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Chapter Text

The Fourth French Republic, more commonly known as Nationalist France, is but one of the tumultuous polities born of the chaos of the late Weltkrieg. After German troops overran the Entente lines in March 1919, reaching Paris shortly thereafter, the military initially intended to continue the fight with British support, and moved the seat of the army and admiralty to Marseilles with the intent of prosecuting the war from the border of their Italian allies. But German forces soon penetrated Italy’s defenses at Venice and threatened to push on Marseilles from the east, even as Paris fell. With the army in open mutiny, civil unrest high, and the BEF in full withdrawal, in an attempt to save France Marshal Ferdinand Foch reluctantly agreed with Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau to seek armistice. The armistice stopped the fighting, but it hardly promised peace; after the Treaty of Versailles, signed in the late summer, the military remained in open rebellion against its leadership--it could even have been said to be more riotous, once it realized the many sacrifices of the French people had all been for naught. As the army leadership struggled to exert its control from German-occupied Marseilles, Paris rose in a communard revolt following the support of the communist CGT’s general strike in autumn of 1919. With the home army almost universally in revolt and the military leadership far from Paris, Marshal Foch wrote the government of Clemenceau off as lost. With local German support, the Marshal cobbled together any nationalist populations he could find and utilized the navy, still almost entirely obedient, to ferry all the loyal Frenchman he could find to the colonies. The might of the French navy, and the utter confusion of the communards once they succeeded in seizing control of France, have been the only shields which have allowed the large but economically depressed and sparsely-occupied French state in exile to continue its existence.

The position of France was tenuous indeed in the days, months, and even years following the military exile to Algeria. Some would argue that it is STILL tenuous now, almost twenty years later, and they would largely be correct. Despite Marshal Foch’s best efforts, few true loyalists to France could be found in those hectic days between the proclamation of the Commune of France and the marching of Commune troops into the south of the country, when the Marshal had his brief window to act independently. Several hundred French families were moved to Algeria during that time, as well as tens of thousands of tons of supplies, industrial mechanisms and military equipment, but too few of any were saved to make France a true force to be reckoned with. Her colonies, long drained of men and materiel in France’s wars, were economically depressed and socio-religiously hostile to the perceived invasion of white Frenchmen to a colony which was already beginning to agitate for independence. To make matters worse, the Pied-Noirs within Algeria also lobbied against the arrival of French refugees, worried that mainlanders would limit their political domination of the new territory.

Initially, Marshal Foch attempted to resolve these concerns through constitutional means, by assembling a new constitution with increased powers for the military and some guaranteed representation for the Pied-Noirs, to ensure that their concerns would be seen to. Yet as time passed it was evident that constitutionalism was a dead letter in Africa, where most of the surviving peoples and politicians were decidedly authoritarian in bent. One day, Foch simply dissolved Parliament, and never bothered opening it again. Although the constitution of the Fourth Republic is still technically in effect, neither Foch nor Petain have abided by it since the British revolution of 1925, which they used as their excuse to “temporarily” suspend the democratic basis of the state.

Despite many of the French in exile asserting that the evacuation of the BEF led to the necessity of the French armistice and thereby the socialist revolution in France, relations with the British monarchy have remained cordial. Initially this was simply the result of the requirements of the new French state for resources, particularly foodstuffs, which only the British could provide the fragile and far from self-sufficient government-in-exile. Although relations cooled markedly between the 1921 “Peace with Honor” and Britain’s own revolution in 1925, when the British monarchy eventually found itself faced with the same horrifying prospect of communist rebellion that laid France low the decade before, George V redoubled efforts to tie the remnants of the Entente together more closely from his newfound exile in Canada. Eventually, George and Marshal Foch recommitted to making a triumphant return together to their respective countries, and when Foch unfortunately passed and General Petain took his place, the two reaffirmed their two nations’ pledge once more.

George V is, however, both aged and in incredibly ill health, expected to die within mere months. He has kept the Empire--such as it remains--strongly united under his goal of a return to the Isles, yet his charismatic-but-temperamental son Edward VIII is an unknown factor, at a time when France is most in need of stability. The small population of Pied Noirs in Algeria have grown uncomfortable under the military government of General Petain, which controls almost every aspect of their lives yet makes no visible progress toward returning to the homeland. For so long as George V lives and serves as a symbol for the whole of the Entente, Petain’s rule is all but guaranteed; with his death, the military must need make a show of progress immediately should it wish to retain power.

As reports constantly filter into Algiers about the health of George V, General Petain and his functionary, General Maurice Janin, agreed that action must be taken. Although the French in Algeria had hardly been idle, spending decades building up the farming capacity of the territory and trying to link Algeria to France’s sub-Saharan possessions, tensions within the Algerian population over the lack of practical, visible preparations to make landfall in Europe had begun to reach the boiling point. Aside from the raising of a single Pied-Noir division intended to put down colonial unrest in the late 1920s, the French state had done nothing but tread water militarily since the retreat from Europe.

In Military Directive 84, Petain ends this long stalemate. Judging that France’s industrial capacity is now sufficient to begin making tentative moves towards a return to Europe, the Directive’s orders are the most wide-reaching of any since Foch first landed in Algeria. Its first moves are the replacement of the unpopular Minister of the Interior, Eugene Deloncle, with Joseph Barthelemy, a more liberal jurist who viewed the colonial territory less as a zone for extraction than Deloncle, whose only goal was to squeeze as much out of it as possible. Chief of the Army General Charles Huntzinger, an old commander widely seen as inflexible, was also replaced in the directive by General Henri Albert Niessel, a fluent Russian speaker who fought alongside the victorious White government in the Russian Civil War. Together, Barthelemy and Niessel are given chair of the French National Army's Foreign Recruitment department--covering, conveniently, Algeria and France’s current sub-Saharan possessions. Orders are given to “do everything practicable to construct complete lists of French citizens of age to serve in the armed forces, and make these same prepared for calling-up at the discretion of the government.”

Although later histories more critical of Petain tend to elide his role in the doctrinal struggle between the Army and Navy for preeminence, it is undeniable that Directive 84 was the point of no return for France and a firm show of support for General de Gaulle over Admiral Darlan. Directive 84 disbanded the garrison forces for Oran, Algiers and Tunis in order to recoup manpower, as well as selling off several dozen old submarines and converting many archaic transport and military vessels to convoys and convoy escorts, respectively, over Admiral Darlan’s heavy protest. Even as Darlan’s naval clout lessened, General de Gaulle’s army influence increased, as Petain named him the commander of the 1st Army, France’s main fighting force comprising some 100,000 souls, and gave permission to de Gaulle to fully motorize the group. Although the argument could be made that the choice of de Gaulle over Darlan had not been formalized by Directive 84, it was certainly a sign of where the wind was blowing: the government’s demands for manpower and acquiescence to de Gaulle’s plan of mass warfare made it clear that Petain, like Foch before him, sought to take the fight to the communards in France.

Yet Petain’s maneuvers with Directive 84 should also not be overstated. Although Petain committed France to war with the Commune in the near future, it was still a commitment very much in the context of France’s prior “commitments”--that is to say, weak-hearted. Petain restructured much of the government, funded a staggering amount of military-industrial projects, and promised more still, but those promises for visible change, as they had been in the past, tended to be vacuous. The orders for the refitting of de Gaulle’s motorized force crossed Petain’s desk and were signed, but industrial production simply was not allocated to them. In fact, the very same day Petain signed a different order which demanded the production of sufficient industrial facilities throughout the nation to support “an increase of 20% in [our] military productive capacity.”

Some historians have argued that Petain’s insistence on waiting for this industry to finish was indicative of a strategy of patience; that he wished for the committee of Barthelemy and Niessel to identify and draft sufficient potential recruits before pushing forward with military production, and spending France’s industrial efforts on more productive means in the meantime was even being supportive of de Gaulle, as it guaranteed a sufficiently large industrial base to press forward with his motorized reforms when the time came. But cynics would--and did--argue that Petain was doing nothing more than stalling for time, passing token reforms to keep pressure off of his government. And Directive 84, empty of practical results, could only hold off the pressure for so long.

News from Russia: White general and moderate monarchist Lavr Kornilov and officers loyal to him have seized the apparatus of state following the assassination of Alexander Kerensky. The erstwhile one-time Entente member has, much like France, been economically struggling since the end of the war, and Germany’s decision at the 1935 Reich Conference to demand the final series of reparations from Russia a year ahead-of-schedule have only crippled her economy that much more. General Niessel, who met and fought alongside Kornilov during the Russian Civil War, is rushed to Moscow to congratulate the General, to provide assurances of France’s friendship, and to subtly suggest a reunion of the Entente. Kornilov proves polite and genuinely supportive of France, but unwilling to commit himself; Niessel, for his part, writes General Petain that he “could hardly blame Gen. Kornilov, given the position he and his men find themselves in.” An opportunity for rapprochement at a later date is left open, but for the moment Russian affairs entirely dominate the attention of Kornilov and his government.

On the 15th of January, uncomfortably close to the date of Kornilov’s takeover in Russia, George V passes away. Edward VIII ascended the throne the same day, being formally crowned on the 4th of February, after a fiery speech declaring that it was his “full intention to, within the next five years, be crowned anew in the restored Westminster Abbey, where once again I will be surrounded in my home by my countrymen, who have already awaited too long their day of righteous return.” For his part, General Petain issued a congratulatory statement in French, and called on the Quebecois to remain loyal to the King and “continue to fight for the return of both of our peoples, Anglo-Saxon and French, to our rightful homelands.”

The coronation is marred, however, by the declaration of war by Amanullah Khan, the Sultan of Afghanistan, on Delhi. Having succeeded in a war against Delhi in the 1920s, in the midst of the chaos of the Brtish revolution, bringing to Afghanistan the populous and resource-rich provinces of Quetta and Peshawar, Khan hopes now to seize the west bank of the Indus river, along with one of India’s largest ports at Karachi. Although Edward is furious to forever share the day of his coronation with a declaration of war, Amanullah’s delusions are laughable; all he has done is guarantee the return of Quetta and Peshawar to Delhi, further strengthening the Entente’s position in India.

In the godless anarchism across the sea, the people have held their “elections,” if such a thing they can be called. With no majority to be found, the traditional syndicalist faction which had heretofore run the government there cooperated with the Anarchistes, choosing to host their representative, Daniel Guerin, as the Head of Government in his function as representative of the trade unions. The few informants available to France within the Commune convey their opinions that Guerin is a buffoon, and that the new Head of State, Benoit Frachon, is no better--worse, even, as his sweeping reform plans seem poised to cripple the Commune’s already extremely limited specie reserves. The rumors are met with joy among Petain and his staff, but, in order to protect their informants within the Commune, Petain does not publish this information outside of the cabinet.

In late January, the early repayment of the Brest-Litovsk reparations was forced on Russia by Chancellor von Papen’s government. The basis of the demand was founded in the 1935 Reich Conference, in which Kaiser Wilhelm, following the consultation of his ministers, agreed to push for the immediate injection of cash into the German economy in an attempt to stimulate it. Lagging agricultural production, investor concerns about syndicalism in Britain, France and Italy, and the cost of maintaining Germany’s large, international military in the aftermath of the Weltkrieg were all cited as reasons why the Reich’s economy had begun to slow and, eventually, turn downward as the 1920s turned into the 30s.

Unfortunately, none within the Kaiser’s government could see the impact the reparations would have. The sudden injection of additional money into the market stoked fears of government interventionism in order to prevent a collapse, not simply to shore up an ailing economy. Rumors of a collapse quickly became the reality of one, as a mass run on banks destroyed the holding capacity of Germany’s banking sector, while simultaneously the whole of the payments from the Brest-Litovsk treaty turned from millions of Reichsmarks to dust in the hand, as their value disintegrated on the stock market and burned away in hyperinflation. Overnight hundreds of companies went bankrupt, and over the coming week hundreds more would follow suit; millions would be unemployed by the time the crisis stabilized, in late February. Yet even that was not the end, as the collapse of the German economy led to a domino effect in the economic pact of Mitteleuropa, where primarily German agricultural interests collapsed throughout the alliance, but especially in Ukraine. Already known for their flirtation with Bolshevism, the sudden unemployment of the Ukrainian worker is a cause for major concern, and the French government already communicates with Kornilov about the possibility of “restoring order” should the worst happen.

Unfortunately, the possibility of any help from--or cooperation with--Russia appears to be extremely unlikely at present. Although France is insulated from the effects of Black Monday due to her sudden physical distance from her arch-rival Germany and long-time reliance on economic cooperation and trade principally with the remaining members of the Entente, Russia is not so lucky. As one of the only states that was economically powerful but not German-controlled following Brest-Litovsk and Versailles, Kaiser Wilhelm and his ministers had made every effort to extract as many resources from Russia as possible, and had major stake in its economy (ostensibly so that Russia would be disinclined from attacking Germany in the future). This is not to mention Russia’s significant overland trade into Mitteleuropa; once Black Monday struck the German Empire, it was inevitable that Russia would also face its consequences. Now they are being felt in full force, and General Niessel, who was once again dispatched to Moscow, reports that “the economic conditions of the country are in a dire state. Martial law has been declared by Gen. Kornilov & compatriots, and military deployed in several cities. Millions are left unemployed & Kornilov privately complained to me that rearmament has been almost entirely stalled.”

This bodes ill for Russia’s potential support of the Entente, though if Niessel is to be believed there is a silver lining: although Russia’s economy is struggling it appears as if Kornilov still has control in the countryside, and the bankruptcy of all the German interests in the country prevent it from being economically disinclined to come to blows with Germany in the future. Once the nation recovers, it could prove a steadfast ally.

As March turns to April and war sparks between Mittelafrika and Portugal over the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique, the first serious foreign policy concern which France has faced in nearly a decade awaits them.

In the Treaty of Versailles, when Germany tore many sub-Saharan territories from France to create their Mittelafrika colony, the latter absorbed much of the Ivory Coast--this, alone, would make it a just enemy to the French, it being a German colony aside. Yet, despite traditional friendship with Portugal and enmity towards their foe, it is undeniable that the war has presented France with an opportunity: seizing undefended Portuguese Guinea in the midst of the chaos.

General Petain smarts over the gains made by Delhi when France has not expanded whatsoever since her exile, and sees the acquisition of Guinea as a way to shore up popular confidence in his government. And, indeed, despite portraying France as an unreasonable aggressor and seriously diminishing the chances of Portugal ever rejoining the Entente, the seizure of Guinea quite probably will improve Petain’s perception within the country; even Admiral Darlan is in favor, as the seizure of Bissau would provide the nation with an additional naval port.

Yet most of the other cabinet ministers, particularly Barthelemy, are aghast at the mere suggestion. “The territory has nothing!” the minutes of one cabinet meeting have him crying. “No resources, no great population of note, no cities; it is merely jungle and beach! Why should we alienate an ally to seize land which will give us nothing of practical worth, and indeed even require a garrison when our troops are needed so desperately elsewhere?”

Whatever the case, with the war unlikely to last long, Petain’s government must decide what to do, and quickly.

News that France had intended to seize Guinea leaked shortly after the meeting, and Portugal was prepared to condemn the action harshly, and seek cooperation with Spain to further protect their limited African territories. Yet the next day General Petain's government announced that, despite "lower ministers recommending that the government intervene to protect order," the government had "conclusively decided not to intervene in the territory of a sovereign ally."

Although the perceived backing-down damages Petain's reputation at home the frustration is minimal, and the Portuguese are particularly grateful over the proof that France is an honorable state willing to maintain its agreements and the sovereignty of her fellow nations.

To compensate for the agitation among the Pied Noir populace of Algeria for his government’s failure to seize Guinea when it had the chance, General Petain is determined to make a show of progress to rally public support. Along with the support of his adjutant, General Janin, Petain issues Directive 85, which establishes the Troupes des Marines, sets aside funding for their training, and folds naval troop command into the army’s overarching structure, away from the navy’s control. This is yet another stab at Darlan’s fiercely-protected autonomy, and the beginnings of the serious break between Darlan and Petain’s regime. For the moment, however, little of practical note changes; resources are not allocated to the marines beyond the bare minimum for research and development of landing crews. They, like with everything else Petain has established in France, are but a skeleton for some force which is meant to arrive--somehow, someday--in the nebulous future.

Sadly for Petain, his fabrications no longer work on his own people, much less unrest brought from other quarters. The Arab National Congress, held in Cairo and chaired by the Egyptian Sultan Abbas II, has issued a proclamation that “the Arabic territories occupied by the French exiles belong rightly to the Arab peoples, and must be free for the Arab people in order for any lasting peace to be established in Africa.”

Although much less hostile than the original draft, the message is still antagonistic, and leads many in France, especially the Algerians, to believe that they will have the Congress’s support in a bid for independence. Facing increasing protests and civil disobedience, the Pied-Noirs descend into a panic, certain that they will be slaughtered if France is ever overrun by the Islamic Entente. The French nationals which were brought by Foch to Algeria are even more terrified; without a family history of living in Algeria and originally expecting to only be absent for a few months at most, they increasingly blame Petain for appearing weak enough for the Arabs to dare to issue such a proclamation in the first place, and are exhausted of his continuous excuses regarding their eventual return to France.

The matter of Petain’s leadership must be decided, and soon. France cannot take division now, in the hour where she must arise.

Matters have come to a head. With Petain newly unpopular and unrest sweeping the country, the Cabinet has been maneuvering. The revocation of exile on French émigrés, passed following Foch’s landing at Algiers in a desperate attempt to shore up white French manpower through any and all means, guarantees that there are alternative leaders to Petain close at hand.

Petain, aware of the national unrest but blissfully unaware of the scheming against him, suggests merely replacing General Janin with another military commander (he suggests de Gaulle) to quiet matters, but various cabinet ministers have begun putting out alternate feelers. The moderates, Barthelemy and Dewavrin, support the reimplementation of the constitution, and using military force, if need be, to ensure that Petain actually abides by it. Both General Niessel and Admiral Darlan favor the restoration of the House of Bourbon, the current head of which, the aged Jean III, currently resides in Oran. Finally, Eugene Schueller and Francois de la Roque advocate the restoration of the Bonapartes in the person of Louis Napoleon, the great-grandson of Jerome, King of Westphalia, and eldest legitimate male of the house. The bickering between these factions are quiet, but vehement; Barthelemy and Dewavrin lament that anyone would ever consider a restoration of either monarchy, while Niessel and Darlan mock their failure to see in Germany the intrinsic benefit of a strong leader’s hand, and insist that the restoration of the Bourbons will provide France with legitimacy for a return. Shueller and de la Roque conversely assert that, despite the failure of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War, the symbol of the Bonapartes is both the most recent and most iconic anti-German dynasty which could be selected, and presents a more youthful and vigorous face than Jean III. Only one thing remains sure: they must come to a compromise soon, or the opportunity to oust Petain will slip away.

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The secret deliberations of the Cabinet lasted for days. In the end no true compromise was reached, but once Niessel admitted that Louis Napoleon was, disregarding other considerations, a better candidate than Jean III on the basis of his youth, military service and participation in the politics of Algiers, the decision was effectively made. Although Barthelemy, Dewavrin and Darlan all dissented, the support of Niessel (and therefore effectively the entire army establishment, excepting General Petain) assured that a Bonaparte restoration was the future for the nationalist movement. Even Barthelemy and Dewavrin, though dissenting, agreed that they would be “fundamentally in approval” of such a plan, provided they could get Napoleon IV to adopt a constitution limiting his power.

So it was that, on the night of the 21st, General Niessel was dispatched to the household of Louis Napoleon, whom he had briefly commanded in the French Foreign Legion. A humorous anecdote about their encounter, unsubstantiated but plausible, is that Napoleon IV answered the door and exclaimed “Sir!” when greeted with the face of his old commander, to which Niessel replied, “Your Majesty, that was to be my line.”

