[CHAR] The Ghosts of Napoleon

[Dinh AaronMk]

Name:

The Kingdom of France

Leader:

Charles X

History:

Following Napoleon's defeat in 1822 France was brought to bare for the crime of Napoleon. Though through the guidance and the protection of France's arch-conservatives such as Talleyrand it would not be punished too severely. Assured that Napoleon Bonaparte was permanently ensconced on a distance island and would not be returning to Europe any time soon, the House of Bourbon was restored with the full confidence of the diplomatic parties lead principally by the English, the Russians, the Austrians, and the restored Prussian monarchy. They would demand of the Bourbons however that they do not let another Napoleon rise again, and restored France to its borders before the Revolution of 1789. Then they levied upon it the debts of the wars since the last restoration, and all of Napoleon's occupations.

The Bourbons returned to a France disintegrated and demoralized from Napoleon's defeat and swift occupation by British forces. Its political institutions were a mess, and many of the old palaces of the Ancien Regime were in ruin. The restored Louis XVIII had much work ahead of him to construct a new government and begin on repaying the debts imposed upon France. Resigning himself to the governing stipulations of the London Congress of 1822 Louis XVIII rapidly assembled a provisional assembly, passed a provisional constitution, and a final constitutional-charter to rule all of France. In it an assembly of peers would be elected on a rotating basis for six years and would serve to draft and propose laws to the king, and approve ministerial appointments. However, the king would sit as the head of state and chief executive of the restored monarchy and had powers over the army and even the ability to veto without restriction the protests of the assembly for his appointment of ministers, in particular his appointments of chief minister. However in trust that their king was noble and just it was passed and made into law and the first government under Talleyrand was assembled and work began.

Louis XVIII's reign was moderate and liberal, compared to his successor to come. He opened the press and let freedom run in ink and was liberal and fair minded to the rights of freedom to assembly. He answered the issues facing France's finances by removing the aristocracy's privileged freedom from taxation, but permitted the continuation of their own social freedoms as nobles and opened legal bodies to determine the restoration of property seized during the revolution and by Napoleon to be returned to their former owners; with an eye to minimizing compensation. He reorganized the army, throwing out the Bonapartist officers and filled the ranks with supporters of the Bourbon thrown. Before his death in June 1825 he replaced Talleyrand with Jean-Baptiste Séraphin, count of Villèle.

Louis XVIII's death was tragic, but not unexpected to the French nation. He had departed with the army to help in restoring the pre-Napoleonic dynasty to Spain but spent much of the campaign sequestered in numerous villas in the Spanish countryside, ailing from complications stemming from his obesity, gout, and all matters of internal and external ailments. Surgeons washed and dressed his body, and he was returned to Paris to be buried at the Basilica Cathedral of San Denis after a brief period of public display.

Louis XVIII's brother, Charles X inherited the throne after him and initially promised to continue the moderate reform policies of his older brother but within the year was showing signs of turning hard to the right of him. Doubling down on campaigning, he followed the invasion of Spain with interference in Algeria, promoting an insult by the Dey of Algeria when Charles refused to repay the kingdom any more for Napoleon's conquest of Egypt. Spurned by the promise to end payments, Hussein Dey expelled the French consulate and Charles X invaded in early 1826 scoring swift victories against Algerian forces.

The war however was not popular in France and especially the opposition press which claimed that the war in Algeria was only a burden to the government coffers and decried the move as illegitimate, that Charles had provoked it. However the king was not swayed, and answered by placing limitations on the press that grew until it became absolute and all but the loyalist press was allowed to publish, though leaflet and pamphlet campaigns began to blanket Paris and continue to this day. Charles used this to exert influence on the Chamber of Deputies and replaced the count of Villèl as prime minister with Jules Auguste Armand Marie, count of Polignac; a fellow ultra ally in government. The two of them conspired to continue the full restoration of the old regime and the eventual doing-away with the Chamber of Deputies and began a restoration of the old rights. Passing laws to make it punishable by death to steal sacramental bread, a total abolition of the right to assembly, and the outlaw of liberal politicians from all government posts. Charles X did away with the court bodies overseeing the restoration of property to the French emigrants that had fled the revolution and simply called that all Frenchmen who had fled the revolution would have their properties fully restored to them; although they would no longer be free from taxation.

His escalation into absolutism was far from without its critics and the whispering circuits of Paris began to churn again with all the old rumors and stories from the pre-revolutionary days about Charles X. That he was an unfaithful husband to his departed wife, that he was infertile and sexually incapable, that he had a love affair with Marie Antoinette; how could one cuckold his own brother? New rumors emerged, that he was a secret Austrian, since he never remarried he was actually homosexual. The whispers and rumors that reached Charles X's ears infuriated him and he ordered the secret police he had organized behind Louis XVIII's back to investigate and punish the traitors in Paris, often ordering them tried on all manners of crimes on top of sedition and illegal press.

The attacks however didn't stop and more and more attacked the king went into solitude and left more and more the affairs of government to Jules Auguste and the ministry. When he often went to the theater he would do so in secret and disguised as someone else in his government. He let his secret police run rampant in Paris, committing their own extended white terror, the second since the restoration of the Bourbons. And among it all, Charles X simply retired, dissatisfied but unwilling to let go.

In the year 1836 he is an old man, reported ill of health and unsound of mind; although rarely is anyone permitted to see him, especially alone. Never is he out in public.

[DELETED32084]

Name:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Leader:

William IV

History:

After the abdication of Napoleon in April 1814, British public opinion demanded major gains in the war against the United States. The senior American representative in London, Reuben Beasley, told US Secretary of State James Monroe:

There are so many who delight in War that I have less hope than ever of our being able to make peace. You will perceive by the newspapers that a very great force is to be sent from Bordeaux to the United States, and the order of the day is division of the States and conquest. The more moderate think that when our Seaboard is laid waste and we are made to agree to a line which shall exclude us from the lake; to give up a part of our claim on Louisiana and the privilege of fishing on the banks, etc. peace may be made with us.

