There's also the fact that without all the massive Napoleonic wars alongside their territorial gains, France and it's republican sisters are much stronger in every way and will challenge Britain for their position of colonial empire. So already they'll have their hands full having to deal with that.
No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
Functional Batavian Republic (especially when backed up by France) is definitely a strong competitor in Indonesia and France is in a better position as well and, while Britain is still preoccupied with India, can start colonial expansion in Indo-China and Africa.
Not sure if the real industrial boom in Britain started before, during or after conquest of India: never was interested in the subject and don’t want to go into “mighty cranberry” type of a nonsense.
Anyway, this is not OTL Pax Britannia of the late XIX and the Brits know better than to alienate their main supplier of the strategic goods.
I still wonder why British returned Indonesia to Batavia? They could have kept it for themselves.
Great timeline I very much praise both the ego of rulers having a clear impact on their choices and wars as well nations making territorial claims based on credible gains not on something that will be valuable in 200 years or nationalism.
Though I do admit I'm curious what will happen with the Ottoman empire and Persia given the Russian empire is pretty neutral i'm guessing some more wars.
Likewise what happens to the PLC, in a lot of ways it being the strongest Polish being a weak, pathetic, corrupt and sectarian hellhole is better for every other nations with PLC land than have people fight a dream of utopia in their minds without it around. Can see it lasting for a long time just to have it around as that.
Though I do admit I'm curious what will happen with the Ottoman empire and Persia given the Russian empire is pretty neutral i'm guessing some more wars.
Likewise what happens to the PLC, in a lot of ways it being the strongest Polish being a weak, pathetic, corrupt and sectarian hellhole is better for every other nations with PLC land than have people fight a dream of utopia in their minds without it around. Can see it lasting for a long time just to have it around as that.
They probably still have some troubles with increasingly discontent colonies as well as people like Ferdinand VII on the throne, but I'd reckon they'll be in overall better position to reform and strengthen themselves.
People often forget this but Spain with the new Bourbon monarchs were actually looking for bettering the country, the military and the administration in general. Without the black hole that was Napoleon sucking them in and led to all sorts of troubles (loss of all mainland colonies, civil wars and the general downward spiral that was the 19th and early 20th century for them), they won't be perfect, but surely decent and doing what they can to improve.
183. Prussia
September 1805 - early 1806
The Southern armies, which had to rely exclusively upon the land supply lines, still were in a process of getting in shape and starting campaign in the late fall with the supply lines being dependent upon weather in the Carpathian passes was considered to be an unnecessary risk.
By the early September the Northern and Central armies started their march Westward. Besides being better supplied due to the sea routes and expecting to have the reliable supply bases in Danzig and ports of the Swedish Pomerania. Moreover, Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, regardless of the fact that he was a father of Queen Louise of Prussia, was already making the discreet approaches to the courts of Russia and Sweden making it known that if the fighting spreads that far, he will maintain a friendly neutrality allowing the neutral Danish ships with the supplies for the Swedish and Russian troops into his ports. Taking into an account that the Duke was also a brother-in-law to the Elector of Hanover who also happened to be King George III of the United Kingdom, the communications had been received with a gratitude.
But there was an extra consideration which somewhat accelerated the schedule. Situation in the Prussian-occupied Polish territories, both those Prussia got after the Partition and those recently occupied, was quite explosive and a speedy arrival of the allies and especially the Polish troops, would make the Prussian presence quite uncomfortable.
Alexander had a plan, which would correct what he considered to be excessive generosity of his father to not very friendly neighbors and use a slightly “creative” interpretation of the Constitution of 1791 to settle the Polish affairs in a way, which he considered the most profitable for Russia.
For successful implementation of this plan it will be helpful to have on board a very popular Pole, preferably something of a “national hero” who is (a) aristocratic, (b) unmarried, (c) already holds a high military position, (d) intelligent enough to accept a reality that may not involve a complete restoration of Poland and (e) not too smart for his own good. After meeting the leading Polish military figures Alexander came to the inevitable conclusion that a candidate who seemingly fits the bill is Prince Józef Antoni Poniatovski, nephew of the late King Stanislaw and now commander of the Polish army. Now, the task ahead was to make him a hero.
Making a national hero. To appeal to what was considered a “Polish national character”, the plan included certain theatricals. The Prussians abandoned Mazovia without too much of a fight simply because they did not have enough forces to put any noticeable resistance but there were some skirmishes in which the Polish troops were engaged, covering themselves with as much of a military glory as the circumstances and imagination would allow. Growing reputation of the troops inevitably added prestige to their commander and an easy (so far) campaign with the well-arranged supplies did a lot to increase his popularity among the troops.
On September 10 Poniatovski was near Łowicz, where he received from the hands of Wincenty Krasiński a bulawa of hetman Stefan Czarniecki, which on its own almost propelled him into the rank of a national hero, a status which was firmly confirmed after he managed to catch and defeat at Rawa retreating from Warsaw Prussian garrison of 5,000 and defeat them in a battle (having a very healthy numeric advantage pf 3:1, which resulted in small losses of his own troops while allowing one of the spectacular cavalry charges of which the Polish public was so fond).
With a loss of only couple hundreds Poniatovski managed to cause enemy losses of over 500 killed and wounded with more than 1,000 taken prisoners and 12 captured guns.
Alexander, who arrived on a battlefield soon after this splendid victory, took off his own star of St. Anna (which he put on specifically for this occasion) and pinned it to the hero’s chest producing a required degree of enthusiasm among the Polish troops and further endearing himself to the Polish aristocracy. As a byproduct, this removed from the limelight a very popular general Dąbrowski, who recently returned from France with a part of the Polish Legion and whom it would much more difficult to control and even more so an old grumpy Kościuszko who lived in Helvetic Republic but kept making noises about a complete restoration of the Commonwealth: controlling him was a complete impossibility so the simplest and least harmful solution was to make him obviously irrelevant.
