What if France interfered in the War of 1812?

In 1812, the United States of America declared war on the United Kingdom for continuous attacks on American ships and the impressment of American sailors. At the time, France was also fighting the United Kingdom. Obviously, France had enough problems to worry about in Europe to send troops all the way to the New World, but what if, in the years following Trafalgar, the French Navy had been reformed? Say that one of Napoleon's relatives or friends asks Napoleon for a spot in the navy, and earns it after proving himself in battles. Along with this new admiral, and a reformed navy with new ships, do you think the French Navy could have interfered in the War of 1812 and helped the Americans win the war?
 
France was in no condition to aid anyone within their borders in 1812, let alone a country across the Atlantic. You'd need a PoD that keeps France going longer, but also one that doesn't butterfly away the conditions that lead to the War of 1812 too.
 
Impossible. The French Navy was in no position to help the US. However, you could argue that by fighting against the UK, France was involved in the War of 1812, albeit indirectly.
 
maybe a successful saint domingue campaign (no yellow fever) see the French with a foothold in north America. From there, either napoleon never sells louisianna (so that the French would encourage the US to go north-west to avoid conflict) or did sell it but intervene in an attempt to regain some of its former colonies.

France on the side of the americans would create a bit of a problem in the british camp. the canadiens would be viewed with some suspicions but on the other hand, they might not be too anxious to go over to the usurper's side.
 
As Marc points out, Napoleon not squandering a sizable army in Haiti (although it was certainly producing a lot more revenue from sugar than New Orleans and Louisiana Territory were yet) is probably the POD, putting far more troops under competent command several thousand miles downriver from English Canada, enough to conquer Canada from West to East or at least draw what Canadian/British troops were available to defense.

That'd make the U.S. war even more of a minor sideshow to the British than it was while eliminating the penultimate battle of New Orleans that salved American pride and put Andrew Jackson eventually in the White House...so lots of significant repercussions here.

Whether the U.S. would have invaded Canada and burned down their capitol, resulting in the burning of the U.S. White House, Library of Congress, etc. gets much less uncertain (would the U.S. mount a bigger and more successful invasion of Canada's East Coast in coordination with the French coming up from the West in 1814 (that's several thousand miles up river and big logistics, sending large raiding parties with mostly local Indian auxiliaries would be more likely both as an old French tactic here and the British tactic in Louisiana Territory during the War of 1812.

France retaining the Mississippi, Missouri, and most of the Ohio river valleys as the hamlets that were becoming Chicago and Detroit as well as St. Louis and New Orleans would be a lot more interesting after some years of the French Army learning the region's possibilities like rich farmland, hardwood forests, lead, sulphur, and some of the world's best and biggest iron ore and copper deposits that'd make the region look more like New France and less like a backwater best sold to the Americans.

French alliance with the Americans is hardly far-fetched although President Monroe was upset with French behavior towards U.S. ships and crews at the same time, and it had only been a generation since the previous French alliance and intervention here. U.S. privateers doing even more damage to Britain's highly profitable trade and taxbase in Bermuda, Jamaica, Trinidad, etc. would be likely with French encouragement and maybe naval cannons.
 
If the new American republic officially allied with the radical French one, and then Napoleon, Britain wouldnt consider the Napoleonic wars done until the US was defeated. So Wellington crosses the Atlantic after Napoleon 's defeated, with thousands of Napoleonic war troops.

The US loses the entire Louisiana purchase, all of Indiana and Illinois, probably some of Ohio, some of northern NY and most of Maine.

It would be a disaster for the US.
 
The American War of 1812 would never have happened if Britain had not been involved in fighting the Napoleonic Wars. Far from France interfering with the American War of 1812, the American War of 1812 was interferance by the USA into the Napoleonic Wars.
 
The American War of 1812 would never have happened if Britain had not been involved in fighting the Napoleonic Wars. Far from France interfering with the American War of 1812, the American War of 1812 was interferance by the USA into the Napoleonic Wars.

This. And if France had had the kind of navy that could have interfered, Britain would have had much worse things to worry about than us.
 

Art

Monthly Donor
The French Navy was a waste of Time.

PERIOD.

So is the "CHINESE" Navy.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
but what if, in the years following Trafalgar, the French Navy had been reformed? Say that one of Napoleon's relatives or friends asks Napoleon for a spot in the navy, and earns it after proving himself in battles. Along with this new admiral, and a reformed navy with new ships, do you think the French Navy could have interfered in the War of 1812 and helped the Americans win the war?

This wouldn't really have worked. You can't reform a navy unless your ships and crews are allowed to sail around to "shake down" and get used to the business of sailing. The Royal Navy blockade made sure that the French Navy had no ability to do this, since any ships that ventured out from port were quickly attacked by British vessels. Indeed, the blockade probably contributed more to Napoleon's eventual defeat by doing this than it did by blocking French trade.
 
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