Led by General Isaac Brock, the British, along with their Canadian and First Nation allies, hammered the Americans at Queenston Heights and Detroit. Landings in New Orleans, a bombardment of Boston, and General Brocks unerring support of the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, led to the Americans eventually suing for peace as the Frontier burned. The Iroquois and Huron Confederacies were recognized as British protectorates, and the region known as the Louisiana Territory was turned over to the British.

Protected by her Navy, at least in theory, the British rolled up the territories and colonies of its land bound enemies. The French fleet, a shadow of its former self, was penned into a half dozen harbours and left to rot. On land, however, the British did not fare so well. The French proved, with a few exceptions, to be better led, and friction among the Allies to several reveres, including a brutal defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. The British were forced from mainland Europe and only a few ports remained open to their goods.

To suggest that the British people were badly shaken by the landing of French troops at Dover in 1822 would be to make a massive understatement. What followed was a soul searching that the British had not had to undergo since the Spanish Armada. A special committee was launched by the King to investigate where things had gone so badly wrong and he nominated the Duke of Wellington to lead the review. Wellington had avenged his defeat at Waterloo by soaking British beaches with French blood, but now he was being asked to make sure such an event never occurred again.

First came reforms to the Navy and Army. The practice of buying commissions was scrapped and he adopted the French style of promoting skilled men from the ranks. A proper military college was established in York for the training of officers who could not read or write. The use of the rifle became widespread and the iconic red jacket of the British army began to give way to the dark green and black associated with the rifle regiments. Britain had learned some hard lessons.

The Navy, long Britains favourite son, found its reputation badly tarnished after their failure to prevent the French landing; they had been pissing about in the wrong place when the invasion began. The Captains list, previously based solely on seniority, was abolished and, like the army, new commanders were promoted based on competency and leadership.

With Napoleon gone, and the world more or less at peace, the king began new political reforms. The poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire, and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act of 1832. His control over the Kingdom of Hannover had long be surrendered as Prussia sought to make its own way.

Now the King lies on his death bed, the Empire is strong, and money flows into British coffers. Whispers of war on the mainland have begun again, the Americas are aflame, and the cavalry of Saint George will ride again.

[CaptainBritton]

Bavaria

Kingdom of Bavaria

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Territory

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Leadership

Elisabeth I of Bavaria

Elisabeth I (born Elisabeth Ludovika) is the eldest daughter of Maximilian I Josef (1756-1825) and his second wife Princess Caroline of Baden. She is the current Queen of Bavaria and Princess-Elector of the Palatinate, installed at the behest of the Concert of Europe after the death of her father. Her ascension was due to an agreement by the powers of Europe after a convention to prevent a War of Succession in Bavaria. Her rule is tenuous and many of her actions are at the behest of her ministers, not the least of which being Maximilian von Montgelas. Despite this, she herself is much beloved by many Bavarians, being known as Queen Elise.

Maximilian von Montgelas

Maximilian Karl Josef von Montgelas is the ailing and aged Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as the godfather and trusted confidant of Queen Elise. A Savoyard and Francophone by birth, he nevertheless has spent most of his life since childhood in Munich. He came into the most trusted non-regal position in Bavaria through his former dealings with a declining Bavarian Illuminati throughout the 1790's, which introduced him to Maximilian I of Bavaria, then Duke of Zweibrücken and eventually first King of Bavaria. Montgelas was often manipulative and underhanded, forcing the impressionable Maximilian I into decisions such as supporting Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine, nationalizing swathes of Catholic Church land in Bavaria, and passing a (largely powerless) Constitution. He long held a similar power over Elise, but the Queen is long past being a naive young noblewoman, and Montgelas is nearing his 77th year alive. The push and pull of the relationship between Montgelas and Queen Elise is what turns the gears of the Bavarian state.

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History

Bavaria was the battleground of the War of the Third Coalition, and so submitted willingly to the French victors who drove the Austrians from the Bavarian Alps. Then-Elector Maximilian IV of Bavaria, under counsel from Maximilian von Montgelas, openly supported the supposed ‘liberation’ which the Bavarian Wittelsbach family believed to be their freedom from an often stifling Holy Roman Empire. Gaining territory in Tyrol and being elevated to the status of Kingdom, the Elector was crowned King Maximilian I of Bavaria. The Bavarians raised 30,000 men for a Bayerische Legion, forming a veteran rear guard of Napoleon’s Grande Armee.

The consequences of the subjugation of the German states was not all beneficial for the Bavarians, as the Treaties of Tilsit forced the drafting and passing of a Constitution in 1808. The Constitution was largely powerless, and while the land reforms and revising of the tax system were already underway before Tilsit, these forced demands upon the Confederation of the Rhine filled the King with unease. Montgelas managed to convince the King that the demands were a means to an end to render the Prussian Junkers (which Bavaria long despised) extinct.

After the Russian refusal to submit to Tilsit any longer, it was the Bavarians who followed the legions of French, Poles, and fellow Germans into the Russian plains. The campaign, while a success which neutered the Russian ability to rise against the Continental System, came with a cost. Of the 30,000 Bavarians who marched into Russia, only 4,000 returned alive and unharmed. The exhaustion of war had a stranglehold on Bavaria, and an uprising in Tyrol during the Russian Campaign had destabilized the border with Austria. King Maximilian shut out Montgelas, turning to his son, Ludwig (an absolutist and Bavarian division commander), and Karl von Wrede (the Marshal of all Bavarian military forces). His son and most trusted general both advocated a betrayal of the French, and the Bavarians, coordinating with Austria, joined the War of the Sixth Coalition.