In general, the Polish contingents had been kept on the left flank of the Central army giving them an ample opportunity to liberate the recently occupied territories but mostly keeping them away from the lands lost by the Partition.
As a result, Poniatovski got a huge bonus by liberating from the Austrians Czestochowa and a Jasna Gora Monastery with the sacred icon of Black Madonna, “Queen and Protector of Poland”. All alternative candidates to the position of a national hero ceased to be competitive.
In a meantime Barclay with the main force crossed voyevodships of Kalisz and Poznan entering Brandenburg while Morner, leaving part of his troops to besiege Kolberg, which by some strange reason was not in a hurry to capitulate, was marching toward Stettin meeting very little in the terms of an opposition.
King FWIII was trying to assemble a meaningful army out of the garrisons and 20,000 troops initially left on Saxon border but the results were not impressive and the only commander of some repute in his disposal was general Blucher who after Jena managed to escape and made made a remarkable escape behind the enemy’s lines. He came with slightly more than a thousand cavalrymen, exhausted but justifiably proud of their commander and themselves.
He was promoted to the Generalfeldmarschall but even his energy and dedication were not enough to produce a big army out of a thin air or even assemble enough troops to defend the Oder line. By the mid-October Morner crossed the Oder at Stettin and the Central army at Küstrin and Frankfurt. Blucher made a desperate attempt to prevent crossing at Frankfurt but was overwhelmed and, anyway, crossing at Küstrin made his intention pointless. He hastily retreated hoping to try to defend Berlin but his force of less than 30,000 was clearly inadequate for the task.
Berlin was within an easy march and FWIII finally understood that it is time to sue for peace if he wants to avoid a complete catastrophe.
________________
[1] “A soldier is always healthy,
A soldier is ready for anything,
And dust, as from the carpets,
We're kicking out of the roads.
And don't stop,
And don't change your step,
Our faces are shining,
Our boots are sparkling!” Vysotsky
(Text is taken absolutely out of the song’s context so, for those who knows the original, don’t make the unnecessary parallels. )
“The most common type of pride is national pride.”
A. Schopenhauer
“The enemy may be forgiven but first you must destroy him.”
Napoleon
“Солдат всегда здоров,
Солдат на всё готов,
И пыль, как из ковров,
Мы выбиваем из дорог.
И не остановиться,
И не сменить ноги,
Сияют наши лица,
Сверкают сапоги!”
Высоцкий [1]
A. Schopenhauer
“The enemy may be forgiven but first you must destroy him.”
Napoleon
“Солдат всегда здоров,
Солдат на всё готов,
И пыль, как из ковров,
Мы выбиваем из дорог.
И не остановиться,
И не сменить ноги,
Сияют наши лица,
Сверкают сапоги!”
Высоцкий [1]
September 1805 - early 1806
The Southern armies, which had to rely exclusively upon the land supply lines, still were in a process of getting in shape and starting campaign in the late fall with the supply lines being dependent upon weather in the Carpathian passes was considered to be an unnecessary risk.
By the early September the Northern and Central armies started their march Westward. Besides being better supplied due to the sea routes and expecting to have the reliable supply bases in Danzig and ports of the Swedish Pomerania. Moreover, Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, regardless of the fact that he was a father of Queen Louise of Prussia, was already making the discreet approaches to the courts of Russia and Sweden making it known that if the fighting spreads that far, he will maintain a friendly neutrality allowing the neutral Danish ships with the supplies for the Swedish and Russian troops into his ports. Taking into an account that the Duke was also a brother-in-law to the Elector of Hanover who also happened to be King George III of the United Kingdom, the communications had been received with a gratitude.
But there was an extra consideration which somewhat accelerated the schedule. Situation in the Prussian-occupied Polish territories, both those Prussia got after the Partition and those recently occupied, was quite explosive and a speedy arrival of the allies and especially the Polish troops, would make the Prussian presence quite uncomfortable.
Alexander had a plan, which would correct what he considered to be excessive generosity of his father to not very friendly neighbors and use a slightly “creative” interpretation of the Constitution of 1791 to settle the Polish affairs in a way, which he considered the most profitable for Russia.
For successful implementation of this plan it will be helpful to have on board a very popular Pole, preferably something of a “national hero” who is (a) aristocratic, (b) unmarried, (c) already holds a high military position, (d) intelligent enough to accept a reality that may not involve a complete restoration of Poland and (e) not too smart for his own good. After meeting the leading Polish military figures Alexander came to the inevitable conclusion that a candidate who seemingly fits the bill is Prince Józef Antoni Poniatovski, nephew of the late King Stanislaw and now commander of the Polish army. Now, the task ahead was to make him a hero.
Making a national hero. To appeal to what was considered a “Polish national character”, the plan included certain theatricals. The Prussians abandoned Mazovia without too much of a fight simply because they did not have enough forces to put any noticeable resistance but there were some skirmishes in which the Polish troops were engaged, covering themselves with as much of a military glory as the circumstances and imagination would allow. Growing reputation of the troops inevitably added prestige to their commander and an easy (so far) campaign with the well-arranged supplies did a lot to increase his popularity among the troops.
On September 10 Poniatovski was near Łowicz, where he received from the hands of Wincenty Krasiński a bulawa of hetman Stefan Czarniecki, which on its own almost propelled him into the rank of a national hero, a status which was firmly confirmed after he managed to catch and defeat at Rawa retreating from Warsaw Prussian garrison of 5,000 and defeat them in a battle (having a very healthy numeric advantage pf 3:1, which resulted in small losses of his own troops while allowing one of the spectacular cavalry charges of which the Polish public was so fond).
With a loss of only couple hundreds Poniatovski managed to cause enemy losses of over 500 killed and wounded with more than 1,000 taken prisoners and 12 captured guns.
