MotF 38: The Not French Revolution

This is a map showing the state of Denmark-Norway after the signing of the peace of Bergen in 1805. The map is from the same timeline as my previous one (because why the hell not?).

Denmark was not the first European country to have a revolution, but it was the first one to have a successful one. The French revolution was brutally struck down, and then the monarchy was quietly reformed to be more similar to the one in the UK. The Netherlands was the second country to experience revolution, but it too was suppressed (with French help).

The Danish revolution begun with the Danish-German war, when the Holy Roman Emperor pushed the issue of Holstein in a political manoeuvre to gather support in the German countries. It led to war, and while the Danish were initially confident they were soon defeated and the Danish king capitulated, accepting a pseudo-ethnic redrawing (experts were sent out to determine the exact point where the main language shifted from Danish to German, which they didn't do very well) of the border and the loss of Holstein from the crown of Oldenburg (it went to the Habsburgs, of course).

This caused uproar in Denmark and there were calls for the king to abdicate. He didn't do so and the nobility decided to force him. To do this they riled up the common people, and most importantly: the army. The mobs and the military marched on Copenhagen and the king was forced to flee to Norway.

When the nobility declared that there would be no changes to the system, only a new king would be chosen, they were surprised to find that the mobs and the army, consisting mostly of drafted commoners, didn't approve, and the revolution proper began.

Denmark fell almost immediately, but Norway remained loyal to the old king. The fire had been lit however, and the revolution took hold in the educated parts of the population in Christiania and eventually spread from there to the general population. The king was forced to flee further inland as the Norwegian capital fell, and revolutionaries from Denmark arrived.

The map shows the frontlines in the Danish revolutionary civil war, as years. These are not really representative, but the map is a simplification meant for public consumption in encyclopaedias and such.

Anyway, in 1805 the kingdom of Denmark and revolutionary republic of Denmark signed a peace treaty, called the peace of Bergen. The kingdom officially remained the kingdom of Denmark and Norway for another couple of years until it dropped the Denmark part. In 1822 it was annexed to the republic. The republic itself lasted until 1834 when it was merged with the second Swedish republic to form the new republic of Norden.

In 1805 however its position was very uncertain. Sweden wanted to intervene, but couldn't due to just having gotten out of a major war with Russia (ended in 1804). The Germans feared a possible spread of the revolution to Holstein, but that never happened and while tensions at the border were high they never quite erupted. The republic wasn't involved in another war until it invaded Sweden in 1811 in support of the first Swedish republican revolution (succeeded, but was counter-revolutioned by royalists from Finland in 1819), and then again when it invaded the Norway in 1822. Apart from that its existence was surprisingly peaceful, which later historians would come to attribute to lucky circumstances on the continent and relative isolation in the north.

The scenario is of particular interest in the timeline (tentatively named the "linguistic timeline") because the revolutionary spirit in the later republic of Norden came to bring about a restoration of the runic alphabet and widespread linguistic reforms, leading to a unified Scandinavian language rich with dialects written with runes).

As a nice little sidenote the reason the revolutionaries are orange and the loyalists red is because the revolutionaries borrowed heavily from the earlier Dutch ones in their symbolism, and orange became a symbol of the revolution in Denmark, while red was a symbol or the monarchy (because of the Danebrog).

The American Republic, known to it's citizens as simply The Republic, was founded in 1809, at the end of a thirty year conflict known in the Republic as the Great Struggle, and elsewhere as the American Rebellion or American Revolution.

The Great Struggle began as a conflict over taxation. The colonies were united against the British, but then at the end of the Eighteenth Century the people of Quebec, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and what was then known as New York were possessed by a great new revolutionary spirit, which led to division among the anti-British forces. However, while the Christianist rebels fell, the rebels under the glorious stewardship of Thomas Paine succeeded! They went on to establish a new nation, which promoted equality and liberty for all!

Beginning in 1781, the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Granada began it's bid for independence when Manuela Beltrán tore down edicts of new taxes from her shop's wall. By late 1790, the Beltrán Revolts (as they are known in Spain) had freed New Granada, and the Republic of New Granada was formed.

