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Chapter 8 - À l'aube - Louis Marie Albert (Henry V)
"Stained fields of red, splattered with the liquid of men. The white of the sky spread vastly across Krāslava, though its previous sheet had been corrupted by the litter of bodies, decaying without a soul to whisper a prayer."
- Brigadier General, Alexey Fyodorvitch Gerovor - recounting Krāslava - 1861.
- Brigadier General, Alexey Fyodorvitch Gerovor - recounting Krāslava - 1861.
The immediate aftermath of the great engagement at Krāslava was far from organized. Pockets of Prussian resistance were purged by zealous Russian officers, while the Tsar left the encampment, traveling towards St. Petersburg. Poor communication as well, prevented any nation within a week of the battle substantial knowledge of the conflict. First, the Junkers received word in Berlin, sparking a panic at the Prussian General Staff. Leopold Hermann Ludwig von Boyen, Minister of War ordered the remnant armies of the Baltic to withdraw to Königsberg. The Prussian Armies, or rather, what remained, were guided through the treacherous winter by Chief of General Staff, Wilhelm von Krauseneck. Hotly pursued by the Russian forces, the armies of North Germany suffered drastic losses, but managed to escape Imperial grasp two weeks after the battle. Riots in Berlin and dissent within the Kingdom burned swiftly as threat of Russian invasion loomed, but the Generals of Moscow knew that the Hapsburg's retained a massive contingency in the south, perhaps greater to the force present at Krāslava. Thus the celebrations in St. Petersburg were brief, as the Imperial forces were reorganized to ensure the removal of foreign armies from the Motherland.
In Vienna, the tale of their allies defeat was far from welcome. The Austrian Emperor was now fighting a war on three fronts, coupled with recent news that the British Navy was preparing to attempt a invasion through the Adriatic coast. To the most esteemed members of the Hapsburg elite, the Ottomans and the Russians were either defeated or distracted, the only remaining enemies to confront would thus be the French and British. This calculation would eventually prove wrong, but the Austrian forces had few choice but to direct attention to those actually within the Empire. This policy proved fruitful when Hapsburg spies reported a British Fleet of 26 ships, at least half of them Man-of-war's, docking in Crete. The entirety of the Austrian fleet was put on alert, eventually sailing out to greet the British War fleet, of which the transports would only be hours behind. Off the coast of Croatia, the two navies dueled for supremacy, but the apparent incapability of Admiral Sir Robert Lambert Baynes KCB lead the British fleet to eventual disaster, as nearly 40% of the British ships descended into the sea. News of Austrian victory was joyfully received in Vienna, allowing the Austrian armies of the Adriatic to divert attention from the British and march upon the French Armies in Northern Italy. French Grand Admiral, Felicien de Castelnau, frustrated at the incompetence of the British Fleet, ordered the entirety of the Mediterranean Fleet to converge on the Adriatic. Castelnau drew the Imperial Fleets away from land, where chance of flight was nigh impossible, and then decimated the Austrian Navies. Thousands of Hapsburg sailors either burned in the inferno that gripped the ships, or drowned beneath the waves. The French fleet then continued north, under orders from Louis Marie Albert. On October 29th, the Mediterranean Navy blockaded the port of Venice, bombarding the sections of the city that were occupied by Austrian forces.
The misfortune of the Prussians at Krāslava had been a boon to General Exelmans and the occupying forces of West Prussia. Blocked by the buffer states of northern Germany, the Prussians were unable to launch a counter-offensive, while the last pockets of resistance were purged by the Royalist Armies. Korbach was under occupation by the end of October, and the Prussian towns south of Hannoverian territory soon succumbed to the offensive of General Bourbaki.. The defeat of the Prussians in the Rhineland directly lead to the diversion of French troops to the Italian Front, which was now the primary campaign for the French war effort. Much like the initial maneuvers against Prussia, Francois Bugead faced little resistance by the Austrian Armies, resulting in the swift occupation of Imperial Italy. General Bugead was so successful, that it was projected by Exelmans that the French Army of Italy could be in Vienna within a few months after the winter season. In the midst of January, French Armies had nearly conquered all of Austrian Italy, but news from other sectors of the war, was far from encouraging. At the southern front, the Ottoman Army had collapsed due to low morale. Many of the soldiers had not received pay as the Ottoman treasury emptied, which prompted massive mutinies across the Turkish lines. General Alfred Candidus Ferdinand, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, was enjoying the fruitful success of Ottoman failure, advancing his collective of armies towards Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire, burdened with economic crisis from the collapse of the British economy and the ongoing war, was forced to declare its own bankruptcy on the 17th of January, 1847. Uncertainty among the Hungarian League prompted questions regarding the extent that the Turkish Army could provide resistance, especially as the attention of the war turned to the Russian and Italian Fronts. To all allied parties, it was determined that unless the Sultan could pull a decisive move, the war would destroy the Empire.
