection that caused him severe pains, which he alleviated with a piece of cloth wrapped around his head and soaked in vinegar.

[6] - Slightly more people than in OTL as there are no American grain imports.

[7] - Yes, I am aware that having a man with morbid obesity survive for longer in a tropical climate than he did OTL is complicated. Alas, the causes of his death were related to him being in France at the moment, so… yeah it’s a bit of a stretch. Reasons for his betrayal are also a topic of heated debate between historians, some arguing he only acted this way so he could still rule India as an almost monarch covered in extravagant luxuries.
 
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So following the same path as OTL with the revolution and paving the way for Napoleon's ascension, I wonder what the effects of the French controlling part of Australia and being in the British position in India, maybe the cape will remain Dutch and later go to french hands to prevent it from falling to Napoleonic France?

Of course that's not counting French India pleading loyalty to Napoleon after he becomes emperor...
 
It would be good if the Spanish did not catch fire until they were screwed up like they did in our world, if they do a little better and with Great Britain and France screwed up, they could be calmer. I think that if the French settlers present a bit of trouble, Spain might consider trying to actively populate Louisiana with populations from other colonies and the peninsula to counterbalance them.
They could also lose South America and initiate changes to prevent it from happening again. If Mexico rebels, they could keep Louisiana and Texas, being too far from the heart of New Spain.
Why would they try holding Texas and Louisiana? Small states that are mostly self sufficient and New Orleans hadn't become as important of a port yet, there's no immediate riches there except for some plantations (which they have in much better quality in Cuba and Porto Rico and Santo Domingo) and the cattle production in Texas (which they already have in Rio de La Plata).
New Spain and the other South American colonies are much more valuable due to their population, natural riches and strategic positions to the Pacific that allow the Spanish to basically trade everywhere around the world.

And if things goes as otl, Spain might not have the chance to make meaningful changes...
 
Well, I think that Spain is the only one at the moment that can actively populate Louisiana, the British are too screwed up to do something and the republics that emerged from what the United States are very weak and have no way to populate the region, since they are occupied first with their territories and surviving, in addition a border dispute could arise with the other republics. In the end it depends on how Spain is going, hopefully well enough.
 
Well, I think that Spain is the only one at the moment that can actively populate Louisiana, the British are too screwed up to do something and the republics that emerged from what the United States are very weak and have no way to populate the region, since they are occupied first with their territories and surviving, in addition a border dispute could arise with the other republics. In the end it depends on how Spain is going, hopefully well enough.
Was just about to say that, Spain has other headaches at the moment who are bigger than population Louisiana, like economic troubles, separatists movements on the colonies and the fact that the most powerful military and population wise nation of Europe has killed their monarch who they're related by blood with and declared war on them.

Just the kind of problem that gets in the way of colonizing.
 
Was just about to say that, Spain has other headaches at the moment who are bigger than population Louisiana, like economic troubles, separatists movements on the colonies and the fact that the most powerful military and population wise nation of Europe has killed their monarch who they're related by blood with and declared war on them.

Just the kind of problem that gets in the way of colonizing.
Honestly, the way things are, they can probably beat France and right now there are no separatist movements in the colonies, all that shit started when Napoleon invaded Spain.
 
Honestly, the way things are, they can probably beat France and right now there are no separatist movements in the colonies, all that shit started when Napoleon invaded Spain.
If I remember correctly, didn't the French managed to organize themselves to a point they got a peace with everyone and annexed territory? Although maybe I'm thinking ahead of myself here.

And yeah the whole thing fell when Napoleon came but with the American revolution and even it's eventually failure down the line won't stop people from emulating it as a example of fight against tyranny and double down so they won't commit the same mistakes.
 
If I remember correctly, didn't the French managed to organize themselves to a point they got a peace with everyone and annexed territory? Although maybe I'm thinking ahead of myself here.

And yeah the whole thing fell when Napoleon came but with the American revolution and even it's eventually failure down the line won't stop people from emulating it as a example of fight against tyranny and double down so they won't commit the same mistakes.
It could have done it in our world, but that does not mean that it is always like this, the United States is an example.
 
It could have done it in our world, but that does not mean that it is always like this, the United States is an example.
True, but there's always a chance of it, especially with the revolutionary mood around Europe. It honestly depends if the French are willing to suffer the Spanish Ulcer or just get some part of New France back from Spain like they did OTL.
 
If I remember correctly, didn't the French managed to organize themselves to a point they got a peace with everyone and annexed territory? Although maybe I'm thinking ahead of myself here.
Yes they did, by the Peace of Basel of 1795 they gained territory from almost all of their neighbours, extending their control to the Rhine and taking the Spanish 2/3s of Hispaniola in exchange for occupied Guipuzcua. Spain actually won a series of battles at the beginning of the war thanks to the skill of general Ricardos, but when he died the Spanish were pushed back. Levee en masse and revolutionary fervour truly do the work, as well as having your enemies deal with other problems such as Poland. All of this is explored in the next chapter btw, not too different from OTL.
 