Alexander, who arrived on a battlefield soon after this splendid victory, took off his own star of St. Anna (which he put on specifically for this occasion) and pinned it to the hero’s chest producing a required degree of enthusiasm among the Polish troops and further endearing himself to the Polish aristocracy. As a byproduct, this removed from the limelight a very popular general Dąbrowski, who recently returned from France with a part of the Polish Legion and whom it would much more difficult to control and even more so an old grumpy Kościuszko who lived in Helvetic Republic but kept making noises about a complete restoration of the Commonwealth: controlling him was a complete impossibility so the simplest and least harmful solution was to make him obviously irrelevant.
In general, the Polish contingents had been kept on the left flank of the Central army giving them an ample opportunity to liberate the recently occupied territories but mostly keeping them away from the lands lost by the Partition.
As a result, Poniatovski got a huge bonus by liberating from the Austrians Czestochowa and a Jasna Gora Monastery with the sacred icon of Black Madonna, “Queen and Protector of Poland”. All alternative candidates to the position of a national hero ceased to be competitive.
In a meantime Barclay with the main force crossed voyevodships of Kalisz and Poznan entering Brandenburg while Morner, leaving part of his troops to besiege Kolberg, which by some strange reason was not in a hurry to capitulate, was marching toward Stettin meeting very little in the terms of an opposition.
King FWIII was trying to assemble a meaningful army out of the garrisons and 20,000 troops initially left on Saxon border but the results were not impressive and the only commander of some repute in his disposal was general Blucher who after Jena managed to escape and made made a remarkable escape behind the enemy’s lines. He came with slightly more than a thousand cavalrymen, exhausted but justifiably proud of their commander and themselves.
He was promoted to the Generalfeldmarschall but even his energy and dedication were not enough to produce a big army out of a thin air or even assemble enough troops to defend the Oder line. By the mid-October Morner crossed the Oder at Stettin and the Central army at Küstrin and Frankfurt. Blucher made a desperate attempt to prevent crossing at Frankfurt but was overwhelmed and, anyway, crossing at Küstrin made his intention pointless. He hastily retreated hoping to try to defend Berlin but his force of less than 30,000 was clearly inadequate for the task.
Berlin was within an easy march and FWIII finally understood that it is time to sue for peace if he wants to avoid a complete catastrophe.
________________
[1] “A soldier is always healthy,
A soldier is ready for anything,
And dust, as from the carpets,
We're kicking out of the roads.
And don't stop,
And don't change your step,
Our faces are shining,
Our boots are sparkling!” Vysotsky
(Text is taken absolutely out of the song’s context so, for those who knows the original, don’t make the unnecessary parallels. )
So more, or less British are quietly signaling that they are benevolent neutral towards Russo/Swedish side.
Why wouldn’t they? Beaten Prussia means more secure Hanover and the business relations are not impacted in any way.
The offers one can’t refuse
184. The offers one can’t refuse
Late 1805 - Early 1806. Prussia.
Peace that you can’t refuse. FWIII sent his appeal for the armistice and talks in November by which time he almost run out of a territory but, more important, out of troops. What Blucher managed to assemble was not even remotely adequate for defense and it was a realistic guess that sooner rather than later Saxony may decide to join a winning coalition. Of course, he could retreat to Magdeburg and try to keep fighting, as his excessively bellicose wife abd even more bellicose Blucher insisted, but this would involve a complete extermination of what’s left of his army and just make his negotiating position even worse. The Austrians would not or could not (did not really matter) help him and neither Hanover nor Mecklenburg were ready to join the hopeless cause. So he decided not to delay the inevitable and hope for the better.
By the time messenger from FWIII reached the Russian army, it was already too close to Berlin to miss an opportunity for a little bit of the theatricals and while Alexander pretended that he is considering a response, the Kalmyk division from Murat’s 6th Cavalry Corps already was riding into Berlin, providing an easily-understandable intimidation by its “wild” appearance [1].
Soon, however, the conventionally-looking troops started to arrive bringing a hope that with some luck the city is not going to be looted and its population massacred and/or raped (nobody could tell for sure what exactly are the preferences of the “Asiatic” soldiers so a wide variety of the options had been expected).
Finally, the Emperor himself appeared on the streets looking gracious and assuring the city delegation that they have absolutely nothing to fear. More down to the earth Barclay met with the members of city administration in less spectacular surroundings and informed them what exactly they have to deliver in the terms of accommodations and supply of the troops, which are going to stay in Berlin until the peace treaty is concluded. He also assured the notables that as long as everybody behaves properly and the required supplies are being delivered, the population is not going to be harmed in any way.
The Northern Army was staying in the Prussian and Swedish Pomerania, stretching between Stralsund and Colberg (which was still under rather loose blockade because the garrison had nowhere to go and the allies did not want to lose soldiers on unnecessary fighting).
The Poles were in Silesia with their advance units reaching Lignitz and Poniatovski pretending that he is preparing to start siege of Breslau (an enterprise for which he had neither siege artillery nor engineers) but in a reality mostly maintaining a communication link to Poland and attending to supply of his troops so that they will be ready for the invasion into Bohemia when the Southern armies will start their offensive.
With everything seemingly going in an orderly fashion, a response had been sent to FWIII who was staying in Potsdam. Meeting of two monarchs had been arranged on a road between Berlin and Potsdam and Alexander played it nice and friendly: why to be boorish when you already won and a complete destruction of Prussia is not in your plans? FWIII was assured that the peace, while involving certain sacrifices (after all, Prussia did break the treaty without any valid excuse), is not going to be unduly harsh, that the family links are not forgotten and that the old friendship can be restored, if FWIII wishes (with FWIII expressing fully expected enthusiasm on the last item).
The meeting was followed by a travel to Potsdam where Alexander was introduced to Queen Louise. With a somewhat ill-advised eagerness the Queen tried to start discussion of the future peace treaty but Alexander politely switched to the discussion of the sights of Berlin and Potsdam, health of her children and other similar issues: after a bad experience with the excessively political active Prussian princess, the general tendency in the Russian court was to distance the females from the political decisions beyond an appropriate gossip level.
