In the early 1800s a new general, Napoleon Bonaparte, was given an offer by the Directorate of France: lead the Army of France or the Army of Italy.
Napoleon wanted nothing more than to unite France and drive the Royalists out, so he accepted the first choice and was dispatched to Marseilles to keep the peace.
Despite relentless Royalist attacks, the cities never fell and soon the Royalists, who were not gaining many more men, due to the very nature of their ideals, died from attrition.
Napoleon was pleased at the announcement of the defeat of the Royalists, and was sent to Brittany next, where the Directorate wanted to purge the British from the Continent. He successfully defeated the British by quickly storming the cities and razing them in a scorched earth policy, attracting the attention of the Directorate.
Finally, they sent him into Belgium. Napoleon was ordered to capture the region, but knew that the Austrian army was too strong: the French would drown in their own blood. When the Austrians offered to leave the territory and even help the French for a large settlement, he talked the Directorate into agreeing.
The Directorate was overjoyed at the French victories, and when Napoleon suggested an invasion of Egypt, they gave him a choice: fight the Spanish, or the Ottomans. Napoleon accepted his own plan.
He began the assault on Malta, sailing his navy into Valetta's harbor and shelling the fortifications. His marine force barely scraped through, but he captured the island and continued on to Egypt.
Napoleon was given title of Governor of Egypt, allowing him to set foreign policy with the Egyptians. Instead of imposing a strict rule on the captured cities, he imposed a lenient one. In return, much of the Egyptian produce went to Napoleon's coffers. Within a short time the Mamelukes and their Ottoman officers were forced out.
Horatio Nelson scuttled the French Navy in the Nile, and, embarrassed and enraged, Napoleon led his forces on to Syria. He marched through the Levant, burning everything. When he reached the fortress of Acre he used his light artillery and infantry to destroy the fort against all odds.
Napoleon returned to France and led a coup against the Directorate, crowning himself emperor. He was then barraged with diplomatic offers from the Crowns of Europe. He made peace with Britain and Austria. The Ottomans invaded Syria, but he held them off.
To his shock, France was invaded by the fearful Spanish Empire, prompting him to begin his march west. Proclaiming a new "Iberian Empire", Napoleon led his forces across the Pyrennes and easily unseated Spain. From there on, he took Portugal and Switzerland.
France had enjoyed a brief peace before the Swiss campaign. The British had captured Dano-Norway and Hanover, making them quite a threat on the Continent, but Napoleon had worse concerns. He rebuilt the economy into the strongest of all the Continental nations, and began plans to invade Austria.
He paid the Ottomans for a non-aggression pact, and began the Italian Campaign. The incompetent general in Italy had failed, so he marched into Lombardy and captured the region, then marched down into Tuscany. Ransacking Italy, he allowed the Pope to remain in power as a figurehead, while he ruled all of the Italian Peninsula and Lombardy.
The Austrians offered a large sum of money for a French retreat from Italy, but Napoleon had no such interests. He raised a large, loyal army in Italy, which he furthermore deployed to Syria, and then led his Grande Armee into Bavaria. The war was brief, but had lasting effects: the non-aggression pact was over, his army was very close to Vienna, and Austria was panicking. They surrendered, allowing him to stay.
Napoleon forged alliance with Prussia and took Saxony as a client state. He then turned his focus back to the Ottomans.
His armies in North Africa and Spain overran the Ottoman Army of Algeria, while he personally led the Army of the Middle East into Turkey, capturing Istanbul in a short time: the loss of their Middle Eastern and North Africa holdings had just done too much damage to the Ottomans. The entire empire fell.
Napoleon wanted to peacefully subdue more nations, but Prussia, whom he had offered the status of client state, refused. Broken-hearted, he led his army against Frederick the Great's in the Brandenburg region, conquering Prussia. The Baltic regions were handed over to Russia, Prussia only caring about revenge now.
The Russians declared war, Tsar Alexander leading his men into Wallachia. Using guerilla tactics, Napoleon pushed them back and turned back to Austria, whom he wanted to conquer.
The attack was quick and brutal. Seizing Vienna, Napoleon forced Austrian forces back to Wagram. He led his army (which had crossed the Danube) against the cities of Aspern and Essling.
