Les Flammes des Ténèbres (The Flames of Darkness)
Fanion et grenades - the emblem of the Legion
Imperial French Flag
This will be an AAR about France in an alternate history. I will be using the scenario 1897 in the mod 1914 with some custom adjustments, but I have further plans to play towards the end of the WWII using another mod. This is my first AAR, so I will need tons of suggestions. Below is a bit of my alternate history that leads up to the time of my scenario. My English is bad, but please enjoy!
Prelude
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France had won the Battle of Waterloo and succeeded in recapturing the Low Countries. Further drives toward Italy were successful as coalition forces were swept aside by the triumphant Imperial Army, bringing Italy once again in to French control. The bid for mastery over the Iberian Peninsula heated up again as French troops crossed the Pyrenees and took important cities such as Barcelona, Valencia, and even the capitol Madrid. However, the French attempt of bringing the Iberian Peninsula into Imperial rule came to a halt as Wellington brought up old memories of French defeat in the region and prevented Portugal and Southern Spain from falling in to French control. Furthermore, another drive across the Rhine was also checked as Prussian, Austrian, and Russian troops finally put an end to the French advance near Nuremberg. Realizing that more than a decade of continuous campaigning had already severely drained France’s manpower pool, Napoleon decided that a peace agreement must be reached. Napoleon proposed only moderate claims compared to his conquests at that time, which included the recognition of the annexation of the Low Countries, parts of northern Italy, and a Bonaparte into the Spanish Throne, and a compromised peace was reached in the treaty of Paris in 1816.
The decade of 1860s begun with Italy and Spain firmly within the French sphere of influence, Germany a mere collection of small, irrelevant states, Austria struggling harder than ever with her multinational subjects, Russia still licking her wounds she suffered in the Crimean War, and Britain embroiled in colonial matters since the start of the unexpected lengthy Indian Mutiny. Almost fifty years had passed on with France remained as the dominant continental power in Europe, and the Imperial Empire felt free to pursuit her interest around the world with her Napoleonic supremacy over the continent. France was alarmed with her longtime rival Britain’s colonial expansions, and followed Britain’s path of overseas expansionism. It was at that time when every other great power’s attention was away did Prussia under Bismarck rose to the ranks of the great powers. With a serious of cunning diplomatic moves, Bismarck enabled Prussia to fight a one-on-one fight with Austria for the mastery of Germany. The Prussians won a spectacular victory over Austria near Prague, and quickly destroyed the morale and willingness to fight on of the Habsburgs Army. Vienna was forced to hand over the leading role of Germany to Prussia.
France at the mean time did not have any significant actions when the Prussians crushed the Austrians on the field and emerge victorious and dominant, though this is due much to the ailing health of Napoleon III. However Napoleon III did send in a few battalions of the French Foreign Legions disguised as Habsburgs Army soldiers at the request of the Austrian Emperor. The Legions gained much experience fighting the Prussians, and were astonished by the effectiveness of the Prussian Krupp artillery, which quickly dislodged the Habsburgs Army from their position. They were also surprised at the speed of the Prussian mobilization compared to the Habsburgs, and the amount of reserve the Prussians were able to brought up to compensate for their loses on the field. The fighting experience in the Austro-Prussian War proved to be useful in the next major conflict on the continent for the French.
The next conflict happened when the Bonaparte on the Spanish Throne died without an heir. Napoleon proposed his nephew to the Throne, while Prussia proposed a relative to her emperor Wilhelm I with Bourbon heritage. Prussia threatened war if another Bonaparte is installed on the Spanish Throne, and the quarrel between the two countries quickly became the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The war started with France declaring war on Prussia, but it soon involved the other German states. Almost all the German states joined the war on Prussia’s side. However, one sole German state, Austria, joined forces with France. Prussia faced a possible two-front war, and decided to first finish Austria once and for all. Prussia quickly crushed Austria again, despite the full help of the French Italian Army. With the defeat of the French Italian Army, Italian Nationalists, notably Garibaldi rose up against French rule. Surprised by the quick collapse of his ally and danger of losing French Italian possessions, Napoleon III ordered the French Foreign Legion into action again, this time for its first deployment into mainland France for a full offensive drive across the Rhine. However, the Prussians acted faster. They managed a rapid redeployment of their armies and caught the main French Army in Alsace-Lorraine in surprise. After a series of defeat, the remnants of La Grande Armée were encircled at Sedan. However, the French Foreign Legion arrived just in time to avoid complete disaster. The Legionnaires brought in the French secret weapon: the Mitrailleuse, and used them effectively and efficiently in short ranges to stalled the Prussian attempt of encircling and destroying the French Army. The Legionnaires bought enough time for the French Army to withdraw and avoid complete annihilation. However, Napoleon III was caught in a renew Prussian artillery bombarment, and died leading his troops to safety.
