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True, it was a cool interesting transitional period. But you must admit that constitutional monarchy looks like madness from the eyes of a reactionary ancien régime monarch.
In a better, more monarchical, age I could totally see the Bourbons pull a Habsburg and take over half of Europe. But now...I'd have to find a way to convince the people of Europe that they don't really need all this nation-state nonsense and boy does that sound hard! But still, if it annoys the Germans, I'm all for trying!
A return to the age of succession wars would be quite hard to pull off now, indeed...
Honestly France being France could pull a Pan European argument out of its ass...I mean, out of histiry. Especially for Iberia and Italia joining with them under one rule to preserve them from the germanic barbarians...
That's you Lord Britishman. And Bismark.
That's you Lord Britishman. And Bismark.
Unless there's a concerted reactionary push across Europe, then no, not much of a chance of that.
That would be the hope but it always somehow conspires to join together.
Oh of course! Obviously since *cough cough* Charlemagne and *mumbles something* brotherhood of nations *sneezes* Henri V is the rightful ruler.
I'm coming for you Britishman!
(Psst, Bismark, Britishman said your Pickelhaube looks stupid)
"The French think they're coming for me."
"Ha! Well they just might be able to declare a war but we really want their eastern boarder regions so...I wouldn't worry too much my friend. Thanks for the new Pickelhaube by the way."
"No problem Bismark. Give 'em hell."
Chapter VIII: From the “Narrative on the Russo-German War”
The year of 1869 was one of great interest to the House of Bourbon. On the 6th of February, churches all over France rang their bells in celebration at the announcement of the birth of a son in the royal family. The Dauphine gave birth to a healthy young boy who was baptized as Louis Philippe Robert, likely to become king after his father. The news was greeted with supreme joy by King Henri who created the newborn as Philippe, Duc d'Orléans.
The Dauphine with a young Duc Phillippe.
On another branch of the family tree, the expulsion of the Bourbons from Spain caused much more than just the birth of the Spanish Republic by forming ripples and waves that would crash upon Europe in the following years. The first ripple hit France as, in May 1869, the continued insistence by Fabien de Privas that France should restore the Spanish monarchy forced King Henri to sack the Prime Minister. He was substituted by Georges Fétique, twice Minister of war and now leader of the Modéré party.
The situation in Spain continued to unfold as the German Empire proposed that a Hohenzollern should be placed upon the vacant throne. The new Foreign Minister Valentin de Melun sent vigorous protests to the German ambassador for attempting to interfere with Bourbon affairs.
The Duc de Melun was born in 1827 to one of the most prominent French noble families who had managed to rebuild their fortunes after the First Restoration. Valentin was sent at a young to a military academy in the hopes of a successful career in the army. Upon graduation in 1845, he managed to be assigned at court as an officer in the royal guard. It was in this capacity that Melun attempted to resist the riots of 1847 and was severely injured while defending the King from the mob. During the Second Republic and the regime of Bonaparte, he served with distinction as a colonel in the National Guard until 1853 when he saw the corruption in the regime and sought to change it. He was elected to the Imperial Senate and was sent as an envoy to Hispaniola to ensure that the province had been properly subjugated. After the Ottoman War, he was among those who voted to ensure the return of King Henri and thus continued to be a member of the Upper House until he was chosen as Minister of War for the distinction he showed in his military career.
With a German conflict looming, Melun opened diplomatic channels with allies in the Russian Empire to ensure their support in the eventuality of war. In early 1870, the movement of German soldiers towards the border of Russian Poland provided the final provocation in a year-long escalation. On the 9th of February 1870, the Russian ambassador to Berlin handed in an official declaration of war with the aim of stopping aggressive German expansion in Europe.
Europe rallies against the German menace.
On the next day, Russian envoys came to King Henri asking for military aid to conduct a two-front war. The King consulted with War Minister Marius de Agen who assured him that there would be no repeat of the dishonor of the Ottoman War.
The Marquis d'Agen was born in 1814 just as his family had returned to France with Louis XVIII. The First Restoration allowed a great deal of opportunities for a young noble and Marius was sent to study the law of the new Kingdom. An accomplished student, he graduated in 1834 and made a name for himself as a lawyer with a particular eye towards ensuring that the constitutional limits on the people were properly observed. With the Rebellion of 1847, Agen left the public eye and retired to private life in his family estates in Southern France. There he began writing poetry in praise of the simple lives of the farmers who dutifully tended to the prune orchards close to his home town. He rose to the political scene with the Second Restoration when King Henri required loyal nobles to govern France. Agen was thus appointed as governor of the African colonies where he accrued a certain military experience in defending the settlements from raids. Under the new Fétique government, he was then chosen as Minister of War for the twin virtues of experience and loyalty.