Yes they did, by the Peace of Basel of 1795 they gained territory from almost all of their neighbours, extending their control to the Rhine and taking the Spanish 2/3s of Hispaniola in exchange for occupied Guipuzcua. Spain actually won a series of battles at the beginning of the war thanks to the skill of general Ricardos, but when he died the Spanish were pushed back. Levee en masse and revolutionary fervour truly do the work, as well as having your enemies deal with other problems such as Poland. All of this is explored in the next chapter btw, not too different from OTL.
So ... what if Ricardos lives?
 
[4] - The extra credit from French India and the Caribbeans goes mostly to the private hands of companies.
It may go for credit perhaps, though I doubt, but to be clear, most ventures of the various companies through the 17th and 18th centuries were, most unlike the British and Dutch models, prompted and sustained by state interventionism.
The companies were all created by the state which "convinced" merchants to put their money and men in it, with various degrees of success. Sometimes, it was quite problematic as the French state policies, de facto to be followed by the companies because of the public hold and influence in these, were not always in the best interests of these; to put it simply, in India's case especially, the French East Indies Company advanced behind the guns of the French royal navy.
 
So ... what if Ricardos lives?
Nope. He was already a pretty old man with a shaky health. IOTL he died when he travelled back to Madrid to ask for more troops and he contracted pneumonia. Someone in the Spanish chain of command in the Pyrenees is not going to die as IOTL, but it will not be Ricardos.
 
Chapter 15: The Cause of Liberty Will Prevail
~ Chapter 15: The Cause of Liberty Will Prevail ~

The counter-revolution of 1793 against the radicalised Republic was not as threatening as historians would later describe it to be, but it would still hamper the Republic’s ability to wage war against the Coalition. The city of Lyon rose up against the government, headed by the Count of Précy, but was quickly surrounded by troops from the Army of the Alps, and the city was subjected to a brutal bombardment and punishment and when the city finally surrendered a column was erected with the inscription “Lyon made war on liberty: Lyon is no more!”. The city of Toulon also rebelled against the government and Xavier d’Imbert contacted the nearby Anglo-Spanish fleet and handed over the city, raising a royalist flag and allowing Coalition troops to disembark. The city at the moment was home to 27 ships of the line, almost a third of those available to the French Navy [1], and also was home to a major arsenal of the navy, which would have given the royalist forces a massive boost. Thus, republican forces laid siege to the city ineffectively, until artillery captain Bonaparte proposed a plan to capture the nearby hill, which would give republican artillery control over the harbour of Toulon. The plan worked and despite Napoleon being wounded in the thigh, Toulon fell to the Republic in December 1793 as the Anglo-Spanish fleet retreated. The battle had the consequence of badly hurting the French Mediterranean Fleet, as the Coalition captured a total of 18 ships and destroyed another 13 beyond repair.

However, the most relevant conflict of this counter-revolution happened in the northwest of France, and had been even before the Committee of Public Safety formed. The epicenter of this uprising was the region of the Vendée, located south of Brittany and on the Atlantic coast. They refused to comply with the mass levy ordered by the Convention and had the support of the conservative local clergy. What started as a protest against the levy quickly turned into a full-fledged rebellion thanks to charismatic leaders such as La Rochejaquelein. The revolt included everything from kids to elders to women (such as Renée Bordereau), and quickly spread across the department and further north as rebel groups also formed in Brittany and Normandy. La Rochejaquelein hoped to capture the port of Granville and receive British supplies through it, or maybe even British troops, but he failed to take the city and was forced to retreat [2]. Jean-Baptiste Carrier was ordered to crush the rebellion by carrying out a complete physical destruction. The rebels were destroyed as a combat force at the Battle of Savenay, and despite continuing their activity for years as a guerrilla force (the Chouans), they would not pose a threat. Over 30,000 Vendeans [3] were massacred by the Infernal Columns headed by Turreau, and thousands more would be executed in the following months and years.

Mass Shooting Nantes.jpg

Mass shooting of Royalists at Nantes

Military campaigns in Europe also turned sour for the French, as Austrian forces captured the fortress of Valenciennes in France proper, while British forces descended from Belgium and laid siege to Dunkirk assisted by a naval blockade, and Spanish forces crossed the Pyrenees. The string of defeats was broken by Houchard at Hondoschoote and Jourdan at Wattignies, but the battles happened too late in the campaign season for any meaningful gains to be made. 1794 would be a much more of a dynamic year in military affairs.