With the French Revolution having been crushed in 1793 with foreign intervention, many leading French (and other European) philosophers, inventors, and general revolutionaries were forced to flee their homelands or face death. One such person Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, banished for his work "What is the Third Estate?" Having narrowly escaped with his life to New Granada (having bribed the soldiers sent to capture him), Sieyès saw in this new republic opportunity for real change for the people.

When the president, Francisco del Castillo, made a bid to have the republic reforged into a kingdom, with him at it's head, Sieyès quickly translated his work and disseminated it amongst the people via a network of other French and European immigrants, the "Revolucionario inmigrantes." This lead to widespread protests and a coup. With the Presidency now vacant, the people turned to Sieyès for hope. Having formerly been a priest, much of the clergy in New Granada backed him, and with the clergy backing him, the people followed suit. On 17 May, 1798, Sieyès was sworn in.

Sieyès began mass reforms, restructuring the state with a bicameral legislature, an independent judiciary, and an oversight committee for the army. However, this began to stir resentment amongst the wealthy and influential, seeing their power wane. By 1800, most had moved to the peripheral of the republic, so as to distance themselves from capital. In doing so, they thought they would be able to enjoy the pleasures of power. In the Assembly, however, power was consolidating against them, which only angered them more. They sought to deal with their "problem" immediately.

In 1802, Sieyès worst fears came to light via an assassination attempt. After a quick torture session, the would-be assassin admitted to having been paid off by a coalition of wealthy merchants in Caracas. What was to be quick crackdown led to the first New Granadan Civil War.

Having used their influence and wealth, the merchants and "nobility" organized and equipped the locals with weapons, and had been propagandizing against Sieyès for several years, noting to the locals not how many new rights and privileges they had earned, but how much more they were being taxed. Sieyès, meanwhile, began outfitting the army, which was in poor shape, disorderly, and lacking in discipline.

The supporters of Sieyès were largely confined to 5 departments, and the revolutionaries to 3. Four of the departments would change hands between the two factions several times during the 9 year war. Sieyès backing the legal government in Bogota and revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality, with the revolutionaries backing the status quo and privileges of the few over the many. It would soon lead to intervention from foreign powers, Brazil, Britain and the USCA in particular, with these invading nearby territories to protect against both Sieyès' ideals and raiding (with Brazil even being counter invaded after the civil war).

By 1810, republic stood victorious, but at a cost of nearly 50,000 lives taken in the conflict, including Sieyès. The republic, without it's famous and tenacious leader, fell into decline, with the following decade referred to as "The Terror." It would lead to massive reforms under it's next major leader, Simón Bolívar, who would go on to not only bring stability back to the republic, but also see it successful in expanding the borders of the nation into Central America and along the Pacific coast of South America. However, these moves would lead to his final reform, his declaration of dictatorial powers. While the Assembly would remain, Bolívar effectively ruled alone in most matters of state and the military.

The map is of the year 1806, at the height of the Civil War, showing the territories held and contested by the Republicans and Revolutionaries, as well as foreign occupation zones.

This comes from a TL where the Kociuszko Uprising is twenty times more successful, thanks to Austrian assistance, which in turn is because of a more successful Joesph II. The map itself is from the United States State Dept. World Atlas. As you can see, many of the names have been Anglicized to death. And yes, TNP is supposed to be TTL's equivalent of GDP.

POD is that Joseph II, due to some altered circumstances, is a cruel reactionary who tires the people of his incessant. A revolution breaks out in Austria and spreads through Germany, creating the revolutionary Fuhrerstaat* Deutschland, which morphs into the Kaiserreich Deutschland. This map is of the height of the German Wars, 1815.

*'Fuhrer' has a quite different meaning in the English-speaking world ITTL, absent Hitler. It means 'revolutionary leader'.

Well, I'm annoyed. I've been working on a German revolution of my own, and was unaware that Kairos had ninja'd me. Oh well.