Italy, thus, became the primary focus of the war as the late months of winter veered away. The Austrians, unlike the Prussians, would not allow the French army to simply waltz into the Empire any further, mobilizing all possible forces and directing their motions towards the advancing French armies. The Royalists were caught unexpected, having believed that the Imperials were too engulfed in foreign fights to provide a response force. In following weeks, the Armies of Vienna smashed through three French armies, all of smaller size in comparison. By the middle of February, the remains of the French forward armies had grouped at Treviso to undertake the stopping of the Austrian Armies. Their opponents numbered 18,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and a brigade of artillery, just 3,000 soldiers short of the French mob. Despite the numerical advantage, the French army was expected to be obliterated for the recent campaigns had forced the entirety of the artillery and cavalry units to withdraw west. Therefore, General Gustave Antoine commanded 26,000 Infantry soldiers, huddled inside the city of Treviso. Nonetheless, Austrian attempts at capturing the city failed due to the resilience of the French infantry, eventually forcing the Imperial Army to retreat after heavy casualties and profound snowfall. Just fifteen days after, the bulk of the French Army merged with the defenders of Treviso, crushing the remnants of the Austrian Army outside Udine. The Austrian disaster at Treviso and Udine confirmed the defeat of the Austrian Armies in Italy, but the Emperor in Vienna was briefly saved by a drastic turn of events.
By June, with French armies steadily advancing into the Adriatic Coast, the situation in Spain turned for the worse. Despite advice from the economic ministers of France, Spanish expenses and debt piled monstrously high, until on the 24th, the Spanish Crown proclaimed bankruptcy. Kept afloat by the French treasury (which had been reduced to a third of that prior to the war), the Carlists of Spain quickly found the economic situation spiraling out of grasp, eventually resulting in another attempt by supporters of Isabel II, claimant to the Spanish crown, to rise up in rebellion a second time. The second rebellion, though smaller then the first, demanded intervention from the French. Many intellectuals and politicians in Paris advocated for the abandonment of the Spanish crown, but with Henry lacking a sufficient heir, and the Bourbons of Spain his final lifeline, the King decided to come to the aid of King Carlos V. The dual crowns delegated the position: "General of Spain" to General Thomas d'Elchingen, commanding 30,000 troops in Italy. Thomas was forced to abandon the Italian front and scurry towards Madrid, which was within rebel grasp by the middle of July. This departure put the French forces in vulnerable positions, providing the Austrians with the time to launch a offensive at Ljubljana. Yet, miscalculations by the Imperial General Staff harmed the effort, unaware that the French presence in Slovenia had swollen to nearly 50,000, a third greater then the advancing Austrian Army. Approximately 12,000 Hapsburg soldiers died at the eastern fields of the regional capital, much due to the decisive action of General Jules Bourbaki, the victor of Dusseldorf.
