The Son of the Emperor

The first days of the year 1841, the beginning of the eleventh year of reign for Emperor Napoleon II would begin out marvelous. Support for the party that bore his last name had further gained support amongst the upper house of the National Assembly, and now controlled an estimated twenty seven perfect of the seats. In mid January a conference was held with the great minds of the sciences throughout France. This conference, which would eventually become a normal event throughout the country, as the administration thought to further integrate the scientific development into more beneficial results for the military. Two very beneficial results would be applied over the next few months, these results were expected to lead to an increase in the output of small arms and canned foods.

Evidence of why France needed a strong military and navy kept creeping up. In late January, the United Kingdom flexed its muscle, forcing Afghanistan to cede the Kalat region. While nominally far away from France’s sphere of influence, the message was clear. In order to survive, France would have to tread carefully, but in the end she would have to either reconcile her relation with her long time rival or surpass it. When Napoleon II had visited for the coronation of Queen Victoria, it was hoped the reconciliation would begin; however over the past two years nothing had happened.

In fact, France and Britain were slowly drifting closer and closer to a state of war. One prime example of escalation towards war was the completion of the naval dockyards at Dunkirk, Amiens, Brest and Marsilles. The expansion of these vital dockyards would allow for additional construction of man of wars and frigates, along with additional supply capacity for France’s thriving merchant marine. Of growing concern to Britain was France’s increase in naval strength; which had been increased to 30 men of war and 36 frigates.


In the early summer months, construction of a vital factory began in Alsace-Lorraine. The factory, which would produce mechanical parts for France’s growing industrialized economy was compromise between the capitalists of the region and the government, with both parties equally funding the project. These machine parts as they were commonly called would further increase the production of relatively troublesome items to manufacture, like ammunition. The compromise which would spark the creation of the factory was worth it, though not highly publicized for its implications would be shown as favoritism. The rich strata’s taxes had been hovering at fifty percent since the ascension of Napoleon II, now they were to be lowered in half to twenty five percent, while the poor and middle strata’s paid nearly eighty percent in taxes.

With the summer nearly over, and the year beginning its last few months, the country was relatively at ease. Major conflict in Europe had been avoided for another year, though tensions were high as ever. France would contribute to the high European tensions even further on August 31st, when a military alliance was signed with Greece. The alliance with Greece both angered the British and Russians, who saw a possible French encroachment on Constantinople. Though influence within Constantinople would be desirable, the main reason for the military agreement was to distract Europe from France’s main intentions, and provoke a possible confrontation with the Ottoman Empire; which would allow France to gobble up its African territory.


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The intent of France was to provoke a war, why provoke a war? Provoking a war would provide France and Napoleon more legitimacy in the eyes of Europe, though as if that hardly mattered compared to the prejudices certain nations and rulers seemed to show towards France. In seeking to further tempt the powers that be, the French navy was beginning another phase of construction in early January of 1842. Six additional frigates, each consisting of 44 guns, and three new men of wars of 102 guns were being constructed within its harbors.

With March approaching, relations between France and some of its so called allies were beginning to thaw, but not for the best. A report was received by the Foreign Ministry that Belgium was beginning to interfere with Portugal, which was firmly within the French sphere of influence. A sharp rebuke was aimed towards Belgium; which immediately pulled its ambassador from Lisbon. Though highly unlikely to have been used, France was prepared to escalate the situation into war if need be.


Throughout the year, additional inventions and scientific improvements were discovered. Ranging from pressure chambers for thorax surgery, machine tools, and railroad transport groups, none of the inventions were important was the development that would spark a massive expenditure within the treasury. The improvement of the railroads were a joint venture between the capitalists, which focused mostly on the urbanized and developing industrial centers of the nation while the government would be tasked with funding the construction of improvements to railroads to the rural areas.

Before long December had arrived, snow was falling around Versailles which delighted the Imperial Children who were now 10 (Marie Louise); 7 (Philippe) and 5 (Joseph). The Young Guard that watched over the Imperial Household always felt honored to watch the children play. To them, the children seemed to bring sense of vitality and joy to the household, if not the entire nation. However blessed the soldiers felt, war always loomed on the horizon. If general European war was declared, the Guard would be called away from the household off to war.

If by queue, three wars instantly broke out in December, two wars within the same region of the world, North Africa. The first war would involve the Ottoman Empire and Tripoli, which was a rematch from earlier. The second war was also a rematch; France declared a protectorate over Algeria; which refused to acknowledge France’s right to rule. The last war would break out between the United States and Mexico, over a peace of desert.


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Algeria, its deserts were of no value to the French, except the constant remainder of an independent nation that would remain a thorn within the side of the French people had to be subdued. The biggest obstacle of subduing Algeria would be its capital, Constantine; which French troops had miraculously taken back in 1836. The assault on Constantine would fall under the responsibility of General Joseph de Bourbon, who commanded 18,000 battle hardened troops. On January 4th, the assault on Constantine began, an estimated 9,000 defenders were estimated with be within the cities walls. Mirroring the situation in 1836, the city fell within three days, with only 413 French soldiers killed, missing or wounded. The garrison had been much unluckier, with the entire force captured or killed.

Before news could reach back to Marsilles, where Emperor Napoleon II was with his family on a retreat to the warmer climate, a disturbing chain of events had happened. King Charles Albert of Sardinia-Piedmont had misinterpreted French intentions to unite Italy. Advisors to the King had thought that France wanted to see a fully united Italian peninsula, which was contrary to Napoleon’s true intention. In his haste to unite Italy under Sardinia’s rule, on January 9th war was declared against the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, without any notification sent to France. On January 15th, Napoleon received news of Sardinia’s declaration of war, which was quickly followed by Austria’s declaration of war against Sardinia.


Napoleon II was faced with a difficult decision; his honor bound him to declare war in response to Austria’s declaration of war against Sardinia; yet his heritage bound him to mediate the situation. To declare war against the land he was raised as a child in, where his wife had been born and lived for many years until recently was a disturbing thought. Deep down though, the former favorite of the Austrian court knew that one day France would have to confront Austria about her domain over portions of northern Italy. The thought of having to one day confront Austria did not make the process any easier.

In a letter marked January 17th, 1843 to Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, Napoleon laid out his reasons for war. While France’s nominal ally Sardinia-Piedmont had acted in haste and aggression, it was France’s honor and mission to unite the Italian people. Napoleon promised to have the war only affect Austria’s holdings within northern Italy and Denmark, as long as Austria would agree to such terms. If Austria did not respect these wishes, our sought to bring in additional allies outside of the ones already called to arms, France was prepared to risk a full scale general European war.

Both sides appeared numerically even in the war. France had dispatched closed to 90,000 soldiers in three corps. The Mediterranean Fleet consisting of 15 Men of Wars and 15 Frigates was believed to be more than capable of handling the Austrian fleet. If the Austrian fleet proved more than a handful, France had an additional 20 Men of Wars and frigates available at Tangier and Brest. Now all the remained was to see how the other powers of Europe would receive this war.


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