Of course, the meeting involved a visit to the most important place, a grave of Frederick II. Properly staged, it was later commemorated in the engraving and gave birth to a beautiful legend that Alexander swore on a grave of the Old Fritz to be a true friend of Prussia. This was not true but why to deny something which costs you nothing and which may be to your benefit?
When the pleasantries were over and the sides came to business, FWIII was up to a major surprise and unexpectedly pleasant one.
), the “national hero” had to remain blameless.
Matrimony that you can’t refuse. The next thing was to start putting the Polish affairs in what Alexander was considered “a proper order”. The “national hero” had been ordered to leave “siege” of Breslau to one of his subordinates and arrive to Berlin. Upon arrival he was informed that for everybody’s (including his own) benefit he has to marry Maria Augusta Nepomucena Antonia Francisca Xaveria Aloysia of Saxony, the "infanta of Poland".
Constitution of 1791 had been quite clear that in an absence of Frederick Augustus’ de limbus male issue a consort of his daughter selected by the Elector with the consent of the assembled estates, shall begin a new life of succession. Frederick Augustus is here and selects you, dear Prince (energetic agreement from the happy father). The estates are in a process of getting assembled and there is no doubt that they will give a consent to the marriage of “infanta of Poland” to the liberator of Jasna Gora, spiritual successor of Czarniecki, victor at Rawa etc.
The “infanta” is waiting in the next room so go and make a proposal. The whole Polish nation is relying on you! Naprzod! [3]
__________
[1] Two paintings below really show the Russian irregulars and Alexander in Berlin. In the March of 1813.
[2] In OTL by the Treaty of Tilsit Prussia had to pay 154,500,000 francs (= Prussian dollar 41.73 mio.), which, between 1807 and 1812, was accompanied with some additional requisitions, expenses for billetting soldiers on cities, etc. to the total 146 and 309 million francs (one Prussian thaler = 3.75 francs) plus a revenue loss from the territories taken from Prussia. Without all these extra expenses and losses the amount assigned to Prussia looks realistic.
Just FYI, at that time British pound = 25 franks, Russian ruble = 4 franks (or 1.07 thaler) and Polish zloty = 0.6 franks. To give an idea, in OTL campaigns of 1812-14 had been billed by the Ministry of War as approximately 120-150,000,000 paper rubles. At that time 1 silver ruble (more or less abstract thing because predominantly paper money had been used) was equal to 4 paper rubles. So Russia got 180,000,000 paper rubles.
[3] Forward!
“Soldiers, you did everything you could for the greatness of our nation! There's already only one half of it left.”
“If you can't do it yourself, at least prevent someone else from doing it."
“No other's sacrifice in the name of peace can be considered too big.”
“International agreements... yes, of course, but who we are at war with is our internal business.”
Karel Čapek
“'How do you spell love?' 'You don't spell it, you feel it."
Piglet & Pooh, Winnie the Pooh
“If you can't do it yourself, at least prevent someone else from doing it."
“No other's sacrifice in the name of peace can be considered too big.”
“International agreements... yes, of course, but who we are at war with is our internal business.”
Karel Čapek
“'How do you spell love?' 'You don't spell it, you feel it."
Piglet & Pooh, Winnie the Pooh
Late 1805 - Early 1806. Prussia.
Peace that you can’t refuse. FWIII sent his appeal for the armistice and talks in November by which time he almost run out of a territory but, more important, out of troops. What Blucher managed to assemble was not even remotely adequate for defense and it was a realistic guess that sooner rather than later Saxony may decide to join a winning coalition. Of course, he could retreat to Magdeburg and try to keep fighting, as his excessively bellicose wife abd even more bellicose Blucher insisted, but this would involve a complete extermination of what’s left of his army and just make his negotiating position even worse. The Austrians would not or could not (did not really matter) help him and neither Hanover nor Mecklenburg were ready to join the hopeless cause. So he decided not to delay the inevitable and hope for the better.
By the time messenger from FWIII reached the Russian army, it was already too close to Berlin to miss an opportunity for a little bit of the theatricals and while Alexander pretended that he is considering a response, the Kalmyk division from Murat’s 6th Cavalry Corps already was riding into Berlin, providing an easily-understandable intimidation by its “wild” appearance [1].
Soon, however, the conventionally-looking troops started to arrive bringing a hope that with some luck the city is not going to be looted and its population massacred and/or raped (nobody could tell for sure what exactly are the preferences of the “Asiatic” soldiers so a wide variety of the options had been expected).
Finally, the Emperor himself appeared on the streets looking gracious and assuring the city delegation that they have absolutely nothing to fear. More down to the earth Barclay met with the members of city administration in less spectacular surroundings and informed them what exactly they have to deliver in the terms of accommodations and supply of the troops, which are going to stay in Berlin until the peace treaty is concluded. He also assured the notables that as long as everybody behaves properly and the required supplies are being delivered, the population is not going to be harmed in any way.
The Northern Army was staying in the Prussian and Swedish Pomerania, stretching between Stralsund and Colberg (which was still under rather loose blockade because the garrison had nowhere to go and the allies did not want to lose soldiers on unnecessary fighting).
The Poles were in Silesia with their advance units reaching Lignitz and Poniatovski pretending that he is preparing to start siege of Breslau (an enterprise for which he had neither siege artillery nor engineers) but in a reality mostly maintaining a communication link to Poland and attending to supply of his troops so that they will be ready for the invasion into Bohemia when the Southern armies will start their offensive.
