Prologue: The rise of the Patriots
I dont think this one has been done before
Enjoy!
Quebec City, 5th July 1773.
"New war taxes?!" exclaimed a furious merchant. Like many other Red Coats, Thomas had little sympathy for the ex-french colonials; he was all too pleased that the new orders from General Amherst called for the systematic exploitation of Canada. Delicious irony, was it not, that Canadian ducats would pay to smash the American rebellion.
What George did not know however, was that it would proove insufficient. For at that moment in the palace of the King-Emperor of the British...
"... and with the regards of, Grace of God, King of Prussia-Brandeburg, Kleves, Saxony, and Silesia, overlord of Poland-Lithuania, His Majesty Frederich II, we bring to your Highness the present, by which the Kingdom of..."
"To the point! I don't have all day!" shouted the young monarch. Regaining his composture, the red-faced messenger explained "Unless the Crown of Hannover and it's dependancies is handed over to their legitimate protector, our Kingdom of Prussia, England should consider a state of war now exists between our nations."
Georges III blinked, then rudely laughed for a long moment. "Would you like Gilbraltar while we are at it? Or two sugars with your tea? Foolish Prussian upstarts! Burgyone will chase you back to Courland before my wheat is ripe for harvest!"
But all the dreams of the King would do little to alter reality. Less than two months after this fateful day, British armies were being pushed back on the continent by the ambitious Frederick and his own dream of unification. And since bad news never came alone, the French were using the war to mass forces in the small remanants of their Indian possession, hoping to rival British claims to the sub-continent. And with the colonial uprising, British ressources were getting stretched thinly. This new war would proove difficult...
British military headquarters, Northern America, March 12th, 1774
"General Amherst, we welcome you to the Crown Point!" saluted the junior officiers in charge of the garison. Their uniforms were splendid and their behavior impeccable - no matter the times, no matter the foes, nothing less was expected from an officier of the British Empire. And there was some reasons to celebrate, the rebel army having been pushed back in a large battle in the district of Sebago.
If some Red Coats were willing to declare the americans beaten after the capture of Maine, nothing seemed less certain to the Commander in Chief. From Philadelphia, the arrogant Rebels had declared a republic, which would be nothing but paper if it were not for the Continental Army. That traitor Washington was turning the colonial rabble into a professional army... He knew more ressources would need to be devoted to the fight for the cause to triumph. His pleas to London brought always the same answer "Raise the taxes in the controlled areas, we are stretched thin here too"; but there was only so much Canada could yield. Still, he fought on for the Crown and won more victories for His Majesty.
Then, what nobody thought possible happened; the tide of freedom from the americas caused a large political crisis that spread like wild fire across the Empire. The palace of Buckingham was stormed by the angry, and more importantly hungry, people of the city after the poor harvests of 1774. Almost losing his throne in the process, George III led the kingdom through an harsh civil war that would last five years, and would cost Britain her German states and a sizable part of her Indian Empire before stability returned.
But meanwhile, Amherst was practically on his own in the Americas, faced with a threat growing each day. Paying too much attention to the front and too little to the rear is a mistake many Generals have been guilty of throughout history; and Amherst would be the next.
The Palace of the Governor, Quebec City, October 1774.
"My lord, my lord! The little folk!" The old British governor looked with disdain at the panicked valet rushing into the room, waiting for a clearer explanation. "They are marching on the palace! It's that upstart Patriots Party, milord, they say they want..." but he was cut short by an aristocrat who could not care less about what his people might want. They were conquered fair and square, after all. Williams G. Longcaster sent his Red Coats to stop the uprising and disperse the crowd.
As the commoners with their forks and old muskets threw back the waves of the Red Coats, Jean Lévesque smiled triumphantly as he pressed them onward. His fellows of the Patriot Party controlled most of the nevralgic points of the city by now. It was time for the conquerors to leave, and it was time for his nation to eat and live in dignity. Freedom. It was a new idea, or an old one making a fresh comeback; it mattered little. It was one that was pleasant to his ears, after fifteen years of vasselage to a foreign King an ocean away. Since the Conquest nothing had been the same. It was time for Quebec to rise again.
