Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

Revolution and Reaction - A (very) French Victoria II Interactive AAR

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Nay
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Aye
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Nay
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Aye
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Nay
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Nay
Law on Inheritance: Nay

[Ardeche]
[Royal Pain, +1.5PP]

- Sylvain de Viviers, vidame de Viviers
 
Last edited:
From the Algerian Diary of the duc d'Orleans (1856);

Having given my well-wishes to General Bosquet for his insightful training during my time on his staff, I set off for Algiers to report to the new duty station the Minister of War had chosen. It was to Marshal Moncey's credit that he gave my command of my forebear's old regiment, the 1st Hussard Regiment of Chartres, and I relished the opportunity to ensure a good account of my men and I in our deployment to North Africa. The departure of General de la Rhone and his replacement with General Randon triggered the long awaited shuffling of formations and so we found ourselves reinforcing Randon's new corps at the War Ministry's direction.

The sea voyage was uneventful and my audience with the duc de Nemours a veritable family reunion. There was much family news to catch up on. The grand old man seemed in full enjoyment of the benefits of command but he counseled me to avoid using my station to my advantage. Whereas my uncle had fought in the Algerian conquest and held command on many an occasion, I was new to the profession of arms. My heritage insured the my benefit of an education second to none but there was much to be learnt in the field. The officers assigned to my staff were clearly experienced fellows and the non-commissioned servicemen filtering their commands were of high caliber as well. Those who led the battalions of tirailleurs indigenes assigned to us were also seasoned veterans of many campaigns. Taken together, such minds gathered in one place were of great benefit to my progression in the application of command.

Front line duty was certainly more eventful than manning a garrison in mainland France but it was still mostly days of paperwork and boredom. The occasional native uprising would have to be dealt with or the foolish colonist pushing his luck in the lands beyond the military frontier needing rescue but these events were few and far between. Without the aggressive desires of men like de la Rhone to push our settlement beyond both our means and our protection, the local Berbers and Arabs kept mostly to themselves while the Turkish city-dwellers took advantage of the regularity and protections of French law to scalp us when we purchased supplies. The whole experience could make one wonder if we were actually deriving any benefit from our occupation.

Perhaps the highlight of the year was seeing the iron mines of the Mokta El Hadid. Here our family had cooperated with colonists and other investors to tap the potential of the ore here. The enterprise had been neglected in the early part of the 1850s until the Third Restoration started moving France forward once more. Our geologists indicated the magnetite here was almost seventy percent iron and was free of sulfur and phosphorus which made it more useful that iron ore found in France and the Germanies for the Siemens or Bessemer process. This ore combined with our coal mines in Occitania and our steel foundries in the central Loire would produce the finest steel in all of France at competitive prices.

Besides minerals there was also the matter of cotton. British intervention in the Mexican-American conflict could only be described as profoundly negative towards the textile industry. Supplies of cotton had to be found elsewhere and Algeria had the climate to grow this useful weed. Procuring more supply from Egypt, where the industry founded by M. Jumel continued to flourish, perhaps would have been more cost efficient. Though who am I to question the investment decisions of both the government and private industry? Much of our time was spent surveying new sources of water and making the southern oases secure for cotton production. Field labor was cheap and readily available. Once picked, with one cotton gin a laborer could gather up to 23 kilograms of cotton lint per day. The main bottleneck to production remained transport from plantation to textile mill and with each passing day the civil administration ordered the laying down of more track. The density of industrial rails in the coastal areas and immediate hinterland greatly improved transit times. They also led to an increase in crime as the dregs of Europe found better mobility. Petty theft and more serious robberies were of greater threat to the European population than Berber raids.

When the natives did get rowdy we handled ourselves with great skill and decisive action. Twenty years of Frenchmen in these lands had seen some of the lessons of modern tactics rub off on the natives and vice-versa. Where a decade ago they would have given pitched battle, the locals preferred swift raids to avoid facing our superior firepower. We fought a number of engagements in the region of the Kabylia which was known for being ungovernable. In those green hills we learned the art of war from doing battle with the hill clans. Every time we brought a bandit lord to justice for his part in raiding the lowlands a few weeks would pass and another replacement would appear. There was no shortage of strongmen wanting to try their luck against French arms and I doubt the peoples of interior Algeria would give up such a way of life, where freedom was held dear, in favor of the regimen of civilized life regulated by law and not the gun. There was a certain simplicity to the rule of the strongest practiced here and in many ways it reminded me of early French history, where our land was divided in the aftermath of the collapse of Charlemange's empire into petty baronies paying no heed to any master above themselves.

