yevkassem72
Resident Jacobin
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2006
- Posts
- 3,057
This was actually magbeam's idea, but I hope that she doesn't mind my pushing it forward, since the other Napoleonic thread seems to go nowhere. Well, I modified it a touch, but it's essentially what she and I discussed.
Not necessarily a closed thread, but it is mainly along the lines proposed by magbeam, with an alteration or two.
Setting:
Europe, 1815. Napoleon's armies have won the day at Waterloo. The Empire is restored, after a brief restoration of the Bourbons under Louis XVIII. A rejuvenated Napoleon is estranged from his wife, Marie Louise, but not necessarily for long.
Prussia is a broken power, her armies depleted at Waterloo. The British did better under Wellington, but the whole fiasco on the Continent has essentially doomed an exhausted Holy Alliance. Despite personal courage, Blucher is dead by his own hand due to news of his rare defeat.
Prussia is rapidly cozying up to France again, while Austria is dithering on the issue. Metternich is at risk of being removed as Chancellor, while there is even talk of the Emperor's abdication.
Despite long-standing animosity, Spain is grudgingly accepting the reality of Napoleon's permanence. Even Naples is being quickly put back in the capable hands of Murat.
Napoleon has much of Europe eager to deal with him, except for Great Britain, which can never reconcile itself to his rule. Russia is undergoing political chaos as well, due to reports that the Tsar is considering a withdrawal from the conflict. After all, without Prussia, odds do not favor a continued war against the French Empire.
The Emperor has won most of what he wants, more or less permanently. The Congress of Vienna is disbanded abruptly and each nation is weighing a separate peace favorable to France.
Furthermore, the unclear outcome of the War of 1812 in North America is now trumpeted as a "victory" by the desperate British Government. Great Britain alone refuses to even consider a treaty with Napoleon. A sort of "cold war" is emerging between victorious France and Great Britain, the only nation strong enough to really oppose her at all.
The United States is eagerly playing both ends against the middle, wisely staying neutral in this conflict now (having decided that one war against a European power in this generation was sufficient). Both sides are courting her, but President Madison is now recovering some momentum at home and playing his cards close to his vest. The Federalists seem a bit foolish for worrying too much about appeasing England, when America can now negotiate with a chastened Britain that wants to avoid above all things a renewal of the 1778 Franco-American alliance.
Now riding high, Napoleon is mostly conciliatory toward beaten foes, but with some clear exceptions. Not wanting to encourage more treason at home, he briefly cracks down on those sympathetic or loyal to the ancien regime. Royalists in prominent places are executed or imprisoned for their treachery against him. The purge is not nearly as savage as Robespierre's Terror, but it does have the intended effect. Republican sympathies are tolerated to an extent, but open collaboration with "the enemies of France and of liberty" is now a capital offense, and many Royalists and staunch clerics are now fugitives from the justice of the Empire.
Meanwhile, Pierre Eduard de St. Jean is now a Colonel in the new French Imperial garrison in occupied Rome. The Vatican is on the verge of permanent annexation to the French Empire or the Kingdom of Naples, with its status in doubt. The Kingdom of Italy has already been annexed directly and carved up into departments of the French Empire. The Pope is in exile in Portugal, which is one of the few advantages that the British have. The Portugese haven't yielded, but they are not a serious threat anymore to France, not with Spain wavering.
As deputy commander of the Roman garrison, St. Jean is rising rapidly in place of discredited and disloyal Royalist turncoats removed by Napoleon. The Emperor wants officers that he can trust to reinforce his new consolidated and more limited Empire. With enough pressure, he hopes to force the Papacy to surrender and become a puppet of the Emperor.
As for St. Jean himself, he is more interested in seeking out local Italian women and preparing for a possible campaign to drive the British out of Malta. The Sultan is being wooed by the Emperor for this, so the days of the Porte's isolation might well be numbered. Still, he must occupy and police the Eternal City, as well as to deal with British agents that are almost certainly everywhere.
Not necessarily a closed thread, but it is mainly along the lines proposed by magbeam, with an alteration or two.
Setting:
Europe, 1815. Napoleon's armies have won the day at Waterloo. The Empire is restored, after a brief restoration of the Bourbons under Louis XVIII. A rejuvenated Napoleon is estranged from his wife, Marie Louise, but not necessarily for long.
Prussia is a broken power, her armies depleted at Waterloo. The British did better under Wellington, but the whole fiasco on the Continent has essentially doomed an exhausted Holy Alliance. Despite personal courage, Blucher is dead by his own hand due to news of his rare defeat.
Prussia is rapidly cozying up to France again, while Austria is dithering on the issue. Metternich is at risk of being removed as Chancellor, while there is even talk of the Emperor's abdication.
Despite long-standing animosity, Spain is grudgingly accepting the reality of Napoleon's permanence. Even Naples is being quickly put back in the capable hands of Murat.
Napoleon has much of Europe eager to deal with him, except for Great Britain, which can never reconcile itself to his rule. Russia is undergoing political chaos as well, due to reports that the Tsar is considering a withdrawal from the conflict. After all, without Prussia, odds do not favor a continued war against the French Empire.
The Emperor has won most of what he wants, more or less permanently. The Congress of Vienna is disbanded abruptly and each nation is weighing a separate peace favorable to France.
Furthermore, the unclear outcome of the War of 1812 in North America is now trumpeted as a "victory" by the desperate British Government. Great Britain alone refuses to even consider a treaty with Napoleon. A sort of "cold war" is emerging between victorious France and Great Britain, the only nation strong enough to really oppose her at all.
The United States is eagerly playing both ends against the middle, wisely staying neutral in this conflict now (having decided that one war against a European power in this generation was sufficient). Both sides are courting her, but President Madison is now recovering some momentum at home and playing his cards close to his vest. The Federalists seem a bit foolish for worrying too much about appeasing England, when America can now negotiate with a chastened Britain that wants to avoid above all things a renewal of the 1778 Franco-American alliance.
Now riding high, Napoleon is mostly conciliatory toward beaten foes, but with some clear exceptions. Not wanting to encourage more treason at home, he briefly cracks down on those sympathetic or loyal to the ancien regime. Royalists in prominent places are executed or imprisoned for their treachery against him. The purge is not nearly as savage as Robespierre's Terror, but it does have the intended effect. Republican sympathies are tolerated to an extent, but open collaboration with "the enemies of France and of liberty" is now a capital offense, and many Royalists and staunch clerics are now fugitives from the justice of the Empire.
Meanwhile, Pierre Eduard de St. Jean is now a Colonel in the new French Imperial garrison in occupied Rome. The Vatican is on the verge of permanent annexation to the French Empire or the Kingdom of Naples, with its status in doubt. The Kingdom of Italy has already been annexed directly and carved up into departments of the French Empire. The Pope is in exile in Portugal, which is one of the few advantages that the British have. The Portugese haven't yielded, but they are not a serious threat anymore to France, not with Spain wavering.
As deputy commander of the Roman garrison, St. Jean is rising rapidly in place of discredited and disloyal Royalist turncoats removed by Napoleon. The Emperor wants officers that he can trust to reinforce his new consolidated and more limited Empire. With enough pressure, he hopes to force the Papacy to surrender and become a puppet of the Emperor.
As for St. Jean himself, he is more interested in seeking out local Italian women and preparing for a possible campaign to drive the British out of Malta. The Sultan is being wooed by the Emperor for this, so the days of the Porte's isolation might well be numbered. Still, he must occupy and police the Eternal City, as well as to deal with British agents that are almost certainly everywhere.
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