In this TL, a somewhat different set of wives for Henry VIII meant that an ATL daughter of Henry married a Catholic Habsburg prince and actually bore children: England remained in the Catholic camp, and by the end of the 16th century Protestantism was pretty much stamped flat. The huge, interweaving family of Habsburg-Tudor ended up owning most of Europe, and the Family Concord after the bloody French Wars kept peace in Europe for over a century. All good things come to an end, however, and a revolution of rising expectations in an HRE which hadn't suffered anything nearly as destructive as OTLs 30 years war ended in a shattering explosion...

(The Ottomans were driven out of Europe by a Habsburg military alliance over the course of a century, but they managed to rally at the end and held onto Constantinople: the last great siege was so epic that the City has become a byword for invincibility in Christian Europe).

Bruce

Map map map.

Bruce

Basically, this is a combo of failed Constitutional Convention, Loyalist Counter-Revolution, and Super-Revolutionism.
Shay, a simple farmer from West Massachusetts, began a rebellion against taxes imposed by the government which went against the spirit of the Revolution. His farmer army marched on Boston, and Massachusetts seceded from the Union in an attempt to preserve the revolutionary spirit. At the same time, the Constitutional Convention collapsed as all cordiality north of the Carolinas collapsed. New York attack Vermont, alienating New Hampshire and the rest of New England. The New Englanders turned against the Union government with the exception of Rhode Island. New Hampshire lost against New York and the population of New Hampshire and Maine rose in rebellion, inspired by Shay's example. The new state still has no official name, but Shay is the figurehead of this Second Revolution. Connecticut on the other hand was full of Loyalists from the Revolution, and declared independence. The far west of the state was more die-hard Loyalist and named itself the Colony of New Haven (sort of wrong geographically) and the east remained the State of Connecticut. The tiny state/colony tried to call for annexation by Great Britain but its calls came unanswered.

In the middle colonies, all hell broke loose. Loyalists from Connecticut had spread over the north of Pennsylvania, and their Reserve in the Ohio Country. These people declared independence, and forged an alliance with Loyalist rebels in New Jersey. The south of Pennsylvania collapsed as the Westmoreland Confederacy launched an attack from all directions. The remainder of New Jersey was occupied by New York as a protectorate, though the population remains fiercely loyal to the rump Republic in the South. More interesting is Maryland. Maryland had long been a colony run by the Calvert family. With this sudden altercation in the Americas, they saw a chance to take make what they saw as theirs. Virginia declared independence during the Constitutional Convention, and a pro-Union rebellion in Kentucky breaking out left Maryland isolated. Calvert raised a mercenary army and promised Irishmen and dispossessed Highlanders land in Maryland to fight in his army. His arm landed in Virginia, and they offered him troops and their Chesapeake Peninsula if he took out the Marylander and Delaware Unionists. The militia's in Maryland could do little to stand against Calvert's ramshackle army. Loyalists from Westmoreland went south to support their brethren in Maryland. Calvert soon established his baronetcy in Maryland and occupied Delaware to secure his position, and receive his reward from Virginia.

The Ohio Country remained loyal to the Union, but was isolated, much like Rhode Island. In the South the Union lived on, and an agreement to make Franklinia a Federal District went smoothly. The Constitutional Convention continued in Georgia, and they agreed on terms to streamline administration in the Union. As the world enters the 19th century, the future of the Americas' first republic looked bleak.

I have a last minute entry! In 1796, the intellectual elements in Salamanca and Valladolid have grown tired with Spain supporting wars abroad. Additionally, Catalans are continually upset with the court vastly favoring Castilians over Catalans.

As the uprisings in the two regions spread, the revolts become a full-blown revolution as Basques, shepherds in Extremadura upset at an increase in the tax on the Mesta, and various elements in the south join the revolution against the Bourbon monarchy. The revolution continues growing for two years and resulted in the declaration of the Spanish Republic, with king Carlos III fleeing to the Spanish possessions in Italy.