Soon his tiny movement of resistance spread across the colony; At the battles of St-Eustache, St-Denis and St-Charles, the people of Quebec earned their freedom; in less than three months rebels controlled the entire territory. It is true that most of the British Army was engaged far to the south against the american rebels, but it wasnt the time to discuss their merits but to prepare for the unavoidable storm of the British counterattack.
What once was the private palace of the British Governor had been turned with haste into the National Assembly, where the leaders of the liberation factions from across the colony came to draft on paper the future of Quebec. It was not a surprise when the Patriot Party leader, Jean Lévesque, pleaded with vigor in favor of a Republic, and it wasnt any more when Marc Villeneuve, the leader of the faction that had wrested control of Montreal from the Imperials, supported him vehemently. With the two main political personas of the colony united, worked progressed at an amazing pace. After four days of deliberations, La Déclaration d'Indépendance was ready and read loudly across the land, abolishing the feudal system of the Lords, instauring equal representation, rights for the natives, the freedom of the citizens, and calling the nation to arms.
On november 15th, 1774, the nations of the Old World learned with shock that the free people of Québec had taken arms, and declared their independence from their former opressors in Great-Britain. The white and blue Fleurdelisé appeared across the valley of the St-Lawrence. President Levesque's call to arms is answered unanimously by the small but determined republic, but the task ahead is gigantic.
The Hour of Destiny
The National Assembly was perplexed by the seemingly unsurmountable problems they were faced with. The nation had no funds, strictly none at all. Chaos was still common in rural areas and the standing forces were almost non-existant, not to speak of the quality of their formation or equipment. It is needless to say the grain and fur based economy would take some time to turn it into a war machine able to rival Britain's; the finest of the world. But in darkness there is always a ray of hope, and this ray of hope came from the south.
Benjamin Franklin, endowed with full representative powers by the revolutionary Congress in Philadelphia, arrived in Québec with an array of proposals and praises, with the firm intent of including the newborn republic into his United-States. Despite the respect and the courtesy with which he was treated, it was soon clear his plan would not take hold; Québec was far too mefiant of the english speaking southerners. But in this hour of peril, with British troops firmly in control of New York and threatening the seat of the congress, the was little time for nitpicking.
Pacts were singed with the northern neighbourg Franklin had to accept as an equal partener. Of these pacts, the most important for Québec was the Act of Free Trade. With Britain banned from the economic centers of America for the time being, vast ressources lied untapped, and the american demand for wood and food was one Quebec could fullfil. Surprisingly soon, thanks to this pact, three quarters of the trade of Manhattan went into the coffers of the small republic, who decupled it's income overnight. Militias were raised, and used to throw back the disorganized british units raiding across the countryside.
Soon, commerce was followed by alliance. The bulk of the British forces being engaged in the south, Quebec accepted to raid its northern possessions, liberating Maine for it's new ally, and burning trading posts across the coast. The situation was becoming unbearable for Amherst, who finally accepted the fact of American independence. The treaty of Paris of 1778 confirmed the fact. In exchange, the americans accepted to renounce their claims on some areas in New-England, mainly in the north. Because if the organized and numerous americans had beaten back his armies, the proud general was not going to let the french colonial rabble get away with it's pathetic rebellion. Once more pride was getting the best of him.
From Europe also arrived General Cornwallis, a far greater tactician, who for a time made life quite rough for the young republic. But the British ressources were in no better shape. After initial successes and the capture of Montreal, the total lack of Red Coat reinforcements allowed the Québécois to beat back the english to the south. Confident of their serious problems, they refused a white peace, intent on liberating all of the former colony. Small squads of cavalry were dispatched north and west, burning trading posts and making the path clear for the legimate rulers of the land. Welcomed generally peacefully by the natives, the most successful units went all the way to Louisiana in the south, leaving behind them a long trail of fire and destruction.