With everything seemingly going in an orderly fashion, a response had been sent to FWIII who was staying in Potsdam. Meeting of two monarchs had been arranged on a road between Berlin and Potsdam and Alexander played it nice and friendly: why to be boorish when you already won and a complete destruction of Prussia is not in your plans? FWIII was assured that the peace, while involving certain sacrifices (after all, Prussia did break the treaty without any valid excuse), is not going to be unduly harsh, that the family links are not forgotten and that the old friendship can be restored, if FWIII wishes (with FWIII expressing fully expected enthusiasm on the last item).
The meeting was followed by a travel to Potsdam where Alexander was introduced to Queen Louise. With a somewhat ill-advised eagerness the Queen tried to start discussion of the future peace treaty but Alexander politely switched to the discussion of the sights of Berlin and Potsdam, health of her children and other similar issues: after a bad experience with the excessively political active Prussian princess, the general tendency in the Russian court was to distance the females from the political decisions beyond an appropriate gossip level.
Of course, the meeting involved a visit to the most important place, a grave of Frederick II. Properly staged, it was later commemorated in the engraving and gave birth to a beautiful legend that Alexander swore on a grave of the Old Fritz to be a true friend of Prussia. This was not true but why to deny something which costs you nothing and which may be to your benefit?
When the pleasantries were over and the sides came to business, FWIII was up to a major surprise and unexpectedly pleasant one.
- Of course, there will be the territorial losses but most of them were the lands he grabbed in the current war and now had to return. Out of the “old” Polish territories he had to return just voyevodships of Chelm and Inowroclaw, which will leave him with the connection to East Prussia. This will be a punishment for breaking the treaty. Pomorie, Kalisz and Poznan still will be his.
- The short stretch of Vistula which was Prussian on both banks will be free (and customs free) for all commercial shipping.
- Fortifications of Pilau are going to be destroyed.
- Kuronian Split will be Swedish (to provide Memel with the wood and keep its businesses running).
- Prussia will have to pay a monetary compensation of 60,000,000 thalers [2] spread over 5 years. It will be distributed as following:
- Russia 45,000,000
- Sweden 10,000,000
- Poland 5,000,000
- The allies were not going to interfere into the Prussian internal affairs.
), the “national hero” had to remain blameless.Matrimony that you can’t refuse. The next thing was to start putting the Polish affairs in what Alexander was considered “a proper order”. The “national hero” had been ordered to leave “siege” of Breslau to one of his subordinates and arrive to Berlin. Upon arrival he was informed that for everybody’s (including his own) benefit he has to marry Maria Augusta Nepomucena Antonia Francisca Xaveria Aloysia of Saxony, the "infanta of Poland".
Constitution of 1791 had been quite clear that in an absence of Frederick Augustus’ de limbus male issue a consort of his daughter selected by the Elector with the consent of the assembled estates, shall begin a new life of succession. Frederick Augustus is here and selects you, dear Prince (energetic agreement from the happy father). The estates are in a process of getting assembled and there is no doubt that they will give a consent to the marriage of “infanta of Poland” to the liberator of Jasna Gora, spiritual successor of Czarniecki, victor at Rawa etc.
The “infanta” is waiting in the next room so go and make a proposal. The whole Polish nation is relying on you! Naprzod! [3]
__________
[1] Two paintings below really show the Russian irregulars and Alexander in Berlin. In the March of 1813.
[2] In OTL by the Treaty of Tilsit Prussia had to pay 154,500,000 francs (= Prussian dollar 41.73 mio.), which, between 1807 and 1812, was accompanied with some additional requisitions, expenses for billetting soldiers on cities, etc. to the total 146 and 309 million francs (one Prussian thaler = 3.75 francs) plus a revenue loss from the territories taken from Prussia. Without all these extra expenses and losses the amount assigned to Prussia looks realistic.
Just FYI, at that time British pound = 25 franks, Russian ruble = 4 franks (or 1.07 thaler) and Polish zloty = 0.6 franks. To give an idea, in OTL campaigns of 1812-14 had been billed by the Ministry of War as approximately 120-150,000,000 paper rubles. At that time 1 silver ruble (more or less abstract thing because predominantly paper money had been used) was equal to 4 paper rubles. So Russia got 180,000,000 paper rubles.
[3] Forward!
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I was so caught off guard when I saw this considering your usual choices for quotes that my family was worried if I was having a meltdown because I couldnt stop laughing even when gasping for air
Thank you very much for the near death experience
Considering the circumstances, a pretty fucking good deal for Prussia as they don't lose much land, the reparations hurt of course, but they can eventually pay them off. Hopefully it gets through them this time that messing with the current status quo in the Baltics and Poland will mean a disaster for them.
You are alive, my congratulations. Your reaction is called “splork” (defined in now dead soc.history.medieval) but here is another surprise to you (and not only): occasionally, I posted half-finished text so you missed the whole line to which the quote applied and may be more.
Curse you Other Alex!
Next thing you'll say this TL was a mystery box all along~
It also has an effect of convincing Austria to seek peace easier. By all accounts Austrian sins are smaller than Prussian (they just wanted territories in Poland, not Sweden, or some other Russian ally) so they don't need to have fear of losing to much , if anything besides some small territories to Poland (those they gained and maybe city, or two like Prussia), but if they manage preserve their army (good possibility with current Emperor in command) they might just get away with return of taken territories (potentially small territorial loss to Poland) ,light reparations (lighter than those on Prussia) and trade concessions in Danube (potential Russian interest).
I don't see direct territorial losses to the Ottoman empire given limited nature of Ottoman involvement (only naval involvement and raids) and the fact that Ottomans (Selim III) are in it for the support in his internal reforms, plus Alex will want to portray this as a war to Protect Poland that is followed by fair peace and practically he has no interest in rocking the boat .
Otherwise, other thing to consider is that by not punishing Prussia to much he is also maintaining balance of power in HRE as there's no sense in knocking out Prussia and letting Austria go out lightly just for the latter to gain upper hand in Germany, not to mention that by weakening one of Germanic powers France might get some ideas in Germany and Prussia/or Austria alone aren't enough to balance them, or France might feel that it needs to balance dominant Germanic power.