The garrison left behind in Vienna was used to assault what was later christened "Bonaparte Island", an island in the Danube that the Austrians continued to hold. Napoleon had fortifications constructed on both sides of the Danube, and eventually on Bonaparte Island.
Thanks to the work of Advisor Fouche, Napoleon had a superior intelligence corps. He knew all of the Austrian plans, including a proposed attack from Nusseldorf to Vienna. He overconfidently left his men in Aspern-Essling, defending them from the constant waves of Austrian infantry.
It was almost too late when the Nusseldorf troops swarmed into Vienna, destroying the fortifications; they had suffered many casualties, but not enough. By a miracle, the army in Aspern-Essling made it back to Vienna in time to defeat the army and then assault Nusseldorf, shelling the city and then capturing it.
Thus began the Battle of Wagram. First he sent a division of cavalry behind enemy lines to disable their eastern artillery emplacements, and charged with divisions of infantry from the south. The infantry charge did exactly what he expected it to do: kill all of the participants and many Austrians. He followed it up with a cavalry ambush from the west, destroying the rest of the artillery, and charged with a much more massive force of infantry.
Loitering in Wagram, they had to destroy the rest of the camps and bivouacs nearby. For a week the fighting raged, killing over 200,000 men and defeating Austria finally: the great empire had fallen.
Napoleon made peace with Russia (who just wanted to keep their new Baltic possessions), only to invade them months later. The Grand Armee swept through the Motherland, razing cities. Napoleon made sure to keep them well supplied, and well Russia's people withered and died in the Urals his army bivouacked in Moscow. Finally, Alexander surrendered. Another Great Empire had fallen!
Napoleon was still ambitious. He used his new armies (the Russians, Austrians, and Germans greatly swelled his ranks) to prepare the Invasion of Britain.
During his first campaigns in Iberia Napoleon had constructed a large navy to replace his losses in the Mediterranean. The Channel Campaign began, his navy skirmishing in the English Channel before beginning the First Landing.
The navy shelled Wales and southwest England, and the marines quickly took the former kingdom and drove the British back to the Thames and Northern England regions.
Reinforcements from Brittany and the rest of northern France came, blown off course by storms and gunned down by the British Navy (they had few escort ships). However, Napoleon took advantage of this and landed them in Scotland, conquering the kingdom within months.
His navy shelled Ireland, which he furthermore captured. Britain was desperate; Parliament couldn't escape Europe (they were trapped by the blockades), and their contingency plan (escape to Scotland if necessary) was foiled.
Napoleon's army, in some of the greatest clashes since the Vienna Campaign, finally occupied London. A month later, Britain surrendered. Napoleon allowed the monarchs to continue their rule as figureheads.
Sweden, Sardinia, the Dutch, and the Polish were left. Sweden approached Napoleon with offer of alliance; Napoleon instead bribed them into being a client state. He did the same with Sardinia and the Dutch. This left Poland, a large but insignificant smudge on the map of Greater France.
He stormed Poland, taking it. Europe was united.
AFTER THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR
The Napoleonic Empire was established by Bonaparte. Realizing the unlikeliness of this continuing, he established the Governor System. This had Europe divided into several "Districts", with a Governor commanding each. The Districts were:
France
Low Countries
Germany
Austria
Balkan
Turkey
Levant
Egypt
North Africa
Italy
Iberia
Britain
Russia
Eastern Europe
Poland
Northern Europe
Scandinavia
Napoleon knew that this process would take a long time, but he gradually worked on creating the "Napoleonic" culture: not a French culture, not a mess of individual cultures. This brought unity to France.
In the meanwhile, the rest of the world was going to hell. South America had revolted, now divided into Grand Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina. Canada was annexed by the United States, prompting the American Civil War by bringing the Newfoundland Compromise of 1824. Mexico revolted and took Central America and the Caribbean with it.
The Confederacy won, and the nations of the USA, CSA, and Mexico gobbled up the frontier, only to be pushed out soon afterwards by the Sioux Republic, whom Napoleon supported and fed weaponry. The Sioux settled down, and became a world power in thirty years.
Without the Dutch or British, the Boers ultimately formed one Boer Confederacy and took southern Africa, central Africa becoming Congo. India gained it's independence, and conquered Indochina. The Scramble for the Pacific commenced.
