“I saw the Emperor – this world-soul – riding out of the city on reconnaissance. It is indeed a wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrated here at a single point, astride a horse, reaches out over the world and masters it. As for the fate of the Prussians, in truth no better prognosis could be given. Yesterday it was said that the Prussian King had his headquarters in Kapellendorf, a few hours from here. Where he is today we do not know, but surely further away than yesterday.”
Georg WF Hegel, letter to Nierhammer. 1806
“He went on to talk about destiny plays, criticising them. They belonged to the dark ages. “Why these days do they keep giving us destiny?” he said. “There's no destiny, only politics”.
Goethe's letter on meeting Napoleon. 1808
“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.”
Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. 1852
Georg WF Hegel, letter to Nierhammer. 1806
“He went on to talk about destiny plays, criticising them. They belonged to the dark ages. “Why these days do they keep giving us destiny?” he said. “There's no destiny, only politics”.
Goethe's letter on meeting Napoleon. 1808
“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.”
Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. 1852
It was the most glorious of times, it was the most inglorious of times. It was the age of rebellion, the era of harsh order. It was an era of self-assured faith, an era of insidious rationalism. It was the season of revolution, the season of despair. It was the winter of reaction to the summer of progress. It was the declining January of all Europe and the hope that by spring the snow of oppression would melt. The people had all the things laid out before them, nothing behind them, they were on the way direct to Heaven. In short – the period was so much as it was before 1789 that the scent of revolution was thick in the air; all the while the lords, the ladies, the junkers and the latifundios pretended that it had been buried with Napoleon.
There was a sailor king in England with a German wife; and in France ruled a Catholic tyrant without a wife. In Germany ruled protestant kings who deprived of their lands sequestered themselves in smoky palaces while the King Charles did war on Algeria. In Poland, a kingdom made by nimble hands and wits was terror as the Hapsburgs of Austria sharpened the ax. In Spain the peasants were restless the monarchy has lost America. Portugal has fled to Brazil, and Brazil has become Portugal. Italy appears as ever before but as French and Austrian troops occupy the streets.
It is the glorious year of our lord one-thousand-eight-hundred-thirty-six. Spiritual times buried under the sand were hoisted back into the sun by monks and made to dance nauseously over Europe to practice the self-flagellation of eras passed to dispel the plague of Napoleon. The monks of Russia, who had not so long ago been swayed to declare an Empire of the Three Emperors, as they reach the conclusion of the Roman twilight of their Rome have begun to settle, but only on beds of nails as they retreat in demoralization into the deserts of Russia's winter forests.
It is the spring of one-thousand-eight-hundred-thirty-six and the spell of Napoleon that was not so long ago hangs over Europe and those born under his last days now just reach adult-hood. Having dragged Europe through eight coalitions for his defeat the Great Man of the era was finally retired from this temporal world of clay in exile on St Helens where in ignominious defeat at Kent by the hands of the British and the traitorous Russians he was finally defeated and sent into exile. He who conquered the Russians at Moscow and Ryazan, the Hapsburg at Vienna, and the Carlists at Madrid was finally laid low and in the humiliating defeat in the tenth of August one-thousand-eight-hundred-twenty-two was forced into final exile. But as a hero's legacy does not wane at his disappearance, the spirit of Napoleon lingered still over Europe. Spring is coming.
The Ghost of Napoleon
It is the best of times and the worst of times in Europe. Fourteen years ago, Napoleon Bonapart, Emperor of the French was finally defeated in battle against a coalition force of the British, Swedish, and Russians in an invasion of the British home islands at Kent. In that space of time he had mastered the field of Waterloo, sending the forces of the Seventh Coalition into chaos which he was able to use and bring about his Empire for a second time and continue war against all Europe. In the autumn of 1812 he was able to twice beat the Russians at Moscow and Ryazan throwing the Empire into chaos. In a bid to take the Austrians out of the contest he went to them and took Vienna from the Hapsburgs but could go no further. And in all Europe the prolonged and heavy weight of Napoleon's Continental System collapsed to ruinous ash the last vestiges of Europe's feudal regimes. In Germany the junkers were liquidated to repay their debts as stipulated by the Treaties of Tilsit, angering the Russians and calling Napoleon to the Third Rome to break them into the Napoleonic world order which they would again betray; with success. The Latifundios of Italy and of Spain were broken, unseating the power of the church and the ancient regimes of either powers. And though he was defeated by his own miscalculations in England, the regime of counter-revolution imposed by the final victory of the Coalition exists only tenuous. Tired of war Europe remained peaceable for the time being; but it is only a matter of time that agitation sweeps across all of Europe and threatens to upend the fragile stability of the continent and breath life into a new continental order.