Within the cabinet, support was unanimous for joining the fray since the people of France were anxious to take revenge for the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. Thus, on the 23rd of February, Melun handed the declaration of war to the German ambassador in Paris as soon as Agen had massed the regular army on the German border.
In the first phase of the war, the French army rushed through Alsace-Lorraine, liberating the oppressed French people there, and began to lay siege to the German heartland. The first serious signs of resistance were encountered in late May at Heilbronn and Mannheim where it was considered prudent to stop the advance and fortify these positions in anticipation of a more vigorous German counterattack.
The French advance in the first phase of the war.
Days of tension followed the advance as news leaked that the German Empire had offered annexation to Austria, a staunch French ally, in the name of their common heritage. Before a decision could be reached, Melun rushed to Vienna and delivered an impassioned speech about the friendship that Austria and France share and further praised their spirit of collaboration while pointing to the Prussian tyranny that had fallen upon other German nations. Such a fate would also befall the proud Empire if they accepted submission to a neighbor rather than collaboration with a more distant friend. The speech moved the Austrian government and, shortly after the battle of Heilbronn, they sent back their response that Austria would remain independent of Germany and reject its imperial ambitions.
Austria shows where her loyalties lie.
Austria’s loyalty denied valuable troops to the German Empire and they were forced to peel off soldiers from the Russian front to deal with the French advance in Baden-Württemberg. In June, counterattacks in Colmar and Heilbronn were halted by brave French soldiers in their diligently constructed trenches, denying Germany any further access to Alsace-Lorraine. Fresh gains were made by the army in Mannheim who managed to occupy Aschaffenburg and expelled the German garrison there.
France resists German assaults and pushes on.
The coming of August saw valuable breakthroughs that came close to eliminating German military capabilities. The Russians were able to push back enemy gains in Poland as the Eastern front began to show signs of bending towards Berlin. On the French front, the Prussians attempted one final counterattack on Mannheim but were repulsed by the valiant French soldiers who would not yield to the forces of tyranny. The foolish attack left the field open for further French advance that culminated in the occupation of Stuttgart and Nürnberg.
France pushes into the German heartland.
The final blows of the war came in November when French victories at Siegburg and Aachen broke all German resistance in the West just as Russian soldiers started flooding through Prussia.
The German front breaks.
Germany opened diplomatic channels and by the 19th of November 1870, an armistice was signed with the unconditional surrender of the German Empire to the Kingdom of France and the Russian Empire. In a meeting at Dortmund, Tsar Alexander II and King Henri V forced Kaiser Wilhelm to sign a treaty that would restrict German aggression for the next decade. Under the terms of the pact, the German Empire would relinquish its claims of influence over Spain, restore Alsace-Lorraine to the Kingdom of France, pay a significant war indemnity to the Russian Empire and be required to reduce its army size to, at most, 150.000 soldiers.
France is finally returned to her former glory.
The Dauphine with a young Duc Phillippe.
On another branch of the family tree, the expulsion of the Bourbons from Spain caused much more than just the birth of the Spanish Republic by forming ripples and waves that would crash upon Europe in the following years. The first ripple hit France as, in May 1869, the continued insistence by Fabien de Privas that France should restore the Spanish monarchy forced King Henri to sack the Prime Minister. He was substituted by Georges Fétique, twice Minister of war and now leader of the Modéré party.
The situation in Spain continued to unfold as the German Empire proposed that a Hohenzollern should be placed upon the vacant throne. The new Foreign Minister Valentin de Melun sent vigorous protests to the German ambassador for attempting to interfere with Bourbon affairs.
The Duc de Melun was born in 1827 to one of the most prominent French noble families who had managed to rebuild their fortunes after the First Restoration. Valentin was sent at a young to a military academy in the hopes of a successful career in the army. Upon graduation in 1845, he managed to be assigned at court as an officer in the royal guard. It was in this capacity that Melun attempted to resist the riots of 1847 and was severely injured while defending the King from the mob. During the Second Republic and the regime of Bonaparte, he served with distinction as a colonel in the National Guard until 1853 when he saw the corruption in the regime and sought to change it. He was elected to the Imperial Senate and was sent as an envoy to Hispaniola to ensure that the province had been properly subjugated. After the Ottoman War, he was among those who voted to ensure the return of King Henri and thus continued to be a member of the Upper House until he was chosen as Minister of War for the distinction he showed in his military career.