And ultimately this is also signal to Poland that it needs to appear a lot more loyal if it wants some serious rewards.
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It may convince Austria but there is no 100% guarantee. Not sure about Ludwig von Cobenzl but there was a pro-war party at the Austrian court including Stadion and Metternich and in 1809 Archduke Charles was, AFAIK, also a part of it.
Of course, in OTL 1809 the global circumstances had been different but still Austria was acting alone and Napoleon had a much greater reputation than ITTL. Here the Russians after capitulation of Prussia may get certain numeric advantage (but it is expected that a considerable number of their troops will stay in Prussia for a while) but they are still pretty much unknown entity and small advantages they gained during the 1st campaign are not serious enough for Austrian de facto capitulation without fighting.
If Austria asks for peace with the losses without being defeated its reputation goes down the drain and it is reasonable to expect that France and the Ottomans will take notice. Even Prussia may: its army after the peace treaty is concluded is back and it can consider the Austrians to be traitors who just stood idly watching Prussians to be beaten.
A mild treatment of Prussia can’t be a precedent: yes, it sinned more but it is/was a member of the Baltic League having family relations to both Russian and Swedish ruling houses not to mention the non-zero common trade interests. Austria has none of the above.
Well, Prussia lost two small but strategically and economically important voyevodships which it got during the Partition and which allowed it to control most of the Polish foreign trade. It also lost a small but financially important Kuronian Split from which it was getting payments for a timber sent to the Swedish Memel and destruction of Pilau’s fortifications deprived Prussia of control over the trade going through Elblag. This may not look as too much on a map but importance is not always measured in the square miles.
Austria is risking to loose very profitable areas: by Partition it obtained 83,000 square kilometres and 2,650,000 people and economically important rich salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka. Now it occupied the whole Cracow and Sandomierz voyevodships parts of which it got by the Partition. Taking into an account where the Polish troops had been operating, it is reasonable to assume that the “punishment” is going to be a complete loss of the most economically important areas. Galicia is, of course, not a complete wasteland either. So any realistic loss is going to be painful.
Russia does not have an access to the Danube so the trade agreements about its status are irrelevant.
As for the light reparations, why to expect this? A willingness to make a peace without fighting will be interpreted as a sign of a weakness and a weakness means a greater opportunity for squeezing.
Then, don’t forget that this is not an one-sided game. The whole purpose of Alexander’s policy within this TL is to show to both Prussia and Austria who is the boss in the region and this can be achieved only by demonstration of an overwhelming military power (after which he may show leniency, as Bismarck in Austro-Prussian War). This was his father’s plan and, if anything, he considers his late father to be too restrained.
And in this he is eagerly supported by the “militant party” in Russia: for most of the military establishment this is a rare chance for promotion in a country which had been mostly at peace for quite a few decades and there are other interests as well, all the way to a “national pride” factor (which was very important in OTL between 1814 and the CW). The troops, emboldened by the victories of 1805, look for more glory and awards (including financial ones) and will be unhappy if “cheated” out of them. And if you need a match to be thrown into the tinderbox, here are 40-50,000 Poles in Silesia eager to exact revenge for the Partition and an attempt to start a new one.
Yes on the Ottomans and for the rest, he is looking for the “fair peace” but he has his own ideas on how to achieve it (so does his fieldmarshal and quite a few other personages).
Well, you are getting closer: beating Prussia into the submission and allowing Austria to get away undefeated will definitely disturb the power balance in the HRE, which may give Austria some creative ideas. With both of them getting a comprehensive trashing but not humiliated afterwards the balance is still there.
Poland is getting rewards. It just getting a signal that these rewards are given for the future good behavior and can be easily revoked.
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The Consulate, start of the adventures
185. The Consulate, start of the adventurers
After the peace was established the Consuls faced the obvious question: what to do now?
Well, everybody was seemingly enjoying a peace. Manufacturing was growing, especially in the former Austrian Netherlands where it already was well-developed, but along the Rhine as well.
The arts were, seemingly flourishing in their own way. The painters had been producing rather hideous paintings on which the modern figures had been put together with the mythological personages but the public loved them and asked for more of the kind
The theaters had been staging the sycophantic operas, presumably from the Greek or Roman history, in which the obnoxious content and questionable musical merits had been compensated by the lavish production. The “Consulate Style” furniture and the gilded bronze had been exported all over Europe.
Taken together with the salons and proliferation of the newspapers and magazines (properly controlled by the Ministry of Police), this all amounted for a good cultural life.
The political oppositions were at that point were not too dangerous:
Answer to the first two questions was easy. There was seemingly a perfect place:
There was also the Odjak of Algiers, an autonomous part of the Janissary Corps counting 14,000 , which was doing pretty much whatever it wanted and quite often exercised a direct control over the Deylik.
The most important thing was that the Deylik was a home (not the only one but the best-known) of the Barbary pirates who were making the trade on the Med a rather risky enterprise pissing off even the seemingly unlikely countries like Denmark, Sweden and the newly-created United States. At the moment the United States and Sweden were in the state of war with Pasha of Tripoli. In 1805 the Americans will win a victory but will also pay a significant ransom of $60,000 for release of 300 American prisoners.
In other words, nobody would object if France will take care of one of the main sources of this pestilence. The cause had been easily found.
In 1795–96, the French Republic contracted to purchase wheat for the French army from two Jewish merchants in Algiers. The merchants, who had debts to Mustafa Dey, the Dey of Algiers, claimed inability to pay those debts until France paid its debts to them. The dey unsuccessfully negotiated with the French consul, to rectify this situation, and suspected him of collaborating with the merchants against him, especially since the French government made no provision to pay the merchants. After a contentious meeting on 29 April 1803 in which the consul refused to provide satisfactory answers, the Dey struck him with his fly-whisk (then called a fan).