Starting with the Pyrenees, the Spanish invasion of France came close to resulting into a complete rout of republican forces, with Spanish general Antonio Ricardos defeating the French in a series of battles in the eastern Pyrenees, such as Céret or Mas Deu, with the elderly French commander, de La Houlière, committing suicide. Ricardos captured the fort of Bellegarde and then proceeded to divide his forces to envelop Perpignan, however his subordinates lacked his tactical skills and were both defeated, with Ricardos managing to lure the victorious French into a trap and defeated them at the Battle of Truillas on September 22 1793 and retreating south of the Tech River to establish a better defensive position, repelling numerous French attacks and inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers. The Spanish won new victories at Villelongue-dels-Monts and Collioure, however lacked enough troops to resume the advance, and Ricardos personally left for Madrid to plead for more troops. He would contract pneumonia on the way and never recover. His successor, the Irish-Spanish general Alejandro O’Reilly also died shortly after, being replaced by the Count of the Union, who was unable to stop the French, albeit he succeeded at killing the French commander at the Battle of the Black Mountain [4]. The Spanish would be eventually defeated at the War of the Pyrenees and had to cede Santo Domingo to the French.

Elsewhere, the French suffered a series of setbacks in their possessions. To the desertion of French India was added the fall of several Caribbean islands to the Royal Navy, and the Corscican uprising of Pasquale Paoli, who reached an agreement with British admiral Smith, turning Corsica into a British protectorate under the name of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, and destroying the French garrisons at Saint-Florent, Bastia and Calvi. The Prussians were gradually retreating from the war and by the end of the year and almost without a fight, they abandoned French soil and left the war, and for a good reason. In Poland, the Second Partition had left the formerly glorious Commonwealth as a rump state plagued by liberal and proto-nationalist uprisings, one of them being that led by Tadeusz Kościuszko and Casimir Pulaski [5], succeeding initially in liberating most of Poland but being eventually crushed by the Austro-Russo-Prussian forces (numbering a total of 700,000 men against the 80,000 the Poles could levy). The Poles fought bravely, but they were ultimately crushed in January 1795 when the Russians took Warsaw and executed 20,000 poles, leading to the third and final partition of Poland [6].

Kosciuszko peasants.jpg

Tadeusz Kościuszko rallying the peasants

The decisive campaign of the war of the First Coalition would be fought in the Low Countries as the French under Pichegru and Jourdan launched a new offensive that pushed Coalition forces back, and Jourdan obtained a decisive victory at the Battle of Fleurus on June 26 1794. The Coalition forces retreated from the Austrian Netherlands and the French had the road to the Netherlands and the Rhine wide open. The battle also had implications inside France, as the magnitude of the victory made the oppressive methods of The Terror hard to justify, as France was clearly not in peril and was instead having success invading its enemies, and a group of conservatives [7] known as the Thermidorians ousted Maximilien Robespierre and executed him, toppling the Montagnard-controlled Committee of Public Safety and decentralising its power. Then the Thermidorians proceeded to launch their own campaign of terror against the Jacobins, and proceeded to pass measures designed at stabilising the economy and stopping the rampant radicalism that soaked France and abandoned radical wartime measures.

Austrian forces retreated to Luxembourg and the only remaining forces in Flanders were Anglo-Dutch, with the French spending the summer besieging the ports on the Flemish coast. French forces resumed the offensive in September as Pichegru defeated the British at Boxtel and captured Eindhoven with assistance from the Dutch Patriots (the same group that rebelled back in the 1780’s) and then captured Nijmegen reaching the Waal River. French forces infiltrated the Dutch Water Line just in time for the winter to begin. The winter of 1794-1795 was exceptionally cold, with the many rivers and waterways of the Netherlands freezing entirely. Without their natural defenses and with Anglo-Hanoverian forces beaten and retreating back to Germany, the French crossed the Rhine between Nijmegen and Zaltbommel, capturing Utrecht on January 16. Two days later, Amsterdam would fall to a revolution and on January 19 the Batavian Republic was proclaimed, aligning itself with France. The winter was so harsh that a good portion of the Dutch fleet was trapped by the ice between Den Helder and Texel, and the ice was so thick that French forces walked over it and captured 14 Dutch vessels.

Texel.jpg

Louis Lahure captures the Dutch fleet at Texel

[1] - OTL it was 26 ships and they represented a higher percentage. ITTL France has roughly 90 ships of the line compared to the 75-ish ships it had IOTL.

[2] - Just like OTL, there is no British fleet nor any signs of the promised army of exiles.

[3] - Estimations for the number of deaths caused by the Infernal Columns vary between 20,000 and 50,000. Casualties here are a bit higher than IOTL.

[4] - The battle goes better for the Spanish, taking less casualties and with Unión surviving the battle (he died IOTL).

[5] - Who survived the Siege of Savannah ITTL, check Chapter 7.

[6] - The revolt lasts longer than IOTL as Polish resistance is more organised but the end result is the same.

[7] - “Conservatives” in French Revolutionary terminology, which is still radical for the rest of Europe.
 
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