In the more critical areas of the battlefield, the lack of fortifications made the task easy for the young liberation army, who captured what northern states the americans had been forced to yield at great speed. If some english bastions held in the maritimes, including the powerful Isle Royale, the loss of all their trading empire was an incredible blow the English. Unable to trade their ashes for peace, it is with great fury that Georges III finally consented to hand over large chunks of colonized territory to the northern rebels.
When the Treaty of Quebec was signed, the total forces remaining in the field for the republic numbered less than twelve thousand. In fact rarely had they numbered more than twice that amount, but the force in presence, the once-mighty Empire, had no way to fight them. The Treaty gave Quebec all it could hope for: all the important colonized territories in the north down to the Penobscot/Adricondak/Sebago line, the effective possibility to colonize half a continent, now mostly unclaimed, and the balance of the British treasury; admittedly not much.
Peace and consolidation
With this stunning victory, President Levesque, named during the crisis by the National Assembly, was soon confirmed in his functions by the people of the republic, and the country began it's reconstruction. Policies were established rapidly, with one thing in mind; immigration and population. Despite its newfound size, the republic was still heavily underpopulated, and it would take some time for it to grow. But the policies of the Catholic Church coupled with the free trade and the immigration laws helped change this quickly, and in ten years the goal of Levesque was reached: in every region where a british trading post once stood, a Québécois trading post would take it's place. The relationship with the United States was consolidated as the southern nation fought against the numerous indian tribes squabling over the territory.
But the most surprising turn of event of the period was definitely Quebec City's sudden growth as a trading center. Thanks to the efforts of the republic, it became a trade center in early 1780, and one that was soon monopolized for the greatest benefit of the nation. Entrepreneurs even ventured abroad to expend the markets of the republic, gaining asset in the domains of Quebec's growing prime trade partener: the Netherlands. In Curaco, Tables, even if the far-east, dutch trade markets were opened gradually to the american traders. Its only through this newfound wealth that the nation could proser, leading to the creation of High-Forges of the St-Maurice, the Fine Art Museums of Quebec or the rafineries of Montreal. But what did the most good to the republic in terms of construction was undoubtly the opening of the Shipyards of Gaspésie, who brought many new immigrants into the west. Fortifications were also raised to protect the once open cities.
By 1792, no one could have recognized Québec if he had seen it fifteen years before. When the ambassadors of the French Revolutionary Republic arrived in Québec, it was as equals as they accepted membership into the alliance led by the once-colony. It is fur from Ontario that would soon cloth the Great Army of Napoleon.
The republic now spanned around the Great lakes southwards to Biloxi, effectively blocking american expansionism westwards and claiming the continent for itself. Still busy with their natives though, the United-Staters thought little of it, allowing Levesque to carry out the next phase of his plans.
Across the colony arms were forged, cannons arrived from the High-Forges, dark blue uniforms marked with the white Fleur-de-Lys were sown, units of devoted native warriors were enlisted into special units, ships from the Great Shipyard were baptised... something was afoot, obviously. The British had ended their revolution, concluded their wars, quite some time ago. But what remained of their north american holdings was too scarce, too undefended... By the time reinforcements arrived from Europe, the Fleurdelisé would float over it all. When the Spanish ambassador left the National Assembly after a private discussion with the President, everything was decided. An enormous alliance was about to trigger a world-spanning conflict because of the will of a nation that did not exist a mere twenty years before.
On July 22nd, 1792, the alliance of Québec, the U.S.A, France, Spain and the Netherlands declared war against Great-Britain, Sweden, Danemark, Prussia (who, after ending the dispute over the German states had become a staunch friend of the Empire), and Courland. The stage was set for the thirty years war.
The rest will be coming soon I appreciate any feedback. I must say it was interesting how quick a broke, tiny nation with 1775 tech could raise to richdom with a few well placed trade pacts and monopolies. Believe me, I didnt make any of that up I thought it would make an interesting small AAR, but of course, im not too sure how to continue it since the rest is a bit bland and unrealistic. After conquering all the british holdings in NA in my game, I boarded my troops on transports and went to Europe, where I conquered all England and Ireland while the French AI did amazingly well and defeated most of Europe.
I dont think this one has been done before
Enjoy!Quebec City, 5th July 1773.
"New war taxes?!" exclaimed a furious merchant. Like many other Red Coats, Thomas had little sympathy for the ex-french colonials; he was all too pleased that the new orders from General Amherst called for the systematic exploitation of Canada. Delicious irony, was it not, that Canadian ducats would pay to smash the American rebellion.
What George did not know however, was that it would proove insufficient. For at that moment in the palace of the King-Emperor of the British...
"... and with the regards of, Grace of God, King of Prussia-Brandeburg, Kleves, Saxony, and Silesia, overlord of Poland-Lithuania, His Majesty Frederich II, we bring to your Highness the present, by which the Kingdom of..."
"To the point! I don't have all day!" shouted the young monarch. Regaining his composture, the red-faced messenger explained "Unless the Crown of Hannover and it's dependancies is handed over to their legitimate protector, our Kingdom of Prussia, England should consider a state of war now exists between our nations."
Georges III blinked, then rudely laughed for a long moment. "Would you like Gilbraltar while we are at it? Or two sugars with your tea? Foolish Prussian upstarts! Burgyone will chase you back to Courland before my wheat is ripe for harvest!"
But all the dreams of the King would do little to alter reality. Less than two months after this fateful day, British armies were being pushed back on the continent by the ambitious Frederick and his own dream of unification. And since bad news never came alone, the French were using the war to mass forces in the small remanants of their Indian possession, hoping to rival British claims to the sub-continent. And with the colonial uprising, British ressources were getting stretched thinly. This new war would proove difficult...
British military headquarters, Northern America, March 12th, 1774
"General Amherst, we welcome you to the Crown Point!" saluted the junior officiers in charge of the garison. Their uniforms were splendid and their behavior impeccable - no matter the times, no matter the foes, nothing less was expected from an officier of the British Empire. And there was some reasons to celebrate, the rebel army having been pushed back in a large battle in the district of Sebago.
If some Red Coats were willing to declare the americans beaten after the capture of Maine, nothing seemed less certain to the Commander in Chief. From Philadelphia, the arrogant Rebels had declared a republic, which would be nothing but paper if it were not for the Continental Army. That traitor Washington was turning the colonial rabble into a professional army... He knew more ressources would need to be devoted to the fight for the cause to triumph. His pleas to London brought always the same answer "Raise the taxes in the controlled areas, we are stretched thin here too"; but there was only so much Canada could yield. Still, he fought on for the Crown and won more victories for His Majesty.
Then, what nobody thought possible happened; the tide of freedom from the americas caused a large political crisis that spread like wild fire across the Empire. The palace of Buckingham was stormed by the angry, and more importantly hungry, people of the city after the poor harvests of 1774. Almost losing his throne in the process, George III led the kingdom through an harsh civil war that would last five years, and would cost Britain her German states and a sizable part of her Indian Empire before stability returned.
But meanwhile, Amherst was practically on his own in the Americas, faced with a threat growing each day. Paying too much attention to the front and too little to the rear is a mistake many Generals have been guilty of throughout history; and Amherst would be the next.
The Palace of the Governor, Quebec City, October 1774.
"My lord, my lord! The little folk!" The old British governor looked with disdain at the panicked valet rushing into the room, waiting for a clearer explanation. "They are marching on the palace! It's that upstart Patriots Party, milord, they say they want..." but he was cut short by an aristocrat who could not care less about what his people might want. They were conquered fair and square, after all. Williams G. Longcaster sent his Red Coats to stop the uprising and disperse the crowd.
As the commoners with their forks and old muskets threw back the waves of the Red Coats, Jean Lévesque smiled triumphantly as he pressed them onward. His fellows of the Patriot Party controlled most of the nevralgic points of the city by now. It was time for the conquerors to leave, and it was time for his nation to eat and live in dignity. Freedom. It was a new idea, or an old one making a fresh comeback; it mattered little. It was one that was pleasant to his ears, after fifteen years of vasselage to a foreign King an ocean away. Since the Conquest nothing had been the same. It was time for Quebec to rise again.
Soon his tiny movement of resistance spread across the colony; At the battles of St-Eustache, St-Denis and St-Charles, the people of Quebec earned their freedom; in less than three months rebels controlled the entire territory. It is true that most of the British Army was engaged far to the south against the american rebels, but it wasnt the time to discuss their merits but to prepare for the unavoidable storm of the British counterattack.
What once was the private palace of the British Governor had been turned with haste into the National Assembly, where the leaders of the liberation factions from across the colony came to draft on paper the future of Quebec. It was not a surprise when the Patriot Party leader, Jean Lévesque, pleaded with vigor in favor of a Republic, and it wasnt any more when Marc Villeneuve, the leader of the faction that had wrested control of Montreal from the Imperials, supported him vehemently. With the two main political personas of the colony united, worked progressed at an amazing pace. After four days of deliberations, La Déclaration d'Indépendance was ready and read loudly across the land, abolishing the feudal system of the Lords, instauring equal representation, rights for the natives, the freedom of the citizens, and calling the nation to arms.
On november 15th, 1774, the nations of the Old World learned with shock that the free people of Québec had taken arms, and declared their independence from their former opressors in Great-Britain. The white and blue Fleurdelisé appeared across the valley of the St-Lawrence. President Levesque's call to arms is answered unanimously by the small but determined republic, but the task ahead is gigantic.
The Hour of Destiny
The National Assembly was perplexed by the seemingly unsurmountable problems they were faced with. The nation had no funds, strictly none at all. Chaos was still common in rural areas and the standing forces were almost non-existant, not to speak of the quality of their formation or equipment. It is needless to say the grain and fur based economy would take some time to turn it into a war machine able to rival Britain's; the finest of the world. But in darkness there is always a ray of hope, and this ray of hope came from the south.
Benjamin Franklin, endowed with full representative powers by the revolutionary Congress in Philadelphia, arrived in Québec with an array of proposals and praises, with the firm intent of including the newborn republic into his United-States. Despite the respect and the courtesy with which he was treated, it was soon clear his plan would not take hold; Québec was far too mefiant of the english speaking southerners. But in this hour of peril, with British troops firmly in control of New York and threatening the seat of the congress, the was little time for nitpicking.
Pacts were singed with the northern neighbourg Franklin had to accept as an equal partener. Of these pacts, the most important for Québec was the Act of Free Trade. With Britain banned from the economic centers of America for the time being, vast ressources lied untapped, and the american demand for wood and food was one Quebec could fullfil. Surprisingly soon, thanks to this pact, three quarters of the trade of Manhattan went into the coffers of the small republic, who decupled it's income overnight. Militias were raised, and used to throw back the disorganized british units raiding across the countryside.
Soon, commerce was followed by alliance. The bulk of the British forces being engaged in the south, Quebec accepted to raid its northern possessions, liberating Maine for it's new ally, and burning trading posts across the coast. The situation was becoming unbearable for Amherst, who finally accepted the fact of American independence. The treaty of Paris of 1778 confirmed the fact. In exchange, the americans accepted to renounce their claims on some areas in New-England, mainly in the north. Because if the organized and numerous americans had beaten back his armies, the proud general was not going to let the french colonial rabble get away with it's pathetic rebellion. Once more pride was getting the best of him.
From Europe also arrived General Cornwallis, a far greater tactician, who for a time made life quite rough for the young republic. But the British ressources were in no better shape. After initial successes and the capture of Montreal, the total lack of Red Coat reinforcements allowed the Québécois to beat back the english to the south. Confident of their serious problems, they refused a white peace, intent on liberating all of the former colony. Small squads of cavalry were dispatched north and west, burning trading posts and making the path clear for the legimate rulers of the land. Welcomed generally peacefully by the natives, the most successful units went all the way to Louisiana in the south, leaving behind them a long trail of fire and destruction.
