WI:Napoleon appeases Prussia in 1806

What if Napoleon had of appeased Prussia in 1806 instead of fighting them? Napoleon signs an offensive-defensive alliance with Prussia, hands them over Hanover and allows King Frederick William to became "protector" of his own Northern German Confederation.

Would pacifying the Prussians this way help Napoleon in the future? Could Prussia become a faithful ally of his?
 
Everyone looks at him and wonders why he had a sudden personality flip. They look on in more shock as he dons a dress and starts calling himself 'Marie', whilst throwing cake everywhere and dancing like a Leprechaun.
 
Why? He knew he could crush Prussia.

Crushing is only a temporary thing. For long term stability he needs to make a deal, that doesn't leave Prussia wanting revenge. He rewarded Saxony even though they fought against him. Why can't he throw Prussia a bone, even after he crushes them.
 
Crushing is only a temporary thing. For long term stability he needs to make a deal, that doesn't leave Prussia wanting revenge. He rewarded Saxony even though they fought against him. Why can't he throw Prussia a bone, even after he crushes them.

Maybe he was worried about Prussia growing too strong. Building up a North German Confederation seems like an unnecessary risk, especially when Prussia could just turn on him later. Also, Prussia would instantly become an enemy of Britain by accepting Hanover, and it's possible that the Prussians wouldn't be too excited about that.

And this is Napoleon we're talking about here. The same guy who tried to conquer one of his most important allies (Spain). The guy who thought he could take on all of Europe alone and win. The guy who sought glory above all else, and more importantly, was a general first, diplomat second. Why go for a diplomatic solution when you can just roll over the Prussian Army and march into Berlin?
 
Maybe he was worried about Prussia growing too strong. Building up a North German Confederation seems like an unnecessary risk, especially when Prussia could just turn on him later. Also, Prussia would instantly become an enemy of Britain by accepting Hanover, and it's possible that the Prussians wouldn't be too excited about that.

And this is Napoleon we're talking about here. The same guy who tried to conquer one of his most important allies (Spain). The guy who thought he could take on all of Europe alone and win. The guy who sought glory above all else, and more importantly, was a general first, diplomat second. Why go for a diplomatic solution when you can just roll over the Prussian Army and march into Berlin?

Perhaps a better POD would be, after crushing them, Napoleon is convinced by Queen Louise to go easy on Prussia. Thus perhaps creating some good will between France and Prussia.
 
Perhaps a better POD would be, after crushing them, Napoleon is convinced by Queen Louise to go easy on Prussia. Thus perhaps creating some good will between France and Prussia.

Or maybe just have Napoleon spare Prussia on a whim. Sort of a "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg 2.0". Stranger things have happened, like the actual Miracle of the House of Brandenburg.
 
And this is Napoleon we're talking about here. The same guy who tried to conquer one of his most important allies (Spain).

There's more to it than that. The heir Ferdinand disliked Godoy immensely and Godoy himself wasn't necessarily entirely reliable. Spain was in an awkward position with the Mutiny of Aranjuez causing Charles to abdicate-perhaps Napoleon was pre-empting any possible Spanish change of allegiances.


Anyway, this would be a stupid thing for Napoleon to do (not to mention totally against everything we know about him). Why appease Prussia when he is so confident he can crush them and replace them with the Confederation of The Rhine?
 
There's more to it than that. The heir Ferdinand disliked Godoy immensely and Godoy himself wasn't necessarily entirely reliable. Spain was in an awkward position with the Mutiny of Aranjuez causing Charles to abdicate-perhaps Napoleon was pre-empting any possible Spanish change of allegiances.


Anyway, this would be a stupid thing for Napoleon to do (not to mention totally against everything we know about him). Why appease Prussia when he is so confident he can crush them and replace them with the Confederation of The Rhine?

I don't think this would interfere with the creation of the Con of the Rhine that much, he would have to give up on the idea of creating a Kingdom of Westphalia though.

We could also go to the other extreme, by Napoleon breaking up Prussia and erasing it from existence.
 
We could also go to the other extreme, by Napoleon breaking up Prussia and erasing it from existence.

This, along with Napoleon dissolving Austria and the US joining the war on Britain's side in 1798, have been my favorite PoDs in the Napoleonic Era.

Brandenburg and Silesia could become independent kingdoms, with the Hohenzollerns banished to their enclave in East Prussia. Bits and pieces could be given to Saxony and Westphalia. Or, if he wanted to get really extreme, he could create some kind of "Northeast German Kingdom", sort of like he did with North Italy. Either way, that's one less army for Napoleon to worry about later in the war.
 
Crushing is only a temporary thing. For long term stability he needs to make a deal, that doesn't leave Prussia wanting revenge. He rewarded Saxony even though they fought against him. Why can't he throw Prussia a bone, even after he crushes them.

This isn't how Napoleon's mind worked. He thought that if could crush his rivals hard enough, he could keep them down afterwards. In general, it worked poorly, but on the other hand, he knew that the only thing keeping him going was victory anyway.
 
This isn't how Napoleon's mind worked. He thought that if could crush his rivals hard enough, he could keep them down afterwards. In general, it worked poorly, but on the other hand, he knew that the only thing keeping him going was victory anyway.
It worked poorly because he always let his enemies regroup to come back at him. He never really broke them because he was convinced that they might accept him one day.
 
Maybe he was worried about Prussia growing too strong. Building up a North German Confederation seems like an unnecessary risk, especially when Prussia could just turn on him later. Also, Prussia would instantly become an enemy of Britain by accepting Hanover, and it's possible that the Prussians wouldn't be too excited about that.

And this is Napoleon we're talking about here. The same guy who tried to conquer one of his most important allies (Spain). The guy who thought he could take on all of Europe alone and win. The guy who sought glory above all else, and more importantly, was a general first, diplomat second. Why go for a diplomatic solution when you can just roll over the Prussian Army and march into Berlin?

To be fair, Prussia DID accept Hanover.
 
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