If there was a need for an excuse, here it was. Now the issue was whom to appoint as a commander. Bernadotte favored general Vandamme who was unquestionably brave, talented and popular among the troops. To which Moreau reasonably objected that while all this is true, Vandamme is also insubordinate, extremely brutal and prone to looting. Which, of course, could be useful during the conquest but may cause very serious problems with the natives afterwards. Also, with a popular general like Vandamme one never can guarantee that he will not try to …er… misuse his position relying upon loyalty of his troops.
As an alternative he offered a perfect candidate:
In France the victory was enormously popular. In Algiers Davout introduced a formal civil administration in Algiers, and began recruiting zouaves, or native auxiliaries to the French forces, with the goal of establishing a proper colonial presence. He and others formed a company to acquire agricultural land and to subsidize its settlement by European farmers, triggering a land rush. Davout recognized the farming potential of the Mitidja Plain and envisioned the production there of cotton on a large scale. The officers and bureaucrats were encouraged to make private investments in land which created a vested interest among government officials in greater French involvement in Algeria. Commercial interests with influence in the government also began to recognize the prospects for profitable land speculation in expanding the French zone of occupation. Over a ten-year period they created large agricultural tracts, built factories and businesses, and bought cheap local labor.
France formally annexed the occupied areas of Algeria, which had an estimated Muslim population of about two million, as a military colony. The colony was run by a military governor who had both civilian and military authority, including the power of executive decree. His authority was nominally over an area of "limited occupation" near the coast, but the realities of French colonial expansion beyond those areas ensured continued resistance from the local population.
But the Algiers campaign was only a part of the ambition plan to create a new colonial empire to substitute for the lost one. India was out of question which meant Indo-China or at least the feasible parts of it.
However, even with the vassal Batavian Republic, it made sense to establish some bases in Africa on the way there. Unfortunately, a big stretch of the coast to the North of Cape Colony was absolutely unsuitable for the landing. The first suitable bay to the South of what will be later called Skeleton Coast was discovered in 1487 by Bartolomeu Dias. In the 18th century Dutch adventurers and scientists explored the area in search of minerals but did not have much success. Now the French expedition led by the Dutch captain Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz purchased the area from the local chief and founded a small trade post there, which the captain who did not suffer from excessive modesty, called after … himself, Lüderitz. It will take few years before the first small shiny stone will be found nearby but in a meantime the enterprises were set up, including whaling, seal hunting and fishing.
Tasks for the following expeditions were to find convenient sites for the bases on the way to the main goal and to look for the suitable opportunities in Africa: so far, Britain was predominantly occupied elsewhere giving France a free hand.
___________
[1] “Africa is terrible,
Yes, yes, yes!
Africa is dangerous,
Yes, yes, yes!
Don't go to Africa,
Children, ever!” K. Chukovsky “Barmaley”
[2] “Africa burned my whole soul:
Crocodiles, palm trees, baobabs,…
And the wife of the French ambassador.” Gorodnitsky “Wife of the French ambassador”
[3] The painting below is “Peace of Amiens” but it is peanuts comparing to the works of David with much more unnatural poses.
[4] In OTL this opinion had been expressed by Swedish representative in France during the succession discussion.
[5] Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch was not born, yet, so this is a pure anachronism used just to give an idea.
[6] In OTL (in 1830) the large scale atrocities did happen accompanied by the looting on a scale of more than fifty million francs. Small wonder than the future relations with the local population were not exactly rosy.
“Африка ужасна,
Да-да-да!
Африка опасна,
Да-да-да!
Не ходите в Африку,
Дети, никогда!” [1]
“Всю мне душу Африка сожгла:
Крокодилы, пальмы, баобабы,…
И жена французского посла.” [2]
Да-да-да!
Африка опасна,
Да-да-да!
Не ходите в Африку,
Дети, никогда!” [1]
“Всю мне душу Африка сожгла:
Крокодилы, пальмы, баобабы,…
И жена французского посла.” [2]
After the peace was established the Consuls faced the obvious question: what to do now?
Well, everybody was seemingly enjoying a peace. Manufacturing was growing, especially in the former Austrian Netherlands where it already was well-developed, but along the Rhine as well.
The arts were, seemingly flourishing in their own way. The painters had been producing rather hideous paintings on which the modern figures had been put together with the mythological personages but the public loved them and asked for more of the kind
The theaters had been staging the sycophantic operas, presumably from the Greek or Roman history, in which the obnoxious content and questionable musical merits had been compensated by the lavish production. The “Consulate Style” furniture and the gilded bronze had been exported all over Europe.
Taken together with the salons and proliferation of the newspapers and magazines (properly controlled by the Ministry of Police), this all amounted for a good cultural life.
The political oppositions were at that point were not too dangerous:
- On the right, the royalists wanted something unrealistic: return of the Bourbons (which was rather naive) and return of the properties lost during the Revolution (which was plain foolish) and as a result could be with a relative ease confined to the fashionable salons where they could keep blabbing whatever they wanted under the watchful eye of Fouche’s agents recruited among their own ranks. When these salons had been visited by Consul Bernadotte (his colleagues were not big funs of the “high society”), those present could enjoy his long and rather fanciful speeches of a very unclear content, which could be interpreted as a support to the restoration at some point in the future. As a result, the Consul was getting a firmly established reputation of a person with the high moral qualities. [4]
- On the left, the Jacobins did not really know what exactly is that they want except to be allowed to keep gathering in their clubs and make speeches filled with the references to the Ancient Greece, Roman Republic and not quite clear “virtues”. The Directory closed their main club in Paris but the Consulate was more lenient and the same Bernadotte was visiting this club from time to time to show that he did not forget his revolutionary past and to make more speeches which were completely incomprehensible except for the required references to the Ancient history and “the virtues”. The Left was quite happy.
Answer to the first two questions was easy. There was seemingly a perfect place:
- It was close.
- It did not have a strong army.