Whatever the case, Niessel outlined the plan for the Bonaparte restoration to Louis, who enthusiastically agreed to the prospect. The following morning, the two drove together to the governor’s house in Algiers and presented their ultimatum to Petain: peacefully hand over the government to Louis and retire, or face an armed insurrection by the military. Caught entirely off-guard and surrounded by troops loyal to Niessel, Petain predictably folded. General Janin was appointed the interim leader of the caretaker government, awaiting the coronation of Napoleon IV.

The morning of July 6th dawned hot but overcast, yet the sun shone brilliantly that afternoon as Louis Napoleon was crowned by Auguste-Fernand Leynaud, Cardinal and Archbishop of Algiers, in the Notre Dame d’Afrique. Phillip Petain was the one who handed Leynaud the crown, symbolizing the passage of power from the military government to the Emperor; immediately after the ceremony, Petain would announce his retirement to the country, and live the rest of his days in effective exile in Tunis.

That Laynaud crowned Napoleon IV is of particular historical interest. The Pope, Piux XI, had offered to travel to Algeria himself to crown the Emperor, but Louis Napoleon, in his radio address to the French people, claimed to have told him that it would be “my singular honor to gain my crown from His Holiness’s hands, yet only in the true Notre Dame, in fair Paris, where I intend that we shall return before the end of this decade! We have languished too long here, away from our home, yet with no plan in mind to return to it; no longer! Vive la France!”

Of course, not all was so well as that. The speech was inspiring to be sure, and it is indeed certain that the restoration of the Bonapartes, although not met quite so joyously as a fully representative government may have been, brought true hope to the people. But Napoleon IV was in no real better position to make military moves than his predecessor had been, and indeed one of his first acts was even signing an order which continued the industrial buildup which had begun under General Petain earlier that year. For all the bombast, the sparse population of the French state in exile simply precluded a mass military buildup.

Still, Napoleon would soon show that he was willing to go far beyond Petain in making sustained, visible change to the structure of France and her armed forces.

The most obvious issue at hand is constitutionalism. Technically, the constitution of the Third Republic is still legal, merely indefinitely suspended; if Napoleon IV wished to, he could order his ministers to construct a new Imperial constitution based on the Third Republic’s constitutional model, which would further increase his apparent legitimacy. Traditionally the Bonapartes have tended to be authoritarian, but, as leading Moderate Monarchist Paul Renaud notes, “traditionally the Bonapartes have also tended to lose their thrones.” It is nigh to treason following Napoleon IV’s ascension, but also undeniably the truth. Every Bonaparte to hold a throne, save for baby Napoleon II, has started out authoritarian, lost the support of their people, then desperately tried to pass reforms at the last moment, always too late. Renaud’s implication is clear: Napoleon IV can buck this trend, and in so doing possibly save the last chance of a Bonapartiste restoration.

The alternative, of course, is absolutism. Despite how absolutist the Bonapartes have tended to be, however, absolutism is most commonly associated with the Bourbons, and most of the politicians who would be willing to serve an absolutist monarch are Bourbon loyalists. Charles Maurras, the deaf pro-Bourbon absolutist, has tentatively stepped forward to indicate that he would “guide” the government of Napoleon IV “if necessary,” but only if “His Majesty would confirm the title of Princes of France to the House of Bourbon.” Given that the Bonapartes have always styled themselves Emperors of the French and not Emperors of France, the granting of such a title is a serious threat to the legitimacy of the Emperor, and Maurras, despite his claims, is a Bourbon loyalist through-and-through. Whatever Louis Napoleon may want personally, a constitutional system with strong royal powers might be a safer way to handle power than absolutism cobbled together through the use of a different dynasty’s supporters.

Louis Napoleon was an absolutist by temperament, but he took Paul Renard’s implication to heart: being wedded to absolute power had ruined his dynasty in the past. Thus, while not quite so all-encompassing as Barthelemy and Dewavrin would have hoped, Napoleon did order--and even help write--the constitution of the Third Empire. It provisioned a two-house Assembly, one house representing the colonies and one representing the mainland, with the colonial assembly currently representing the entire nation “until such a time as the homeland is retaken.” While elections are permitted and the right to vote is guaranteed to all male French citizens, extension of the franchise is something which Napoleon refuses to put into the constitution, instead determining it should be set and modified by “typical legal proceedings.” The path to French citizenship is also left ambiguous in the constitution’s first draft, with all white males and their direct white relatives born in France or her colonies determined to be citizens, but the status of creoles, African nobles and soldiers in service to France, and members of other civilized races who have migrated to France, such as the Japanese, left unqualified. Although this is initially a matter of some concern to politicians, who worry that Napoleon IV has given up very little real power in the creation of an Assembly over which he has significant control, Napoleon further agrees to modify the constitution over the coming months with a series of guarantees, similar to the American Bill of Rights. It’s hoped by the moderate monarchists that this bill will further diffuse the Emperor’s power, for the stability of the nation.

Immediately following the promulgation of the Constitution, another crisis flares. The Republican Socialists, moderates who favor working within a constitutional system, request of the Emperor the right to stand in the next elections. They have promised that they do not abide the Commune of France and mourn the catastrophe it has caused as much as any other true Frenchman, but many--most, even--of the government are deeply mistrustful of them. Their defeat in the elections is almost guaranteed, and permitting them to stand would boost France's international reputation as a free society, contrary to the state control of the Syndicalists; it would also reduce the chances of rebellion within France, as colonials would have a political party that could represent their interests, despite the minimal chances that they would ever win any serious seats. But by banning internationalists from running at all, Napoleon IV could secure his nation as a traditional state operating under the old (though some would say outdated) dichotomy of liberal and conservative politics. It would increase displeasure among the colonials significantly, and give the Commune ammunition to call France hypocritical, but it would also be the most secure path politically--if it could be maintained.

It was eventually decided by that the Socialists could stand for election, provided they publicly disavowed the Commune of France and swore to protect the government and the person of the Emperor, which they unanimously did. Napoleon then permitted them the right to stand in elections--though he also ordered his Minister of Intelligence, Dewavrin, to keep a close eye on any registered with the Socialist Party.

The legalization of the pro-colonial Socialist party has provided Napoleon an unexpected avenue for reform, and he is quick to pounce on it. With General Petain forced from the government and Janin relegated to an advisory role, Admiral Darlan--despite his pro-Bourbon stance--saw the Emperor’s ascension as an opportunity to regain ground lost under Petain’s leadership. Darlan therefore petitions the Emperor for the right to create a large surface fleet, even more powerful than the remnants of the existing fleet left after the scuttling ordered by Petain. General de Gaulle is quick to see in the Admiral’s request a thinly-veiled attempt to supersede the needs of the army, however, and presents to the Emperor the orders signed by General Petain for the creation of de Gaulle’s theoretical motorized unit. Moreover, he presents a counterplan to the Admiral’s naval buildup by suggesting that both motorization and conscription may be possible--the Emperor has given the natives representation, has he not? Why not tax them in return, in the form of levies?

It is a dangerous system, in some respects. The natives will despise it, and quite possibly actively resist it. Yet it presents the opportunity to raise tens of thousands more men than simply expanding the French Foreign Legion ever could, and, especially if colonials serving in the armed forces are given the vote, dissent can likely be kept manageable. In comparison expanding the Foreign Legion is safer for the moment, but significantly reduces the country’s chances of ever being able to entertain securing the mainland.

Unsurprisingly, as it promised more troops for the nation de Gaulle’s conscription plan was selected. But now Napoleon found himself in a quandary, as a way needed to be found to reconcile the anger of the natives at being conscripted to fight for their colonial overlords without alienating or marginalizing the whites and Pied-Noirs upon whom Napoleon relied for his power.

Napoleon’s solution was a compromise--and, as with any compromise, it was imperfect. Ostensibly, conscription was initiated as a process in return for Napoleon’s creation of the colonial assembly and the permission of pro-native parties to run in the assembly; Napoleon had provided representation, and the natives were now required to serve as part of their obligations in return. This arrangement was widely perceived as the fable it was, however; without colonial support there was no way for the socialist parties to win in any election they stood for, and if voting was restricted to whites the colonial assembly did not truly represent them, but their overlords in the colonies. It was a recipe for rebellion, not even to speak of the likelihood that any levies raised by de Gaulle under such a system would be equally as likely to shoot the communists as their own masters.

The real compromise came later. As an olive branch to the Pied-Noirs, and as a way to ensure that French citizens would get off much lighter, the judicial system was split, with colonials being tried under typically much harsher laws. This system allowed French manpower in the colonies to remain high, as fewer Frenchmen were being imprisoned, while also encouraging discipline and obedience among the colonials. But, in return, Napoleon added an additional benefit of conscription. Service now guarantees citizenship, and therefore the right to vote for representatives to the colonial assembly.

"I did not want to do it," Napoleon would recall later, "but I felt I must. Anything and everything for France."

In the aftermath of the Imperial Bill of Rights, tensions were high throughout France. No side was pleased with the conditions set out by the Emperor, or by the demands made of them. Not even the Socialists, who had gone from having nothing to being a legal political party again, were pleased; due to the promise extracted from them to guarantee the Empire and the person of Napoleon IV, they felt they were being unreasonably put-upon, required to support a system of government they inherently could not abide. It was a period of supreme discomfort, wherein the charisma and skill of Napoleon IV was relied upon heavily by the government to quell the major discontent arising from all factions, and to unite them under the symbol of Imperial power, and a hope for return.

It was to be a slow process. Much of the state’s resources were diverted toward putting down small riots, forming conscription lists for natives, and producing small arms to more heavily equip the white police forces in the colonies. The printing presses of France, for a time, printed copies of the constitution and hopeful words from Napoleon IV, not manuals of war. But, with the period of constitutional crisis over and recovery on the way, it seems that the Empire is through the worst of it. In the near future, true armament for war can begin.

And, it seems, not a moment too soon. In the Ukraine, the radical Totalist Nikita Khrushchev, a Bolshevik sympathizer, has foolishly been permitted to form a government by Vasili I. It seems likely that the Totalists there will topple the monarchy and join the Internationale, diverting even more of Russia’s attention and reducing the chances of their entry into the Entente. It is grave news, met with due solemnity in Algier. The army cannot be made ready quickly enough.

Chapter Text

News of a rebellion in the German East Asian Corporation, spurred on by the Corporation’s lack of finances and growing unrest due to its harsh policies aimed at balancing its budget, reaches Algiers in mid-October.

The news of trouble in Germany’s colonies is heartening, especially given Mittelafrika’s successful campaign against Portugal, and Napoleon IV is quick to ask whether it is feasible for the French to provide aid to the rebels. He must nervously be informed that France no longer has any military transports, however, and that, while a new project is underway to construct modern models thereof, as yet it has not even exited the planning stages.

Napoleon and Admiral Darlan had had a vicious row the month beforehand over the matter of conscription and the dangers of presenting a hostile face to the Commune, after which Darlan had been dismissed by the Emperor. But it had been Darlan who had warned about the dangers of lacking military transports, and, with some hesitancy, Napoleon issues an apology and calls him back to his post. Relations between the two will remain strained, but as Napoleon put it, “so long as the Admiral fights for France and does it well, I am willing to overlook that he does not approve of me.”

Mixed news from Europe, as the radical pacifist Autonomists have apparently won the election in Britain, selecting for their representative Niclas y Glais. y Glais is well-known as a fool and coward, and his selection to head the Union will quite likely doom the Commune to a lack of any Western support on land in the event of an Imperial invasion. It is possible that Oswald Mosely, a Totalist in control of armaments production, might be able to enforce his will upon the government and enter the Union into the war over y Glais’s protests, however; too much is uncertain, and too little is known of the Union of Britain’s government.

Yet even the good news is not all good, as Norway has elected a socialist party and agreed to form an alliance with the Union of Britain; it is quite probably on its way to an inadvertent revolution of its own, just as Ukraine.

“The number of brother monarchies in Europe,” the Emperor writes, “diminish at an alarming rate. Even if now the British do not contest our landing in the homeland, I wonder how many nations we will need free once we return there.”

Despite attempts by Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev to work moderately and within the context of the Ukrainian constitution, the Totalist went too far to German observers. With the blessing of Wilhelm II and the complicity of Russia’s dictator Kornilov, the German intelligence service armed, trained, and orchestrated the perpetrators of a coup to oust Khrushchev. As it happened, however, Khrushchev’s supporters in the population were many, and the plotters were foiled. The brief euphoria of declaring independence from Germany and freedom for the Ukrainian worker was short-lived, however, as Wilhelm ordered the immediate invasion of Ukraine from all states within the Mitteleuropa pact. It appears as if the Kaiser is entirely unwilling to entertain the independence of such a critical state on Russia’s borders, especially not under a Totalist government.

This is all the more important for the Reich, as Li Liejun’s Republic of China has already succeeded in smashing the economically destitute German East Asian Company, leaving Germany bereft of resources and position in China. The loss of Ukraine would greatly reduce the German capacity to ship grain from the east and defend against Russian incursions west, and the Kaiser rightly considers it a matter of great importance.

Napoleon IV briefly considered sending aid to the Ukrainians, but when informed that the nation still lacks transports (and that the Ottoman Sultan would certainly not allow their passage beyond the Straits of Bosporus regardless), the plan is given up. None in the Imperial government wish for the Ukrainians to win, but if they can bleed the Germans for a while, it would be to France’s benefit.

Apparently showing his hand straight away, when the Norwegian socialist government got cold feed about entering into a mutual assistance agreement with the Internationale and Haakon VII subsequently dismissed the Socialist government, Oswald Mosley and his Totalist clique overruled Niclas y Glais’s protests of pacifism to declare direct war on Norway, claiming that they had “betrayed the revolution” and “endangered the worker.” The move is both rash and unbelievably aggressive, but with the German Empire preoccupied by Nikita Khrushchev’s rebellion in the Ukraine, Mosley no doubt believed that he would be able to score a decisive victory and further increase the Totalist presence in the government.

Unfortunately for the would-be dictator, Berlin was not amused. With its fleet still strong enough to sink the whole of the Union’s forces even with its army preoccupied, Berlin issued a terse warning to London demanding their immediate withdrawal from Norwegian territorial waters. Tails between their legs the British fled, and even now reports are that Mosley has been humiliated, and several Totalist officers who obeyed his orders above that of y Glais’s have been purged from the military. The countryside is said to be positively riotous, on the verge of a second revolution, though over the failures of Mosley or the incompetence of y Glais, it’s difficult to determine. What little Algiers hears is quickly forwarded to Edward VIII in Ontario, who of course has a most personal stake in affairs in the Isles. Should a revolution begin in truth, the Entente must be poised to strike.

Urgent news from Wien now arrives. The young Kaiser Otto, in the 1937 Ausgleich negotiations, has pushed for a moderate position seeking to federate the Empire to restore Wien’s control, but still offering autonomy for the other federal states at a level typical in the Empire prior to the Weltkrieg. The Hungarians, however, have denied even this moderate position--and, what’s more, they have Wilhelm II’s support!

Despite Wilhelm’s effort to force the Austrians down, young Kaiser Otto has entirely refused to tolerate the situation, and he, in his function as Kaiser of Austria, has declared war on Hungary! Wilhelmine Germany has washed their hands of the entire affair, leaving the Kaiser and the Hungarians to fight over the scraps of the Dual Monarchy, and seriously disrupting relations between Wien and Berlin simultaneously.

Although antipathy from the Weltkrieg and a simple lack of ships once again prevents Napoleon IV from taking sides in the conflict he is initially pleased even so, convinced that, whatever the outcome is, it will be of great benefit to the Entente. With a visible split between Otto and Wilhelm, he finds it unlikely that Austria will now come to the German Kaiser’s aid in the event of a war.

But it remains to be seen whether an Austria of any real value will even be left after the war ends, as the Empire begins to collapse amidst the struggle. Although Galicia-Lodomeria has supported Wien, the Czechs have declared independence, an independence which Otto has grudgingly acknowledged; Hungary faces a war on two fronts, as Corneliu Codreanu’s Romania launches an invasion to seize Transylvania in the Empire’s moment of weakness, prompting Croat declarations of support for Hungary; and Italy has invaded Austria’s western provinces in order to claim Trent and Venice. Much less which faction shall prove victorious, the question instead appears to be whether there will be an Empire of any value left after the struggle.

Further chaos. A revolution in America has broken out, as both the Syndicalists and Longists within America have contested the 1936 election results. A general strike by the Syndicalists led to the declaration of a worker’s state centered on Chicago, which immediately caused Huey Long and his loyal Minutemen to declare their own independent polity in the south. A “modern-day Confederacy,” as Napoleon IV terms it.

Nevertheless, the situation is serious. The United States, despite its neutrality in the Weltkrieg, was closely aligned with the Entente and traded with them significantly; indeed, it was largely the hope of George V, before he passed, that a recuperated America could serve as the backbone of an Entente strike on Europe. Now there is an openly Syndicalist state on the border of Canada, and the life of Edward VIII could even be said to be in danger, should the Syndicalists be so mad as to attempt the bombing of Ottawa.

Despite best wishes to the United States, the Emperor was prepared to give up the issue due to the typical lack of transports, but Edward has been so shaken by the situation that, provided France arms her men, Canada has sworn to transport them. The same day a detachment under Lt. General Prioux ships out from Algiers, so that France might once again protect the sovereignty of the United States--and, she hopes, earn her righteous support.

Freed of the restrictions from interfering in the Austro-Hungarian Civil War by the Germans, the Polish regency council has determined that now is an ideal time to claim Galicia-Lodomeria, and form a greater Polish state.

The Polish declaration of war is almost certainly the last nail in the coffin of Austria, which had only Galicia-Lodomeria’s support against a much stronger coalition. Otto, it seems, will lose the war--and quite probably, lose it very badly

Despite the grave news of defections from the United States military to the AUS and the announcement of the rebellion of the Pacific states, good news, as usual, can be found at least somewhere--General Kornilov has announced his “retirement,” setting up a puppet government of the legitimate Tsar, Kyril I, under the watchful eye of Kornilov’s underling and monarchist, Baron Pyotr Wrangel.

Kyril, like his predecessors before him, prefers to rule in an absolute autocracy, and in his function as a military general and monarchist, Wrangel is inclined to permit him to do so. This stirs not-insignificant dissent within the Russian populace as a whole, but Kyril is both aged and in relatively poor health; it is expected that his more moderate son Vladimir will take the throne soon, to the benefit, as Napoleon IV sees it, of both Russia and the Entente.

“Now is not the time to turn our people against us,” Napoleon wrote in a letter intended for Prince Vladimir. “I understand your father’s position, only too well. The people who we rule are those same who sought our lives, your family even more than my own, and it is impossible to trust them with their own governance. Yet nevertheless, a facsimile of it must be provided to them, for the moment. Until monarchism is secured throughout Europe once more--and the German blister lanced clean--we must give anything and everything to secure the strength to stand against our common foes. I hear, and hope, that you share these same beliefs of mine.”

Yet more chaos, as the Spanish Civil War begins. The terminal weakness of the government of Alfonso XIII has plunged Spain into chaos. Anarchists in the Catalan territories demand the syndicalization of the peninsula and alignment toward France, while in the north the Carlists, once thought extinct, seek to place Francis Xavier de Borbon-Parma on the throne, one of the last Carlist claimants.

As the Syndicalists in America are on the verge of triumph despite France's support to the United States, Spain could be absolutely critical to France's future. If America falls to Syndicalism and should attack Canada, then Edward VIII would be forced to flee to Australia, in no position to lend aid in Europe. That would force France to utilize European allies to retake the mainland--and, if even possible, Britain. As yet these allies do not exist, and so it is critical to curry them presently. The question is merely whether the Kingdom or the Carlists are more likely to prevail, and which will curry the most favor with parties to France's benefit.