The Bavarians formed a Corps of the Austrian Army, who intended to surround the embattled French forces at Leipzig at the village of Hanau, but were engaged when the French attempted a fighting retreat westwards. Marshal von Wrede, put in command of the joint Austro-Bavarian Army, positioned his troops for a fight, but the positions were predicted by Napoleon, who forced through and annihilated the joined allies. What remained of Bavaria’s army evaporated, and both of Maximilian I’s sons, Ludwig and Karl Theodor, were killed in the battle. Marshal von Wrede, for his part, was shot and managed to survive an infection, however was permanently immobilized.

Bavaria could fight no longer, and what few Bavarians were left fought under an Austrian banner for the remainder of the campaign. Upon the emancipation of the German states from the Confederation of the Rhine, Bavaria found itself with a generation lost to warfare, coffers rapidly draining, and with its Tyrolian province now returned to Austria. King Maximilian I, so drowned in grief, all but handed the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom to Montgelas. This grief plagued the King for the remainder of his life, reportedly having hastened his own passing in 1824.

The King had been largely despondent for his last few years of life, failing to establish a concrete succession in absence of any living male heirs or nephews in the Wittelsbach line. The succession would’ve fallen either to Caroline, who was the wife of the Emperor of Austria, or Augusta, who had at one point married a Napoleon but had her marriage annulled, instead managing to be married off to a Bourbon in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. The newly-established European Congress System stepped in with its 1825 Convention, aiming to prevent a War of Bavarian Succession, decreeing the surviving daughters Caroline and Augusta unfit for inheriting the Bavarian Crown, instead putting the burden upon the first daughter of the deceased king’s second marriage, Elisabeth, twenty years of age and still without engagement to any suitor.

With the Crisis of Succession solved, the affairs of Bavaria could move forward. Montgelas, Elisabeth’s godfather and now her new confidant, retained much of his power on the management of the Kingdom. He ‘honored’ the Constitution, even submitting amendments for approval of the Queen and the House of Councilors (which consisted entirely of wealthy landholders and personal friends of Montgelas). The reforms of Montgelas, known as the Ansbacher Acts, managed to save Bavaria from destitution by reorganizing the civil service, including establishing a tax enforcement service which properly carried out the reformed British-style tax system. Taxation was imposed on Catholic organizations as well as on members of the clergy. Montgelas was only saved from the personal ire of the Catholic Church due to his connection with the Bavarian Crown and sham legislature, which both brought legitimacy to the decrees. Montgelas also allowed for Protestants to claim Bavarian citizenship (primarily in the interest of collecting more taxes, however the minister also held Reformation ideologies), as well as allowing limited citizenship for Jews and other non-Christians.

The ramifications of the reforms were not felt overnight, but the brewing resentment for the civil service and the policies of Montgelas (colloquially termed the Dienstpragmatik) eventually fueled the rise of a Ultramontanist party. The Ultramontanes were staunch Catholic supremacists, believing in the absolutism and infallibility of both the Bavarian monarch and the Pope. Appealing to the Catholic masses which still constituted a majority of all Bavarians, Ultramontane candidates flooded the largely powerless lower house of the Bavarian Parliament, becoming a majority of all members. Despite the weak lower house having little power, the pressure of the Ultramontanists forced a reversal on certain policies, such as reverting Protestants to limited citizens and returning monasteries to their status as untaxed and Church-owned land, all at the decree of Elisabeth I, who then controversially dissolved the parliament and called for new elections and appointments. While most statesmen immediately regained their positions by election or appointment, the shake-up of the legislature served to temper many of the more radical elements.

It is now 1836, and the new Parliament of Bavaria has been seated in Munich. Montgelas is old, and his health is failing, while the Queen is gaining confidence in her rule. Elements in Bavaria call for more radical reforms. Ultramontanes call for a return to the absolutism of the monarchy and the return of ‘Catholic morality’, students and liberal Protestant professors dubbed ‘Nordlichers’ preach for a return of the Ansbacher Reforms and the institution of a true republic, while rumors of subversive gentlemen’s societies fuel the public fear of an autocracy, neither royal nor republic. Acts from Austria and France balance the kingdom once again between two competing powers which may not have the best interests of Bavaria in mind. Day by day, the Catholic bastion slips closer to Revolution.

[Yam I Am]

The Danubian Principalities in Europe, 1836

Local map of the Principalities. The territory of the Principalities is colored in blush-green - areas with large Romanian-speaking populations are colored in light blue.

Principalities of the Danube (Romania)

Name: Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia

Leaders: Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica of Wallachia and Ioan Sandu Sturdza of Moldavia

History:

In the wake of the First Russo-Turkish war of 1806, mutual fears of Napoleonic intervention appeared to have brought the conflict to an abrupt halt in 1812. In their haste, the Conventions which would cease the conflict overtured the vassal state of Moldavia - at the time a puppet of the Ottoman Empire - over to the jurisdiction of the Russian Empire as a protectorate. The Treaty of Bucharest that solidified this agreement of ceasefire would initially be greeted with mere hums from their Moldavian underlings, many of whom only saw the recent protectorate as merely a slight change of the guard. Few in the region could have predicted the rapid changes that would ensue in the wakes which rippled: As the Russian Army was transferred from the Balkans to Poland, the nominal protectorate which would be established in Iași soon grew accustomed to the distinct lack of lordship on beheadst of the Tsar in Saint-Petersburg.

Although established in nomine solo as the Danubian Principalities, de jure the Kingdoms of Wallachia and Moldavia were legally separate entities in spite of their common affiliation with the general geographic regions of the lands north of the Danube. The Principalities, in particular Wallachia, likewise still remained as tributary states of the Ottoman Empire, and were as such expected to return to the issue of stipends for the Imperial Tax.

