The Emperor Strikes Back!

[Kurt_Steiner]

Before starting, some explanations are needed, I guess.

This is going to be -if I manage not to spoil it- a Napoleonic AAR. And you may say "Hey, Kurty, this is VictoriAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Nappy is rotting in Elba! He's pretty dead, I can swear it". Indeed. Nappy is pretty dead. That's the beauty of it.

You can blame Hannibal Barca for giving me a starting point, but poor good old Hannibal is not to be blamed at all, as this is not going to be the tipical zombie story. Having Nappy back is just the excuse. Or not. Or else. In any case, we shall see.

And you may add: "France? Why?". Because if the worst happens and I get beaten, we'll love it anyway, because we all love seeing France trashed, isn't it?

I should add that I'm not using any mod, and just implemented a silly event that set the Bonapartist party ruling in France.

Game: Victoria. No mods, nothing but vanilla Victoria.
Country: France.
Goal: Napoleonic revenge.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Chapter One. The Return of the Emperor.

Taken from "When the Dead Walked among the Living", by Douglas Child (London, 1973).

“Although there is no record of how Napoleon rose from his grave, there is a clear memory and data about its consecuences. All the attempt to bring back to France the body of the deceased emperor had failed. First it had been rejected in 1840 by the Viscount Melbourne, who still felt in a bit shaky position after the Bedchamber Crisis (1839) and wanted to give a show of strenght. The next attempt, in 1849, was refused by John Russell, as the Prime Minister was too busy dealing with the the Great Irish Famine and coping with his headstrong Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston.

“Two years later, the imposible took place.

“On 2 October 1851, the once cold corpse of the former Emperor of France rose from his grave and still cold, but, by some strange phenomenon, very alive, departed St. Helene on board of an old merchant ship. Napoleon had a fast travel and he landed near Antibes, as he had done more than thirty years back, on 2 November. Nothing dautened, he addresed to those he found in the docks, and told him ‘I will arrive in Paris without firing a shot’. As sailor declared later on, ‘it was terrifying, to see him back, alive, or something like that, with an eerie halo around his pale face and his glittering eyes’.

“He moved, through snow and ice, along the rout he had used thirty years ago, through the Basses-Alpes to Grenoble. He had managed to gather a guard of barely twenty men from the garrison at Antibes, five policemen and some civilians. Leaving Grasse on 13 November, the diminute army proceeded to Paris, gathering more and more supporteres on the way, so that, on 16 November, he had nearly two hundred men with him when he entered in Gap. That very day, Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud, a Marshal of France and Minister of War, declared Bonaparte an outlaw. Two days later came the moment of truth, when, near Grenoble, a major Merchand, with a small detachment, tried to intercept him. Ever the gambler, Napoleon adressed to Merchand's infantry, at gunshot, using his super histrionic talents. It is said that he just opened his coat, to expose the uniform of the Chasseurs de la Garde, and repeated the inmortal words he had said in 1815 but with a twist. ‘Here I am, kill your Emperor... if you can’. Then came the mighty roar ‘Vive l'Empereur!’, and the soldiers crowded around him in high emotion, while a smile appeared in Bonaparte 's cold lips.

“The whole detachment joined him, who swept into Grenoble four days later, on 20 November, with the garrison and the peasants at Grenoble joining him yelling ‘Long live the Emperor!’. Soon he had almost 5,000 men under his command, with 20 guns, and moved to Lyon, where he was received rapturously by the population. All the forces sent against him changed sides, as in his first return, and joined him. He was dead, indeed, but who cared? Napoleon finally arrived to Paris as the darkness gathered at 9pm, on 2 December 1851, the 47th anniversary of Napoleon I's crowning as Emperor, and also the 46th anniversary of the famous Battle of Austerlitz. Incredibly, the Emperor was back at the Tuileries, without shedding a drop of blood. Again, he had gained an Empire simply by showing his old hat.

“When the news of his return (to life –or something like that- and to France) reached the European chancilleries, all of Europe's ministers and sovereigns were stunned. Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg , the Austrian Prime minister, and John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, the Whig Prime Minister, were stunned and appaled, as the Kaiser and the Czar were, too. The first idea was to declare war... but... how to declare war against a zombie?

“Of course, they couldn’t.”

[Lordban]

He's just one zombie, they've got 80 divisions

[henkalv]

He's just one zombie, they've got 80 divisions

He is`t just a zombie! He is France!

Vive L`France! Vive (or something like that)L`emperur!

great start, i`l be following

[Asalto]

Great start, looking forward to more.

[Kurt_Steiner]

He's just one zombie, they've got 80 divisions

Those divisions are made of mortal flesh. Nappy can't die...

He is`t just a zombie! He is France!

Vive L`France! Vive (or something like that)L`emperur!

great start, i`l be following

Thanks! I hope that France will conquer the world!




or bleed white trying...

Great start, looking forward to more.

Thanks! As soon as L'Empereur decides what comes next, we shall know!

[volksmarschall]

LOL! Only one word can describe what this is going to be like: EPIC!

[Tommy4ever]

YES!

No other words can describe my enthusiasm for this endeavour.

[Legosim]

You're insane.

I cannot wait for more.

[Kurt_Steiner]

LOL! Only one word can describe what this is going to be like: EPIC!

I hope to do an AAR worth of that word and of your expectations.

YES!

No other words can describe my enthusiasm for this endeavour.

My words, exactly.

You're insane.

I cannot wait for more.

Kurt Insane Steiner at your service, indeed.

[TreizeV]

WOOHOO go Nappy nice to read one of your AARs again Kurt. VIVE L'EMPEREUR!

What's first on our list? Burn the victory on the shores of France Sink the royal navy? hang Victoria from a lamp post?