With a German conflict looming, Melun opened diplomatic channels with allies in the Russian Empire to ensure their support in the eventuality of war. In early 1870, the movement of German soldiers towards the border of Russian Poland provided the final provocation in a year-long escalation. On the 9th of February 1870, the Russian ambassador to Berlin handed in an official declaration of war with the aim of stopping aggressive German expansion in Europe.
Europe rallies against the German menace.
On the next day, Russian envoys came to King Henri asking for military aid to conduct a two-front war. The King consulted with War Minister Marius de Agen who assured him that there would be no repeat of the dishonor of the Ottoman War.
The Marquis d'Agen was born in 1814 just as his family had returned to France with Louis XVIII. The First Restoration allowed a great deal of opportunities for a young noble and Marius was sent to study the law of the new Kingdom. An accomplished student, he graduated in 1834 and made a name for himself as a lawyer with a particular eye towards ensuring that the constitutional limits on the people were properly observed. With the Rebellion of 1847, Agen left the public eye and retired to private life in his family estates in Southern France. There he began writing poetry in praise of the simple lives of the farmers who dutifully tended to the prune orchards close to his home town. He rose to the political scene with the Second Restoration when King Henri required loyal nobles to govern France. Agen was thus appointed as governor of the African colonies where he accrued a certain military experience in defending the settlements from raids. Under the new Fétique government, he was then chosen as Minister of War for the twin virtues of experience and loyalty.
Within the cabinet, support was unanimous for joining the fray since the people of France were anxious to take revenge for the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. Thus, on the 23rd of February, Melun handed the declaration of war to the German ambassador in Paris as soon as Agen had massed the regular army on the German border.
In the first phase of the war, the French army rushed through Alsace-Lorraine, liberating the oppressed French people there, and began to lay siege to the German heartland. The first serious signs of resistance were encountered in late May at Heilbronn and Mannheim where it was considered prudent to stop the advance and fortify these positions in anticipation of a more vigorous German counterattack.
The French advance in the first phase of the war.
Days of tension followed the advance as news leaked that the German Empire had offered annexation to Austria, a staunch French ally, in the name of their common heritage. Before a decision could be reached, Melun rushed to Vienna and delivered an impassioned speech about the friendship that Austria and France share and further praised their spirit of collaboration while pointing to the Prussian tyranny that had fallen upon other German nations. Such a fate would also befall the proud Empire if they accepted submission to a neighbor rather than collaboration with a more distant friend. The speech moved the Austrian government and, shortly after the battle of Heilbronn, they sent back their response that Austria would remain independent of Germany and reject its imperial ambitions.
Austria shows where her loyalties lie.
Austria’s loyalty denied valuable troops to the German Empire and they were forced to peel off soldiers from the Russian front to deal with the French advance in Baden-Württemberg. In June, counterattacks in Colmar and Heilbronn were halted by brave French soldiers in their diligently constructed trenches, denying Germany any further access to Alsace-Lorraine. Fresh gains were made by the army in Mannheim who managed to occupy Aschaffenburg and expelled the German garrison there.
France resists German assaults and pushes on.
The coming of August saw valuable breakthroughs that came close to eliminating German military capabilities. The Russians were able to push back enemy gains in Poland as the Eastern front began to show signs of bending towards Berlin. On the French front, the Prussians attempted one final counterattack on Mannheim but were repulsed by the valiant French soldiers who would not yield to the forces of tyranny. The foolish attack left the field open for further French advance that culminated in the occupation of Stuttgart and Nürnberg.
France pushes into the German heartland.
The final blows of the war came in November when French victories at Siegburg and Aachen broke all German resistance in the West just as Russian soldiers started flooding through Prussia.
The German front breaks.
Germany opened diplomatic channels and by the 19th of November 1870, an armistice was signed with the unconditional surrender of the German Empire to the Kingdom of France and the Russian Empire. In a meeting at Dortmund, Tsar Alexander II and King Henri V forced Kaiser Wilhelm to sign a treaty that would restrict German aggression for the next decade. Under the terms of the pact, the German Empire would relinquish its claims of influence over Spain, restore Alsace-Lorraine to the Kingdom of France, pay a significant war indemnity to the Russian Empire and be required to reduce its army size to, at most, 150.000 soldiers.
France is finally returned to her former glory.
An admirable performance by the French military reaps just rewards for France. The restored monarchy looks a lot more secure now.