Prussia at that time still had enough strength for a drive towards Paris and beat the French to their knees, but the threat of other Great Powers became more evident. Although Britain supported the Prussian cause, it is unlikely that they will send an army to the continent in aid for her allies. Russia, with her massive army, had much recover since the Crimean War, and greedily overlooked Austrian Possesions in Poland and the Balkans. Prussia could not afford having Russia in Austrian lands, and thus seeked a peace with the French so she can turn her attention towards east to check Russian ambitions. France was in complete chaos with the death of their leader, Napoleon III, and doesn’t have enough trained soldiers to defend another Prussian offensive drive and retain order in the country. Thus a newly set up republic, the Second Republic, signed a humiliating treaty with the Prussians, which includes renouncing claims on the Spanish Throne, the ceding of Alsace-Lorraine, and also the recognition of an Independent Italy free of French control. Free of French and Austrian intervention, Prussia could also pursue the dream of all German nationalists: a united German Empire. The problem for the emerging Empire was how far should the realm of the Empire be stretched? Prussia’s original plan is to only include Prussia and the other German states excluding Austria. However, it became clear that the Austrian Empire had totally collapse after two disastrous campign in such a short period of five years, and a strong German majority would save the Österreich and check the Eastern Behemoth Russia. Thus it was planned to annex Austria proper, Austrian Slovenia, and Bohemia-Moravia-Silesia into the Reich, while the other lands can form a Hungarian Kingdom that is under the Reich’s sphere of influence. However, a half-mad Hungarian, perhaps driven mad by loss of his sons in the campaigns against Prussia, tried to assasinate Wilhelm I and his Chancellor Bismarck as they were parading in Berlin. The assassin used a revolver at point blank range, and all his six shots made hits, though only one proved fatal: the shot that went through the head of Crown Prince Federick III, who was in the same carriage with Wilhelm I and Bismarck. Madded by the death of his son and heir, Wilhelm I ordered a full annexation of Hungary must also occur. The Prussian Army met heavy resistance from the Magyars, and a heavy street fighting occurred in Budapest that lasted for days. The Prussians emerged victorious after the capture of the Royal Buda Castle, and a birth of a new empire can take place……
To the horrors of the other major power, a new powerful empire begun to emerge from the ruins of “Old Europe”. The new Empire consists of all the German states, the territories of Alsace-Lorraine, and all former Austrian lands. The Kingdom of Hungary became one of the Kingdoms within the Empire with her own consitution and certain levels of autonomy unmatched by other states. Major powers opposed this, but only Russia have enough weight to make the Prussians felt threatened. Britain could not possibly intervene continental matters by much due to their focus on overseas expansions, Italy gave the Empire her support in exchange for the Empire’s support for her independence, while France was forced to recognize the Empire or she will have to grant independence to the Low Countries as an additional term to the peace treaty. Therefore, Russia, with her armies massing along her border along Prussia and Austria, was the only threat to the birth of the Empire.
Bismarck, though agonized with a bullet in his ribs that was deemed to dangerous to remove, mount a full diplomatic offensive on Russia. In the end with Bismarck’s cunning and the might of Prussian Army Superiority, the Russians, caved in to, possibly fearing that their Polish Provinces might be at risk after witnessing France, the military colossus for centuries, and Austria, the great bulwark against Eastern, especially Ottoman, aggresions, being defeated so swiftly and decisively on the field. In exchange for the recognition of the Empire, the Empire agreed to support Russia’s denouncing of the terms imposed on Russia after the Crimean War, which included the prohibition of a Black Sea Fleet for Russia. The Empire also secretly agreed with Russia for future ambitions againsts the declining Ottoman Empire.
Thus, the new Empire, proclaimed the Second Reich, was born with the Coronation of Wilhelm I as the Emperor in the Palace of Versailles. France’s dominant role over the continent was replaced by the Reich, and it seems that Berlin now is the capital of the World. France, defeated and humiliated, vowes for revanche against the Reich…….
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France, 1897, a country recently recovered from the scandalous Dreyfus Affair that deeply divided the nation, is back ready to recover her Napoleonic Gloire.
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Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask, how do I post picture up this forum? Yes, this question may sound silly but I REALLY don’t know. I have never posted one before, and I’m kind of bad dealing with things related to computers. I have some nice screenshots of my game ready, but can someone please tell me how to post them?
Thank you for reading.
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Here is the table of contents!
Screenshots
Chapter Zero
Part I
Part II
Chapter I
Part I
Part II
Part III
Screenshots
Part IV
Part V
Chapter II
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Chapter III
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Chapter IV
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Christmas Special Update
Chapter V
Part I
Part II
Part III
Short Drama II
Chapter VI
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Chapter VII
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Interlude
Part II
Chapter VIII
Part I
Part II
Part III
Chapter IX
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