In 1821, long simmered with the disappointment of the ingrainment of the hellenic Phanariote establishment, Wallachian revolutionary and court assistant Tudor Vladimirescu had launched a rebellion. While Vladimirescu was innately adept at both court politics of all stripes and had acquired a strong following from the Serbian Uprisings of 1812 and 1815, his charisma was often at odds with Vladimirescu's own goals, which constantly shifted in accords to the complex political situation and the rapid process at which the rebellion was unfurling in Wallacha. At first initially squared with the dislodging of solely the Phanariotes in the upper echelons of Wallachian aristocracy, the goals of Vladimirescu's rebellion often shifted as the situation did in accord. His own state of affairs was often found complicated by the myriad of revolutionaries which had assembled for his cause: Wallachia in particular sat in a unique geopolitical landscape, for Bucharest had been the hotbed for both revolutionaries from Serbia and from Greek revolutionaries lead by a certain Alexander Ypsilantis - both of whom Vladimirescu was quite familiar with. Initially, Ypilantis had little interest in aligning himself with the affairs of Serbia nor the cause of Romania, however his braggart nature had foiled his plans for a a clandestine uprising in the Peloponnese, which the Ottomans had caught onto after the Serbian revolts. This forced him and his Hellenic separatists into an alliance with Vladimirescu, who himself had allied with Serbian revolutionaries.

The 1821 rebellion would quickly be shown to be abortive: Vladimirescu's constant shifting of campaign goals put strains upon his hodgepodge armies, who each in turn expected different results from the rebellion. Managing the diverse interests of the Hellenic rebels - who in turn had largely viewed the charade as an alliance of opportunity against the Turks - the Romanian peasantry, and the Serb revolutionaries had led to a breakdown of cohesion by late summer, wherein the rebel armies quickly devolved into mass banditry. When news of the Ottoman armies arrived to the rebels, many simply dropped arms and fled, either to return to civilian life, or in the case of more accomplished revolutionaries, had fled across the border of Oltenia into Serbia or Transylvania. Vladimirescu himself would be captured by Ottoman irregulars in Bucharest and later executed in Târgoviște. Ypsilantis and his Greek revolutionaries pillaged whatever supplies they could from the countryside before retreating back to Greece, with several of Vladimirescu's most accomplished generals following suit. In the end, the Revolution of 1821 would prove to be futile, but the radical ideas which had spread as a result, combined with the devastation of much of Wallachia's rural peasant base, would soon prove the kindling for later years.

Lingering resentment over Ottoman occupation would simmer beneath greater Danubian ethos for the years to come. Due to the mass banditry which ensued between the fighting of Ottoman irregulars and of Vladimirescu's ill-trained bandit army, the Ottoman's increased taxation as a result of the rebellion would take years to fully repay, which in turn had a mutually crippling effect on the daily life of Wallachia's people. In display of solidarity between common brothers, Moldavian intellectuals and reformist clergymen, inspired by Enlightenment ideals, would often make pilgrimage to aid in their recovery, who in turn often interacted with Wallachian revolutionaries who had partook in Vladimirescu's rebellion or those who harbored sympathies towards his rebellious character. The actions of the clergy in particular often earned the scorn of much of the higher echelons of the Orthodox Church and the boyar aristocracy, over whom the issue of slavery of Gypsies in the Principalities became a hotly contested issue. Many younger and lower-ranking clergy, inspire by Enlightenment ideals of abolitionism and the natural rights of man, which was syncretically combined with the teachings of Christ, had taken fault with the adoption of slavery, which in turn would continue to send rifts across the Orthodox world between revolutionary reformists and the entrenched elites.

Soon after, inspired by the recent Russo-Turkish War of 1828, several intellectuals and clergy of the Orthodox Church opted to fight as co-belligerents in the ensuing war. Leading the 1828 Revolution would be Ionică Tăutu, a Moldavian low-ranking boyar, Enlightenment-inspired pamphleteer, and craftsman, whom returned from self-exile in Constantinople two years prior. With the intention of initially enacting sweeping social reforms - most prudently the issue of slavery and peasants rights - the revolt quickly turned into the outright abolition of the boyar class and the removal of Ottoman influence from the Principalities. Fighting alongside him would become a distinguished figure, a Macedonian prince by the name of Aleksandar Konstantin Valentinov, who won several key victories over the Ottomans such as in the Battle of Silistra, where he and his revolutionaries would route the Ottoman armies along the Danube and would chase them all the way to the Black Sea. In spite of the sweeping military successes of the rebellion, Ionică passed away in late 1828, which in turn heavily fractured the rebellion along separate lines of concession. Some held fast to Ionică's ideals of the creation of a new constitution in the Principalities inspired by western ideals, including proposed habeas corpus, free trade, as well as a radical definition of private ownership which denied confiscation under any circumstances. Ionică himself was an adversary of the French Revolution, citing the necessity for the privileges of the boyar class in maintaining social order in stark contrast to the actions of Napoleon. Nevertheless, he found his ideas co-opted by various revolutionaries: In particular, Wallachian poet and revolutionary Sorin Cosminescu, who demanded from the revolutionary goals an abolition of the boyar and ecclesiastical aristocracy, sweeping land reforms for the peasantry, free press, free assembly, and the establishment of a revolutionary Republic.

In the aftermath and much like its predecessor in 1821, the revolution failed to achieve many of the original demands outlined by its founding revolutionaries. Moldavian revolutionaries were more willing to compromise than those found in Wallachia, which lead to many original demands being dropped or lessened in severity. The result was outlined in the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople: Greece would be given full independence while Serbia would be given autonomy. The Danubian Principalities would be jointed together under the same judiciary state with extended autonomy, while both Wallachia and Moldavia remained to serve as Russian protectorates. Wallachia in particular would also gain control over Dobruja, with the exception of the city of Köstence (Romanian: Constanța) to act as the Ottoman forward garrison in the region. In practice, the Principalities operated de facto as independent states, and in spite of the nominal political union between Wallachia and Moldavia, the two remained as functionally independent entities: Both had separate heads of state under different princes, had their own sets of laws even written in separate scripts. Although the Principalities are de jure a Russian protectorate, in reality they are sparsely protected, and Russian hard power over the Principalities remains minute, sparing Russian garrisons stationed in Chișinău and Cetatea Albă.