"Ah, another update from my favourite punching bag. Tell me Benson, how goes our froggy friends?"
"Well, they are celebrating the birth of a royal baby, and feeling awkward because their Spanish cousins keep telling them to invade the republic."
"Which we'd fight them over. And win."
"As you say, sir."
"So everything is going swimmingly is it? Excellent. Pass me my tea, would you?"
Britshman spat out his tea in outrage. "WWWWWHHHHHAAAATTTT!!!!"
"The Germans seem to think that they should put one of their own on the non-existent Spanish throne."
"Bring me my writing materials. I aim to write a strongly worded letter about this. Preferably delivered via brick through window! Damn that Bismark!"
Oooo...well, this could go really well or really horribly.
Alright, we're set for a two front war exactly how Germany always feared. Still, at leas the British aren't involved. If they can get Austria on side, or crush Russia quick, then France might lose quite a bit more land.
Well at least France now looks more like itself. Perhaps it would be better just to dig in here and let the Germans figure out what happens to Europeans who assault dug-in machine gun trenches?
"WHAT!!!!"
"I'll fetch the writing materials sir."
That was a close one. Yeah, this is very clever of the French. Keep defending, push a little every so often. Let Russia bleed Germany white.
Oh bravo! Well...now this is going to be an interesting Europe that comes from this.
I wonder how the balance of power is going to be over the next few years? Germany is going to need to invade Austria now, guaranteed. You are going to need to block that at every turn. And any Anglo-Prussian alliance too, if the Germans are really smart.
"Well, they are celebrating the birth of a royal baby, and feeling awkward because their Spanish cousins keep telling them to invade the republic."
"Which we'd fight them over. And win."
"As you say, sir."
"So everything is going swimmingly is it? Excellent. Pass me my tea, would you?"
Britshman spat out his tea in outrage. "WWWWWHHHHHAAAATTTT!!!!"
"The Germans seem to think that they should put one of their own on the non-existent Spanish throne."
"Bring me my writing materials. I aim to write a strongly worded letter about this. Preferably delivered via brick through window! Damn that Bismark!"
Oooo...well, this could go really well or really horribly.
Alright, we're set for a two front war exactly how Germany always feared. Still, at leas the British aren't involved. If they can get Austria on side, or crush Russia quick, then France might lose quite a bit more land.
Well at least France now looks more like itself. Perhaps it would be better just to dig in here and let the Germans figure out what happens to Europeans who assault dug-in machine gun trenches?
"WHAT!!!!"
"I'll fetch the writing materials sir."
That was a close one. Yeah, this is very clever of the French. Keep defending, push a little every so often. Let Russia bleed Germany white.
Oh bravo! Well...now this is going to be an interesting Europe that comes from this.
I wonder how the balance of power is going to be over the next few years? Germany is going to need to invade Austria now, guaranteed. You are going to need to block that at every turn. And any Anglo-Prussian alliance too, if the Germans are really smart.
I'm quite happy with how that all worked out. Now I need to fortify Alsace-Lorraine and the Belgian border so nothing comes through.
Good old Benson! I suspect he might have quite some fatigue from all the eye rolling.
Yeah, I feel like a big Anschluss is coming. Austria still owning the Sudetenland is just asking for it. But hey, the Franco-Russian alliance has just proved its usefulness
I'm not too worried about that at the moment. It looks like the British are currently more interested in dealing drugs to most of Asia.
"I see the French have commenced their grand plan of dominating Europe sir."
"Ah yes, by building a massive wall around their country and hiding behind it. Top job. What better way to show you're in charge?"
His morning minstrations work that tension out of him fairly well.
Yes, I think a large but weak austria must look like a free lunch to a starving wolf.
Which reminds me, how well is Lord Britishman doing at empire building in Asia?
It's so much better to dominate continents with trade than trying to control the whole lot militarily. Honestly if the Trading Company didn't screw up so much in 1840's, the British Empire would have just stuck to dealing drugs and corporate espionage to this day. Much more lucrative than painting the map.
Mind you, if UK AI is doing its custumary job in your game, they should own large chunks of Africa, Asia and South America by now...
Now if only France could dig a moat and split from the continent... I'm sure the Rhine could be dredged well enough.
Right now GB is fairly historical, there's the Raj, Aden Protectorate, Cape Colony, Australia and New Zealand. To be fair, Africa still needs to be cut up so that'll be something to look at.
I'm looking forward to the relationship. Always thought the Romanovs got a bad RNG in our timeline.