Our people were once like this and perhaps if pushed to the brink we too could slide back into petty regionalism and disorder.
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Aye
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Aye
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Aye
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Aye
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Aye
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Abst.
Law on Inheritance: Abst.

[Doubs]
[The most distinguished +2pp]

~ Maréchal de Moncey, Duc de Conegliano, Peer of France
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Aye
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Aye
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Aye
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Aye
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Aye
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Aye
Law on Inheritance: Aye

[Aisne]
[Progressive Monarchist +1.5PP]

~Patrice Auberjonois
 
Letter to his Exellency the Mexican Ambassador to the Kingdom of France
From Capitaine Jean-Michel Antoine de la Vallée

Your Exellency,

Allow me to express my thanks at the kind manner in which I was received by yourself at the embassy during our last meeting. I am happy to report that His Grace the Minister of War responded approvingly to my request of Military leave - As we had but only dared to hope he would - for the duration of the ongoing American War, allowing and wishing me luck in my endeavour to reach the Country of your birth and aiding in your struggle against this unprovoked act of aggression presented by the American Government.

Having already booked passage onboard a ship traveling from Brest to Veracruz it stands as my intention to depart France for Mexico within a fortnight after taking care of some personal business and saying goodbye to my family.

I shall pray for a preferable outcome to the Conflict and I hope God may grant me the strenght to aid Mexico to the best of my abilities. I thank you for the letter of introduction presented to me, and I hope it shall prove sufficient to ensure your countrymen of my best intentions, and assure them of the expertise with which I may provide the Imperial Navy a boon in it's facing of the United States Navy.

I hope we might meet again on my return to France.

May God bless the Kingdom of France and the Empire of Mexico
Jean-Michel Antoine de la Vallée ​
 
Davout said:
((Letter to the Comte de la Rhone @Otto of england ))

My Dear Comte

I have no desire to work at cross purposes to yourself. I am more than happy for your new factory in Paris to be devoted to armament production. I foresee great advantage to us both, as the Paris factory can operate as the forum for experimentation and refinement, and we can expand on production once your work has perfected the desired weaponry.

A business associate of mine, Leopold Louis-Dreyfus, has referred to me and acquaintance of his from his home province of Alsace, a M. Antoine Chassepot. Messrs Louis-Dreyfus and Chassepot are of a very young age when all the world seems to be before them and they are both very enterprising in their imaginations, although the former turns to arbitrage whilst the latter turns to invention. M. Chassepot has been working on trying to build a model of rifle which can load the Minie ball cartridge via a chamber near the flint pan rather than via the muzzle. The Prussians are already using such a weapon but M. Chassepot assures me that he can do better. I have taken the liberty to refer him to yourself so that you may enlighten him as to the practicalities of the operation of rifles in battle, and to work with him on the finer points of the engineering.

I have also given instructions at Charbon Francais to add your factory as a priority client for our steel production. Please do contact the Northern Railroad Company representative at the Gare du Nord to organise the protocols for receipt of deliveries and payments on consignments.

I remain, dear Sir, your obedient servant,

Jacques de Rothschild
Click to expand...
((@Davout))
Dear Monsieur de Rothschild

I am glad we will be able to work together on this project. Together I foresee us being far more successful in the project than either of would have been separately. Further, I will check with this Monsieur Chassepot to see if he is interested in working with me in designing a new modern rifle. I am quite confident that he would greatly welcome the funding and my practical expertise in his designing. Hopefully, he agrees to work with us.

I will ensure I contact Charbon Francais post haste.

Yours,

Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
((@99KingHigh ))
Dear Monsieur Chassepot,

I write to you today M. Chassepot on recommendation of an associate of mine M. de Rothschild, whose an associate of M. Louis-Dreyfus. To this end I have been told that you have taken to inventing, and specifically I have been told you aim to develop a weapon better than the Dreyse Needle rifle. This intention intrigues me greatly, because I am in the process of setting up an arms factory in Paris. If you are willing I would love to have the opportunity to meet with you in person and discuss potential business and technical partnership together. It is my intention as well to develop a modern breach-loading rifle as well, and I think together we will be able to have greater success than either of us could in isolation.