Btw, what did you mod the event to give you in the game?

[Vesimir]

I'll read it. Go get'em Nappy!

Vive Napoleon! Vive l'France! Vive l'Empereur!

[Kurt_Steiner]

WOOHOO go Nappy nice to read one of your AARs again Kurt. VIVE L'EMPEREUR!

What's first on our list? Burn the victory on the shores of France Sink the royal navy? hang Victoria from a lamp post?

Btw, what did you mod the event to give you in the game?

The first thing on the list of the Emperor are brains. J.H.D. Brains and his family, actually. Brains was a British soldier who make fun of his short high at St. Helene, mentioning that even his daughter of six months was taller than Bonaparte.

(sorry, bad jokes and me are one and the same thing...)

Well, Napoleon has a list of what-to-do (burn Britain! annhilate the Royal Navy!) and what-not-to-do-again (Spain... Russia... erm... nice places, good weather...erm... what comes next, please?), of course, but he is decided to re-arrange Europe -well, we all have our habits, I guess- and, indeed, the rest of the world. Too many colours on the map, you know...

I haven't modded anything -too green on Vicky, methinks, for that. I've just written an event, mixing the Carlist victory and the Napoleon III victory events, and there you got it.

I'll read it. Go get'em Nappy!

Vive Napoleon! Vive l'France! Vive l'Empereur!

The Empereur is ready for conquest. But. is the world ready for him?

I'm writting another update, to introduce a bit the historical context of the game and to have one of those moments of pleasure being a freak. I was reading last night a book about Waterloo and Cambronne (Rougement version) got my imagination...

[Auray]

Haha, awesome!

[Kurt_Steiner]

Chapter Two. Et in the Champs-Élysées ego...

The celebration of the Second Restoration of Napoleon of December 1860 were as disturbing as impressive for the French and the foreigners there. As the units of the French army ended their traditional parade in the Champs-Élysées and everybody prepared to go to the official lunch, everybody freeze on their place as they realized that the undead Emperor had not moved from his place and waited, with a thin smile on his pale face, to something that was still to come.

Some moments later everybody could hear the noises of more soldiers marching down the long avenue. Even the close advisors and collaborators of Napoleon were puzzled, as the parade has ended and all the units of the army had made their pass. Thus they thought. Then, two quite familiar figures appeared in the avenue, leading rank after rank of pale soldiers.

As flamboyant as ever, Joachim Murat, dressed as a maréchal of the Empire, ride in front of a force of cavalry, followed by the flags of the regiments -or what remained of- and the silent waves of horsemen. As a gentle breeze moved the flags, the observers saw with horrified amazement that they belong to the old cavalry regiments of the Garde Impériale: they were the Grenadiers-à-Cheval, the Chasseurs-a-Cheval, the Dragons de l'Impératrice, and even the Polish lancers of the Chevau-Legers Polonaise and the Dutch riders of the Chevau-Legers-Lanciers.

Rank after rank of the grave horsemen went down the avenue. They were hardly four thousand of them, but they struck awe in the souls of the Parisians gathered there.

And then, it was more to come.

Again, a mythical figure had risen from the grave and ride in front the infantry which followed him. The Bravest of the Brave, le Rougeaud, maréchal Michel Ney, led from his stallion the soldiers of the Foot Guard: the Grenadiers-à-Pied and the Chasseurs-à-Pied of the old Guard, the Tirailleurs and the Voltigeurs of the Young Guard, followed by some batteries of the old Gribeauval guns, which were soon to be changed by more updated version. All in all, you could see 12,000 men wearing the old uniforms, marching in the old closed order, grave vissages, eyes front, under the banners of the Empire.

Those soldiers, on horse or on foot, had something in common. They all have been killed at the serivce of the Emperor, at Marengo, Austerlitz, Borodino, Leipzig or at Waterloo. And they were back with a wish: vengeance, a wish that lighted cold fires in their eyes, which were just a pale reflect of the burning storm that give color to the dead eyes of the Emperor.

They were the clear message of Napoleon to the world and to his old enemies.

"France is back.

I'm back".

Europe on July, 1861*

*Due to the (undead) butterflies of the return of Napoleon, all the attempt to unify Italy have failed. Don't panic. The Emperor will sort this out

[Lordban]

Most of the Papal States do seem to have revolted and formed Italy

It's time to kick Prussia and chew on Belgium! You MUST reclaim the natural frontiers!

[Tommy4ever]

"France is back.

I'm back".[/I]

May god have mercy on us all

Please do most of your ravging in the traditional stomping grounds in Spain, Germany and the Benelux

[henkalv]

I really hope Murat gets some action, he must be the character that I like better from that era, I mean the man instructed his own executioners do to it right.

[Lordban]

May god have mercy on us all

Please do most of your ravging in the traditional stomping grounds in Spain, Germany and the Benelux

Eh? How would revenge be complete without the conquest of Perfidious Albion?

[Kurt_Steiner]

Most of the Papal States do seem to have revolted and formed Italy

It's time to kick Prussia and chew on Belgium! You MUST reclaim the natural frontiers!

Well, erm... yes. I thought that another state more would make the Italian Peninsula a happier place. The more, the merrier, you know.

May god have mercy on us all

Please do most of your ravging in the traditional stomping grounds in Spain, Germany and the Benelux

Nappy has some questions to solve (Bailen, Leipzig...) with the two first nations. And the Benelux... who knows...

I really hope Murat gets some action, he must be the character that I like better from that era, I mean the man instructed his own executioners do to it right.

I have great plans for him. And for Ney. And more to come.

Eh? How would revenge be complete without the conquest of Perfidious Albion?

Conquering England goes included in the word "revenge", of course.