As a result, the Revolution of 1828 was often seen as abortive or incomplete: It gained for the Principalities a little more political freedom, but did little to alleviate the social demands of many of its revolutionaries in regards to issues such as slavery, elections, and the powers of the boyars. It did achieve one vital thing, however: It gave the confidence in Danubian revolutionaries that the Ottomans could be militarily defeated. Many in Moldavia, inspired by the Revolution of 1828 and the courageous actions in the Napoleonic Wars, fashioned themselves into self-styled revolutionary hussar corps which they called "Cărvunari", after an antiquated Romanian rendition of the Italian carbonari. Following in their lead, the first organized liberal movement, taking inspiration from the French Revolution and having for its stated purpose the encouragement of culture, was Societatea Filarmonică (the Philharmonic Society), established in 1833. Both would grow in magnitude and influence throughout the recent years, heavily inspired from Napoleonic ideals of liberty and the heroic mythos which had grown around figures such as Vladimirescu and Tăutu, where they call for a truly unified Principalities free of Ottoman influence.

Many revolutionaries take note from or actively collaborate with several revolutionaries from other South European states, in particular Serbian revolutionaries, with whom the mutual cooperation and ease of travel between one another has formed a hotbed of revolutionary activity all across the Balkans. With the outbreak of even more insurrectionist activity, including mass peasant strikes in 1834 as well as the combined actions of the Cărvunari and the Societatea against the Ottomans in Constanța - both of which invited heavy-handed responses from the latter - it would not take much to ignite this powder keg once again...

[TheEvanCat]

Qajar Persia

The diplomatic flag of Mohammad Shah Qajar. A red background on the flag signifies wartime use, while a green background is for peacetime.

Official Name: Sublime State of Iran (دولت علیّه ایران – Dowlat-e Âliyye-ye Irân)

Leader: Mohammad Shah Qajar (محمد شاه قاجار)

Characters:

Dramatis Personae

Historical Characters:

Fath-Ali Shah Qajar: The second Shah of Qajar Iran, reigning from 1797 to 1834. He is responsible for the Franco-Persian alliance and its military victories against Russia in the Caucasus. He is the grandfather of Mohammad Shah Qajar.

Abbas Mirza: The Crown Prince of Iran, who died in 1833. Because the Crown Prince had died before the Shah, succession was passed along to his son, Mohammad Mirza (later Mohammad Shah.) This triggered a crisis in 1834 where his brothers attempted to assert control of the throne.

Hossein Ali Mirza: Another son of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, although not the Crown Prince. Despite this, and because of his brother's death in 1833, Hossein Ali declared himself Shah in the autumn of 1834. He was defeated by loyalists to Mohammad Shah Qajar and was imprisoned. He died of cholera in 1835.

Abol-Qasem Qa'em-Maqam: The first Grand Vizier of Mohammad Shah Qajar. Although loyal to both Fath-Ali Shah and Mohammad Shah, Abol-Qasem lost much of his influence after the coronation of the new Shah. At the insistence of Mohammad Shah's mentor, Hajj Mirza Aqasi, Abol-Qasem was strangled to death in 1835.

Qajari Imperial Court:

Mohammad Shah Qajar: The current Shah of Qajar Iran. Young, inexperienced, and previously a quiet and unassuming child, Mohammad Shah is responsible for asserting Persian authority in the Middle East. He must also struggle with the leftovers of Napoleon's empire in the form of the French exiles.

Hajj Mirza Aqasi: Mohammad Shah's longtime mentor and advisor, formalized under his current reign as the Grand Vizier. A mysterious Sufi, he is distrusted by the Islamic clerics of Iran. There are many who believe that Aqasi controls the empire, speaking through Mohammad Shah as a figurehead. There is an underlying cunning to Aqasi, as he came to power himself after convincing the Shah to kill his previous Grand Vizier.

Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi: The Qajari foreign minister. Mirza Abolhassan had achieved great success negotiating the return of Caucasian territories to the Franco-Persian alliance during its wars with Russia. He was loyal to Fath-Ali Shah and later his grandson, Mohammad Shah. Mirza Abolhassan is still able to exert great diplomatic pressure in order to achieve Iranian goals.

Bonapartist Exiles in Iran:

Pierre Amédée Jaubert: One of Napoleon's former orientalist advisors who had been sent to Iran in 1805. Under the "Jaubert Mission", he established the foundation of the Franco-Persian alliance and paved the way for Fath-Ali Shah's assistance towards Napoleon Bonaparte during his invasion of Russia. After Napoleon's eventual defeat, Jaubert remained in Iran under Mohammad Shah's exile-friendly court.

Claude Matthieu: Arriving shortly after Jaubert, Matthieu served as an officer in Napoleon's army. He was responsible for the military transformation of the Qajari forces. With improved training, organization, leadership, and equipment, the Persians were able to decisively defeat the Russians and regain much of their lost Caucasian territory. As with Jaubert, Matthieu remained in Iran after Napoleon's defeat, certain that his career would be over back home if he ever returned.

History:

The Qajar Dynasty

The Russo-Persian wars defined the perilous state of the Qajar dynasty at the turn of the 19th century. Territories in the Caucasus traditionally belonging to Iran had swapped hands at the end of the 18th century as the Georgian monarch Erekle II pledged allegiance to Russia instead of the Persians. Infuriated, the reigning monarch of Persia, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, declared war on the Russians in 1804. Despite early victories against the Russians, the Persians were quickly outmatched by superior Russian technology and military organization once advanced Tsarist weapons were shipped to the theater.