If you are interested in meeting in person in Paris write back to inform me. It is my intention that during such a meeting any business concerns or requirements needed can be worked out. If cost is a concern for you I will happily compensate any travel expenses you have during the time. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Yours,

Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
((@etranger01 ))
Dear Your Imperial Highness,

Since my sudden removal from command from the army a few weeks ago I have had significantly more time to manage my estates and properties. Consequently, my son Baptisté is no longer needed by the family to run our estates full time and he has inquired with me if I had any opportunities for him. To this I recall in one of our last meetings prior to your exile from France that you intended to set up business interests in England while you were away. Thus, I inquire of you if sending my son Baptisté to London to meet with you to aid you in your proposed business would be agreeable. He is most skilled at management and finance and can serve as an intermediary between us if need be.

If circumstances in London do not work out to have him stay there with you please inform me post haste.

Yours,

Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône
 
Last edited:
32gHDnT.png


To Capitaine Jean-Michel Antoine de la Vallée
(@Vals )
​
MONSIEUR LE CAPITAINE --It is with keen interest that I have read your recent work, titled In the Shadow of Trafalgar, and concur entirely with the view that, to quote, “the Navy must be kept up to date with modern powerful armaments, new and effective ship designs and a well thought out Naval doctrine for our commanders to follow.”

I have been given to understand, pursuant to Article V of the Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy, a bill presently under consideration by the Legislature, that twelve vessels are to be commissioned.

This positive development, I feel, may be credited in some measure to your book, which has doubtless given the Government cause to act upon the recommendations contained therein.



VhwirFs.png
 
Last edited:
Otto of england said:
((@Davout))
Dear Monsieur de Rothschild

I am glad we will be able to work together on this project. Together I foresee us being far more successful in the project than either of would have been separately. Further, I will check with this Monsieur Chassepot to see if he is interested in working with me in designing a new modern rifle. I am quite confident that he would greatly welcome the funding and my practical expertise in his designing. Hopefully, he agrees to work with us.

I will ensure I contact Charbon Francais post haste.

Yours,

Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
((@99KingHigh ))
Dear Monsieur Chassepot,

I write to you today M. Chassepot on recommendation of an associate of mine M. de Rothschild, whose an associate of M. Louis-Dreyfus. To this end I have been told that you have taken to inventing, and specifically I have been told you aim to develop a weapon better than the Dreyse Needle rifle. This intention intrigues me greatly, because I am in the process of setting up an arms factory in Paris. If you are willing I would love to have the opportunity to meet with you in person and discuss potential business and technical partnership together. It is my intention as well to develop a modern breach-loading rifle as well, and I think together we will be able to have greater success than either of us could in isolation.

If you are interested in meeting in person in Paris write back to inform me. It is my intention that during such a meeting any business concerns or requirements needed can be worked out. If cost is a concern for you I will happily compensate any travel expenses you have during the time. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Yours,

Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
((@etranger01 ))
Dear Your Imperial Highness,

Since my sudden removal from command from the army a few weeks ago I have had significantly more time to manage my estates and properties. Consequently, my son Baptisté is no longer needed by the family to run our estates full time and he has inquired with me if I had any opportunities for him. To this I recall in one of our last meetings prior to your exile from France that you intended to set up business interests in England while you were away. Thus, I inquire of you if sending my son Baptisté to London to meet with you to aid you in your proposed business would be agreeable. He is most skilled at management and finance and can serve as an intermediary between us if need be.

If circumstances in London do not work out to have him stay there with you please inform me post haste.

Yours,

Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône
Click to expand...
Nope. Chassepot is a twenty-three year old nobody from nowhere. Take your memes elsewhere.
 
​
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Nay
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Nay
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Aye
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Aye
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Aye
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Aye
Law on Inheritance: Nay

[Vienne]
[Non]

- Reuben Valentin Duval
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Aye
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Abst.
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Aye
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Aye
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Aye
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Abst.
Law on Inheritance: Abst.
[Côtes-du-Nord]
[None]

- Jean-Michel Antoine de la Vallée
 
32gHDnT.png


To the Vicomte de Bessin
(@DensleyBlair )
​
MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE -- It is with considerable happiness that I read the official announcement of the nuptials between my dear brother, Alphonse and your lovely daughter, Marie-Joséphine.

Having known for some time of my brother’s feeling towards her, which were sparked when they were first acquainted upon your travels to the South of France, I was sure that the day would eventually arrive when the pair would be matched. Indeed, scarce little could distract Alphonse from his mathematical pursuits -- the which, even in childhood, had always consumed his interest -- save the charming Marie-Joséphine, who seemed to awaken in him a sense of romance unrivalled even by his love for Leibnitz.

Understanding that you have consented to my brother’s suit of your daughters hand in marriage, I cannot conceal the great contentment it brings me to know that our long-standing friendship should at last be brought into kinship by this union.