With France pretty much stuck spending all their resources on stopping Germany doubling in size with Austria (which is fair enough since that whole mess is their fault to begin with), Italy still divided up in three, Spain in chaos and Russia too far away (and also really worried about Germany), it looks as though the continent is going to be carved up by Portugal and UK, with some help perhaps from the Low Countries. France may well just end up with the stuff they've already claimed, and a bit more Sahara (eventually). Mind you, owning large parts of Africa or even massive islands or subcontinents in Asia would be nothing compared to taking over Europe. And it is still very possible that France could crush Germany, or unify themselves with Italy and Spain.
I'm not sure if it would come out this way, but a three way split in Europe between the French, the German, and the side who only cares about Europe because the homelands are there but the empire is abroad, now that could be very interesting. Chiefly because both former factions would be trying to crush each other whilst staying either well clear of or courting the latter over as a wildcard.
Chapter IX from “Renovation and Victory”
The years between 1871 and 1874 were characterized by a period of peace and reconstruction after the Russo-German War. The cabinet of Georges Fétique counseled the King to rectify certain injustices that were still relics of the Bonaparte regime. In August 1873, the Parliament was reinstated to ensure that the King might have the largest number of qualified councilors. It was decided that the members would be appointed by the King every six years and chosen among the ranks of the French nobility whose skill and wisdom is widely known. One of the first matters on which the Parliament advised the King was the matter of slavery in the colonies, especially Hispaniola where over 80% of the population was composed of slaves, with Liberal Senator Anges de Mâcon heading discussions on the matter in October of 1874.
The Comte de Mâcon was born in 1834 within a minor noble family attempting to climb the social ladder under the July Monarchy. He studied law in the hopes of a political career at court but, with the rise of the Second Republic, he was forced in a different direction. Upon the death of his father, Anges used his considerable rhetorical skill to become a journalist in Paris when Bonaparte still kept the pretense of a Republic. When this façade was dropped, Mâcon thought it best to escape these influences and he continued his journalism by reporting on the colonial conditions to be found in West Africa. In his thirties, having become a household name in Dakar, he turned his pen towards poetry and praised the blessed union between his birth home and the one he had more recently adopted. It was through these writings that King Henri learnt of him and chose him for his acumen and experience in colonial matters.
Senator Anges de Mâcon.
Mâcon's repudiation of slavery was birthed of his firsthand experience of the practice as he had often seen the way in which slaves were both captured and later used and had been horrified by the conditions that they had to endure. He pleaded to the assembly to consider that these people would be of much greater use to France if they could be added to the ranks of proper Frenchmen rather than abusing of them through menial labor that machines could now undertake. The only prominent figure who spoke in favor of maintaining slavery was Yvon Brousseau who had been Minister of the Interior for Bonaparte and overseen the enslavement of Hispaniola. He stated that full abolition would doom many small slave-owners to bankruptcy by confiscating a large portion of their property. He proposed, rather, that only the making of new slaves be outlawed and that those already in bondage should not be freed so as to allow their owners to divert their investments. King Henri, however, could not be deaf to those who yearned to be his loyal subjects and stated to Parliament that slavery was not worthy of the new Kingdom which had already freed so many Frenchmen from prior oppression. It was with this spirit that, on the 19th of October 1874, King Henri V signed the bill into law and rendered former slaves into free and equal French subjects.
Haitian slaves celebrate their liberation by the King.
The immediate emancipation caused an uproar among several nobles whose colonial holdings were mainly worked by slaves and had thus been deprived of their labor. These aristocrats petitioned the King to dismiss Fétique as Prime Minister and appoint one of their own in his stead.
Anxious to maintain the cohesion and solidarity of his subjects, King Henri accepted the request and substituted Fétique with Édouard Affré, a prominent landowner who was Foreign Minister under Bonaparte and had counseled against the Ottoman War.
Outside of France, the Spanish Republic showed the consequences of expelling one’s monarch as it was replaced by Austria in the negotiations among Great Powers.
Apart from these formal changes, the most relevant political upheaval in Europe after the Russo-German War was the birth of a new national entity. In June of 1872, a plebiscite among the states of the Italian peninsula granted the title of King of Italy to Victor Emmanuel II, formerly King of Sardinia-Piedmont. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies melted away without much effort as the royal family boarded a ship taking them to Marseilles where they were greeted by the Dauphin and Dauphine who proceeded to escort them back to Paris where they could join their Spanish relatives as rulers in exile. The only Italian ruler to resist the birth of Italy was Pope Pius IX who decried the usurpation. This led to a brief war in August of the same year where the Italian forces occupied Rome and forced the Pontiff to surrender his temporal power.