The new and authoritarian Pontifex Maximus, Pius XII, has issued support for the claim of the Carlists, whom he refers to as "true Christians, and true Catholics." His statement makes it clear that, should France wish to gain the direct support of the Pope then Pius expects a show of support for the Carlists. Although the Italian Federation has recently lost Anzio to the Syndicalists it has gained Trent and Venice in the north at Austria's expense; it is not a minor player in European affairs and may be worth courting as an ally, especially if France can join Spain to the Entente at the same time.

Yet there would be clear consequences to such a diplomatic play. Supporting Italy could lead to an eventual future war with Austria over the occupation of Trent and Venice, but with Austria beset by enemies on all sides Napoleon IV views Francis Xavier himself as the greater threat. His claim is less legitimate than Alfonso XIII's and he is a reactionary autocrat which shares the same dynasty with Jean III. Bourbon supporters can still be found throughout France, and especially in her army; enabling the rise of Francis Xavier, even if it did lead France back to the mainland, would place a Bourbon unchecked by constitutional limitations on the Patrie's southern border, poised to press for a Bourbon restoration. Is the potential gain of two allies at once worth risking the Bonaparte dynasty over?

What eventually decided the matter for Napoleon was a simple calculus of economics. Reports from Madrid suggested that the Kingdom under Alfonso was so broken-down that its armies would be hard-pressed to do anything, even just hold their defensive line: French troops deployed there would be wasted, and would alienate Pius XII besides. Out of concern for the possible loss of Canada as a supporting nation and desperate for continental allies, Napoleon made the decision to support the Carlists immediately, before foreign aid could be sent to the CNT/FAI. Holding only the under-populated and rural north, the Carlists would be in need of immediate support were they to win, as France's diplomatic goals on the continent now demanded.

The Qing Empire under Aisin-Gioro Puyi has begun its campaign against its closest--and weakest--rivals, the Millenarian state of Shanqing Tianguo under Zhang Tianran, who seeks to reinstall a local Han dynasty to the Chinese throne. With the democratic Republic of China to the south flaunting the authority of the Emperor, it's seen by many even within Puyi's court as a long overdue move, as only the limited industry of Tianran's state could allow the Qing to stand on an equal level with the Republic.

Mindaugas III has been elected by the Polish magistrates as the King of Poland, thereby once more uniting the crowns of Lithuania and Poland and restoring the Commonwealth between the two nations. As Mindaugas is a German aristocrat, his allegiance to Germany is a given, and he has already pledged that his new state will continue to prosecute the war against the Ukraine--which, curiously, has not deposed Vasily I even after the fall of Kiev, when Khrushchev should have had nothing else to lose.

After a year of difficult recruitment throughout the Empire of France, even in the far sub-Saharan regions with least love for the government, finally de Gaulle's native recruitment policy can be said to have completed. The Empire now boasts 23 divisions to her name, just one shy of possessing eight full corps, an "entirely respectable number, given the conditions in which we must currently operate," as de Gaulle put it.

Motorization of the group has already begun, with plans for a further recruitment of marines and perhaps one extra motorized corps already in discussion. But the motorization of the army has brought up another, not entirely pleasant concern: where will the fuel be found to move it?

Although it is the Empire's official policy to trade for oil wherever it can be found "at reasonable price," de facto the stockpiles available to the Empire are considered to be "insufficient for the operation of seven motorized corps for more than one month." In other words, while the Empire will soon be in a prime position to land troops on the continent, it will not be in a position to keep them fighting once they arrive, at least not for longer than a few weeks. It had always been the plan of the military dictatorship to simply land and await the rejoicing of the freed peoples, but Napoleon is more pragmatic--he knows that the whole nation will not collapse simply because his men make a landing.

Research on more robust coal-to-oil synthetic conversions are already underway, but with Algeria's limited coal reserves even prospects there are grim. As such, the Emperor orders a complete inventory of the desert, both tribes and resources. It may well be critical that France gain access to oil in the near future if it is to utilize its divisions properly, and hope must need rest in what France already possesses.

Soong Ching-ling, better known by the honorific "Madam Sun," as widow of the Chinese Republican leader Sun Yat-Sen, notes well the maneuvers of the Qing Emperor. While the Shangqing Tianguo is well-defended by mountains and fortifications and the Qing Emperor embarrasses himself in failing to breach their defenses, Madam Sun hopes to score a decisive victory in the struggle for China by eliminating the warlord of Yunnan, Long Yun, to her west. If the Republic of China can seize Yunnan they will outflank the Qing and Shangqing both, giving access to Tibet and to the Shangqing's unprotected southwestern flank.

The fate of China is still very uncertain, but with Madam Sun's most recent move, it is clear the direction in which it is moving: a showdown between the restored Qing Emperor and the Republic of China.

More insanity in Europe.

King Mindaugas, despite ruling more absolutely in Lithuania, accepted a constitution drafted by the Poles and Lithuanians both when he was elected as the King of both of their nations together in the form of the Commonwealth. This gave him limited power to stop what eventually came to pass: a parliamentary coup of far-right parties united under Dobszynsky, determined to wrest the Commonwealth free from German control and, eventually, to score decisive victories AGAINST Germany to reform the Commonwealth at its maximum extent.

Napoleon and his advisors are deeply concerned about the situation, not least because they have been most closely courting Russia. Would the Empire need to court both? would Polish-Lithuanian claims on Ruthenia sour Russia to an alliance with France if she backed Poland-Lithuania? Quickly, though, that became a secondary issue as Dobszynsky declared the independence of the Commonwealth, which promptly brought about the announcement from Berlin of imminent German occupation of Warsaw.

Yet not all is so easy as that. Due to its geographic position and the break between Wien and Berlin, the Commonwealth forms the singular route for supplies from Germany to its army, which is currently still operating in the Ukraine. If the Poles can hold on long enough for the Germans there to begin starving, they might actually be able to force a bitter peace on Berlin.

Made bold by his unexpected successes despite the loss of Bohemia and the Italian territories, Kaiser Otto has demanded the fealty of the Montenegrin Voivode, who had declared independence during the crisis. Danilo I, despite having previously sided with Serbia in his foreign policy, noted well the thousands of troops bordering his small country and bowed to the Austrian Kaiser. But this has now infuriated the Serbs, who see the Kaiser as moving against their own miniature Holy Alliance, and threatening Romanian gains in Transylvania. Ljubomir Djadovic has therefore declared war on Austria, with the backing of his faction and promises of territorial gain for both his people and Romania. Yet Serbia is already being surrounded by Austrian troops, and, if Serbia falls, how far behind will Romania be? Hungary still exists, it is true, but only in a small, constantly-shelled outpost in Cluj; they cannot save the Romanians with their meager remains.

In a stunningly risky but strategically brilliant move, Otto's generals have advised him to allow the Serb-Romanian forces to charge deep into the country through a gap at the line north of Belgrade, then turn and encircle them en masse. If it failed, Vienna itself would have been open for capture, and indeed with how the Romanians were pushing to the north even the Austrian line on the Romanian border might have fallen. But, as things stand, the Romanian-Serbian joint assault on Vienna was repelled with horrid casualties, and their advance was stalled, then methodically divided into two encircled forward pockets. If these are reduced without being relieved, the chances of Serbia's victory in the war are negligible.

Otto's gambit paid off, and not only paid off, but did so rapidly: less than a month after the Serb offensive first began, the advance was stopped at the strategically pre-determined point, separated, and reduced. The Serb alliance has lost an unknown amount of divisions, but the loss of even a single division for Serbia's crippled industry and manpower is irreplaceable, and Romanian divisions were lost in the engagement as well. Napoleon IV's ministers report their opinion that Serbia will likely fall within a month, at most.

Serbia's almost inevitable pending defeat has caused another flurry of discussions in Napoleon's cabinet on the importance of France being able to project its power overseas. Ever since General Petain ordered Admiral Darlan to scuttle France's outdated naval vessels in early 1936, France has had no transports to its name beyond limited civilian shipping vessels. But, with the French army all but ready for offensive operations and the marines likewise almost ready to deploy, it is critical that France now be able to utilize them at a moment's notice--especially since Napoleon IV, if he had his way, would like to deploy them to Serbia now. The stronger Austria becomes the more risk is placed on the Empire's fragile hope of returning to the homeland. Although Wien and Berlin suffer cold relations for the moment, the realities of a French landing could change opinions rapidly.

Admiral Darlan is thus tasked with the creation of a large, modern, and robust transport fleet capable of bringing French marines to foreign shores and carrying "at least three corps" of motorized units per transport fleet. These considerations are not idle ones, as the Emperor hopes to be able to transport the entire French army to foreign shores in just two trips. de Gaulle's strategy, which relies on speed and surprise, demands nothing less.

It has all been for naught. Despite the Emperor's best efforts to keep the natives appeased until the time of a return to France, his efforts have failed.

It began with imprisoning the socialist agitant Levi-Strauss, a move meant to protect the Empire. Strauss smuggled out a note in Arabic to the Bedouin tribes occupying the Sahara, asking them to agitate on his behalf. Already angered over the Emperor's taxation of their historically unfettered trade routes, the Bedouins demanded that the Emperor allow them free movement and that Strauss be released, lest they "fan the flames of Allah's discontent upon the Christians occupying [their] sands." Predictably, the Emperor responded in an entirely dismissive negative.

But, though Allah might be a stretch, the Bedouins were not wrong that there was discontent. The levying of troops from all corners of the Empire had infuriated the natives, as had the unequal legal code. The army was eminently loyal to the Emperor, since service guaranteed them citizenship, but their families had no reason to support what they saw as an unequal government. When the Bedouins rose up, the Guineans rose with them, and only the French garrisons in Dakar and Abidjan prevented them from doing the same.

The French Colonial Wars have begun.

The rebellions in Guinea and the Sahara were never going to beat the French; even before motorization, the Emperor and his advisers knew well that no local rebellion could ever hope to seriously contend with French power. Their main goal in appeasing the natives was to keep morale high, guarantee loyalty within the levied divisions, and avoid unnecessary losses in manpower and resources before France had been recaptured. Unfortunately they failed, though security reports in the south suggest that, had these measures not been taken, it could easily have been much worse.

Still, as the last rebel gun falls silent with the capture of Conakry on April 18th, slightly under a month after the rebellions began, it is clear that the Emperor must make a show of force against the natives. Those who betray France cannot be made content with their betrayal.

The Emperor therefore dissolves the Assembly, and proclaims that he will rule personally until the next elections are scheduled, in 1941. In addition, while blacks and Arabs in service to France will retain their voting rights until that point, colonial divisions in the army are now to be divided so that no troops from any single region serve with one another, and the divisions are now to be further integrated with Pied-Noirs, such that all leadership positions down to the squad level will be held by whites; to accomplish this, the most poorly-performing blacks in every division are to be transferred out of combat roles and into support roles in white divisions, as cooks, messengers, and other menial support staff, to free up white personnel.

In the Emperor's proclamation to this effect, he makes it clear that he views the rebellions in the south as "an utter betrayal of the myriad rights which [he] sought to provide [his] subjects" and that "promises given shall be retained, but never will this utter disgrace be forgotten."

Trouble now in India. The Syndicalist-aligned Telangana Commune has declared war on the Prince of Hyderabad, and the Bhartiya Commune, along with their allies in Nepal and Bhurma, have pledged support. It's very possible that the situation could spill over into a war with Delhi, and as yet neither the Imperial Marines nor the French transport fleet are yet fully-trained. It is a poor time for the conflict to spiral out of control.

Nevertheless, Napoleon IV orders the transports, such as they are, prepared to sail. He does not yet issue orders sending motorized divisions to India, but, should war between Delhi and the other states begin, the Emperor makes it clear to Edward that he will have full French support.

"India, if it comes down to it," the Emperor wrote in his diary that day, "shall be a training-ground for French troops, and a field to practice our encircling tactics, of which Gens. de Gaulle & Touzet du Vigier are so confident. In truth, even so I would not send troops, were there a chance that the Delhi government could achieve victory on its own. Yet the Raj diverges from the King's orders, and internal schisms wrack it; it will not sustain itself in the face of the Commune's attack. If French troops will be needed to restore the Raj, I would rather give the territory back to an ally than lose it entirely, even if we must pay the oil and blood."

On the recommendation of the Cabinet, Napoleon IV has deployed two motorized corps to India. Publicly the Emperor has stated that he hopes they will discourage the Bhartiya commune from taking any "unfortunate steps" against the Delhi government, but in actuality the Emperor has planned for a preemptive strike against the Commune, dividing the Commune's forces in half and allowing the Delhi government to reassert direct control over the north of the subcontinent.

That is far from the only serious undertaking in the East, however. The same day as his father's death, Vladimir III Romanov has declared his demand that Transamur submit to a plebiscite, to determine whether it should return to Russia or be permitted to retain its independence. The people of Transamur are overwhelmingly in favor, but their Japanese masters refused to permit it to take place, naturally worried that their lack of support in the region would be revealed. The Tsar has decreed that the refusal is a violation of Russian rights in the region, and, with Mongolia already crushed, Russian forces have begun marching toward Vladivostok.

The successes of Vladimir's foreign policy have been significant, and, if Russia can avoid a repeat here of the first Russo-Japanese war, can even be said to be almost complete. The strong Russia needed so desperately by Entente to assist them in crushing Germany appears to be almost prepared; all that they await, with real anxiety, is the outcome of the deliberations. Because, of course, Russia supporting the Entente and her goals is far from assured.

On the morning of October 25th, in a pre-arranged "friendly fire" situation coordinated with the Delhi Army, the French motorized troops in Jubblepore (in which they'd only arrived a few short hours before) were "shelled" by "Commune" troops. In reality, of course, it was some purposefully inaccurate artillery fire from the Delhi militia stationed in Jubblepore, but the excuse was sufficient for the Emperor to declare that the Commune had "violated the exact purpose for which our troops had been sent: to maintain the peace," and to declare war.

It will be at least two weeks before further Commune forces can arrive to stabilize the front, and in the meanwhile the entire war effort, except for the occupation of Raighar and Kataka, will need to be handled by the overextended Delhi troops. Nevertheless, both King Edward and the Emperor agree that handling the situation now, before the Princely federation's troops have been entirely exhausted, is the wisest course of action. Once France's next two corps arrive in the territory they can launch an attack on Bombay itself, and from there there will be little chance that the Commune can recover.

"And," the Emperor wrote, "perhaps most importantly, critical Indian resources will become available for the Entente once more."

An overview of the front one month on, in late November 1938. The quick actions of Generals de Gaulle and Touzet du Vigier secured the critical resupply paths of Raighar and Kataka, and held on with poor supplies against tremendous counterattacks for several weeks, until reinforcement arrived; for their efforts, they have both been promoted from Major Generals to Lieutenant Generals.

Upon his arrival General Janin was rushed forward to deal with a dangerous Communard salient near Lucknow, which, with the assistance of Mj. General Amiel of the 4th Bombardment Group, Imperial forces have successfully reduced. Seven communist divisions are currently trapped in the pocket, with an eighth having been completely destroyed by the offensive actions of General Janin. With General Touzet du Vigier already moving on the outskirts of Calcutta at Kharagpur, the desperate Communards have redeployed everything possible to try holding the French off. But that secret Internationale documents are already being burned in offices across Calcutta gives it away--their petty revolution is soon to be ended, and Imperial control of India will soon be reasserted.

Late in the afternoon on January 30th, 1939, the war with the communists in India is over, as the last Burmese holdout falls and, defeated, Burma sues for peace. Subhas Chandra Bose and a myriad of other communist leaders and supporters in the subcontinent are sentenced to death, and those with political or spiritual import, such as Gandhi, are issued sentences of life imprisonment. Even here Edward is careful, as he ensures that Hindu judges presiding over Hindu juries are the ones to issue the sentence; the Mahatma will have no recourse to claim unfair bias of the jury this time.

Matters in the subcontinent are not fully resolved, of course. A rump princely state still exercises some power in the south, around the Tamil lands, and it will eventually need to be handled. But the defeat of the Commune and Delhi's capture of the northern princely territories ensures that there is no longer a force on the subcontinent that can stand against it. French troops, cheered from the moment they reach Delhi's lands to the point they board the boats at Bombay, are hailed as the Entente's apex force. de Gaulle and Touzent du Vigier's encirclement tactics have been proven, even if worrying theses about the dangers of naval invasion on troop morale and organization are being written simultaneously. The Empire is not on the mainland yet, but at the very least the underlying premise of her tactics has been proven, even if there remain issues to resolve.

For the moment, though, calm returns to the Entente. de Gaulle and Touzent du Vigier are both granted extended leave in Canada, as King Edward wishes to meet them and award them with honors, while an effusive letter from the King arrives to the Emperor, granting him an honorary rank of Colonel in the British army and claiming that "any British subject would, and shall, gladly give her blood to see you returned to your rightful home for all it is that you have done for us."

Betrayal! Just as the corps under the commands of General Janin and General Brissaud-Desmaillet were passing by the environs of Nagpur, they were suddenly attacked by locals. Believing it to be communist militias General Janin gave the order to stop, capture and interrogate the enemies, but upon doing so he discovered, to his horror, that these were not communists, but instead local warrior-caste civilians loyal to the princely state! There was a rebellion in Nagpur!

Word was sent to Delhi immediately, and from there on to King George. Lt. Generals de Gaulle and Touzet du Vigier were already out of the country, and the various corps which had been in Burma were being redeployed to Bombay, and were thus unavailable for action. Only Generals Janin and Brissaud-Desmaillet are in place to fight the Princely State.

Edward's response is predictable: for the crime of inciting rebellion and attacking forces which had come to their aid against the communists, the punishment will be the complete liquidation of Osman Ali Khan's state, and the recreation of the Raj in its entirety. Edward begs the assistance of Napoleon once more, assistance which the Emperor--minding the long months spent in the subcontinent--hesitantly gives. It is war once more, but hopefully this will be a quick one.

South India is treacherous terrain for motorized units, particularly its mountains to the west, and jungles in the deep southeast. The campaign was originally envisioned as taking no longer than three weeks by the General Staff, but estimates kept increasing until, finally, the Emperor was forced to order the recall of the several Generals he had sent on vacation, redeploying them to India and utilizing the extra motorized corps to put down the Princes by force. Even still, it took a month longer than the initial estimate, which took just two of France's five corps into account.

Napoleon and his generals accept the renewed thanks of the Entente, particularly India's de facto head of state, Sikander Hayat Khan, but are insistent about immediately withdrawing from the subcontinent. The loss of India would have been disastrous, but Imperial interference to restore a united India was not intended, and ultimately was considered a usage of manpower and resources which in the Emperor's words "went beyond the allocation which we intended, especially as regards our oil reserves."

Still, a united India may well have free troops to send to France's aid, and even if it does not the Entente can count on much greater air support and technological development from the restored subcontinent; it was not a useless expenditure of time. As long, at least, as the French army can be rapidly returned to Algiers, which has lacked their presence for far too long. The Emperor feels unprepared to address affairs in Europe, should the growing tensions between France and Germany flair.

Chapter Text

Following the victory parade in Algiers upon the return of the Empire's victorious expeditionary forces, Napoleon IV met with his General Staff to go over the lessons of the invasion. Most of the staff are optimistic, but Generals de Gaulle and Touzet du Vigier, two of the most supportive of encirclement tactics, are now the words of restraint.

They point out that, following their landing at Bombay, their men were worn out due to the long sea travel, many of their trucks had broken down during the trip or the unloading process, and military discipline took days to put back in complete working order after the long period of sea travel. In a word, their forces were seriously disorganized, leading to the pitched battles emblematic of the early period of the conflict, where the motorized corps, outnumbered and tactically inflexible, were almost defeated.

Although the other commanders do not see the problem as unresolvable, they do recognize the preeminence of these two commanders in mobile warfare, particularly de Gaulle. Without significantly increasing the size of the French army, a compromise is reached whereby the number of corps is increased from five to seven, accomplished by reducing the number of divisions per corps to three. This will slightly reduce their combat potential, but if Touzet du Vigier in particular is to be believed, that will be the least of the Empire's concerns. Upon landing on the mainland, the number of corps will be the most critical consideration, as speed and occupying as much territory as possible before the communists can turn their attention to the Imperial forces are set to determine the likely outcome of the operation.

Finally, the time has come. In a foolish display of arrogance, with the German economy recovered from its ravishes and elite from its long engagements in Ukraine, the representative of the Comite Salut de Public, Jaques Duclos, issued an ultimatum to the government of Wilhelm II: surrender the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, or face imminent war. The Kaiser predictably refused, and without even declaring war Commune troops began their march into the demilitarized zone between Germany and France. The Third Franco-Prussian War, as the Germans call it, has begun. As the Commune struggles to solicit support from the Internationale, however, it's clear that they wish to make it the Second Weltkrieg.

The Empire's armies are well-trained, disciplined, fully modernized, in position and ready to engage. Both the navy and air force are dated, especially the Empire's limited planes, but even the Empire's Chief of the Air Force, Jean Murmoz, acknowledges that it will not be the air force which determines whether or not France shall be retaken: it is the army, and the army alone, that can secure the homeland. What small part of the navy which is critical, namely France's transports, are as large and modern a force as could be hoped, given France's position.

What must now be decided is simply the plan of attack: where will France strike, and when?

General de Gaulle, who is particularly worried about Germany's strength, wishes to launch an immediate marine landing in southern France, at Marseilles and Montpelier, then rush motorized units in as quickly as possible to secure territory before the communists are broken by the Germans. de Gaulle assumes that the Germans will be strong enough to break the Communard lines almost instantly, and expecting equivalent enemy resistance toward both the German and Imperial offensives, de Gaulle expects to be able to secure a "Lyon-Nantes line" of occupation.

The second plan is suggested by General Touzet du Vigier, and is essentially identical to General de Gaulle's plan, merely allocating more time before the Imperial landings. In the General's view, the Communards will inevitably lose the struggle, but not necessarily quickly. With war in the Ukraine ongoing and German forces still occupying Polish-Lithuanian territories, he expects that many German troops will be occupied in the east. He tentatively suggests that the Commune may even successfully overrun Flanders-Wallonia briefly, before being pushed back. To reduce pressure in the south and to maximize the land gained in the offensive, then, the General suggests waiting until the first visible retreat of Commune forces before attempting the landing.

Finally, there is the "all-in" plan, proposed by Admiral Darlan. Darlan insists that waiting while the French engage the Germans is madness. He agrees with a delay in striking the Commune, but suggests that that time should be spent not sitting idle, but invading the Socialist Republic of Italy. This would allow France to bargain with the Pope over these lands, and potentially even draw him into the conflict. If successful, it would open a full front to the Empire, and a large number of troops that would make it significantly easier to hold their final defensive line, while also once and for all drawing Pius, already diplomatically friendly to France following her support of the Carlists, into the Entente.

Despite the best efforts of Napoleon IV's advisers to hurry the decision along, there was virtual gridlock about what avenue to pursue. General de Gaulle's plan, much to his chagrin, was almost immediately discarded, even by the Emperor: few had the optimism to think that the Commune would crack so quickly as he. But that left the remainder of the General Staff and cabinet divided between Touzet du Vigier's plan and Admiral Darlan's much riskier, but likewise more rewarding, invasion of the Socialist Republic of Italy.

At the end of the first day, with no decision in sight, the Emperor ordered his naval and military forces to Tunis, to be in readiness to land in the Socialist Republic should the decision eventually be made to target it. It was this preparedness to strike which eventually, after another day of pointless bickering, forced the Emperor to break the deadlock and order Darlan's plan to be actuated: it was a simple consideration that the army was ready to strike at Italy, and not equally positioned at present to do so at the homeland.

Tensions ran high among the French leadership on the night of the 19th, and few got a restful sleep. The following morning they awoke, bleary-eyed and nervous, to the news that Admiral Darlan had slipped from port at Tunis with the First and Second Marine Corps, the former targeting Naples and the latter Palermo. The war with the Internationale had begun, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that success may well rely on these first, simple landings.

Mid-afternoon, July 23rd, three days after the declaration of war. The Socialist Republic was unprepared for the outbreak of hostilities with the Entente, and its navy, which had been en route to Brest to assist in screening against the Germans, was caught out and entirely destroyed in the Gulf of Tunis within hours of the Emperor's declaration of war. With the fleet went down transports, presumably carrying Italian soldiers to assist the French.

It appears as though Italy has left itself minimally defended, to the extent that there are no real garrisons available in the country outside of Naples. Palermo has already fallen, and already local militias of conservative Catholics are being raised to hunt down and take into custody any known Syndicalists in the region. A similar landing at Bari is planned to put pressure on the Syndicalists in the far east of the country, while motorized divisions are already en route to Salerno to encircle and batter down Naples's defenses. For the moment, the invasion could not be progressing more perfectly.

On the early morning of July 29th, just over a week after the beginning of hostilities, Naples falls, and with it the Socialist Republic. The arrival of monarchist forces under Napoleon had given back hope to the conservative Catholic population of the Republic, which had for so long been repressed under the atheistic government of the communards. Though Palmiro Togliatti had firmly believed that his nation was behind him, he was soon seriously disabused of this notion, as his own personal guard arrested him before the forces of the Emperor could even arrive! It seems as though the Socialist Republic was almost entirely held together through charisma, repression, and the promise of a peaceful, high standard of living; as soon as war came to Italy in truth, there was no longer room for Togliatti's vitriol in this, the arch-Catholic state.

The Emperor makes a journey to Naples the same afternoon in his personal Douglass CC-29, and is greeted by ecstatic crowds screaming "VIVE L'EMPEROR!" That isn't to say there aren't surly faces, of course, and dozens in the crowds alone are arrested for presumed hostile intent towards the Emperor, but unlike in the homeland it appears that the people of southern Italy were never particularly fond of the government which the revolutionaries had forced on them.

Napoleon gave a short speech from the one-time Palace of the Workers in Naples, praising the people of Italy's resolve and promising them "the freedom to choose their own fate, without imposition or hostility." The news is greeted with yet more cheers, and the road to Rome is thronged with cheering citizens as the Emperor's motorcade travels north, to meet with Pius XII for urgent negotiations.

As it turns out, General Touzet du Vigier was correct as well: France did not collapse immediately. Indeed, even his hesitant prediction proves too hesitant by far, as France has not only successfully broken Germany's line of defense in Flanders-Wallonia, but has managed to cause the complete collapse the government of Adalbert I, who has fled to Berlin to "await the victory of the Reich, and my rightful return to Brussels." Yet in the meantime militias have risen in Wallonia in support of France, and the Commune has announced the imminent Syndicalization of the economy, and annexation to the Commune. The war may not be so quick a one as even Touzet du Vigier's "pessimistic" opinion suggested.

The divisions over how to prosecute the war, which quieted for the bare week that France was preoccupied undertaking the invasion of the Socialist Republic, have broken out into a cacophony once more. General de Gaulle advises an immediate invasion once again, but now from alternative reasoning: with the collapse of Flanders-Wallonia, de Gaulle now fears that the Germans may have bled themselves white in the Ukraine, and that they may not be in a position to fight the Commune without the Empire immediately reinforcing them. Touzet du Vigier reaffirms his support for his original plan, to wait until the first sign of communist retreat before attempting a landing, to ensure that the Commune's armies have been battered, but also that they have been completely committed to the front, far from the target site at Marseilles.

Yet now there is a further consideration: negotiations with the Pontifex Maximus. It's possible that Italy may be willing to join the Entente in return for control over the Socialist Republic's lands. If the Pope agrees it would necessitate French intervention the moment the agreement is signed, but should the Empire undertake a preemptive landing before the agreement is reached, to keep pressure off of Italy if it does come to fruition?

The Empire's armies were being reorganized and prepared for action in Naples when an agreement with the Pope was reached. Napoleon had expected at least a month of negotiations, but it took only two days, and the Pope was far more generous than the Emperor had expected. In return for "cleansing this holy realm of the curse of atheism" and returning control of Italy to the Church, the Pope was willing to acknowledge Napoleon's dynastic claim to Italy, acknowledging him as Emperor of France and King of Italy both. The Pope was to forever serve as the agent of the Emperor in Italy, acting as governor and spiritual guide to the Emperors in Paris, but so great is Pius's thanks for the deeds of the French troops that he is clear that this is an arrangement that will not be temporary; the Church is willing to acknowledge the Emperor's temporal authority in the peninsula, at least when it comes to matters of war.

Although Napoleon refused to be crowned as Emperor of France in Rome--"that will await my possession of the Notre Dame!" he insisted--he did show his appreciation by permitting the Pope to crown him as King of Italy in the Vatican, formally accepting the governance of the Pope in his lands and the Italian Federation's declaration of war against "the Syndicalist menace, wheresoever it may hide." Italy has now joined hands with France in the Great Crusade.

The entry of Italy into the war necessitates an immediate landing to keep pressure off the as-yet underdefended Italian border with the Commune. Despite the disorganized state of France's marine forces, the Emperor issues an immediate order to launch the naval landings planned at Marseilles and Montpelier. At midnight on August 5th, 1939, the first French nationalists to set foot in their homeland for two decades hit the beaches at Montpelier, leading a ferocious assault against the single defending garrison.

For the next twelve hours, on the orders of the Emperor, Italian radio stations in range of France play a single recorded message constantly on repeat: "People of my homeland, people whom have yet to meet me, I am here; I have returned. Your Emperor greets you, and bids you lay down your arms."

The initial landings were difficult, especially at Marseilles. The Communard forces rightly anticipated that holding Marseilles against the Imperial French troops would be critical, as it was the largest and most easily-accessible port of supply on France's southern coast. The Emperor's message of hope for those who despised the regime led to a surge of militia volunteers into Marseilles and Montpelier, but even with their assistance the defense was a close thing; the marines and militia forces were even forced out of the city briefly before motorized troops could be rushed in to plug the defenses. But, finally, after a week of hard fighting, the two major entry points in southern France are entirely under the Empire's control, and from the air base in Marseilles already Entente planes are leading heavy strafing runs against Commune troops holed up in the Alps.

Still, not all is well. Reports indicate that nearly a dozen Commune reinforcements are en route to the bridgehead, and the troops holding there presently are so disorganized that a stiff breeze might be able to force them out. General Janin in particular is despondent about how Imperial forces are meant to advance in such terrain, when the Italians are showing no intent to attack. The initiative, he fears, has been lost; and, with it, perhaps the Empire's only real chance of making a concerted push toward Paris.

Yet hope is not yet exhausted. The Emperor has first ordered a five-day period of rest and reorganization, followed by the encirclement and collapse of the three divisions holding Beziers, also on the coast. By then, it's hoped that Italy will be prepared to launch attacks to pin the Commune troops down in the Alps, allowing the Empire's motorized units freedom of maneuver.

Yet the poor news keeps coming. Earlier reports about Niclas y Glais's cowardice and Mosley's disgrace appear to be unfounded, or at least significantly exaggerated. The Union of Britain has come to the Commune's aid, and along with it their large navy and significant air forces. While not the end of French ambitions on the continent, their support for the Commune will only make it more difficult for the Empire to take action, passing the initiative yet further to the Germans.

On the plains and in the forests surrounding Bordeaux, the motorized divisions come into their own. Supplied for their offensives and having broken the stalemate surrounding the beachhead at Montpelier, General de Gaulle gives the order for the motorized divisions to execute a "piecemeal capture" of the resisting territories surrounding Bordeaux. Everything that isn't contested is to be captured and utilized for the Imperial war effort. It's hoped that the sudden loss of so much territory will cause a panic among the Communards, forcing more troops back from the east and opening up an easier path for advance toward Paris.

Elsewhere on the line, a combined Italian-French assault at Grenoble is making excellent progress. If the coalition troops can crack it not only will Toulon be encircled, it will open up the marines still holding Marseilles for offensive action.

In a tremendously dangerous move, the "lesser generals," including Mj. General Hauteclocque and Lt. Generals Touzet du Vigier, de Gaulle, and Juin, petition the General Staff for the right to strike north, at Paris. Aside from its obvious symbolism and status as the Commune's center of governance, Paris and nearby Chateaux Thierry represent almost 20% of the Commune's entire industry and, if seized, could not only signal that the Empire is the legitimate French state, but could put France in an excellent bargaining position with Germany after the war's end, while also drastically weakening the combat potential of the Commune troops still in the field.

The move is undeniably the riskiest ever put before the General Staff. It requires a tremendous investment of manpower into an environment where they could easily be encircled by Commune forces, and would also require weakening the southern line to the point that some provinces would be left entirely undefended; around Bordeaux especially, where Commune troops are already gathered, it could easily represent a backslide in territory. The General Staff is on the verge of saying no, in fact, when the Emperor personally overrules them, telling de Gaulle that he "want[ed his] city, and [he] want[ed] it within the week!"

So it was that the campaign began, and in a lightning advance Imperial motorized troops made it to the outskirts of Paris on the 3rd of September. The assault began, one which will decide the fate of the nation's capital.

The phone call was played over the radio throughout the Entente. "My apologies, my Emperor," de Gaulle was heard to say. "We've went a day over schedule."

Paris has fallen to the advancing motorized divisions of the Imperial Army. The struggle was not without its serious costs; as the General Staff predicted the motorized forces were encircled, but the quick action of General Juin allowed for the capture of the naval base at Le Havre, and, true to Edward's promise, Canadian souls bled in the fight for France's home, as the Royal Navy and merchant marine sacrificed hundreds of lives in order to push supplies through the hostile Channel.

The motorized groups rolling down the Champs-Élysées saw horror in the eyes of almost all arrayed before them: this was the heart of the Syndicalist beast in France, and it is no surprise they are terrified at the prospect of the return of their rightful ruler, and what punishments will be inflicted upon them in his just rage. But there are cheering voices as well, despite the fury shining in the eyes of the downcast toward those "traitors of the revolution"--men and women who, like those in the south, had been awaiting the arrival of the forces of sanity this whole time, and were prepared now to jump for joy at their deliverance.

The situation in the country is unstable, particularly in the north. There are insufficient divisions to cover everything, even with Italian support. The motorized divisions will almost inevitably need to rush back and forth to try holding a flexible line, unable to ever dig in lest they leave massive gaps. Yet, at present, as champagne flows in Algiers, none of that is a concern: Paris has come home.

The atmosphere in Algiers has gone from jubilant to anxious, and finally now to a terror-streaked silence. The successes of the early Paris push have melted into failures, as the "young Generals" have been unable to push out of the pocket, and indeed have even very nearly been beaten while trying to defend the bare territory they've captured, just enough for the Canadians to continue forcing supplies through at Le Havre.

In the south, meanwhile, the remaining motorized corps launched a daring attempt to relieve the northern pocket, but were exhausted before being systemically pushed back by Commune forces. Now little more than the initial southern beachhead remains to the Empire, along with the bare northern territory still captured. Counter-attacks are planned to take place immediately with the goal of at least recapturing enough territory to link with the northern group, but the hour is already late: due to the Commune refocusing its troops on the southern line, the Germans are rushing down in the east. It might not be possible to hold the country back from their ravages.

The gains of the Perigueux Offensive, which began on the October 1st and stalled just over two weeks later, on the 15th. Unlike the Commune, the present issue with Imperial forces is not manpower or reinforcement, but organization. Ever since the amphibious landings at Marseilles and Montpelier, it's been an uphill battle for Imperial troops, made worse by almost constant skirmishing with either regular Commune forces, or irregular local militias and partisans. It took almost two weeks of rest for Imperial forces to recover sufficiently to even launch the offensive, and it will likely take another two weeks at least before a new offensive can be launched.

The one major upside of the offensive is that Imperial troops are now within reasonable range of the northern pocket (which itself recently expanded with the daring capture, under a hail of German gunfire, of Chateaux Thierry): only Chartres need be captured for Paris to be linked with the front line. Yet the biggest issue of the offensive--the lack of allied troops at the line--remains. Imperial troops absolutely must move into western France, which has yet been unassailable, in order to convince the Commune that there truly is no hope remaining. Yet the manpower to do so is seemingly absent, unless another extremely dangerous (and perhaps ultimately disastrous) charge deep into enemy territory is attempted. For the moment, no officer wishes to attempt a repeat of the assault on Paris, even if that assault eventually turns out to have been for the best. For too long, the lives of the men in the northern pocket were a touch-and-go thing.

The bloody fighting in the south continues. Progress is incredibly slow despite the best efforts of the French General Staff, as motorized units were never designed to take part in the vicious street-to-street fighting for which they are now employed. Through the heroic actions of Generals de Gaulle and Touzet du Vigier much of the northern industrial heartland of France has been denied to the Germans, but still they've been unable to break out of their pocket, and their losses are mounting. This is to speak nothing of the south, however, where two disastrous Italian-led assaults have culminated in a virtual collapse of the security of the southwestern zone, leaving the Empire's precious motorized divisions exposed to withering enemy fire on the front lines.

Eventually, even Admiral Darlan agreed that an alternate solution was needed, and the navy is already moving into position at Bordeaux. A naval landing in Brittany will next be attempted, with the goal of securing the last stragglers of the Commune government before the Germans can push any further into France.

"They were the most difficult months of my life.

"We kept fighting and fighting, constantly it seemed. There were complaints, of course; of why we fought, of why it was worthwhile to return to a land that hated us so much. Many of us didn't even remember the Patrie, having been only babes when we left it, or even born in Algiers, as involuntary Pied-Noir. And the people did hate us, certainly. I cannot count the times we had to sweep a village for partisans, or how often I saw young girls smile innocently as they pulled concealed pistols from their clothing, struggling to die pointlessly for their revolution.

"The first time I saw a young girl gunned down for nothing is also the first time I wondered if every revolution needs a Bonaparte. It has been one by that name who, thrice, saved the French people from being destroyed by their own gluttony for change. We have thought, too often, that change is a necessary fact of life, without considering the ramifications. And when I considered that, and considered what my fighting meant for the Emperor and the French people as a whole, it did not seem so difficult to keep going.

"But that does not mean it was not hard. Days without sleep; sometimes days without food. Toward the end of the engagement, the Empire's limited transport supplies could no longer be forced through the Channel, and the Northern Pocket was cut off in truth. General de Gaulle had to make deals with pharmacists in Paris to get methamphetamines for the men, so we could stay on our feet constantly, watching our surroundings for any sign of enemy movement. My squad alone lost 50% of its strength in those weeks following the loss of the channel; others were worse. Some Italian units shattered, even those operating in direct lines of supply to Rome.

"But when the day came, it was worth it. When the day came, I was there, on my feet, shouting 'VIVE L'EMPEROR!' at the top of my lungs. When the news came that the last Commune port had fallen and the Syndicalists had surrendered, I knew my sacrifices had done the Emperor proud."

The Empire had prevailed. More, against all odds, it had even excelled. Although much of France had been lost, more of it had been saved by the daring actions of the "Young Generals." The Northern Pocket had funneled German troops, unwilling to take on the Entente and Internationale simultaneously, into the sparsely-populated and industrially deficient central French territories. The only industrial center of note which the French lost in the engagement is Lyon. And, while a serious blow, the capture of Paris and Chateaux Thierry have thrice the amount of heavy industry together, not to mention the other industrial centers of the north. Despite all the risks and losses--and indeed there have been losses, not just of men but of ships; two battleships and a cruiser belong now to the Channel, lost in the struggle to relieve the pocket--the Empire has prevailed.

But even in victory, it struggles.

The account of Jacques Hughes LeBouvre on the struggle in the northern pocket and his faith in the Emperor would become a best-seller, and not just because of its touching sincerity and humble respect for Napoleon IV. LeBouvre, in many ways, explained better than the General Staff could exactly what the cost of victory was. The homeland had been devastated by months of hard fighting, and would likely take years to fully recover. Many of the soldiers were near-starved due to a lack of supplies, none of which could be found rapidly in the aftermath of the Imperial victory, as there were no transports to be found and it would be months before more were ready. Many soldiers took to scavenging off the land, and, despite the best efforts of the Imperial Army, many soldiers high on methamphetamine took to brigandage and robbery to score the drugs which they had been forced to use during the harsh, life-and-death struggle for Paris and Le Havre. With the navy gutted, the Army at half-strength and supplies dwindling, the Empire would need time to recover.

But still. It had won.

The Emperor, who had been staying at Rome to oversee the invasion, announced his intention to travel with the Pope to "his city" via motorcade just a few short days after the war concluded. With Imperial forces struggling to control the countryside, the General Staff urged caution; it would be safer for the Emperor and His Holiness to travel by plane to Paris. Yet the Emperor brushed them off. "When Napoleon I returned to his country from Italy, did he hide in fear?" Napoleon IV asked. "I will not cower like a child. I am France's rightful monarch, returning to her after a long, horrible nightmare. The people must SEE me return, and know that the night is over."

Things did not progress as the Emperor had hoped. Escorted by two Italian Alpini divisions as honor guards, he and His Holiness traveled from Rome through Nice, around the German salient at Valence and along the winding path to Paris, skirting far to France's west to avoid the German lines. As he traveled, the Emperor could see the extent of the devastation of the countryside, the mistrust and even atheism of the populace, and the deplorable conditions under which the people had lived during what was, in Algiers, referred to as the "beautiful war." It was not so in the homeland. Restitution here would be a long time coming.

The Emperor's mood was muted, even solemn, leading up to the coronation. But he soon recovered, and, as he was crowned by the Pope in the Notre Dame as he had promised years before, the fire shone in his eyes again.

"We go not backward," he announced to the nation in his first official radio address, "but forward! The arch-Syndicalists must be punished, and those who betrayed the nation in 1919. But I would not have a bloodbath; France has had enough of that. There must be retribution, but reconciliation also for those who were merely misguided. We must walk forward as a united Empire, for another, far more dangerous foe will devour us if we do not."

Chapter Text

News from Petrograd arrives alongside Napoleon IV's coronation, as a representative from Vladimir III informs the French Emperor that the Tsar has finally succeeded in crushing the ambitions of the Japanese Emperor in the Far East. Vladivostok and its all-important naval yards have been retaken, placing Russia back on track for the naval expansion which Nicholas II had been undertaking prior to the February Revolution and the collapse of the monarchy.

Vladimir's representative at the coronation, Alexei Ignatiev, personally hands Napoleon IV a letter of congratulations and "brotherly support" from Vladimir. It is not confirmation that the Tsar looks to join with the Entente, but it does signal quite the change in outlook since the early 19th century, when the Bonapartes and Romanovs were firmly at each others' throats. "Now," a later biography has Napoleon saying, "is the time for France and Russia to save Europe together."

Of course, despite the joyous occasion of the Emperor's coronation, the war is not over, not even just with the Syndicalists. Foolishly Niclas y Glais had chosen to throw his lot in with the Commune, and now the Union of Britain and the Entente are at war. As Canadian transports were devastated trying to keep the northern pocket supplied, it is up to the French to make an initial landing.

The General Staff, in coordination with the Admiralty Board and Admiral Darlan especially, have already chosen Portsmouth as their likely disembarkation zone. But now yet another issue must be put to the Emperor: to wait for the Navy to be refit and expanded, or to engage the British immediately.

During the invasion of the homeland, the French fleet lost six transport squadrons to British air superiority, along with two battleships and a cruiser to fleet action. The transport fleet is largely repaired, but those transports which were sunk outright have not been replaced, and will not be until early April--time which Germany could use to launch a successful invasion of their own. Likewise, though the main battle fleet has been partially repaired, the serious damage sustained during the naval combat with the Commune has not been fully repaired. Yet, as Admiral Darlan points out, it does not necessarily need to be: a round-trip transport from Brest to Portsmouth would take two days at most, and even with more limited transport capacity it should be possible to ensure the entire army makes it to Britain, so long as the initial marine engagement can be screened.

The question put to the Emperor, then, is this: should France await April and the restoration of the full transport fleet, or should an attack at Portsmouth be made by the end of the month--the soonest the Admiralty believes it will be feasible to schedule the assault for--despite the risks, to ensure Germany cannot gain the upper-hand and secure the isles for themselves, possibly through their ally Ireland?

Following the conclusion of the Third Franco-Prussian War, Wilhelm II viewed the French Empire as a non-threat compared to the power of the Commune, and ordered a much greater percentage of the armed forces to garrison Ukraine and focus on crushing Nikita Khrushchev's rebellion in the Crimea. This is finally accomplished, after a year of bloody stalemate, in mid-February.

The conditions in the Crimea are deplorable, with mass starvation the norm. Tales from weeping mothers of roving syndicalist bands tearing young sons from them to fight the Germans is typical, as Khrushchev did everything he could to prolong the war with the Germans, to "ensure the victory of our communist brethren." The outcome was fatally opposite to what he had expected, and, demoralized and without food, the last Ukrainian resistance crumbled not long after the syndicalists in France.

What Wilhelm's government decides to do with the Ukraine and the former Polish-Lithuanian lands will now seriously inform the actions of the resurgent Russian Empire, which awaits the determination of the Kaiser. Russia could easily be bribed into alliance by the return of these territories, but it isn't expected that the left-wing government which controls Wilhelm's Reichstag will allow it, and, should these nations be restored within Mitteleuropa, it may well finally bring about the conditions necessary for Russia to formally pledge itself to the Entente.

Yet Napoleon need not have worried about the actions of the Kaiser. Wilhelm, in his lust for total control, did indeed reconstitute all of his former puppets as governments under the Kaiser's "protection," all of them once again with German monarchs. Vasiliy I and Mindaugas III were both determined to be free of guilt for the actions of their respective parliaments, and were even restored to the thrones of Ukraine and Poland, although Poland lost territory bordering Germany in the settlement, and Germany retained control of the Crimea--ostensibly to give aid to the starving region, but practically most likely simply to extract resources and ensure a naval port in the Black Sea.

The move is a hostile one, from Russia's perspective; the loss of the Crimea in particular is damning, as it has a large native Russian population. Although Russia has neither formally broken with Mitteleuropa nor joined the Entente as yet, it is now that much more likely.

Initially, Napoleon's determination for Britain was to delay offensive operations until April, when the last frosts would be long-over; updated marine equipment had begun to be rolled out; and the final transports were seaworthy. But the Admiralty intercepted intelligence from the Germans that confirmed that they had been bombing southern Wales into a wreck--they reported that the coastal fortifications there were "entirely destroyed" and that, between it and Norwich, "it is the opinion of the Kaiser's Admiralty Board that Cardiff is the better disembarkation option following the invasion of Iceland."

Primed with this news--both that Cardiff was defensively weakened and that the Germans were planning an assault after the fall of Iceland--and with the French Fleet having replaced two-thirds of its lost vessels as of early March, Admiral Darlan requested the Emperor's permission to attempt to make an early landing at Cardiff. If successful it would not only seriously disrupt the German plans, but allow Entente troops to begin pouring into Britain from the captured port. Predictably, the same Emperor who ordered his men to rush into Paris ordered them to rush into Cardiff, to "restore Edward VIII and make a show of France's return on the world stage."

The marines hit the beaches at Cardiff under withering support from coastal battleship batteries on March 9th; by the 11th, she was in French hands. The invasion of Britain has begun.

Almost a month on, little progress has been made.

After the initial marine landings at Cardiff, the British sent almost all of their forces to surround the beachhead, even those which were meant to be defending elsewhere. Through the rapid pre-arranged transport of France's remaining motorized divisions, the number of defenders and their level of field fortifications were able to dissuade the British from launching an assault until Italian reinforcements could arrive. But Admiral Darlan, stationed in St. George's Channel, pointed out that the amount of time it would take to ferry in all the various Italian troops and try forcing a beachhead could be fatal, should the British continue to stupidly only defend against the Cardiff beachhead. There were no defenders at Portsmouth, Norwich or Dover at that time, and only a militia group at Plymouth.

Eventually, a somewhat risky plan was hatched to take out the beachhead's two marine corps--the only two fully-organized corps present--and launch an invasion of the east to draw the Union's attention back, their General Staff apparently being so incompetent as to fail to realize the critical importance of defending their ports. If all went well, the British would spread themselves thin and put themselves in perfect position for the joint Italian-French offensive.

On the 25th of March the assault on Dover was launched, which prompted an immediate attack on Cardiff which was only barely blunted. Dover was captured on the 27th, however, with Norwich falling on the 29th; the plan was successful, and divisions rushed away from Cardiff to pin the marine corps there, which were soon pulled back to just holding Dover, and reinforced with motorized units from Cardiff. With the capture of two beachheads and the splitting of British forces, all that awaits is good weather and proper organization to launch the first offensive of the invasion.

The end of the bloody first offensive. The entire motorized corps made a mad rush for Bristol, which they were able to capture after a huge loss of life, but upon being immediately counter-attacked the army's progress was in serious threat. The corps in Dover were forced to rush on Plymouth to try to remove one of the British armies launching their offensive on Bristol, while the Italians were ordered to launch a major invasion at Birmingham.

Whether the invasion at Birmingham will succeed or not is not immediately clear; the Italians are fighting valiantly, but are still using equipment from the 1920s, the same problem they faced in the invasion of France. Whatever the outcome, the General Staff's plan is now to turn their attention on Exeter and Plymouth, clearing their rear before launching an encirclement campaign against London, which should break the fighting spirit of the British.

The state of the front at the end of the second offensive. The captures of Caernarfon, Manchester, Exeter and Plymouth were all quite easy, but the Italians were decimated in the taking of Birmingham, such that the divisions which were involved will likely be out-of-commission for the next month at least while they receive reinforcements. Lincoln, too, was an entirely too-bloody affair, with the motorized corps (which had already been significantly reduced in strength at Bristol and then Exeter) were required again to charge forward with minimal allied support. France is truly feeling the side-effects of her lack of a unified chain of command now, and one of the first orders of business which Napoleon IV has commissioned upon the return of France's expeditionary forces is the creation of a unified command structure.

Happily, though, despite the heavy losses the objectives of the second offensive have been realized, and more: it was anticipated that only the Plymouth pocket, Birmingham and Lincoln would be captured, but the loss of industry in the Union is apparently already being felt, as few British forces are at full strength, and even the under-equipped Italians were able to easily swat them away from Manchester. It seems that Britain might not put up such a hard fight after all, at least once the London pocket is reduced.

Yet there is trouble there, as well. Reports have been received that the Kaiser is attempting to breach the defenses of Norwich, which were grievously weakened by retreating Imperial forces earlier the previous month. Without effective shore batteries to prevent the landing, and likely defending with under-strength units, it's possible that the Union could lose the battle--perhaps even probable. The Emperor has ordered the motorized divisions to rush in to prevent the Kaiser from making landfall, but who will secure the city first is unknown; the motorized divisions have been badly battered, with little reinforcement.

And that is not the only serious concern of Napoleon IV, or indeed even his most pressing. The most critical news reaching Paris comes from Washington, where the last backers of the legitimate democratic government are holed up, fighting a desperate last struggle against the Syndicalist menace.

John Nance Gardner, President of the United States, has personally called the Emperor and begged him that he not allow him to be made the LAST President. As he says, it is within the Emperor's power to save America--a declaration of war will be respected by Edward VIII, and thus by the militia divisions raised by New England. They could easily swat aside the majority of the rabble of the Combined Syndicates--so Gardner insists, at any rate--and restore America. Implicit in the statement is that a grateful America would then be obligated to support the Entente in its foreign wars.

The Emperor mulls over the situation with his Cabinet late into the evening. Edward's troops are principally located on St. John's Island, awaiting transport to England; if war were declared, Edward could not be ready for months, though Gardner is not wrong that the New England militia stands ready for immediate action and could prevent America from falling by cutting New York off from Syndicalist forces, thereby preserving one of the last cities still under Federal control. Of course, whatever happened the campaign would quite likely require French support in the future, and given how battered France's troops will be after the war in Britain it's well worth considering whether the investment is truly worthwhile. Canada is under threat so long as the Combined Syndicates are a threat, and the loss of America would be serious, but can France afford to send exhausted, under-strength divisions directly from England to America?

"In my capacity as Emperor of the French, ruling from a nation which for two decades belonged to Syndicalist forces, I am in a unique position to reveal the untold human suffering of the peoples living under these regimes. When my forces entered Paris, they were aghast at what had been done to her. Monuments, architecture, paintings, landmarks; they had all been destroyed in the syndicalists' lust for change. Thousands wallowed in the prisons, and for those who could not work, there was no security, no protection.

"That was in a country which did not fight a civil war. America undertakes one now, more vicious and brutal than any the world has seen before. Her cities are wastelands, her fields fallow. Almost two million soldiers have died; an incalculably larger number of civilians have lost their lives as well. New Orleans has been razed--and that is not exaggeration, it has been RAZED; the city is gone. Throughout Ohio and Kentucky, not a single city larger than 30,000 souls gathered together remains intact, and even in those the constant battles have claimed untold souls, and destroyed all the useful businesses and industries around which these people built their lives.

"We have obligations. To Edward VIII and his people, who helped us to retake our homeland, we must retake his. We have already paid our dues to the Indian, whom fought so bravely in the Weltkrieg. But there is a duty, too, to common decency and sense. America has already been destroyed, but must what is left of it fall to the chaotic atheism of syndicalism? We cannot let it be so. I beg of you all to support one more conflict, one last containment against the forces which seek to destroy not just us, but the world around us as well, pulling it down in flames and irreligion. Even if they are not a threat now, they would become so later, and this alone is sufficient cause to ensure that the Combined Syndicates never rise as they intend."

-Napoleon IV speaking to the Entente Coalition

Touzet du Vigier is the first to arrive in London, and unlike de Gaulle's arrival in Paris, the sight is not one of sullen faces, but overjoyed men and women cheering their "conquerors." It appears that Niclas y Glais was so unpopular that the victory of the French Empire was overwhelmingly supported even in London (perhaps MORE in London, as his popular base was in his native Wales). Touzet is hailed as a hero, called "Touzet of the Two Capitals" by the Englishmen, for his role in liberating Paris and London both. Far from cursing the return of the King and struggling as partisans against the French forces in their nation, many Londoners pick themselves up and help the French military to put things in order. All but the most die-hard syndicalists were tired of their dysfunctional government, and in the words of one older gentleman who had supported the Syndicalists in the 1925 rising, "we all made a great deal of mistakes, and it'll be good to have the King back, however harsh he might be with his wayward children."

It's well that the people of Britain are prepared to have Edward back, because the French are not long for the occupation. The new war in America requires that the army immediately make for Canada, lest the Combined Syndicates prove somehow able to recover against the odds and launch a counter-attack. Thirty French Imperial divisions, hardened by conflict across France and Britain, will be invaluable in crushing any resistance the syndicalists might have left in them.

Edward VIII returns home for the first time in 15 years in early June of 1940. It has been a long struggle for the people of the Entente, from Canada to the French government-in-exile in North Africa. Few--the Kaiser least of all--could have anticipated the return of the two ancient monarchies of Europe. Even now he sits fuming in Berlin, raging at his marine forces for their failure to capture any British territory and crying that "even with the fleet that Germany needed, her commanders have been too incompetent to put a single boot on a beach, while the French have ten rusted tugboats and have conquered two countries!"

The Kaiser's impotent rage is but the icing on the cake for the Entente, for whom regaining their ancient patrimonies were long the singular goal upon which they and their people were focused. Affairs are not yet over, of course; Edward, like Napoleon, must now struggle to weld the violent, syndicalist mass of his people into a nation which will obey him, and lead the Entente forward. But when the goal of a decade and a half of pain, humiliation and exile is finally achieved, one can allow oneself a moment of right joy.

"To the French, and their Emperor!" Edward was heard to toast at his second coronation, in Westminster. "If every one of us should die on their behalf, it should be too little blood shed in their honor!"

"Touzet of the Two Capitals" shortly becomes "Touzet of the Three Capitals," as his motorized corps is consciously chosen by the General Staff to be the one to occupy Chicago.

The city, unlike most others in the Union, is relatively pristine. It, like Washington DC, is one of the only cities in the entire country that only fell to its enemies a handful of times. Most of the city was firmly Syndicalist as a result, as those who "betrayed the revolution" when the city was briefly occupied were all executed, leaving behind only a population of arch-radical--or simply toady--civilians. Unlike Paris, where the mood was resigned, or London where it was joyous, Chicago is like a beast hemming at its cage. No military formations were reported in the region, yet Touzet's corps reports 1900 rounds discharged, three trucks lost, and eighty fatalities; over 900 civilians in the city who acted as partisans have been killed. These are a people who saw their cause elevated and their goal in sight, only to be invaded by the "forces of reaction" at the last possible moment. The orgies of violence that the army has seen the citizens of the north commit are indescribable. To those who were dedicated syndicalists, the loss of the war so close to its final victory is unimaginably painful, and each seemed to bear the agonizing thought, "where did we go wrong?" Every one of them was convinced that the war would have gone differently if they had only been a little faster, and in their impotent rage at their failure, they turn their violence on those who cannot protect themselves: prisoners, the mentally ill, the elderly. Any who can be accused of being reactionaries are killed, as the collapsing Syndicate desperately tries to hold on to the façade that it is working, that something right still might come of it.

But it will not. The American Civil war is nearing its end as the motorized corps roll out from Chicago. The Syndicates simply do not realize it is over yet.

At the very least, the war was quick. There was truly very little left of either side, Federal or Syndicalist. The US Army was a shell of itself, with seven divisions technically to its name, but making up less than a single division's worth of troops when their strength was added together. The Syndicate forces fared better, with close to 20 divisions operating, but they were almost all militia, some of them being led by mobsters in direct contravention of socialist ideology, such was their desperation! The French forces never met an enemy force that didn't break within 10 hours; de Gaulle wrote of the campaign that it was "a waste of petrol. The army is hardly needed for this, a crew of street-sweepers could do it."

de Gaulle's memoirs conveniently elide exactly how vicious the partisan warfare against the French troops were, both in the north and south. In the North Syndicalist rabble launched suicide attacks against the French trucks as they rolled through, while in the south a full-blown civil war of its own between whites and blacks was taking place following the collapse of Syndicalist authority, causing the desegregated blacks there to fight for their rights. Although well underway to transitioning to a fully French army, the Imperial forces still utilized significant African conscripts, and the sight of blacks with guns often caused southerners to shoot first and ask questions later--which often wound up being fatal to them, as, in Touzet de Vigier's words, "a Dakari or Senegalese man with a French rifle is quite a better shot than an American mutt with his grandfather's rabbit-musket."

It cannot be denied that the war was rapid, however, and that French troops faced little resistance; even so, they were the force that did the bulk of the work. Imagine their surprise, then, when the United States, having been saved by the French, immediately declared a new war on the Pacific States of America, when it had hardly any land to its name.

John Nance Gardner would hear nothing of waiting, even while Edward VIII and Napoleon IV begged him to do just that.

"I appreciate everything you've done for America. More than appreciate it, I owe you both everything over it! America survives today because of you. But I'm not about to let some two-bit state out in the west claim that it's the right America for any amount of time, not when it declared war on its rightful Federal government. I know it puts the pressure on you, but believe me friends, the faster they're done with the faster our industry will get planes and ships pumped out for you. Less of your men will die if we take care of this now!"

Of course, Gardner was delusional. He hadn't been out of Washington DC in over six months, and he hadn't been out of the Maryland/Pennsylvania/New York area for a year before that. Most of America didn't even remember he was still technically the President, or even necessarily think he was alive. Worse still, with a race war in the south and roaming bands of Syndicate partisans in the north, Gardner's writ ran about the distance from the White House to the Capitol, and no further. It would be years before America "recovered," if such a recovery was even possible.

But still, it was a condition of Gardner joining the Entente, to which he was willing to pledge himself immediately, if only the Entente would likewise pledge that they would help restore America's territories to her. So, reluctantly, Napoleon IV ordered a continuation campaign, rushing his motorized divisions west to engage with the Pacific States in what he sincerely hoped would be the last campaign in a good, long while.

Despite the unreasonable request placed upon the French by the United States, the Imperial Army performs with the skill it's now become famous for. In just a month the PSA has been virtually entirely conquered, systemically cut off and isolated until only California is left. Despite the best speeds of the Canadian and American forces coming in to support, the French troops have advanced so far that they've never even seen an allied unit, and de Gaulle and Touzet du Vigier have a bit of a bet on about whether the war can be won before the Americans even reach California.

Touzet of the Four Capitals now, as General Touzet du Vigier captures Sacramento, effectively ending the brief independent period of the Pacific States of America. Although the war would continue for another few short days, with the capitulation of the Pacific States the "last tribulation asked of the French soldier" is finally over. Exhausted, the corps finally begin their long voyage home, to a well-deserved rest.

Upon the conclusion of the American Civil War, the heads of the various Entente nations met in Paris to discuss the future of the alliance. Napoleon IV chaired, with the other delegates being John Nance Gardner (America), Joseph Kennedy Sr. (New England), Edward VIII (Britain), Piux XII (Italian Federation), Robert Bennett (Canada), Srinivasta Sastri (India), Jan Smuts (South Africa), and Prince Albert as the representative of the remainder of the Commonwealth.

A great deal of tremendous import was decided. The first act of the Congress was the universal condemnation of syndicalism; the second reasserted the Entente's view that the German domination of Africa and Central Europe was "economically nonviable and dangerous to the peace of the continent"; the third requested the return of French territories which were over 95% French-speaking (the Kaiser refused to respond); and the fourth committed to the reunion of the New England protectorate with the United States, now that the Union was whole again.

Of course, these were merely the public articles. Privately, there was a much more vibrant discussion of a military nature. Napoleon IV laid out his difficulties with manpower, and detailed his plans for the creation of a mechanized force with massive tank support as France's future fighting force. To this end, Napoleon told his fellows, France could neither dedicate resources to ships or planes; everything would need to be spent on the ground, "to the last drop." The Entente forces pledged that they would secure the skies for France, for the day when war with Germany finally comes. God send it is far away yet.

Of course, future planning was only part of the considerations discussed at the Congress. Of some concern were more immediate plans: the acquisition of allies which could help to break the German menace on the continent.

At present France and Italy stand alone against the power of the entirety of Mitteleuropa and, though Wien and Berlin broke asunder over the issue of the Ausgleicht, Otto I has virtually crushed all the resistance against him, even going so far as to restore the Romanian monarchy and have it acknowledge the Kaiser as suzerain; it may join with Germany when the time for war comes, seeking to regain its territory in Trent and Venice. And, with Austrian support, it is estimated that Mitteleuropa could have as much as a 400% superiority in divisions. As much as France was starved for men, a limited use of manpower to forge new allied states capable of spending their own blood in the conflict would be more efficient than trying to rely entirely on a few extra French divisions born of a longer peace.

The most obvious potential ally is Spain. Portugal hems and haws at the Entente, but refuses to commit either way "until the civil war in Spain is over." Thus, the fate of Spain represents the fate of the entirety of Iberia, and likely at least thirty hardened divisions capable of facing the Germans--not a number to scoff at, and little less than the entire French army at present. The Congress debates intently the question of issuing a proposal of alliance to the Carlists, which would allow the French army to sweep in, secure the peninsula, and hopefully completely secure France's southern front while adding some much-needed pressure against the Germans.

Now that France has peace, another issue raised at the Congress is what to do about French colonies in the Caribbean. The United States is particularly displeased at the idea of a return of imperialism to the western hemisphere, but as they recognize themselves, "there is nothing which we have any right to insist upon to the French people and Empire."

The islands have minimal useful resources, but insisting upon the acquisition of them would give France a good deal of her international prestige back, and would pacify the far-right population with the restoration of some semblance of colonial power, aside from the lands France held in her exile. Alternatively, in order to preserve relations with America and keep the Caribbean Federation strong, the Empire could agree to allow these essentially useless territories to go, forfeiting her claim on them and refocusing France as a power centered on Europe and her environs, once and for all.

Eventually, a compromise is reached between the Emperor and Prince Albert, acting as the Commonwealth representative. Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Martin will be recognized as French Imperial possessions, but will still be federated under the Caribbean Federation, and the local governor will be dual-appointed between the Federation and Empire; tax revenue will also be shared between the entities. Since the colonies are troublesome to maintain and have low economic value, for the French the deal is the best of both worlds, and even avoids antagonizing the Americans.

On the matter of French Guyana, though, the Emperor is insistent. The territory has unique access to rare materials lost to the nation during the collapse following the Weltkrieg. Cayenne comes home to the Empire, and will stay there.

The Congress's deliberations over Spain last for weeks before, finally, the issue is put to rest with the decision that Edward VIII's government will approach the Carlists--if they refuse the alliance the matter will be considered closed, but if they accept the Entente will move to secure Spain.

Two final issues await the Congress: the matters of Scandinavia and the Islamic states.

Even if all of Iberia joins the Entente, with Portugal having lost its African colonies it is merely 30 divisions to the Entente's name, and all in Europe; it does not distract Mitteleuropa elsewhere. While thirty divisions on the western front could easily represent the difference between victory and defeat, it would be foolish to disregard the benefits of distracting the Germans further. While it would be a tremendously aggressive move to attack any of the states in consideration, it would place pressure on some of the Reich's most valuable assets: Denmark and Germany's weakly-held northern border at Kiel in the north, and the Suez and Mittelafrika in the south. Moreover, if Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan and Persia were all to be taken, Indian troops would be able to directly link up with Entente troops operating throughout Africa and near Europe; if Bulgaria were taken additionally, the Entente could directly pressure Austria's southern front from the point that the war began.

Yet a delicate balance must be maintained here. The French do not have so much manpower to spare that they can waste it, but neither will any of these states be beneficial to the Entente if they are not taken soon. The French leadership suggests that, should war with any of these countries be considered valuable, the target date for the beginning of a campaign should be no earlier (nor later) than mid-1942. The hope is that they can then be pacified by 1944, leading up to a declaration of war against the Reich in 1945--though that is admittedly optimistic.

Military deliberations between the Entente commanders will continue for several more weeks before they issue their conclusions that the Middle East would be the most viable target, securing France's control of Algeria from assault to the east, capturing major oil stockpiles, and reducing the likelihood of an early German declaration of war over the Entente's militarization, given its rightful claims to the region. While the Danish plan is seen as almost madness, the "Oriental Solution" is seen as entirely beneficial, securing additional garrison forces and resources for the Entente, and the Empire especially, prior to their declaration of war against the Reich.

While deliberations continued at the highest levels of the Entente, Edward took to his diplomatic mission of courting the reactionary Carlist Francis-Xavier de Bourbon. Predictably, the Carlists were not merely receptive to aid, but desperate for it. From the first moment that British diplomatic channels were opened to Bilbao, Francis-Xavier scrambled to ingratiate himself to the Entente, and beg for their support. Isolated in the north with little manpower remaining, his "realm" would be doomed without intervention. While it might have been politic to support the Carlists, it's clear that French intelligence had been wrong, and Alfonso's government was the much stronger of the two.

And so, in a routine which has become more than a bit tiresome, French troops march once more. Grumbling in the ranks is not insignificant now, and there are even a few courts-martial; the constant wars which the Emperor engages in, despite being necessitated by the condition in the mainland, exhaust not only the divisions that fight in his name but also the limited reserves France has left to her. France's commanders warn Napoleon IV that, whatever other obligations the Entente may have, the fighting must truly wait after this. The people of the country cannot take more of it.

"Touzet of the Five Capitals" now, as Barcelona falls before the Empire's motorized corps. The struggle for the mountainous terrain of northern Spain was particularly difficult, but the last Syndicalist menace in Europe is finally gone with the capture of the trade council leadership of the CNT/FAI. The war is now strictly between the Carlists and the traditional monarchy in Madrid.

Unexpectedly, however, the Madrid monarchy appears to be in relatively good condition: her troops' morale is high, they are fully equipped, and there appear to even be reserves; it is not a simple matter of breaking a half-starved division and rushing forward, as it was in America. This fight will be a long, painful one, delayed further still by the beating French troops took in the struggle to capture Barcelona.

For the first time, Touzet du Vigier is not the one to occupy an enemy capital, that honor falling to Italian troops, reinforced by Lt. General Catreaux, and extremely skilled all-purpose leader typically utilized by the French Army for reconnaissance purposes.

With the fall of Madrid, a major encirclement operation took place in the south and southeast, isolating 8 divisions and killing Field Marshal Bahamonde, crushing the ability of the Kingdom of Spain to respond to the Entente advance. With the way open, motorized divisions poured through the undefended southern front and blitzed into Spain's last remaining industrial territory around Seville.

The Kingdom finally surrendered on February 20th, 1941, with the exile of the Spanish King to Austria. The Austrians accepting the King signals a dangerous prospect--that the Austrians may disagree with the Pope's support for the Carlist claim and disregard their religious duty in favor of geopolitical expedience--but little, now, can be done for it. Francis Xavier is now King.

Napoleon IV personally attends the coronation at Madrid to receive the thanks of the new King, and his pledge to support the Entente. Although much less powerful than the Kingdom of Spain was at the end, with the nation united and Carlist repression already underway, it's expected that Spain will be able to field a sizable army by the time the showdown with Germany looms.

Chapter Text

Following the cessation of conflict in Spain, the Emperor can no longer hold off the clamor for elections. The nation is barely behind his rule at all, and the army, which has fought and died on the behalf of the Emperor, demands influence in the government. Thankfully the majority of blacks in the army had already died or been phased out by this point so a last-minute measure which reneges on the Emperor's previous promise and disenfranchises the Africans does not cause any meaningful dissent in the homeland.

Voters go to the polls on March 17th with four major parties in contention: the centrist Democratic Republican Alliance and its chair, Paul Renaud, who has worked with Napoleon for many years as his Prime Minister, from the initial acceptance of the constitution through the "period of temporary autocracy"; Action Française, a right-wing pro-authoritarian party which most closely aligns with Napoleon's own politics, but is unpleasantly Bourbon-aligned and potentially even disloyal; the Radical party, which is a center-left arch-democratic party that espouses democratic values and "permanent constitutionalism" while shunning social reform; and the Republican-Socialist party, the same party Napoleon allowed to participate in elections in 1936, which is a socialist front disassociated from Syndicalism, favoring democratic socialist ideals.

Due in large part to significant vote manipulation and the sudden loss of the black vote, which crippled the Republican Socialist party (they had avoided canvassing in France lest they be perceived as neo-Syndicalists and banned from the elections), Action Française has won.

The first meeting between Napoleon IV and his second Prime Minister, Charles Maurras, is both cold and ineffectual. As a deaf man Maurras must utilize a translator to speak to Napoleon, who does not know sign language, and Maurras refuses to be deferential to him; he specifically uses informal signing when referring to Napoleon. What's more, he makes clear that he does not regard Napoleon's claim to the throne as legitimate, despite the Emperor's successes, and reasserts that in his capacity as Prime Minister he is merely "guiding the nation for the return of her rightful King." A frustrated Napoleon IV quickly takes his leave of the fool, but he can only remain away from him for so long; for the next four years, Action Française will be leading the country. It is only a small blessing that their authoritarian tendencies give Napoleon room to maneuver as needed.

Even as France's conservative politics struggle to coalesce in the new constitutional era, German politics take a turn further left, as Wilhelm II's death brings the more liberal Wilhelm III to the throne. Although not a socialist, Wilhelm III is quite politically liberal, and does favor some socialist policies; he complements his Reichskanzler von Rathenau well.

Already, during the final days of Wilhelm II's life, Wilhelm III chaired a board in the Reichstag that pushed through sweeping colonial reforms, pulling German troops out of the colonies and turning them over to local rulers. Although Wilhelm III (rightly) claims that this will still provide benefit to Germany by allowing her to reap the resources of these territories while keeping more of her men at home, it also greatly weakens serious threats like Mittelafrika, allowing France to concentrate troops in Europe just as it does for Germany.

The difficulty now is where these troops are to be found. Following the beginning of tank production, France's manpower pool has already run completely dry. Every able-bodied man is being called up, wherever he may reside, but there are still simply not enough. At the current rate of manpower drain, it may not even be possible to launch the African offensives in 1942.

One option to help the Empire recover from its losses, unpalatable as it is, is the acquisition of Switzerland. The mountainous country has been abandoned by Germany since the end of the Third Franco-Prussian War, and without international defenders its lands are ripe for the taking. The Commune held Geneva for several years before losing it in the war, and that area is overwhelmingly French-speaking. France does not have reasonable claims on the remainder of Switzerland, but the Swiss government is isolated and squeezed between France and Italy; it's possible they may simply surrender their territory without a fight, fearful of the inevitable effects of declining.

The industry and resources from Switzerland would alone be possibly worthwhile, but the most major draw of the territory is its manpower reserves. Although the locals would undoubtedly resist conscription to their utmost, even a few tens of thousands of troops from the territory over the entire French occupation could make the difference between defeating Germany and being defeated by them--and the Swiss forts on the border, along with their mountainous territory, would no doubt be helpful on the defensive.

The issue is of international ramifications. Even the Entente would hesitate seriously before thinking about undertaking such a plan, and Mitteleuropa may well view it as grounds for an immediate declaration of war, even with Wilhelm II dead. The kind of reputation a nation gets for threatening the annexation of a neutral country, then occupying and extracting resources from it is not easily lived down. But what other option is there? There are no men to be had. The only other choice would be to force Francis Xavier to cede Catalonia to the Empire, and it's unlikely he would comply.

Indeed, the Entente was not fond of the idea. Francis Xavier made it clear that he was grateful to Napoleon for his troops' efforts to secure his homeland, but that he would not tolerate any "Napoleonic ambitions" in his country, mindful of what had happened the last time the Bonapartes occupied Spain.

Similarly, the idea of taking "more than is reasonable" from the Swiss was met by abhorrence, even by Edward VIII. The Swiss were an entirely neutral country, and infringing upon their rights was thought as something that would "paint the Entente in the worst possible light." So, while sympathetic to France's manpower concerns, between Edward and John Nance Gardner, it was made clear that France would be permitted to take only Geneva, the primarily French-speaking part of the country. Constant lobbying eventually caused Edward and Gardner to relent, permitting Italy to also acquire Lugano. But these gains were minor things, and despised by the people of Geneva, who had been "liberated," as they saw it, from their French brethren years before. They saw in Napoleon IV not the return of French power to the continent, but the imposition of an decaying hand, forcing their men to enlist and die for a foreigner's wars.

What little has been gained from the acquisition is, in truth, so paltry as to not even be worth mentioning. France's manpower concerns have not been alleviated, and though its easternmost defenses are now more secure, the issue of war with Germany still looms. There are simply not enough men.

Following the troubles of France's elections and the eventual selection of a party hostile to Bonaparte power, Edward VIII had paid particularly close attention to his own polls. Unsurprisingly, a left-leaning government was set to take the reins of power; despite the British peoples' disillusionment with the revolution, they still favored leftist politics, even with Edward having imposed a costly--some would even say punitive--series of measures against the liberals, including the complete banning of all trade unions, collective lobbying, and the re-imposition of the nobility.

Edward did not much like the idea. He approached his current Prime Minister, Archibald Ramsay, and queried if the government would support him were he to declare elections permanently suspended, and the imposition of absolutism in the British isles. Ramsay, as the direct beneficiary of this policy, joyfully agreed, and so Edward did away with the British parliament, becoming the first absolutist ruler in Britain's history, with Ramsay as his general factotum.

For nine months, France focused on rebuilding. Her armor corps began to come online--giant, hulking masses of metal and explosive to which nothing on the German side could compare, with hundreds of tanks to every corps where the Germans might perhaps have two dozen at most in an equivalent infantry formation. Despite their tactical flexibility and extreme use in holding static positions (a future which Napoleon was proud to promise to them), it was not strategic considerations or new doctrinal influences which encouraged the French Empire to adopt heavy armor; rather, it was restrictions of men. France still struggles to find sufficient men to fill her ranks, even after almost a year of heavy recruitment and propaganda. Indeed, in that time France’s reserves have come close to running out twice, and only fresh recruitment incentives have been able to prevent the worst from occurring.

It is not a matter which has any definitive solution; France is simply under-populated, and devastated from two major wars in as many decades. There are few men to be found, and few civilians would wish to choose the military for their livelihood, especially with how hawkish both Napoleon IV and Edward VIII have proven themselves; it seems clear that military conflict looms on the horizon, and no son of either nation wishes to see themselves dead over their ruler’s ambitions.

Napoleon’s solution to this is to spend his resources recruiting civilians into jobs which are ostensibly peaceful, but in reality have military applications. Both a new large, modern naval transport fleet and a huge complex of rocketry research are in development, tying up many of France’s most critical industries and giving her manpower time to recover from over-use.

Yet Napoleon does not know when he should stop, and already the “surplus,” paltry as it is, is being allocated.

Napoleon’s intended use of the armed forces is for territorial acquisition, but not in the traditional sense. Napoleon wishes to “retake” the colonies.

Of course, the intent behind reclaiming the colonies is much more complicated than simply attempting to gather together more resources, industry or men. France already struggles to extract manpower from their own colonies, disenfranchised and distrusting as they are after the decimation of their units in Napoleon’s many wars, and his reneging on their right to suffrage. But even so, the imposition of neo-colonial regimes in these regions is not only justified--for Italy had a presence in both Libya and the Horn of Africa, and Britain historically had a presence through Egypt, Sudan and Arabia--it also will provide a direct land route, through allied nations, for India.

This is critical, and even the most recalcitrant of Napoleon’s military advisors agree. Even following the dissolution of Mittelafrika, the German successor states in the region have too many troops for France to engage, while France will be required to station all of their troops on the mainland to launch their attack of Germany; there will be no spares, no reinforcements there, and yet Africa cannot afford to be overrun, housing so many Pied-Noir which the regime desperately relies upon for manpower. The solution, of course, is to provide the Indian government a direct route into Africa, so that their exceptionally large army, with its millions of reinforcements, can control the situation on France’s behalf. That will permit France’s entire army to be preoccupied on the mainland while Germany’s colonial forces will still face serious pressure.

After extensive talks with the Entente leadership, it was eventually decided to pursue the "little solution" proposal of only attacking those nations which were required to gain a direct route from French Africa to India, as opposed to the Emperor's favorite, the so-called "grande plan" which would see Somalia, Afghanistan, and perhaps later even Bulgaria added to the ranks of the Entente.

The concern was primarily on Germany; despite the growing power of the Entente, there were fears that Germany might make a preemptive strike, and, should this come to pass, that Entente forces in Europe would be completely unprepared to stop them from riding roughshod over France, upon whom success in the eventual campaign was reliant. The ramifications of launching a massive invasion of almost the entire middle-east cannot be understated, and it would behoove the Entente, as Gardner put it, to "minimize the perception abroad that this alliance undertakes war with powers for unnecessary military goals; we must achieve only what it is critical for us to achieve, and in so doing continue to gain as much time for ourselves to rearm before the inevitable conflict arrives."

Gardner truly was the main opponent causing trouble with the plans, for it was he in particular who vetoed the attack on Somalia, citing a desire to "minimize a return to colonialism." A frustrated Napoleon IV writes in his diary "when the war with Germany is over, it is I who will decide which way the Entente shall march, not the little upstart who ruled for years from a hovel nigh lost to him!"

