European history during the Napoleonic period is not my forte, but I've always been intrigued by the possibility, either due to a revolution going wrong, or other happenstance, to Napoleon switching his allegiance to the Sublime Porte and fighting for them. He had a fairly high level of respect for Islam and Empire for a western man of his time. ALso, Selim III was interested in modernizing and westernizing the Ottoman military. Finally, the Ottomans and the French had fairly close relations through this period.
Someone with a deeper understanding of this era in history could probably fill me in on the best POD, but let's assume Napoleon works his way into the Ottoman hierarchy and gains a fairly high rank in the military (would probably necessitate conversion, but I doubt Napoleon would really care). What would the ramifications be for the Ottomans? Would his military and administrative skills be enough to reverse the long-term decline of the Ottomans?
Someone with a deeper understanding of this era in history could probably fill me in on the best POD, but let's assume Napoleon works his way into the Ottoman hierarchy and gains a fairly high rank in the military (would probably necessitate conversion, but I doubt Napoleon would really care). What would the ramifications be for the Ottomans? Would his military and administrative skills be enough to reverse the long-term decline of the Ottomans?
Last edited: