The Way of One - A Sardinia AAR

February 5th, 1836

Carlo Alberto stood on the bridge of the Regina, the Armata del Mare's flsgship. Behind him, the mighty Sardinian navy, three more frigates, about a dozen clippers, and an equal number of corvettes, plowed through the western mediterranean. To the south, the coast of Northern Africa. But the king had no eyes for such things. For just over the horizon, a ship was visible that caused him much more distress. It was a French corvette, the Patience. The ship had followed them since they had left the port of Genova.
But there was time for that later. With a click, he closed his binoculars. Tomorrow, the landing on the beach east of Algier would begin. His generals expected no opposition north of the town of Tlemcen several miles to the inland. Moslem forces had amassed on the plateau south of that point, but their primitive weapons could not oppose the host of Sardinia...


5 Juli, 1836

The Sardinian Army tracked through the endless Haute Plateau. For months they had marched through the area, raising the Sardinian flag at every village. The weak native forces had attacked them, but they had been utterly unable to damage the Sardinian troops. The terrain, and the resisters among the local population had take that part upon themselves.

Still, Carlo Alberto and his men longed for a change. That loomed on the horizon, but seeing as how it took the form of the French Tricolore, it was not exactly what they had hoped for...


The French and Sardinian divisions had finally met. In the shade of the Frenchmen's leaser's great and luxurious tent, King Carlo Alberto spoke with Mareshal Bugeaud, the French general. The latter could not help but be surprised that the king himself led the Sardinian troops, as in medieval times...
"Your Majesty, I am sure you understand the situation we find ourselves in, " d'Isly began. "With the recent revolts only just settled, your... expedition only serves to further upset the population."
Carlo Alberto leaned back in his seat. "I am sure a solution can be found." As much as he disliked it, the French forces in Algeria alone outnumbered his entire army.
The marshal nodded. "Excellent! France has legitimite claims on the Bey of Constantine's lands, as well as those of Nemencha to the south. As to this place here - surely you agree that it is worthless. I shall be happy to keep it under control for you. We shall leave you the mines of Tlemcen - a good compromise, non?"
Carlo Alberto sighed. There was no way he could alter the dictate of France. The only thing left to him was to try and save his face...


The first part of Northern Africa's occupation had the form of a short and relatively unbloody war. Shortly after the landing of the Sardinian army, a French army of a grand total of six divisions launched an invasion of all Aldjazairian provinces that bordered the already accupied Algerian provinces. Despite a short-lived victory against the French near Aures, Nemencha was occupied Octobre. Almost all of Algeria was formally added to the "Grand Nation" on Decembre 17th, 1836. Only the region around the town of Tlemcen, and the western Atlas mountains were granted to the Sardinians. In the end, even though Sardinia was publically blamed for the outbreak of hostilities, in the backchambers of London France was ultimately seen as the imperialistic aggressor.


During the campaigns in Algeria, the Sardinian Army had made a less than stellar debut in its first major operation since the Napoleonic Wars. Lacking a doctrine of organization, the soldiers more or less tumbled through the countryside. That was enough to defeat a weak opponent like Aldjazair - but soon, it was planned that they would participate in campaigns in Europe itself.
Luckily, a solution was found. Sardinian diplomats travelling to Paris to formalize the treaty the king and the Duc d'Isly had crafted. There, they made the acquiantance of a distinguished Swiss citizen, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars in the service of both France and Russia, Antoine Henri, Baron de Jomini. He agreed to train the Sardinian army in the insights he had gained during his campaigns, including the Russian desaster of the French "Grand Armée".

In accordance to his plans for a "Kingdom of Mauretania," the armies of Sardinia marched into Morrocco, beginning on February 25th. Again, the French were quick to react. The Morrocan army was even weaker than the one of Aldjazair, and the Sardinian-French alliance (their pact had been officially announcedon the First of Mai, 1837) quickly annexed the country. French dominance was once again clearly shown, when Sardinia had to be content with only an expansive but worthless stretch of land in the south.

In the homelands, not everything had been calm. Unrest caused by pro-Italian movements led to massive fights between nationalists and government forces on the island of Sardinia. A great deal of real estate was destroyed or confiscated, leaving much of the population impoverished. But the situation was even worse in the rest of Italy: Reactionary tendencies in the Two Sicilies led to a mass exodus of the intelligencia to Northern Italy, particularly Sardinia-Piedmont. Among them were many financial experts, which the government, led by Sepanti while the king was busy campaigning, welcomed with open arms. This eventually led to the opening of the first stock exchange on the entire peninsula in Torino on the 30th of January, 1837.

France, meanwhile, continued her engagement in the Arabic world. The Ottomans, worried by the quick fall of the Algerian realms, had undertaken massive reforms, and accepted the help of Prussian advisors. This resulted in a great increase of the Ottoman military capabilities. With Prussia covering their back, they felt strong enough to counter Egyptian expansion in Syria. The French immediately sized this opportunity, and sided with Egypt, declaring war on the Ottoman Empire! The Prussians, though they allied with the Ottomans, decided not to risk war with France, and did not intervene militarilly. Although Sardinia was, in the long run, dependent on the good graces of France, this was clearly out of their league. They decided to remain neutral for now, especially as the French did not even ask them for support. The 2nd Orient Crisis had begun.

[/AAR]

Thanks for the encouragement! I fear this update isn't very interesting... but I was quite surprised when the French declared war on Morrocco... they normally leave it for the others to conquer, for now .

@coz1: The problem with Sardinia is that their dependant on French support... I just hope that their strong enough (and motivated ) when the time comes!

@Zeppelin: Just be careful, I installed VIP over the German version, resulting in a messy conglomerate of languages . Something I'll correct when I come around to do it...