In the more critical areas of the battlefield, the lack of fortifications made the task easy for the young liberation army, who captured what northern states the americans had been forced to yield at great speed. If some english bastions held in the maritimes, including the powerful Isle Royale, the loss of all their trading empire was an incredible blow the English. Unable to trade their ashes for peace, it is with great fury that Georges III finally consented to hand over large chunks of colonized territory to the northern rebels.
When the Treaty of Quebec was signed, the total forces remaining in the field for the republic numbered less than twelve thousand. In fact rarely had they numbered more than twice that amount, but the force in presence, the once-mighty Empire, had no way to fight them. The Treaty gave Quebec all it could hope for: all the important colonized territories in the north down to the Penobscot/Adricondak/Sebago line, the effective possibility to colonize half a continent, now mostly unclaimed, and the balance of the British treasury; admittedly not much.
Peace and consolidation
With this stunning victory, President Levesque, named during the crisis by the National Assembly, was soon confirmed in his functions by the people of the republic, and the country began it's reconstruction. Policies were established rapidly, with one thing in mind; immigration and population. Despite its newfound size, the republic was still heavily underpopulated, and it would take some time for it to grow. But the policies of the Catholic Church coupled with the free trade and the immigration laws helped change this quickly, and in ten years the goal of Levesque was reached: in every region where a british trading post once stood, a Québécois trading post would take it's place. The relationship with the United States was consolidated as the southern nation fought against the numerous indian tribes squabling over the territory.
But the most surprising turn of event of the period was definitely Quebec City's sudden growth as a trading center. Thanks to the efforts of the republic, it became a trade center in early 1780, and one that was soon monopolized for the greatest benefit of the nation. Entrepreneurs even ventured abroad to expend the markets of the republic, gaining asset in the domains of Quebec's growing prime trade partener: the Netherlands. In Curaco, Tables, even if the far-east, dutch trade markets were opened gradually to the american traders. Its only through this newfound wealth that the nation could proser, leading to the creation of High-Forges of the St-Maurice, the Fine Art Museums of Quebec or the rafineries of Montreal. But what did the most good to the republic in terms of construction was undoubtly the opening of the Shipyards of Gaspésie, who brought many new immigrants into the west. Fortifications were also raised to protect the once open cities.
By 1792, no one could have recognized Québec if he had seen it fifteen years before. When the ambassadors of the French Revolutionary Republic arrived in Québec, it was as equals as they accepted membership into the alliance led by the once-colony. It is fur from Ontario that would soon cloth the Great Army of Napoleon.
The republic now spanned around the Great lakes southwards to Biloxi, effectively blocking american expansionism westwards and claiming the continent for itself. Still busy with their natives though, the United-Staters thought little of it, allowing Levesque to carry out the next phase of his plans.
Across the colony arms were forged, cannons arrived from the High-Forges, dark blue uniforms marked with the white Fleur-de-Lys were sown, units of devoted native warriors were enlisted into special units, ships from the Great Shipyard were baptised... something was afoot, obviously. The British had ended their revolution, concluded their wars, quite some time ago. But what remained of their north american holdings was too scarce, too undefended... By the time reinforcements arrived from Europe, the Fleurdelisé would float over it all. When the Spanish ambassador left the National Assembly after a private discussion with the President, everything was decided. An enormous alliance was about to trigger a world-spanning conflict because of the will of a nation that did not exist a mere twenty years before.
On July 22nd, 1792, the alliance of Québec, the U.S.A, France, Spain and the Netherlands declared war against Great-Britain, Sweden, Danemark, Prussia (who, after ending the dispute over the German states had become a staunch friend of the Empire), and Courland. The stage was set for the thirty years war.
The rest will be coming soon
I appreciate any feedback. I must say it was interesting how quick a broke, tiny nation with 1775 tech could raise to richdom with a few well placed trade pacts and monopolies. Believe me, I didnt make any of that up I thought it would make an interesting small AAR, but of course, im not too sure how to continue it since the rest is a bit bland and unrealistic. After conquering all the british holdings in NA in my game, I boarded my troops on transports and went to Europe, where I conquered all England and Ireland while the French AI did amazingly well and defeated most of Europe.