Italy joins the concert of nations.
The new French government reacted to the political upheavals in Europe by improving its military and stabilizing its interests in the uncivilized world.
The new Minister of War, Armel de Chartres, oversaw the modernization of the army and its growth back to the size it was before the Russo-German War with around 200.000 regular soldiers and reserves amounting to further 750.000 men.
The Comte de Chartres was born in 1839 to an impoverished family of ancient nobility. As was tradition, he was sent to Paris to study the classics from a young age in a course of study that lasted into the Bonapartist regime. Under this same regime, there was not much place for the old nobility and, as such, Chartres was forced to work as a clerk in the War Department. With the Second Restoration, he was assigned some of the property sequestered from the usurper and his cronies to match his station with the dignity of his title. He quickly reinvested this money by opening a small arms factory for the supply of the French home armies.
These newly rebuilt armies soon found there use when, in January 1875, Foreign Minister Omer de Évreux was contacted by French missionaries in Cambodia who were being harassed by the local government.
The Duc de Évreux was born in 1830 to a prominent noble family with a strong military tradition. For this reason, he was sent to the military academy of Saint-Cyr from the age of ten. There, he chose a naval specialization and graduated in 1852, becoming a Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant in the then-Imperial navy. His military career proceeded with honor until 1859 when, during the American War, he was captured after the defeat at Chesapeake Bay and kept as a prisoner of war for the duration of the conflict. After this experience, he was transferred to Indochina where he rose up the ranks to become Admiral of the Eastern Fleet. This experience would prove invaluable in the opening years of his Ministry.
When the arrogant Cambodian locals refused Évreux' ultimatum, a French division was sent to ensure the security of French citizens. A few brief skirmishes forced the Cambodians to surrender and it was decided that half of their kingdom would be directly administered by the Kingdom of France to ensure the continued well-being of Christians in Indochina.
The new French possessions in Indochina
Shortly after, the interest of the international community was captured by the demands of the Basque minority in Spain to have its own state. A congress was called in Vienna to settle the matter, with Great Britain championing the independence front and The Netherlands leading the defense of Spain. It quickly became apparent that the self-determination of European peoples was of the utmost importance and that the Basques were right to desire a state free from a new unstable republic. Thus, on the 15th of November 1875, the foreign ministers of all the Great Powers signed a document declaring the birth of the Basque Country under the protection of Great Britain.
France gains a new neighbor.
The next year brought with it a further improvement to the defenses of French colonies in Western Africa when Évreux authorized the destruction and permanent occupation of raiding bases belonging to the Wolof and Futa Jallon tribes which had already been pushed back in past decades. The military operation lasted from June to August 1876 and is sure to bring stability to such an uncivilized region.
The taming of Africa continues.
Back in Europe, the third war between the Kingdom of France and the German Empire began in the context of further political upheaval among the great powers. In Japan, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu succeeded in expelling the ceremonial Emperor Meiji after the brief Boshin War before installing himself as the leader of a Western-style military state. Under Yoshinobu, Japan quickly industrialized and modernized its army to the point that, in August 1876, it was invited by the international community to take the place of Austria for the deliberations among Great Powers.
Europe takes note of the rising sun.
Early August also saw the passing of the Suez Canal into French hands when Foreign Minister Omer de Évreux seized the opportune moment to buy a majority share in the Suez Canal Company. This was quickly succeeded by the establishment of a French military garrison in the area to ensure a flow of ships and tariffs in accordance with French interests.
This decision alarmed German Emperor Wilhelm who feared French power increasing beyond what his nation could handle and the exclusion of the German Empire from the lucrative markets in the far east. In reaction to this concern, the Kaiser's military staff urged him to declare war and strike before France became too powerful. Convinced by his sycophants, Kaiser Wilhelm formally declared war on the 20th of August and ordered the invasion of Alsace-Lorraine.
German aggression continues.
The German advance was quickly halted on the 10th of September in Metz where it soon became clear that the men of France would not relinquish their homeland quite so easily. The German attack ground to a halt while the French reserves massed on the border with the aim of cowing the enemy once and for all.
Seeing their chances diminish every day, the Germans attempted one further push on the 7th of October and attempted to overwhelm Colmar but, by the noble sacrifice of 35.000 Frenchmen, the attack was repulsed, breaking the enemy line irreparably. The sons of France swarmed through the gap and swiftly took control of the Rheinland and Baden-Württemberg. This lightning offense forced the German foreign ministry to beg for an armistice and negotiations for surrender.