VhwirFs.png
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Nay
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Nay
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Aye
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Nay
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Aye
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Aye
Law on Inheritance: Nay

[Le Puy]
[Illustrious Reminder: +1.5 PP]

- Général Godefroy Raymond de la Rhône, Comté de la Rhône, Peer of France
 
Last edited:

yNzrGVh.png

P&O

To the Board of Directors of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
(@99KingHigh )​

GENTLEMEN -- A state of peace, hitherto enjoyed, has been so desirous for business that we may, in such conditions of tranquility, have overlooked the great opportunities for profit which present themselves in the opposite circumstances. The outbreak of war between the United States of America and the United Kingdom gives us ample cause to reflect upon the matter.

The sustained need for armaments by the Mexican Government has temporarily adjusted prices of weapons to make the running of arms a particularly lucrative undertaking. Rather than directly supplying the Mexican State with weapons of war -- an act which may, when the conflict is concluded, jeopardize our expanding commerce with the United States -- I invited the Board to consider the running of guns under our mercantile flag to the British Honduras, whence they may be smuggled across the River Hondo into Mexico.

I imagine that we shall enjoy, in this undertaking, the support of the British Government and the protection of the Royal Navy. I ask therefore that the Board dedicates some consideration to this proposal as we craft a commercial response to the circumstance of war in the Americas.


VhwirFs.png

 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Oui
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Oui
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Oui
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Oui
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Oui
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Oui
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Oui
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Oui
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Oui
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Oui
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Oui
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Oui
Law on Inheritance: Oui

[Morbihan]
[Impeccable Royalist: +1PP]

- Louis de Rohan, Prince de Guémené
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Oui
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Non
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Oui
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Non
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Oui
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Oui
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Oui
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Oui
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Oui
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Oui
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Oui
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Oui
Law on Inheritance: Oui

[Seine]
[Remember Lécuyer!: +1PP]

- Jérôme de Lécuyer.
 
Last edited:
32gHDnT.png
​
​
To the Comte de Charlus ​

YOUR EXCELLENCY -- I have been given to understand from transitiers in London that the British Government is contemplating or has already put into effect a blockade of the United States’ ports. I write to you to ascertain the nature of this blockade, particularly whether it is understood to apply only to such materials as would be necessary for the waging of war or if its scope falls upon all commerce with the United States of America.

Although transatlantic shipments constitute a minor portion of the exchanges carried out by the Messageries Maritimes, I wish to provide appropriate instructions to vessels engaged in such voyages so as to avoid the occurrence of any diplomatic incident. I await your direction and guidance.



VhwirFs.png
​
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Aye
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Nay
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Aye
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Aye
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Aye
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Aye
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Aye
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Aye
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Aye
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Aye
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Nay
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Aye
Law on Inheritance: Nay

[Avignon]
[Mana: +1 Mana]
 
Paris ~

THE inheritors of the late communard's Hubert-Denise Boulange's portion of the Disney-Descombes Maritime Company announced that the routes from France to the United States, now at war with the United Kingdom and Mexican Kingdom, will continue as planned. It was not all-together held in good faith that these routes in the wake of a continental war. However, the inheritor of Boulange's estate, one Jean-Anne Gai, has announced that as proud French naval vessels, it was their duty to continue their accounts to their clients. Further, Gai has announced that those individuals of French citizenship are allowed to board from Boston and New York harbours if they seek to leave war-torn continent.
 
It has been reported that the Descombes portion of the Disney-Descombes Maritime Company has been sold to the Lecuyer Company. The Lecuyer Company has expressed great excitement over this expansion into Maritime trade[...]
 
Law on the Safety of Mills and Factories: Oui
Law on the Licensing of Public Houses: Oui
Law on the Pensions of the Civil Service: Oui
Law on the Reduction of Cereal Freight: Oui
Law on the Concessions for Portuary Investments: Oui
Law on the Credits of the Royal Army and the Royal Navy: Oui
Law on the Grants for the Land Programme of 1856: Oui
Law on the Standardisation of Credit Unions: Oui
Law on the Subsidy for the Bureaux de Bienfaisance: Oui
Law on Grants to the Institutes d’Agriculture: Oui
Law on the Protection of French Industry, 1857: Oui
Law on Agricultural Cooperatives and their Formation: Abst.
Law on Inheritance: Abst.

[Aude]
[Le Réactionnaire: +3 PP]

- J.P.H. Lièvremont
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back