In this RP you are presented with Europe on the verge of revolution. Your mandate is thus: to take up a state and its parties and delve into it, or take on a party and an army and deliver it. The order of the day is the slide into revolution. So let us go kicking and screaming. The RP is an earlier Spring of Nations events
For all intents and purposes however, the available nations to “play” will be restricted, primarily to those who have had impact with the Napoleonic Wars. The furthest extent is India, which being England's crown colonial jewel is relevant in so much that the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt made the British realize the ultimate vulnerability of India and how it was no longer simply cut away from the affairs of European interest and now was the time for political games-men ship. The Americas, having been radically changed by Napoleon by his campaigns in Europe – the Peninsular campaign in particular – is also open, as is Europe itself; because why not. But East Asia, much of Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific: closed for the time being to encourage focus on where the effect is the greatest.
map
You will notice that it's mostly filled out for you. That way you don't have to fret so much about map painting if you don't have a image processor or simply don't want to open paint. It takes some effort off you, so don't worry too much about it. But if you feel like some small changes could be made to accommodate then do say. For regions such as areas of Germany the details and principalities could also be much finer, and the fact they are not there does not exclude them; it's just too much effort and who even really cares. A nation on the map also doesn't mean it is taken, and in fact the RP itself should be considered layered. In the Spring of Nations spirit this means the proliferation of parties, clubs, societies, and armies where they may arise or be expected to rise to meet the coming realization of the revolutionary goals.
When applying however, I would like you to keep in mind to help keep things centralized within Europe. While the a lot more is technically “open”, I would like to see emphasis on those places where the influence of Napoleon is kept the strongest, or where the influence of Napoleon can be written as the strongest force.
A Summation of History
The effective Point of Divergence for the RP is the Treaties of Tilsit. While the Prussian monarchy existed practically in so far as Napoleon willed them to continue existing, the stipulations of the treaties outlined merely reparations the Prussian state would have to pay to France and saddled them with crippling debt. Originally signed to bring the Russians into the Continental System and assist Napoleon against the British and the Swedish, the Emperor decided to regardless test the faith of the Russians and instead of simply abiding the slow repayment of debts by Prussia to France, he opted for an immediate and systematic liquidation of Prussian estates to repay the debts. The effect of which was a far more aggressive melting down of the medieval junker class that had until then ruled Prussia and Germany and the rise of the independent small-hold Peasant who were able to acquire their own property for cheap or on lenient financing. The move was immediately considered a violation of the treaty by the Russians who answered by threatening to stop the war with the British and peace with Sweden over Finland. Napoleon answered, invading Russia in early March of 1812 with – some say – 400,000 men. Being on the move before even the spring thaw, Napoleon was able to make best use of the Russian summer and made it to Moscow, burning the capital down and moving ahead to engage the Russians in the final battle of the campaign and driving them into such a severe route that the Imperial State was brought into Chaos. Fearing the French Emperor would take Alexander I hostage, the Russians sent a mere representative to negotiate the terms; a move which prove controversial and illegitimate in the eyes of the Russian aristocracy. The Tsar for the moment was not brought to task for it, and was unwillingly forced back into war with Sweden and the British.
Returning to Europe a hero, Napoleon claimed himself immortal. But rumors abounded that his armies had taken more of a drubbing than he was letting on, and Europe was plunged into the War of the Sixth Coalition by Austria, England, and anti-Napoleon forces in Central and southern Europe that managed to discover and utilize the unhealed weakness in Napoleon's forces from Russia. He was defeated and sent to Elba, which he recovered from and returned to France, defeating the restored Bourbons and rebuilding his Empire, whose basis now stretched from France to Poland and the anti-Napoleon forces were sent into chaos as he beat Coalition forces at Waterloo before turning on Austria and further liquidating the noble land owners of Spain and Italy. The War of the Seventh Coalition was brought to an end, formalizing an expansion of Polish territory and bringing the Austrians into debt with France.
All however was not finished. In the middle east the long distance influence game between the British and the French in the middle east brought war into Russia as Persia invaded the Caucuses, taking advantage of instability in the Empire to take back territories it had lost in the 18th century, and with explicit permission by Napoleon. The war in the Caucuses was considered by Russia an affront to their peace with Napoleon who with the British launched Europe into the War of the Eight Coalition which would culminate in Napoleon's invasion of the British islands, and in combined land-sea battle involving the forces of France, The English, Russia, and Sweden dealt out the final defeat to Napoleon at the Battle of Dover, where the Emperor was captured and forced into a final peace with the Coalition, where to the best of their abilities the Coalition attempted to restore Europe to what it had been before even the French Revolution.
But history does not go in reverse. The year is 1836.
Application
I of course keep shit simple.
Name: [Your country, party or revolutionary army and where they're based. To re-iterate what I said earlier: I would be appreciative if the RP could be rather centralized so no one is playing too far out and alone and separated from the influence of this alternative history, and anyone else. You may be able to be Chile, but Chile will probably never have direct impact on Europe]
Leader: [The primary leader or leaders of the movement or Head(s) of State. You can include brief biographical descriptions if you want]
History: [The history of your nation since the Napoleonic Wars, after, and now; including standing issues within the state, goals of the movement, or what have you]