To this end, the Qajars tried to strike a deal with the British in exchange for assistance in the war. Yet they were denied, as their previous agreements only included help against French invasion, not Russian. Fath-Ali Shah turned to the French, striking a deal with Napoleon in 1807. French forces arrived in Iran to modernize and instruct the fledging Qajar tribal military, in exchange for direct support to a potential French invasion of British India. This invasion never happened, as the French were far more tied up in Europe than anticipated. In 1807, the French schemes to diplomatically pacify the Russians and focus on the British threat were disrupted when Napoleon reneged on agreements made at the Treaties of Tilsit.

Russia, believing that France was in violation of the treaty after its agreements about the Prussian monarchy fell through, was infuriated. No armistice with the Russians was ever signed, and the French continued to work with the Persian military to equip and train them with great haste. Napoleon recognized Fath-Ali Shah’s claims to Georgia in the Caucasus, keeping the Persians on good diplomatic terms while he prepared for continued war with Russia. In the Caucasus, the Perso-Russian War came to a standstill as small fronts of elite French-trained Iranian forces put up fierce resistance against Russian invaders.

In 1812, when Napoleon invaded Russia once again, the situation for the Tsarist kingdom was dire. Napoleon burned down Moscow, sending the Russian state into panic. The Iranians retook large parts of Armenia and Azerbaijan, though were kept from Georgia and Dagestan in the north. A truce between the two countries was settled as the Iranians consolidated their gains and Russia caused great losses against Napoleon’s armies.

Fath-Ali Shah, bolstered by this victory, celebrated all things French. Bribing French diplomats and officials with lavish gifts, gold, and large tracts of land, he declared himself a Francophile and praised the character of the Franco-Persian alliance. French scientists, educators, generals, doctors, and bureaucratic professionals were encouraged to modernize all facets of Persian society. Upper-class Tehranis dressed like Parisians, adopting French slang and language as high fashion. The military changed out their tribal garb for Napoleonic uniforms, organizing their armies after the French.

With French influence in the Persian systems of bureaucracy, the Qajars consolidated their hold over Iran. Traditionally, the Persians lacked a form of centrally controlling the tribes in their borders. The concept of the gendarmerie, imported from France, rapidly improved the reach of the Qajars’ rule. The long arm of the law could now stretch from Tehran to the most remote corners of Persia, thanks to ruthlessly efficient gendarmes patrolling the rural areas by the 1820s. Systems of industrialization, capital employment, and trade turned the Persian Gulf into a series of boom towns. Fath-Ali Shah was, however, criticized for his tendency to allow very high shares of these companies to be owned by the French.

When Napoleon suffered his defeat in Europe and exiled to Elba, it was said that Fath-Ali Shah mourned. Diplomatic relations with the Bourbons were often tense, the Persians refusing to cooperate on much. French companies, weakened from the Empire’s decline, lost their grip to entrepreneurial Persians. Napoleon in Elba, of course, plotted his return to France and eventually succeeded: the Persians were happy to see their friend return, watching the anti-Napoleon coalition’s rout at Waterloo with great interest. They approached France with a proposition: an invasion into the underbelly of Russia utilizing their French-trained military, to take advantage of the postwar chaos. Napoleon agreed, publicly asserting Iranian rights to Georgia and Dagestan.

The Iranians continued their Francophile regime even after Napoleon's final defeat. Encouraged again by the decade-old proclamation by the Emperor of Europe, the Persians took to arms and invaded the Caucasus again in 1832. The war brought some territorial gains to the Persians but was severely hampered by the death of Fath-Ali Shah in October of 1834. His designated heir, Abbas Mirza, had passed away in 1833. His 24-year-old son, Mohammad, was selected to take the throne instead. Drama struck the Peacock Throne shortly after Fath-Ali Shah’s death, as his son Ali Mirza attempted to take the throne in defiance of his father’s choice of heir. Ali Mirza reigned for forty days before being deposed by a court loyalist to Fath-Ali Shah. Mohammad was crowned king: Mohammad Shah Qajar.

This turbulence had distracted the Persian military, who were left defending battle positions in the Caucasus for almost three months in the winter of 1834-1835. The Persians could ultimately not muster the momentum to push fully into Chechnya and Dagestan and settled for an armistice slightly more beneficial than a white peace. Some territories were recaptured, but the goal of marching Persian troops deep into the North Caucasus was not accomplished. Napoleon fell to the British coalition during his invasion of the United Kingdom shortly thereafter: the uncertainty put a pause to Persian military ambitions.

Mohammad Shah Qajar had lived his life almost entirely under the Francophile craze in Iran and was no different than his predecessor. Humiliated and disgraced French officers, who could not stand what was being done to France, were gladly accepted by the Qajar dynasty in Persia. French advisors were popular with Mohammad Shah, and he gladly took anyone he could get. With some leverage, Mohammad Shah permanently employed these French expatriates in exchange for loyalty to the Persian monarchy. Such activities concerned the former coalition in Europe, who would rapidly become concerned that the Shah sought to become a Napoleon of his own.

The grand aspirations of the Persian state, headed by the sickly but devoted Mohammad Shah, are enough to trigger interest from the European powers. Mohammad Shah eyes the east, the French advisors to the throne seeking to further Napoleon’s late plan of taking India from the British. Russia, too, is on edge for a Persian re-invasion of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Ottomans, always wary of their traditional rivals, are on guard against the Iranians.

Inside Iran, the Westernization is enough to drive fault lines between the traditional Shiite beliefs and newer Western ideals. The old guard of clergy, bazaaris, and feudal lords eye the new “progressive” Shah with intense hesitation and resentment. At any time, he may feel bold enough to take away their traditional sources of wealth and power. The French foreigners in Tehran are replacing the Iranian tribes, angering those far from the capital. As Persia seeks to play the “great game” at the behest of its Francophile tendencies, many at home are not happy with the choice. How they choose to act out remains to be seen.