King Henri V himself met with Kaiser Wilhelm in Mainz and, having mercy on a senile Emperor he had twice defeated, he allowed the Germans to pay for their crimes with a yearly sum sufficient to reimburse the French people.
The Comte de Mâcon was born in 1834 within a minor noble family attempting to climb the social ladder under the July Monarchy. He studied law in the hopes of a political career at court but, with the rise of the Second Republic, he was forced in a different direction. Upon the death of his father, Anges used his considerable rhetorical skill to become a journalist in Paris when Bonaparte still kept the pretense of a Republic. When this façade was dropped, Mâcon thought it best to escape these influences and he continued his journalism by reporting on the colonial conditions to be found in West Africa. In his thirties, having become a household name in Dakar, he turned his pen towards poetry and praised the blessed union between his birth home and the one he had more recently adopted. It was through these writings that King Henri learnt of him and chose him for his acumen and experience in colonial matters.
Senator Anges de Mâcon.
Mâcon's repudiation of slavery was birthed of his firsthand experience of the practice as he had often seen the way in which slaves were both captured and later used and had been horrified by the conditions that they had to endure. He pleaded to the assembly to consider that these people would be of much greater use to France if they could be added to the ranks of proper Frenchmen rather than abusing of them through menial labor that machines could now undertake. The only prominent figure who spoke in favor of maintaining slavery was Yvon Brousseau who had been Minister of the Interior for Bonaparte and overseen the enslavement of Hispaniola. He stated that full abolition would doom many small slave-owners to bankruptcy by confiscating a large portion of their property. He proposed, rather, that only the making of new slaves be outlawed and that those already in bondage should not be freed so as to allow their owners to divert their investments. King Henri, however, could not be deaf to those who yearned to be his loyal subjects and stated to Parliament that slavery was not worthy of the new Kingdom which had already freed so many Frenchmen from prior oppression. It was with this spirit that, on the 19th of October 1874, King Henri V signed the bill into law and rendered former slaves into free and equal French subjects.
Haitian slaves celebrate their liberation by the King.
The immediate emancipation caused an uproar among several nobles whose colonial holdings were mainly worked by slaves and had thus been deprived of their labor. These aristocrats petitioned the King to dismiss Fétique as Prime Minister and appoint one of their own in his stead.
Anxious to maintain the cohesion and solidarity of his subjects, King Henri accepted the request and substituted Fétique with Édouard Affré, a prominent landowner who was Foreign Minister under Bonaparte and had counseled against the Ottoman War.
Outside of France, the Spanish Republic showed the consequences of expelling one’s monarch as it was replaced by Austria in the negotiations among Great Powers.
Apart from these formal changes, the most relevant political upheaval in Europe after the Russo-German War was the birth of a new national entity. In June of 1872, a plebiscite among the states of the Italian peninsula granted the title of King of Italy to Victor Emmanuel II, formerly King of Sardinia-Piedmont. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies melted away without much effort as the royal family boarded a ship taking them to Marseilles where they were greeted by the Dauphin and Dauphine who proceeded to escort them back to Paris where they could join their Spanish relatives as rulers in exile. The only Italian ruler to resist the birth of Italy was Pope Pius IX who decried the usurpation. This led to a brief war in August of the same year where the Italian forces occupied Rome and forced the Pontiff to surrender his temporal power.
Italy joins the concert of nations.
The new French government reacted to the political upheavals in Europe by improving its military and stabilizing its interests in the uncivilized world.
The new Minister of War, Armel de Chartres, oversaw the modernization of the army and its growth back to the size it was before the Russo-German War with around 200.000 regular soldiers and reserves amounting to further 750.000 men.
The Comte de Chartres was born in 1839 to an impoverished family of ancient nobility. As was tradition, he was sent to Paris to study the classics from a young age in a course of study that lasted into the Bonapartist regime. Under this same regime, there was not much place for the old nobility and, as such, Chartres was forced to work as a clerk in the War Department. With the Second Restoration, he was assigned some of the property sequestered from the usurper and his cronies to match his station with the dignity of his title. He quickly reinvested this money by opening a small arms factory for the supply of the French home armies.
These newly rebuilt armies soon found there use when, in January 1875, Foreign Minister Omer de Évreux was contacted by French missionaries in Cambodia who were being harassed by the local government.