But for the time being, Gardner is needed, and Napoleon acquiesces bitterly. The "little solution" begins that same morning, with the French motorized invasion of Libya.

The war with Libya is over almost before it begins, as their armed forces were overwhelmingly stationed on their eastern border with Egypt, poised to sweep into that country should their mutual enemy, the Ottoman Empire, launch an offensive. No enemy force seriously contested the French advance, and, though a large amount of oil was lost in the movement of so many vehicles, the ease of the campaign brings renewed hope among the Entente that these small victories could be achieved quickly, and without fear of German intervention.

In the midst of the invasion of Egypt, the Emperor's frustration about the "little solution" melts away. He even confides to his diary that it is "the happiest day of [his] life, since the day [he] first stood again in Paris." St. Petersburg, impressed by the French army's rapid advances and with an eye to "protecting our honored friends throughout the world," has accepted that its ties to the Entente are "indissoluble." Russia has formally rejoined the old alliance.

Now Germany must truly sweat. Already it had been significantly garrisoning its easternmost border, but now with the full might of Russia and her client states of Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea at the disposal of the Entente, the Kaiser cannot merely rely on a few small garrisons "in case" the Tsar comes for his lands; the Tsar WILL come, and will come in concert with the overwhelming naval and air superiority of the Entente, which is only being bolstered further by the French acquisitions in the Middle-East. In the event of a war Germany will now be faced with enemies on two fronts, the same nightmare scenario it faced in the Weltkrieg, save this time without the support of either the Ottoman Empire or the fortune of knocking Russia out with a quick, easy blow; this Tsar is a stable, popular leader with a strong, modern army, which Entente technological assistance will only cause to modernize further, faster. Germany is in dire straits.

With the assistance of the Russian Empire, the war against the Ottoman Empire and Persia is trivial, and by early July the last of the "old powers" of the Middle-East (Afghanistan having had its government toppled in 1936 following its disastrous war with Delhi) has fallen. French and Russian troops first meet at Afhaz province in southern Persia, and, unlike the last two times Romanov and Bonaparte armies have met, both armies cheer joyously upon seeing the flags of the other. The Entente has finally been linked--from Dahomey to Bengal, from Travancore to Vladivostok, the Entente is now unified against the German menace. Soon, she will face the united Entente's righteous fury.

In thanks for Russia's participation in the war against Persia, the Emperor sends several military advisers, including Russia's trusted old friend and leader of the French unit in the Russian Civil War, Chief of Staff Henri Albert Niessel, to inspect and offer advice about modernizing Russia's forces. It's hoped that Russia can achieve a large-scale mechanization of their forces at roughly the same pace that France will, so that the German puppet states in eastern Europe will be completely incapable of stopping the Tsar's advance. If Germany is not sufficiently frightened to pull troops away from the French border, the result could be disastrous.

In recognition of the Tsar's efforts in the war against Persia, the Entente agrees to permit him to decide what to do with Persia, which is temporarily under joint Russian-Indian occupation. Napoleon IV, however, immediately moves forward with the creation of new puppet governments in his occupied territory, eager as he is to "ensure that they will have time to build garrison forces to defend against Germany and her allies."

In Libya, contrary to what Napoleon promised before the beginning of the invasion, the territory is de facto annexed directly to France. Although de jure the territory is passed to the Pope and becomes a colonial possession of the College of Cardinals, in reality it is France who rules the territory through proximity to her possessions in Tunis. Already the extraction of manpower from the local tribes is underway to reduce the strain on France's metropolitan reserves.

In Egypt, the union of Egypt-Sudan is maintained, in order to present a more united face than the two countries otherwise would divided. Fuad I is technically maintained on the throne, but again this is merely de jure; de facto, one of his subordinates, Ali Mahir Pasha, is installed as dictator of the country, with all matters of government passing directly through him.

Due to the Osman dynasty's perceived ties of loyalty to the Central Powers, the Ottoman Empire is dissolved, and the royal house forced to flee to Berlin. In its place an authoritarian democratic structure is installed only in the Turkish-majority portion of the empire, with the rest of the Empire's lands being granted to an Arabic kingdom, again nominally under the control of the Egyptian dynasty, but de facto serving as an semi-democratic government with most power vested in the Prime Minister, who is elected by the people of the Arab Union but must be approved by the French Emperor, as the Union is technically a mandate territory.

One final matter of Russian revanchism holds, which is also of interest to the Emperor: the status of Transcaucasia, and therefore of the Transcaucasian Socialist Republic.

Occupied by Syndicalists from Georgia during the tumult of the late 1930s, the Transcaucasian Socialist Republic is an arch-communist state, inspired by the likes of Mosley and Bose. It had intended to fight on the side of the Internationale prior to the declaration of war of the Entente and the all-but-total collapse of communism worldwide. Terrified about the Entente's victory and their prospects for survival, the TSR turned inward after the Commune's defeat and initiated a brutal repressive policy, attempting to squeeze out as much resources and men as possible from its lands to build a strong army and fortification system, in the hopes that these would protect it should Russia ever seek to conquer it.

While the Tsar's attention was focused elsewhere it was indeed to small--and too tough--a nut to be worth cracking. The territory's mountains, combined with the major fortification systems built under her crazed internal security minister, Ioseb Dzugashvili, would have made the attack suicidal unless it came from two directions. This, of course, became possible following the defeat of Turkey and Persia.

War was declared with the Tsar's blessing on August 1st, and by the 20th it was complete. French motorized units took massive casualties operating in the mountainous terrain, but the Emperor called the losses "necessary" in order to ensure that Russia put maximum forces on its border with Germany; the removal of the TSR prevented Russia from needing to garrison the area, as well as restoring to her significant industrial resources built by the Totalists, and increasing her already legendary reserves of manpower and resources. Baku's oil in particular will be of critical importance to the French, whose fully mechanized army may well need thousands of gallons of fuel per hour.

September 23rd sees the beginning of work on the Dakar Cosmodrome, which is officially a civilian research facility dedicated to the study of space through the "propulsion of small sensory payloads to high altitude and, eventually, outer space." Its research goals are incredibly lofty, but of course it's intended that they should be arrived at over the course of decades; the facility's first practical application will be the research of rocket boosters and ballistics so as to design a carriage capable of withstanding the extreme strain of atmospheric exit.

This is the public story, anyway. Of course it's all true, but there's more to it than that. The Dakar Cosmodrome is a public corporation, but with government funding the French Empire has significant stake in its research, and access to all of its materials. And, in secret labs on the same complex, there are additional tests taking place--tests quietly funded by the military, seeking to learn the practical application of the same ballistic technologies which the Cosmodrome is researching, and apply them for military purposes.

With the Entente's next goals made clear but the Kaiser incapable of launching an offensive without dragging the Russian behemoth into the fray, Wilhelm III instead begins preparations for defense. Industrial centers are expanded throughout the nation to ensure that the Entente's air superiority will be unable to cripple Germany's production in the war, and over the protests of the Reichstag, Reichskanzler Walther von Rathenau is replaced by the "lion of Africa," Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, an expert in defensive operations and unconventional warfare. Mindful of the "government of the field-marshals" during his father's reign, Wilhelm III is careful not to give too much power to Lettow-Vorbeck. Nevertheless, the military has undeniably gained significant ground in the government, and are directing the nation in preparation of war with Entente forces--a war which they now grudgingly admit may place them on the defensive.

Urgent news. On the eve of preparations to begin the war with Germany, it has been revealed by the Imperial Intelligence Service that a further break between Berlin and Wien has occurred. Long furious at Germany over Wilhelm II's support for Hungary during the Ausgleich of 1937, there were (justified) concerns that Otto I of Austria would achieve rapprochement with Germany after Wilhelm II's death, and some cautious moves were made to that end. After France's invasion in support for the Carlists in Spain, for instance, Germany made certain to guarantee the integrity of Austria's borders, but it appears now that even this gesture of goodwill has fallen to the wayside! Reports indicate that, due to the Austrian Kaiser's appointment of the conservative Ernst Rudiger Starhemberg as his Minister-President (a candidate which neither the liberal Wilhelm III or Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck approve of), Wilhelm III believed that Austria was implicitly siding with the increasingly authoritarian and right-wing Entente, and broke off diplomatic and economic support to instead focus entirely on the Reich and its defense.

This is an unmissable opportunity. Germany is not distracted, it is true, but it has turned inward; it's possible it will not respond to Austria's dire situation, or at least not respond to it in time. Even if it does, should the worst occur metropolitan France may be overrun, but Russia and the remainder of the Entente could still secure victory in the war long-term; it would be another harrowing blow for France, but a risk which Napoleon makes it clear he is willing to take, "for what better prize is there but a third front?"

Opinions throughout the remainder of the Entente are more muted, but they do openly consider the possibility. Bulgaria's Tsar, Boris III, has recently died suddenly, leaving the country in a chaotic state ripe for invasion. It's entirely possible for the Entente to occupy the entire region, from Bohemia to Plovdiv, without much trouble. The only possible issues that could arise would come from Germany, but even in the worst-case that they came to defend Austria, it likely would not save the Kaiser from eventual defeat--defense gives him more security, even against the mounting foes against him. Still, it would be a risky prospect, and would present France as an arch-aggressor for toppling the half-dozen nations of the Balkans. "A true new Napoleon," Edward VIII said, not without some grudging respect--but behind that respect, concern. This is a dangerous move. Should it be risked?

Although the risks are great, it is the decision of the Entente that they cannot pass up this chance. Germany appears to be paralyzed by fears of a Russian invasion, which the Tsar has agreed to magnify through the stationing of an overwhelming number of troops on his border. So long as Germany believes the war in Austria is but a distraction, it might allow the ancient and vulnerable state to go--this is what the Entente will rely upon, as it takes steps to set up new aligned states in the region. Should Germany behave wisely and strike at France before she is ready, there's little that the nation can do to stop the inevitable occupation, but the might of Russia should force a German capitulation eventually--however humiliating it would be to be saved by the Tsar's forces.

Still, with nothing ventured, nothing is gained. The risk must be taken, and so on the morning of November the 1st, 1943, France's tank corps are ordered over the border into Austria. The Balkan Campaign officially begins.

As usual, the war has been bloody and hard on the troops. Winter combat, combined with Austria's harsh terrain, turned what should have been an easy campaign into a slog. Particularly at Belgrade, where Serb forts had been repurposed and garrisoned by Austrian troops, the defenses of the Austrians were stiff and inflicted heavy casualties on the Imperial Army. The mechanized and tank corps continue to show their value in their incredible speed, versatility and toughness, however; despite their best efforts, the Austrian army almost always took 4-to-1 casualties over the French forces. Still, victory was achieved at an acceptable pace of just over five weeks, fast enough that the petrified German state, over-fearful of a Russian invasion to the east, vacillates just long enough for Otto I's government to be toppled.

Now it must be decided what to do with the Austrian lands which have been acquired. Already the Emperor plans a campaign against the Czechs to even further stretch the German line, but before that can be contemplated it must be decided what state shall receive the bounty of the rebellious Czech King's lands. Should Austria-Hungary be reforged as a French protectorate, or would a new Federation of the Danube, limiting Austria's power and raising up the minorities of the region to rule in the Emperor's name, be a more palatable option?

Although the move was the riskiest thus far, the Entente recognized that the Danubian Federation would hardly be able to stand up against Germany without the industrial resources of the Czech territories. Though they had rebelled from Austria, it's hoped that equal representation and significant autonomy will encourage them to avoid rebelling following their defeat.

Their annexation comes in late December, once again placing them under the suzerainty of Otto I. Yet now Otto is nothing more than a puppet of his own government, which is at present dominated by Vladimir Laxa, a Croat general and Minister-President of the new United Territorial Assembly, the Federation's legislature. Czech equal representation, along with myriad guarantees of autonomy--and French guns pointed at their heads--mellows Czech resistance, and eventually they grudgingly acknowledge that union is the future they have to look forward to, even if it isn't the future they want.

But the French roll in the Balkans has finally been brought to a crashing stop: the Kaiser has issued an ultimatum.

French intervention in Austria was a sudden and terrifying prospect which the Kaiser's troops were unprepared for; Germany was essentially presented with a fait accompli. The Kaiser's armies were even out of position still when the Czech monarchy was toppled, having realized too-late that the war against Austria was not the feint, but the Russian build-up on in the east.

But the Kaiser now says no more, and is in a position to enforce it. Any further wars on the part of France will result in an immediate declaration of war from the German Empire, and, moreover, the Kaiser demands the immediate return of Serb and Greek lands occupied by the French to their rightful owners. Unready to face the Kaiser, the French troops pull out of Serbian territory. The Balkans will need to be left an unsettled affair. Napoleon IV fumes; now it is his turn to be humiliated on the world stage.

Napoleon IV's humiliation in late 1943 did not end with the Kaiser's decree. It was humiliating enough that Napoleon had to adhere to any foreign power's demand, but he was soon set upon by his own people as well. In the "dual incident" of 1943-44, Napoleon was almost assassinated twice in just under two weeks: once on New Year's Eve when a Syndicalist who had successfully infiltrated his bodyguard almost put a bullet in his back during a speech (thankfully the gun misfired), and once again on January the 12th, when an ultra-nationalist Pied-Noir man succeeded in rushing the Emperor. This latter man succeeded in sinking a knife blade deep in the Emperor's left arm, missing his heart thanks to the quick action of the Imperial Guard, but succeeding in plunging it deep enough that surgery was required. Thus the Emperor was lain up for much of the first half of 1944, forced to wallow in his own misery.

During this time, the Emperor ordered that efforts should be focused on "pacifying the people." Concerns over the assassination attempts and the threat that constant wars already had led to major resentment among the people prompted the declaration of a period of "peace and prosperity," wherein the Empire would finally utilize its great wealth to prove to the people that its many campaigns had a clear, practical return in the form of economic prosperity.

It was not a short process, but by late 1944 France was largely returned to stability, and threats of assassination reduced significantly. Although the "period of peace" would continue on throughout the year and beyond, the intent of the campaign--essentially a glorified bribe to the people--had been achieved by that time. Now, France's many resources turn again to armed forces enhancement.

Chapter Text

Not many days after that cool afternoon in October 1944, the leadership of the Entente met once more, this time in London. They concurred that the time was ripe to begin their attack against Germany; time was against them, as Mitteleuropa could outproduce most of the Entente-aligned nations on the continent, and was already putting out feelers for making alliances in the Balkans, and funding pro-Ottoman rebels in Turkey. War must come soon, before Germany could find such strong footing that it would not be possible to dislodge her.

Yet all this is easier said than done. Even gathering together the armies of the Entente as quickly as is possible, it is almost another twelve months before Entente divisions are fully prepared in Europe, reorganized, and redeployed to their target positions. Several months before this is accomplished the Kaiser is made aware of the mass troop movements, and redeployments in Germany reinforce the western front, as well as forwarding significant numbers of African divisions to the north, to overrun France’s possessions there.

Of course, this was anticipated by Napoleon IV. Late in the day--far too late for the Kaiser’s forces to fully alter their preparations--the Entente issues an ultimatum to the Dutch: cede the port of Rotterdam and the interior province of Nijmegen to France for the duration of the conflict, or be utterly destroyed. Under normal circumstances the Dutch may have resisted, but the 10,000-plane combat exercise off their borders convinces a stunned Wilhelmina that the Dutch people would be “killed to the last man” if they fought, and so French promises to return the territory following the conflict convince the queen that it is “safer by far to take the shameful but sensible path of cooperation.”

The Queen’s decision, though wise for the sake of her people, is devastating for the Germans. Napoleon’s battle plan can now be actuated.

Pictured is the complete battle line for “Operation Merovingus,” as Napoleon has named it. It represents an unbroken line of defense running from Calais in northern France to Geneva in the southeast, then, split only by Switzerland, continuing from Innsbruck in Austria to Ismail in Romania, on the banks of the Black Sea. That is not to say that all the various parts of this line share the same goals, or even troop compositions; the break in Switzerland is almost as complete a break as one could imagine, as only two corps of Italian troops operate to the west, while over 90% of the Italian army and the entire armed forces of the Danubian Confederation and Romania lie to the east. In the west, too, are concentrated the Entente’s only tank divisions, from Canada and Great Britain, as well as the overwhelming majority of the Entente’s crack troops: fully-trained infantry--often with armor brigade support--and a few elite divisions, including expertly-trained marine groups. In the east, to the contrary, the Italian armies are still utilizing 1923-era firearms, and the Austrians and Romanians, due to mass shortages of manpower and industrial capacity, have been forced to rely on light infantry as their primary fighting units.

From the outset, it is clear that the Austrian positions are under-defended; the Czech territory being entirely undefended left aside, the number of their forces is equivalent to that of the Germans, but they are horribly outgunned. This is known to the Entente and tolerated, however--even welcomed. It cannot be stated enough that the purposes of the two defensive lines are not identical.

The main difference between the two lines lies in their long-term strategic purpose. In the west, the “defensive” line is only partly defensive.

During the first phase of Merovingus, French troops holding in Nijmegen will begin pouring down from Dutch territory into Germany at Cologne. Currently defended only by 7 infantry divisions and facing the full might of 54 French armored and mechanized divisions and 6 divisions of marines, their hopes to hold are negligible. From the initial breach at Cologne, the French army will then sweep south as quickly as possible, hastened by pre-arranged stocks of fuel and supplies, relying on speed to allow them to outpace retreating German troops from the pocket, eventually cutting the entire German army in the west off at the Swiss border upon reaching Colmar.

At the point that the French troops dig in on the west bank of the Rhine, the defensive action in the far west--holding the German troops off from advancing during the dangerous first phase, while everything relies on the French--will cease. The Canadian, Spanish, Portuguese (a recent addition to the Entente), and British forces will begin their offensives, aided as frequently as possible by reinforcements from the Rhenish defensive line in the east. Cut off from supply and with Entente air superiority preventing airdrops, the goal is to completely bottle-up and reduce the western pocket by November at the latest, which would wipe out approximately 50% of the German army in a single setpiece engagement, setting up the conditions for joint Anglo-French advance over the Rhine, while Spanish and Portuguese troops can be rushed to the Danubian Federation and Romania to firebrigade breaches there, if necessary.

As might be guessed, the defensive line in the east is properly defensive. Even with the overwhelming manpower of the Russian bear bearing down Ukraine and Poland from the east, these nations have chosen to maintain western garrisons, and there simply aren’t enough competent defenders to risk holding back troops on the Danubian border in many regions, This is especially true near Poland, where the Polish army can be easily supported by German troops. Czechia most of all, surrounded on all sides by German troops and representing a massive salient, is not defensible with the current resources of the Entente.

As such, over the fierce protests of Otto I, Napoleon IV has ordered a defensive line to be constructed which favors “maximum defensiveness” over “logistical and population concerns” within the Empire. Industrial centers such as Freistadt, Hollabrun, and Zilina, even when holding them would not further extend the Entente lines, are denied in favor of pulling back into more suitable terrain, or across rivers. The entire goal of the Austrian line is to hold, no matter the costs. The Emperor refers to it as a “grand distraction action,” meant to keep the eyes of the Kaiser fixed on the quick gains into Danubian territory, and his troops stretched along an unnecessary front, unable to redeploy to pin French forces and their crushing offensive to Colmar. If successful, the Kaiser will face the loss of half of his army, and the need to pull his forces back anyway to defend the east bank of the Rhine, which would relieve pressure from the Danubians and possibly even allow limited offensives.

At 7AM on August 1st, the first shells of the Entente invasion are fired.

In a declaration to the people of France and the Entente, Napoleon IV announces the “great, final crusade to cleanse this world of the Germanic pestilence which has heretofore emanated from Berlin, snaking its way around this despicable world and squeezing out all honor, righteousness, and joy.” The claims against the Germans are poetic at best, but the sentiment is real enough; the Entente, despite the strong feeling in British and particularly American circles that the peace might well break the alliance, are at the very least entirely united in the war. Germany MUST be brought down, they agree--the peace will be a matter for another day.