[Yam I Am]

Union Society of Decembrists

Russia in Europe

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Decembrist Movement of Russia

Name: Union Society of Decembrists

The Union Society is a merger of many liberal and republican movements throughout the Empire, including the Northern and Southern Societies of Decembrists, The Society of United Slavs, and the Little Russian Secret Society. While the Northern Decembrist Society enjoys the overt support of the majority of the disgruntled Russian aristocracy, the radicalism of the Southern Society pushes forth and possesses some of the momement's most influential thinkers and spokesmen, and enjoys widespread support throughout the broader population.

Leader: Directory of the Union Society of Decembrists

History:

Having lead Russia against several disastrous wars across the early 19th century, Tsar Alexander I has far from earned himself a gracious reputation throughout broader Russian society. Against Ottoman, Persian, French, and British armies the Russian state limped across, broken again and again in the backdrop of severe hardship. Alexander I was quickly proving in light of his flippant behavior and his Topsy-turvy politicking, of which he was infamous for constantly changing his mind.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Russian economy, ravaged by the Continental System and Napoleon's invasion, slid into a continuous economic crisis. Towards the final days of the war, the recovery of Western Europe had tanked Russian agricultural exports. Landed gentry tried to restore lost income through enclosures and driving away redundant serf peasants, but Alexander had previously outlawed the "emancipation" of serfs without land. Economic downfall fueled radical opposition inside Russian nobility and the peasantry alike.

The imperial treasury was bankrupted by rising state debt and falling revenues. Alexander was aware of the crisis but never tackled its root cause, the oversized peacetime army of 800,000 men. The Tsar expected future wars in Southern Europe and the Middle East, and feared that mass dismissal of veteran soldiers would cause insurrection. He could not let them go: they were not needed in their native villages, and there were no jobs in the cities. Instead of reducing the army to an affordable peacetime size, Alexander I tried to cut spending through the establishment of self-sustaining military settlements, which failed from start to finish. He replaced expensive field maneuvers with drill exercise and parades, alienating experienced commanders and contributing to dissatisfaction of the nobility.

The first secret organization aspiring to change the system was formed by the veterans of Napoleonic Wars in February 1816. Their aims varied from establishing a constitutional monarchy to "getting rid of foreigners and alien influence". Some even considered murdering Alexander I after Sergey Trubetskoy reported a rumour that Alexander was planning to incorporate western provinces into Congress Poland. In 1818 the organization was reformed into the Union of Prosperity. In the same year Pavel Pestel, the most radical conspirator, relocated to Ukraine and began actively recruiting Army officers, which would become the core of the future Southern Society of Decembrists.

In January 1821, internal conflicts between the radical South and the aristocratic North Societies led to the dissolution of the earlier Union of Prosperity. Members of the Northern Society indulged in writing elaborate aristocratic constitutions while Pestel and his ring settled on changing the regime by military force. Pestel's own political program, influenced by Antoine Destutt de Tracy, Adam Smith, Baron d'Holbach and Jeremy Bentham envisioned "one nation, one government, one language" for the whole country, a uniform Russian-speaking entity with no concessions to ethnic or religious minorities, even the Finns or the Mongols. Contrary to the initial aspirations of the Northern Society, Pestel planned to reduce the influence of landed and financial aristocracy, which drove a stake in the credence of his leadership roles until his eventual replacement by Alexei Yushnevsky in late 1822.

Tsar Alexander would find himself assassinated by a Southern Society republican months after the historic London Congress of 1822, leaving the future of the Russian throne uncertain amidst a backdrop of social and political upheaval. As there was no immediate successor apparent to the Russian throne, governance was promptly split between powers regarding its inheritance: One based from the Warsaw governate and the other from the de jure capital in St. Petersburg. Though initially divided, Mikhail Miloradovich, governor of Warsaw, would greatly encourage Nicolas I to assume the throne, and had traveled to St. Petersburg to press his convictions further.

Twice, in 1823 and 1824, the North and the South planned joint strikes against the Tsarist government: Believing their initiative to be lost forever should they not strike while the iron is hot, the two carried out attacks upon the tsarist government in Kiev and St. Petersburg. Both attempts resulted in bloody battles pitched against the tsarist government - and there in the 1823 attempt Miloradovich would find himself caught in the crossfire of its most gruesome battle, where he was shot and later died of internal bleeding later that evening. This action would de jure remain Poland under Imperial Russian rule, but de facto the Polish state would never be subject to Russia since.

The heavy-handed responses drove the people further towards the Decembrist cause. The attacks failed due to their spontaneity and overall lack of effectual planning and coordination. Objectives of the attacks varied greatly and had little cohesion Although it would appear that the Decembrist movement was initially suppressed, the chaotic results of each individual strike as well as the deteriorating condition of the land drove the peasantry, army, and aristocracy alike further together.

In the aftermath of their strikes, the Northern and Southern Society would merge into the the Union Society in late 1824 following the incarceration or exile of some of its most key leadership. Members would often regroup and rejoin over time, and eventually the Russian Empire would be disputed in a constant state of unrest. The overall beliefs of the Union Society would be further influenced by two figures - A poet and Captain of Artillery, Gregoriy Matskevich, hailing from Minsk, and an unassuming Don Cossack cavalry sergeant, Ignaty Yevtushenko of the Little Russian Secret Society - whom both pushed for the implementation of the federalist model throughout Russia. This series of low-intensity warfare gradually intensified from 1832 onward, which would see the state army heavily distracted by the Persian invasion of the Caucasus and drive deserters and dissenters into the ranks of the Decembrist armies entirely. By the invasion's end in 1834, most of Russia was fully up in arms and engulfed in civil war.