The Duc de Évreux was born in 1830 to a prominent noble family with a strong military tradition. For this reason, he was sent to the military academy of Saint-Cyr from the age of ten. There, he chose a naval specialization and graduated in 1852, becoming a Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant in the then-Imperial navy. His military career proceeded with honor until 1859 when, during the American War, he was captured after the defeat at Chesapeake Bay and kept as a prisoner of war for the duration of the conflict. After this experience, he was transferred to Indochina where he rose up the ranks to become Admiral of the Eastern Fleet. This experience would prove invaluable in the opening years of his Ministry.
When the arrogant Cambodian locals refused Évreux' ultimatum, a French division was sent to ensure the security of French citizens. A few brief skirmishes forced the Cambodians to surrender and it was decided that half of their kingdom would be directly administered by the Kingdom of France to ensure the continued well-being of Christians in Indochina.
The new French possessions in Indochina
Shortly after, the interest of the international community was captured by the demands of the Basque minority in Spain to have its own state. A congress was called in Vienna to settle the matter, with Great Britain championing the independence front and The Netherlands leading the defense of Spain. It quickly became apparent that the self-determination of European peoples was of the utmost importance and that the Basques were right to desire a state free from a new unstable republic. Thus, on the 15th of November 1875, the foreign ministers of all the Great Powers signed a document declaring the birth of the Basque Country under the protection of Great Britain.
France gains a new neighbor.
The next year brought with it a further improvement to the defenses of French colonies in Western Africa when Évreux authorized the destruction and permanent occupation of raiding bases belonging to the Wolof and Futa Jallon tribes which had already been pushed back in past decades. The military operation lasted from June to August 1876 and is sure to bring stability to such an uncivilized region.
The taming of Africa continues.
Back in Europe, the third war between the Kingdom of France and the German Empire began in the context of further political upheaval among the great powers. In Japan, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu succeeded in expelling the ceremonial Emperor Meiji after the brief Boshin War before installing himself as the leader of a Western-style military state. Under Yoshinobu, Japan quickly industrialized and modernized its army to the point that, in August 1876, it was invited by the international community to take the place of Austria for the deliberations among Great Powers.
Europe takes note of the rising sun.
Early August also saw the passing of the Suez Canal into French hands when Foreign Minister Omer de Évreux seized the opportune moment to buy a majority share in the Suez Canal Company. This was quickly succeeded by the establishment of a French military garrison in the area to ensure a flow of ships and tariffs in accordance with French interests.
This decision alarmed German Emperor Wilhelm who feared French power increasing beyond what his nation could handle and the exclusion of the German Empire from the lucrative markets in the far east. In reaction to this concern, the Kaiser's military staff urged him to declare war and strike before France became too powerful. Convinced by his sycophants, Kaiser Wilhelm formally declared war on the 20th of August and ordered the invasion of Alsace-Lorraine.
German aggression continues.
The German advance was quickly halted on the 10th of September in Metz where it soon became clear that the men of France would not relinquish their homeland quite so easily. The German attack ground to a halt while the French reserves massed on the border with the aim of cowing the enemy once and for all.
Seeing their chances diminish every day, the Germans attempted one further push on the 7th of October and attempted to overwhelm Colmar but, by the noble sacrifice of 35.000 Frenchmen, the attack was repulsed, breaking the enemy line irreparably. The sons of France swarmed through the gap and swiftly took control of the Rheinland and Baden-Württemberg. This lightning offense forced the German foreign ministry to beg for an armistice and negotiations for surrender.
King Henri V himself met with Kaiser Wilhelm in Mainz and, having mercy on a senile Emperor he had twice defeated, he allowed the Germans to pay for their crimes with a yearly sum sufficient to reimburse the French people.
The old world really is washing away.
Seriously? The Netherlands defending Spanish unity...
Ironic.
There is absolutely no way that they expelled the emperor entirely. Not in that culture and at that time.
Sigh...french control of suez and them defeating the germans on their own twice. It's just...wrong.
Very mixed results so far for Britshman, but quite good too. Less Catholicism is always a bonus, france getting too big for its boot is far more worrying though. If you ally Italy, i think they'll have some words for you.
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Mm, I think Austria isn't long for this world unless, ironically, the Italians or Russians save them.
Curiously, having defeated Germany twice, you've set them on the path that could make them even stronger than otl...
Also Hungary is abusrdly big. If they can stay on decent terms with their neighbours to the north (Germany and Russia) they can fully clean up the Balkans and ottoman Europe by themselves. Especially if they make a deal with Russia, we might be seeing a new power team emerging.