For Mitteleuropa’s part, the war is accepted with a quiet, foreboding resignation. Although the Germans within the Reich see it as their great chance to crush France, whom they view as the origin of “all the problems and militarism in the world,” in Wilhelm III’s words, their allies are much less enthused. The Ukrainians, Poles and Lithuanians especially see their imminent defeat by Russia as essentially inevitable even if the Germans do somehow prove victorious, and only German domination at virtually every level of their government--and fear of occupation by the Tsar--causes their armies to reluctantly hold their positions at the defenses rather than surrendering outright. No matter the end, this war will be bloody.

This is true most of all of Africa, which the Emperor has had to entirely strip of garrisons and defenses in preparation for the conflict. Indeed, Paris’s deliberate silence on the matter of African defense has the Pied-Noir in a panic, fearful that the Emperor will abandon them entirely in the name of defeating Germany on the continent. If the Reich takes too long to bend to his will, they will be right--Napoleon is entirely willing to trade the colony where he was crowned for dominance of the metropole which he returned to.

Following the beginning of hostilities, orders were given to the Entente air fleet stationed in Paris to begin immediate and indiscriminate bombing of targets in Cologne, before the Germans could rush defenders to the territory to stall the French advance. Initial bombings were incredibly successful, so successful that the defenders were quickly thrown into complete disorder, but reinforcements swiftly arrived to relieve them, and continued to arrive by the dozen. Wilhelm III and his military advisors are determined that the only way Germany can even entertain the idea of success in the war is to prevent French incursions into the Reich, and to this end they are willing to sacrifice everything. The Austrian defense line is faced by a single division across their borders at best, with some territories entirely undefended; even with pinning attacks launched by Entente forces in the French theater, troops there are withdrawn to Cologne. Everything is being risked on the outcome of this single, setpiece battle by the German High Command. Should they fail--and Field Marshal Paul Ludwig Ewel von Kleist has already suffered some 20% losses to the fully-mechanized forces of the French, which have suffered very little damage in return--the consequences would be immediate and punishing: the inevitable closure of the western pocket, and some 40 German divisions being rendered unfit for combat until replacements can arrive, at a time when they will be direly needed elsewhere.

Yet with French estimates suggesting another 30 German divisions approaching Cologne, will it even be possible to breach the territory? It may soon be so overwhelmed by German troops that even the superiority of French armor cannot dislodge them for the sheer mass of men standing in their way.

“Cologne was our Sedan. We risked everything upon its favorable outcome, and like that foolish second Napoleon, when we lost we simply did not know what to do. What COULD we do? Sixty divisions had been dedicated to the combat, and were shattered by thirty. 150,000 German men were dead, with untold tens of thousands facing capture by the victorious French. They, meanwhile, had killed more than two men for every one of theirs lost, and though we had destroyed over a thousand of their tanks, they had many, many spares. They were still organized, united under their Emperor and General Staff, and had a clear plan to advance; our men were demoralized and disorganized, our people despaired and blamed the General Staff and Wilhelm III, a ‘lesser son of a mighty father,’ for our defeat, and we had abandoned huge swathes of the Reich in the last-ditch defense, which had failed. His Majesty put on a brave face, but after Cologne we knew what the inevitable result of the war would be. This was the wrath of the French, and they had proven they had the technology to crush us. We would suffer under their boot, now.”

- From the memoirs of Paul Ludwig Ewel von Kleist, written in exile to avoid censure.

After two and a half weeks of vicious fighting, it is done--the western pocket has been closed. Although the defeat at Cologne had caused the Kaiser to demand a recall of all the troops in the west, these efforts had failed thanks to the speed of the French mechanized divisions, which consistently outmaneuvered the Kaiser’s retreating forces and forced them to stay several miles west of the Rhine at all times. This has compounded the disaster of Cologne dramatically, as most of the defenders there had retreated westward, as the bridge over the Rhine at Cologne had been destroyed by French self-propelled artillery fire. French intelligence suggests that as many as twenty divisions may have been added to the pocket, which will only increase the supply concerns of the trapped German forces, to their peril.

Some supply is reaching the German forces in the pocket through the Belgian ports at Bruges and Antwerp, but already orders have been issued for the British troops sitting on the border to advance and capture the facilities. Once they are in Entente hands, the pocket will be entirely isolated from supply, and begin the long process of starving.

It would be remiss to judge the situation as entirely secure, however. The French forces along the Rhine are battered, needing hundreds of tanks and tens of thousands of men in replacements, and have not had long to dig in, while the German forces west of the Rhine have usually not engaged in combat since Cologne, and have received at least some resupply. It’s quite possible they could attempt a breakout, especially if the British fail to quickly capture the Belgian ports, and if indeed this becomes a risk the French may not hold. All efforts are therefore focused upon crushing Belgian resistance as quickly as possible and ensuring that the Germans have no avenue of escape.

Stiff German resistance in the north slowed the advance there considerably, allowing Brussels and the critical supply line to the Kaiser’s troops to hold on for two crucial weeks. During this time the Germans in the pocket, despite having no prospects of escaping due to the Entente blockade of the Scheldt estuary, remained in decent supply due to the heroic efforts of the Belgian people, who strove to produce enough basic equipment in their meager facilities to hold the German defenders together. With the fall of the government of Flanders-Wallonia, however, the few factories in the French occupied territory which the Germans possess can no longer adequately supply their huge forces, and they are beginning to be thinned by disease, starvation, and a simple lack of ammunition.

It is at this time that Napoleon IV orders the Grand Offensive, a universal attack on all German forces across the entire Entente defensive line. The order stretches the already-sparse Spanish, Canadian and British reinforcements to their limit, but Napoleon is entirely prepared to make them bleed for France for a change; he is troubled by news of speedy Russian advances in the east. Napoleon is determined to be the principal factor responsible for crushing the Germans once and for all, and the continued watch on the Rhine delays his forces from marching on Berlin. If allied blood must be spilled en masse to ensure the French gain the honor of the day, it is a price Napoleon has no qualms in demanding; the blood of France’s allies, shed now, is but just reparation for the untold times French soldiers have died far from home in the name of the forces of the Entente.

And indeed, the rapidity of the Russian advance in the east is to be marveled at. Already the United Baltic Duchy and Lithuania have been reintegrated into the Tsar’s domain, and the Ukraine and White Ruthenia are both poised to fall to his advancing armies as well. After their inevitable defeat only Poland will stand between Russian forces and an advance into the Reich, which will be entirely undefended for all intents and purposes. Reichskanzler Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck already begs Wilhelm III to surrender, but the Kaiser knows well that to admit defeat now will mean the end of Germany entirely, and he is determined to “fight to the last,” however futile such a sentiment may be. It could be justly said that his considerations are upon who shall capture Berlin, however; the first to set up a provisional government will be the one likeliest to control Germany in the future, and rather than surrendering, which would inevitably lead to French dominance, Wilhelm III may well hope to snub his rival Emperor one last time by allowing the Russians to take Berlin, thereby denying Napoleon IV his ultimate victory.

Cognizant of the Russian advance and the necessity of capturing Berlin in the name of France, Napoleon issues dangerous orders to strip the Rhine defensive line of support forces: an attempt is to be made to breach the German defenses on the east bank and make a rush to Berlin.

Although thinning the defensive line on the Rhine led to many abortive German attempts to break the defenses there, their attacks were always easily blunted; with French forces dug in, they proved a nut entirely too tough to crack for the supply-starved German forces, who found it difficult to justify risking their limited anti-tank equipment on probing offensives. Only two attacks lasted longer than a few pathetic hours.

On September 13th an undefended Berlin falls to "Touzet of the Ten Capitals" (a bit of poetic exaggeration being allowed in his case), the feather in his cap being none other than the most reviled city by Frenchmen around the world, the hated Berlin. What’s more, Touzet du Vigier was able to capture Crown Prince Wilhelm, he who would be Wilhelm IV, who refused to retreat from the city to the temporary army headquarters at Kiel alongside his father. Upon receiving the news that Berlin had fallen from the General, Napoleon IV was so ecstatic that he immediately promoted Touzet du Vigier to Field Marshal, investing him with command of all the French forces east of the Rhine, and propagandizing him as the greatest hero of the war (much to the chagrin of his fellow Field Marshals, de Gaulle and Janin).

The capture of Berlin has both great propagandistic and practical value to the French, who have captured significant German industry and forced the Kaiser to flee, effectively proving that the war is all but destined to move in their favor. Nevertheless, the move is (rightly) seen by the Tsar as an effort to cut off his own advance, and relations with Russia threaten to break down over the issue until Napoleon promises Vladimir that he will retain full control of his conquests, with the exception of most German territory. The matter of Poland is not discussed, however, and given the Bonapartes’ traditional respect for the Poles, it could prove a point of contention in the final negotiations.

Indeed, as John Nance Gardner had warned before the war began, the divisions within the Entente could easily become the greatest concern for stability going forward. Francis-Xavier de Borbon-Parma, King of Spain, had threatened Napoleon IV with the prospect of pulling out of the war just a few days before Touzet du Vizier captured Berlin over the perceived intentional massacring of his forces. It was true that Spanish forces had suffered disproportionate casualties in their assaults, but they were also being trusted with the toughest areas on the line to assault, and Francis-Xavier had known this before the war even began. Whether he is stupid or simply greedy, Napoleon does not know.

Nevertheless, to pacify him, Napoleon, with Russian blessing, agrees that the recently-captured German territory of Morocco may be transferred to Spain, to restore some colonial possessions to her. Francis-Xavier agrees to the bribe, but is still visibly displeased with the losses incurred by his men, this despite how many Frenchmen died to restore his country to him. Relations remain cold, and many within Bonaparte circles suggest that the alliance with Francis-Xavier, an arch-Bourbon, may be more trouble than it’s worth. One thing is certain: once Germany is destroyed, the alliance between France and Spain will certainly crumble.

The western pocket has proven incredibly difficult to reduce. Entente troops have learned firsthand that Wilhelm III was not so foolish as they had originally anticipated; the whole of the countryside is dotted with fortifications, enemy supply caches, and minefields. While Wilhelm had not prepared to be outflanked via Dutch territory, few would have; it’s evident from his preparations in the west that he intended to be able to bleed the French dry before they could ever reach the German heartland, as even now the Entente forces are being bled by a starving, isolated and demoralized foe. “If this is a starving, beaten German, what would they be like with full bellies and guns?” is a sentiment commonly shared on the front, and though the French army does its best to curb such ideas about German martial superiority, many of the allied armies have a harder time keeping their men chipper.

The recapture of Alsace-Lorraine by advancing Entente troops does much to restore the resolve of the allied forces, however. Lost to France for 75 years, the return of these territories to the patrie is of incredible symbolic importance, such that Napoleon IV makes a trip to Sedan to survey the battlefield, and tours the countryside of the ravaged territories with the aid caravans. Demographically the territory has become far more German of late, especially with Wilhelm II’s oppression of its French population, but there is still a significant French minority in the territory, and the Germans living there have resigned themselves to the rule of Napoleon IV; it appears the lands will be integrated smoothly.

Two weeks behind schedule, the Western pocket is finally closed. Entente advisers had initially believed that the French General Staff had grossly overestimated the amount of time it would take to crush the German forces trapped there, but through a long battle of blood and sweat, they have learned that the French were being optimistic, if anything. The Germans fought like animals to a man, almost all refusing to enter into French captivity. In the final battles at Eupen, exhausted and starved German troops were using their rifles as clubs rather than surrendering to the advancing French forces; only a bare 50,000 Germans were captured from a pocket which had initially contained over 750,000.

The honor of final victory in France goes to the Canadian Field Marshal Currie, who led the assault to capture the final German-occupied hill in the region. It was there that he found the corpses of much of the German staff which had been trapped inside the pocket, including Generals Model and Hausser, and Field Marshal von Brauchitsch. The cowards had committed suicide with their sidearms, even as their men fought without bullets in their guns.

The collapse of the pocket removes the need for French General Staff oversight of the Entente forces in the west, and so the British and Canadians are spun off into their own command; Napoleon IV's military advisers only retain control of Italy and the Danubian Federation's operations, to ensure the continued success of the eastern defensive line. From this point forward, the defensive line on the Rhine is no longer required; French troops will take to the offensive once more.

While French forces ford the Rhine and begin the final confrontation with Germany, in Paris the wheels of politics are turning. With no more German troops in the area of Flanders-Wallonia, a decision must now be made about what to do with the territory.

Three options are available to France: she can restore Belgium as a French-occupied allied territory, break apart Flanders and Wallonia and hold open the prospect of Wallonia eventually requesting integration into the French main, or maintain total occupation of the territory and annex the region to France.

Napoleon, cognizant of Paris's proximity to German territory without Belgian lands as a buffer, favors annexing the territory directly. Charles Maurras, meanwhile, favors the recreation of Belgium, hoping that it will block any efforts on the part of Napoleon IV to realize the "French natural borders" which his family has tended to be so obsessed with. A failure here at the final moment is truly the only hope the Bourbons have of slandering the Bonaparte name whatsoever, such is the degree of Napoleon IV's success.

Predictably, Maurras's anti-Bonapartism is seen as political suicide by this time, even by his own party. In a Parliamentary coup, Maurras is overridden and support is given to Napoleon IV to annex the territories directly, which raises significant alarm in the Netherlands about the prospects for the return of their own territories, not to speak of an immediate increase in partisan activity in Belgian territory, few residents of which are supportive of French rule following the Commune invasion in 1939.

December 3rd is Victory in Europe day, as French forces march into the last German-held stronghold, Munich. The civilian government had evacuated here and ruled the south, while the military had ruled the north from their temporary headquarters at Kiel during the last days of the Reich. Now the civilian government is taken into custody as "enemies of the peace," and the military government of Kiel has fled to Germany's Asian colonies, the last refuge for supporters of Wilhelm III in the world.

Of course, they are being pursued. The French fleet is already gathering up the marines and preparing to initiate a naval landing in Ireland, after which they will relocate to Vladivostok and begin operations to recapture French Indochina, knocking out the Reich once and for all in the process. Although Wilhelm may have hoped that the French would not pursue him overseas, he is sorely mistaken if he believes the righteous anger of the Entente can be stayed.

As the Irish campaign was finishing and the French marines first set foot in Dublin, it was discovered that the German fleet, rather than rushing to Indochina as French intelligence had reported, had instead stayed behind with the Kaiser in Ireland to try to intimidate the Irish into "sticking the cause out." As it happened the ploy worked well, combined with fears that Edward VIII would annex the country should the French succeed in occupying it, but the success of the marines forced the Kaiser's navy to break port and attempt to flee upon their arrival, forcing them directly into the Canadian navy. The German ships were torn apart by their modern carrier air wings, and after seventeen ships were sent to the bottom of Dublin bay, the German ships flew the white flag. Kaiser Wilhelm III was handed over to Canadian forces, to be turned over to Napoleon IV, awaiting their arrival at Cherbourg, along with the rest of the French army.

Wilhelm III, upon his arrival, was paraded through the streets of France as though he were some kind of foreign monkey. Heckled and spit upon even from the seat of his car, any protests about the indignity of his position were ignored. The Kaiser's car arrived at Verdun with Wilhelm in a deplorable state, and without being permitted to freshen himself he was videotaped, in scuffed clothing and visibly crying, signing the terms of a complete German surrender to the Entente. Upon the receipt of his signature, the ex-Kaiser is seized and carried off to prison, now being in French territory without his prior diplomatic immunity.

The parades throughout France could not be quelled by any power. The Commune, not long ago the master of these lands, is utterly forgotten. Cheers of "Bonaparte, Bonaparte!" ring through the streets, and any who would dare to counter them would find themselves on the ground, if not worse. He is their savior, their Emperor, the father of their country and its restored honor. Hail, Napoleon IV!

Following the Kaiser's humiliation, it was time for negotiations. "Endless negotiations, so much that I am hoarse from talking, and nothing has yet been decided," Napoleon IV confided to his diary over three months after Wilhelm's surrender. Three months seemed a long while indeed for "nothing" to be decided, but the halfway point of negotiations had not even been reached, and by June the situation was still the same.

As John Nance Gardner had prophesied, the Entente had begun collapsing.

None wanted France to become the new Germany, the dominant force on the continent. France's return of Rotterdam to the Dutch in late January of 1946 was met with relief on the part of the Entente, but when Napoleon followed it up with the occupation of all Dutch territory south of the Rhine, that relief turned to watchful anger. Napoleon announced France's return to her "natural borders" to the cheers of millions of Frenchmen, but the serious concern of the remainder of the Entente. Was this a new beast that was too big for all of them?

Edward VIII owed everything to Napoleon, and politically shared his principals; he was bought with the return of Ireland. But Portugal, Spain, Russia and America all broke firmly with the Entente, leaving Britain and her colonies and the greater French sphere--France, the Kingdom of Italy and Danubian Federation--as the last real remaining members of the alliance.

To strengthen France's bargaining position the provisional government in Berlin was given full recognition by the remaining Entente forces, and Napoleon IV was crowned King of Westphalia in Cologne, reasserting his claim to the region. Despite the breakdown in relations with Vladimir Napoleon had expected the Tsar to return the German territory as promised, and initially he did so, but growing frustration on Napoleon's part over limited Polish autonomy soured the process, and Vladimir refused to recall his troops, eventually establishing his own puppet government in Denmark.

Finally, tired of Napoleon's unwelcome interference and no longer confident in their previous arrangement to split the continent between western and eastern spheres, the Tsar fully reneges upon the agreement by having himself proclaimed King of Poland and Tsar of all the Russians, including the territories of Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Although Poland still has some degree of autonomous management, it is now a federated administrative region of the Russian Empire.

What was once an ally to France has become a serious obstacle, with a huge, professional and modern army larger by far than anything that France could cobble together, even with its expanded borders. And, to make matters worse, with suspicions of Napoleon running rife in Iberia both Spain and Portugal sign treaties of alliance with the Tsar, while Turkey, Persia and Arabia, though technically under French control, align themselves more closely with Russia and her interests. The fraction of the Entente has now created two opposing factions: the Old Entente and the New Entente, both claiming to be the rightful representative of the original goals of peace and unity which the alliance once represented--but, of course, neither side is. The nations of the Entente, to a one, want land and power; at best, they want security. But there is no longer a dream of peace.

Both sides court America, but she remains aloof from all. Her debt to France paid, she turns inward again to recover from the crippling economic and physical collapse wrought by her second civil war. Until such a time as she awakens from her isolationism, war is unlikely. It is largely believed--quite probably rightly--that whichever side succeeds in gaining America's favor will inevitably secure victory in the now-unavoidable continuation war.

And so, the world prepares. Napoleon's people praise him as the second coming of his distant relation, chomping at the bit for their second chance at true European domination, and wishing most of all to punish the foolish Spanish for their niggardly repayment of the deaths sustained by the French on their behalf. Edward VIII is seen as a hero and almost divinely-sent agent by the armed forced and nobility of Britain, but his people, whom were even more receptive to his initial arrival than the French had been, have begun to grow frustrated with the harsh imposition of the old authority, with no elections or alternatives in place. A united India wonders whether it behooves her to respect the authority of Edward, who did little for her, while South Africa, which stretches now from Cape Town to Kampala, wonders the same. Even the Old Entente is not likely to survive the years leading up to the second denouement unchanged.

But much will change in that time, not least of all war. The Russians are mighty in numbers, but lacking in innovation. Already Napoleon prepares the construction of new weapons of the future: rockets, jet planes, and now a weapon which might prove more powerful than all else, if indeed it can be harnessed. Napoleon IV will not make the same mistake as Napoleon I, rushing forward foolishly into the Russian wastes. The Russian wastes will burn with nuclear fire before a single French man loses his life in that empty wasteland, and France will have with Britain what it should have had in the first place: France will rule Europe, Britian Asia. That is the future Napoleon IV sees.