Now it is the year 1920. (that's all I have so far)
Napoleon wanted nothing more than to unite France and drive the Royalists out, so he accepted the first choice and was dispatched to Marseilles to keep the peace.
Despite relentless Royalist attacks, the cities never fell and soon the Royalists, who were not gaining many more men, due to the very nature of their ideals, died from attrition.
Napoleon was pleased at the announcement of the defeat of the Royalists, and was sent to Brittany next, where the Directorate wanted to purge the British from the Continent. He successfully defeated the British by quickly storming the cities and razing them in a scorched earth policy, attracting the attention of the Directorate.
Finally, they sent him into Belgium. Napoleon was ordered to capture the region, but knew that the Austrian army was too strong: the French would drown in their own blood. When the Austrians offered to leave the territory and even help the French for a large settlement, he talked the Directorate into agreeing.
The Directorate was overjoyed at the French victories, and when Napoleon suggested an invasion of Egypt, they gave him a choice: fight the Spanish, or the Ottomans. Napoleon accepted his own plan.
He began the assault on Malta, sailing his navy into Valetta's harbor and shelling the fortifications. His marine force barely scraped through, but he captured the island and continued on to Egypt.
Napoleon was given title of Governor of Egypt, allowing him to set foreign policy with the Egyptians. Instead of imposing a strict rule on the captured cities, he imposed a lenient one. In return, much of the Egyptian produce went to Napoleon's coffers. Within a short time the Mamelukes and their Ottoman officers were forced out.
Horatio Nelson scuttled the French Navy in the Nile, and, embarrassed and enraged, Napoleon led his forces on to Syria. He marched through the Levant, burning everything. When he reached the fortress of Acre he used his light artillery and infantry to destroy the fort against all odds.
Napoleon returned to France and led a coup against the Directorate, crowning himself emperor. He was then barraged with diplomatic offers from the Crowns of Europe. He made peace with Britain and Austria. The Ottomans invaded Syria, but he held them off.
To his shock, France was invaded by the fearful Spanish Empire, prompting him to begin his march west. Proclaiming a new "Iberian Empire", Napoleon led his forces across the Pyrennes and easily unseated Spain. From there on, he took Portugal and Switzerland.
France had enjoyed a brief peace before the Swiss campaign. The British had captured Dano-Norway and Hanover, making them quite a threat on the Continent, but Napoleon had worse concerns. He rebuilt the economy into the strongest of all the Continental nations, and began plans to invade Austria.
He paid the Ottomans for a non-aggression pact, and began the Italian Campaign. The incompetent general in Italy had failed, so he marched into Lombardy and captured the region, then marched down into Tuscany. Ransacking Italy, he allowed the Pope to remain in power as a figurehead, while he ruled all of the Italian Peninsula and Lombardy.
The Austrians offered a large sum of money for a French retreat from Italy, but Napoleon had no such interests. He raised a large, loyal army in Italy, which he furthermore deployed to Syria, and then led his Grande Armee into Bavaria. The war was brief, but had lasting effects: the non-aggression pact was over, his army was very close to Vienna, and Austria was panicking. They surrendered, allowing him to stay.
Napoleon forged alliance with Prussia and took Saxony as a client state. He then turned his focus back to the Ottomans.
His armies in North Africa and Spain overran the Ottoman Army of Algeria, while he personally led the Army of the Middle East into Turkey, capturing Istanbul in a short time: the loss of their Middle Eastern and North Africa holdings had just done too much damage to the Ottomans. The entire empire fell.
Napoleon wanted to peacefully subdue more nations, but Prussia, whom he had offered the status of client state, refused. Broken-hearted, he led his army against Frederick the Great's in the Brandenburg region, conquering Prussia. The Baltic regions were handed over to Russia, Prussia only caring about revenge now.
The Russians declared war, Tsar Alexander leading his men into Wallachia. Using guerilla tactics, Napoleon pushed them back and turned back to Austria, whom he wanted to conquer.
The attack was quick and brutal. Seizing Vienna, Napoleon forced Austrian forces back to Wagram. He led his army (which had crossed the Danube) against the cities of Aspern and Essling.
The garrison left behind in Vienna was used to assault what was later christened "Bonaparte Island", an island in the Danube that the Austrians continued to hold. Napoleon had fortifications constructed on both sides of the Danube, and eventually on Bonaparte Island.
Thanks to the work of Advisor Fouche, Napoleon had a superior intelligence corps. He knew all of the Austrian plans, including a proposed attack from Nusseldorf to Vienna. He overconfidently left his men in Aspern-Essling, defending them from the constant waves of Austrian infantry.
It was almost too late when the Nusseldorf troops swarmed into Vienna, destroying the fortifications; they had suffered many casualties, but not enough. By a miracle, the army in Aspern-Essling made it back to Vienna in time to defeat the army and then assault Nusseldorf, shelling the city and then capturing it.
Thus began the Battle of Wagram. First he sent a division of cavalry behind enemy lines to disable their eastern artillery emplacements, and charged with divisions of infantry from the south. The infantry charge did exactly what he expected it to do: kill all of the participants and many Austrians. He followed it up with a cavalry ambush from the west, destroying the rest of the artillery, and charged with a much more massive force of infantry.
Loitering in Wagram, they had to destroy the rest of the camps and bivouacs nearby. For a week the fighting raged, killing over 200,000 men and defeating Austria finally: the great empire had fallen.
Napoleon made peace with Russia (who just wanted to keep their new Baltic possessions), only to invade them months later. The Grand Armee swept through the Motherland, razing cities. Napoleon made sure to keep them well supplied, and well Russia's people withered and died in the Urals his army bivouacked in Moscow. Finally, Alexander surrendered. Another Great Empire had fallen!
Napoleon was still ambitious. He used his new armies (the Russians, Austrians, and Germans greatly swelled his ranks) to prepare the Invasion of Britain.
During his first campaigns in Iberia Napoleon had constructed a large navy to replace his losses in the Mediterranean. The Channel Campaign began, his navy skirmishing in the English Channel before beginning the First Landing.
The navy shelled Wales and southwest England, and the marines quickly took the former kingdom and drove the British back to the Thames and Northern England regions.
Reinforcements from Brittany and the rest of northern France came, blown off course by storms and gunned down by the British Navy (they had few escort ships). However, Napoleon took advantage of this and landed them in Scotland, conquering the kingdom within months.
His navy shelled Ireland, which he furthermore captured. Britain was desperate; Parliament couldn't escape Europe (they were trapped by the blockades), and their contingency plan (escape to Scotland if necessary) was foiled.
Napoleon's army, in some of the greatest clashes since the Vienna Campaign, finally occupied London. A month later, Britain surrendered. Napoleon allowed the monarchs to continue their rule as figureheads.
Sweden, Sardinia, the Dutch, and the Polish were left. Sweden approached Napoleon with offer of alliance; Napoleon instead bribed them into being a client state. He did the same with Sardinia and the Dutch. This left Poland, a large but insignificant smudge on the map of Greater France.
He stormed Poland, taking it. Europe was united.
The Napoleonic Empire was established by Bonaparte. Realizing the unlikeliness of this continuing, he established the Governor System. This had Europe divided into several "Districts", with a Governor commanding each. The Districts were:
France
Low Countries
Germany
Austria
Balkan
Turkey
Levant
Egypt
North Africa
Italy
Iberia
Britain
Russia
Eastern Europe
Poland
Northern Europe
Scandinavia
Napoleon knew that this process would take a long time, but he gradually worked on creating the "Napoleonic" culture: not a French culture, not a mess of individual cultures. This brought unity to France.
In the meanwhile, the rest of the world was going to hell. South America had revolted, now divided into Grand Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina. Canada was annexed by the United States, prompting the American Civil War by bringing the Newfoundland Compromise of 1824. Mexico revolted and took Central America and the Caribbean with it.
The Confederacy won, and the nations of the USA, CSA, and Mexico gobbled up the frontier, only to be pushed out soon afterwards by the Sioux Republic, whom Napoleon supported and fed weaponry. The Sioux settled down, and became a world power in thirty years.
Without the Dutch or British, the Boers ultimately formed one Boer Confederacy and took southern Africa, central Africa becoming Congo. India gained it's independence, and conquered Indochina. The Scramble for the Pacific commenced.
Now it is the year 1920. (that's all I have so far)