Advancing to Tula by the summer of 1835, the Decembrists captured Moscow, whereupon the Union Society would proclaim a new government. After painstaking effort and endless debates, the demands agreed upon by the Union Society for a new Russian constitution were laid out in Moscow of 1835 as followed:

State Structure:

- A trial would be held regarding the legal status of the monarchy. Whether Russia was to become a republic or a constitutional monarchy was up to the results.
- Formation of a federation of several states based on national and economic characteristics of the regions.
- Separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial branches of governance.
- The creation of a bicameral People's Council, consisting of the Verkhovna Duma (upper house) and the House of People's Representatives (lower house). The deputies to both chambers were to be elected for 6 years, and every two years a third of the deputies were re-elected. The upper house was elected by 3 deputies from each constituent state. In the lower one - one deputy for every 50,000 residents.
- The "states" elected Sovereign veche, whose deputies were elected for 4 years and a quarter of them were re-elected annually.
- Executive power would belong to either the President or to the Russian Emperor, depending on trial outcome, who was also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. With the consent of the Supreme Duma, they also would appoint ambassadors, consuls, judges of the supreme court chambers and ministers.

Serfdom & Civil Rights:

- Serfdom was abolished, but the possessions of the landowners remained with the old owners.
- The liberated peasants received up to 2 acres of arable land per yard.
- Equality of all citizens before the law.
- Freedom of speech, press, and religion.
- Universal suffrage for all males over the age of 25.

By 1836, Matskevich finds himself as the premier figure of the Union Society and acts as the effective face of the Directorate Council of the Union Society. The rest of the Russian Tsarist government remains staunch in defiance in Saint Petersburg. While the Decembrists have the upper hand, the future remains murky. How such a disparaged group of interests, backgrounds, and beliefs will pan out under the future government is unclear, and as republicanism dawns on one of Europe's great powers, the continent looks onto the Third Rome with interest and unease.

Characters

Decembrists

Gregoriy Matskevich - One of the most prominent military leaders of the Union Society. Artillery Captain and hobbyist poet. He isn't fond of playing the role of "peacekeeper", but the position has fallen into his lap as he has to keep the Union Society together through its competing factions.

Ignaty Yevtushenko - Ukrainian Cossack and thinker. Pushes for the advancement of Federalism in the new Russian state. One of the main contributors to the Moscow Constitution of 1835.

Pavel Pestel - Russian military leader and one of the oldest members of the Union Society. Argues for Centralism over Federalism. Has a lot of support from Russian Aristocracy. Often butts heads with figures such as Yevtushenko.

Alexei Yushnevsky - Close confidant of Pestel and one of the founding members of the Northern Society of Decembrists.

Alexei Vtorak - Poet and Jacobin agitator from Saint Petersburg. Was tried and found guilty by the Tsar's authority for inciting insurrection, but during his hanging, the rope had been improperly secured, leaving many to believe that it was the will of God that had saved his life.

Tsarists

Nicolas I - Current Tsar of Russia, fighting a bitter civil war between the Decembrists and his loyalists. Stanchly reactionary. In his public persona, described by his court, "Nicholas I came to represent autocracy personified: infinitely majestic, determined and powerful, hard as stone, and relentless as fate."

Fyodor Klementyevich Geismar - Commander of the Russian Imperial Army and Nicolas I's closest confidant. Of Prussian origins. Served with distinction against the Ottomans and Persians.

Civilians/Neutral

Jura Pasternak - Banker from Volynia, near the Russo-Polish Border (today in West Ukraine). Is an acquaintance and sympathizer with many Decemberists, but does not actively affiliate with the movement.

Emma Konstantinova Gagarin - Widow of the late Kiril Gagarin - a Northern Society affiliate.

[Letter Bee]

Vilayet of Egypt

Name: Vilayet of Egypt

Leader: Muhammad Ali of Egypt

History: Taking advantage of the power vacuum left in Egypt due to the departure of the Napoleonic Expedition which had taken it from the Ottoman Empire in the last years of the eighteenth century, Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Albanian commander who was part of the Ottoman forces sent to reoccupy Egypt, used the personal troops under his employ as well as his canny political skills to play the old elites and his fellow newcomers against each other, eventually rising to power as Egypt's new governor. As the Napoleonic Wars wound down, he dispatched his chief rivals, the Mamluks, through a bloody massacre that broke their power forever.

This allowed him to pass vital reforms without interference, such as the nationalization of land and the taxation of charitable endowments. Through a monopoly on trade and the improvement of Egypt's much-neglected agricultural system, he made enough revenue to not just buy Western weapons, but build factories that produced muskets and a shipyard capable of building 100-gun warships (this was IRL). He built dams, and technical schools, and allowed European Businesses to enter the country as long as they contributed part of their profits to his treasury. This allowed for rapid modernization and development, especially as he also sent students to Europe in order to make sure that he had specialists who knew how his weapons worked.

Eventually, he managed to provoke a dispute between himself and the Governor of Syria (which included everything from Antioch to Jerusalem at this time), which he used as a cassus belli for rebelling against the Ottoman Empire and invading it, bringing it down to its knees with his new modernized army, which advanced almost to Constantinople itself until the West sent an ultimatum: Back down or be broken. When he refused, he met his first serious setback, with his forces and navy being defeated and being beaten back to Cicilia, where he managed to save his conquests by making hasty diplomatic concessions, including pledging loyalty to the Sultan in exchange for continued rulership of Southeastern Anatolia and the Levant.

As he reconsolidated his position, the next challenge was a rebellion in Palestine, where high taxes and loss of power caused both peasants and local elites to revolt against his rule. Crushing this rebellion with immense brutality (a dark side to his rule), Muhammad Ali rebuilt his modern army and navy, careful to deal delicately with the Europeans so that they do not interfere. During that time, he sent expeditions south to make sure the region of Sudan was under his thumb, providing valuable gold to further finance his modernization programs while securing the best possible education for his sons and grandsons.

His ambitions were temporarily held in check by his realization that the European Powers would brook no threat to the status quo in the Middle East, and so Muhammad Ali focused on Sudan and the Levant and their development. Sudan was both brutally pacified and searched for mineral resources, while Greater Syria's cities, including Jerusalem and Damascus, were put under the new central administration. Plans were also made to take advantage of Ethiopia's troubles to the south, as that country was still in civil war...