- It was reasonably wealthy.
- It has a potential for the French settlement. This could alleviate a growing pressure in France’s agricultural sector: even with the massive migration to the cities, the rural population had been growing too fast creating danger of a land crisis in a near future.
- Nobody in Europe will have any objections because it was a pain in everybody’s posteriors.
There was also the Odjak of Algiers, an autonomous part of the Janissary Corps counting 14,000 , which was doing pretty much whatever it wanted and quite often exercised a direct control over the Deylik.
The most important thing was that the Deylik was a home (not the only one but the best-known) of the Barbary pirates who were making the trade on the Med a rather risky enterprise pissing off even the seemingly unlikely countries like Denmark, Sweden and the newly-created United States. At the moment the United States and Sweden were in the state of war with Pasha of Tripoli. In 1805 the Americans will win a victory but will also pay a significant ransom of $60,000 for release of 300 American prisoners.
In other words, nobody would object if France will take care of one of the main sources of this pestilence. The cause had been easily found.
In 1795–96, the French Republic contracted to purchase wheat for the French army from two Jewish merchants in Algiers. The merchants, who had debts to Mustafa Dey, the Dey of Algiers, claimed inability to pay those debts until France paid its debts to them. The dey unsuccessfully negotiated with the French consul, to rectify this situation, and suspected him of collaborating with the merchants against him, especially since the French government made no provision to pay the merchants. After a contentious meeting on 29 April 1803 in which the consul refused to provide satisfactory answers, the Dey struck him with his fly-whisk (then called a fan).
If there was a need for an excuse, here it was. Now the issue was whom to appoint as a commander. Bernadotte favored general Vandamme who was unquestionably brave, talented and popular among the troops. To which Moreau reasonably objected that while all this is true, Vandamme is also insubordinate, extremely brutal and prone to looting. Which, of course, could be useful during the conquest but may cause very serious problems with the natives afterwards. Also, with a popular general like Vandamme one never can guarantee that he will not try to …er… misuse his position relying upon loyalty of his troops.
As an alternative he offered a perfect candidate:
- All consuls intensively disliked him because he was probably the most obnoxious prick in the whole army.
- His colleagues intensively disliked him because he never hesitated to express his (generally low) opinion about their qualifications and mental capacities. The fact that these comments were mostly true made them only more offensive.
- His subordinates, except for a small group of the ultimate sycophants with a masochistic [5] inclinations, disliked him because he had zero tolerance to the imperfection.
- His troops did not like him because he was a strict disciplinarian and was always trying to prevent the looting.
- He was a very competent general .
- He was taking a good care about proper supply of his troops (which, of course, did not compensate for the absence of looting).
- He was dedicated to the service and his loyalty could be counted upon.
- Judging by how he managed his troops, he should be a good administrator.
- He was personally honest and probably as incorruptible as it goes.
- It could be expected that with the “natives” he will be strict but just and that his own troops will be prevented from creating unnecessary animosity. OTOH, chances that he will be liked by these natives were close to zero: nobody could like him.
In France the victory was enormously popular. In Algiers Davout introduced a formal civil administration in Algiers, and began recruiting zouaves, or native auxiliaries to the French forces, with the goal of establishing a proper colonial presence. He and others formed a company to acquire agricultural land and to subsidize its settlement by European farmers, triggering a land rush. Davout recognized the farming potential of the Mitidja Plain and envisioned the production there of cotton on a large scale. The officers and bureaucrats were encouraged to make private investments in land which created a vested interest among government officials in greater French involvement in Algeria. Commercial interests with influence in the government also began to recognize the prospects for profitable land speculation in expanding the French zone of occupation. Over a ten-year period they created large agricultural tracts, built factories and businesses, and bought cheap local labor.
France formally annexed the occupied areas of Algeria, which had an estimated Muslim population of about two million, as a military colony. The colony was run by a military governor who had both civilian and military authority, including the power of executive decree. His authority was nominally over an area of "limited occupation" near the coast, but the realities of French colonial expansion beyond those areas ensured continued resistance from the local population.
But the Algiers campaign was only a part of the ambition plan to create a new colonial empire to substitute for the lost one. India was out of question which meant Indo-China or at least the feasible parts of it.
However, even with the vassal Batavian Republic, it made sense to establish some bases in Africa on the way there. Unfortunately, a big stretch of the coast to the North of Cape Colony was absolutely unsuitable for the landing. The first suitable bay to the South of what will be later called Skeleton Coast was discovered in 1487 by Bartolomeu Dias. In the 18th century Dutch adventurers and scientists explored the area in search of minerals but did not have much success. Now the French expedition led by the Dutch captain Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz purchased the area from the local chief and founded a small trade post there, which the captain who did not suffer from excessive modesty, called after … himself, Lüderitz. It will take few years before the first small shiny stone will be found nearby but in a meantime the enterprises were set up, including whaling, seal hunting and fishing.
Tasks for the following expeditions were to find convenient sites for the bases on the way to the main goal and to look for the suitable opportunities in Africa: so far, Britain was predominantly occupied elsewhere giving France a free hand.
___________
[1] “Africa is terrible,
Yes, yes, yes!
Africa is dangerous,
Yes, yes, yes!
Don't go to Africa,
Children, ever!” K. Chukovsky “Barmaley”
[2] “Africa burned my whole soul:
Crocodiles, palm trees, baobabs,…
And the wife of the French ambassador.” Gorodnitsky “Wife of the French ambassador”
[3] The painting below is “Peace of Amiens” but it is peanuts comparing to the works of David with much more unnatural poses.
[4] In OTL this opinion had been expressed by Swedish representative in France during the succession discussion.
[5] Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch was not born, yet, so this is a pure anachronism used just to give an idea.
[6] In OTL (in 1830) the large scale atrocities did happen accompanied by the looting on a scale of more than fifty million francs. Small wonder than the future relations with the local population were not exactly rosy.