Victories in Italy spurred the destruction of the Prussian Army in Russia, which had slowly decayed ever since the grand battle the previous fall. Coccurently with the victories at Ljubljana, the forces of Moscow sought their own achievement by laying siege to Königsberg, which surrendered within the week of the Imperial arrival. The two pronged attack, one in the North, and the other in the South, was tearing the Germanic League apart, as many constituent state (of the Germanic Confederation) fled into the protection of the advancing armies. Yet the war's most startling maneuver, more so then the Russian victory at Krāslava, was to arise not through the means of Moscow, Paris, or London, but rather, from the halls of Istanbul. Abdülmecid I, in conjunction with the Conservative government in Parliament, formulated a plan intended to end the deadly conflict. Turkish Commanders, prior to the French victories in Slovenia, loaded onto British ships, along with much of the remnants of the Turkish Army. The greatest gamble, with the most to lose. Omar Pasha, the most famous of the Ottoman Generals, accompanied the British Fleet to the English Channel, where it supplied at Normandy. As the month turned to July, the Grand Turkish Army, numbering 30,000, destroyed the stalemate in Northern Germany by invading through the port Prenzlan, 50 miles from Berlin. The newspapers of Europe, in uproar, turned all attention to what was seemingly the most absurd, but simultaneously ingenious operation. In the south, Austrian Armies were forced into withdrawal because of the need for armies in Italy and Russia, while the Prussian lines attempting to retake Königsberg, folded. Such trends continued throughout the rest of July.
Emperor Ferdinand, suffering from his constant seizures, ordered his regency council (and specifically, Archduke Louis Joseph Anton Johann, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia and Prince of Tuscany) to undergo a final effort to liberate Italy from French clutches. This supposed liberation was known by contemporaries as the Fiume Campaign, having taken place around and within the area of Fiume. In a series of two battles, Austrian forces attempted to defeat the French and their contingency of 70,000 soldiers, but were thwarted and defeated by General Francois Bugead, despite receiving significant casualties. The month of August would thus be the final of the true war, as all European eyes gazed towards the catalyst of the engagement.
The war abroad had inspired thousands of Hungarians during the last two years of bloody conflict, but the Imperial presence in Budapest made sure that the namesake of the war would remain firmly within Vienna's grasp. The fall of the western front, and the swift advance by Bugead and the French Royalists rallied the hearts of the local populace, eventually provoking riots across Hungary, especially spurred forth by poet and liberal, Sándor Petőfi, whom scribed the nationalist poem, Nemzeti dal. The works of Sandor were so gripping, that soon most of Hungary was in arms. Led by their charismatic leader, Governor-President Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva , revolution in Budapest burned throughout the Empire until overstretched Austrian forces routed under extraordinary pressure from the foreign armies. The Kingdom of Hungary was declared on the 1st of September, with Russian troops occupying Imperial provinces just east of Uzhgorod. The revolution of Hungary, had brought about the conclusion of the war, with all relevant combatants convening at Bern to conclude the terrible conflict. The Germanic League, clearly beaten, was delivered a firm pounding by the victorious nations at the negotiations.
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So who gets to be King of Hungary? After all they went through, I doubt anyone, even the Hungarians themselves, would want a Hapsburg King anymore....
I only have one thing to say: I hope King Henri V could run France better than Louis XVI and his Austrian wife.
Hungarian nationalists fuelled by the poetry of Petőfi? Where have I seen that before?... 
Great stuff as ever, King.
Great stuff as ever, King.
We'll just let them prance around for a while and hope for the best.
I'm not too fond of writing guillotine scenes either.
Hungarian nationalists fuelled by the poetry of Petőfi? Where have I seen that before?...
Great stuff as ever, King.
A true mystery indeed. Glad you liked the update
Thank you very much!
A good war for the French. Sadly the French didn't liberate Venice. Maybe next time?
Excellent update, nice to see the Bourbons are finishing Napoleon's beef with the Hapsburgs!
Chapter 9 - L'ordre Ancien - Louis Marie Albert (Henry V) - 1848-1851
Despite the success of the French Monarchy, stemming from fluid victories in the Hungarian War, the sons of Merovech were growing weary. Attention towards the populace throughout the war had all but withered away, and the government had placed a near total priority on funding the war. Prominent economic theologians and political critics estimated that the fall of the French Monarchy, based on the recent trends of persistent Revolution, was a imminent event, sped faster by the war. Paris itself seemed in a state of dismay - mothers mourned 100,000 dead, while doctors frantically scrambled to heal another 100,000, the piles of casualties pouring in from the front. More so, the negotiations of peace were ongoing, and thus the prospect of continued conflict, though unlikely, remained a possibility. In order to ease the situation, Henry urged the Foreign Ministry to force a peace through as swiftly as possible, quite aware that unrest was not far off from possibility. Anne-Édouard-Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Beaumont-Luxembourg, 3rd duc de Beaumont, 12th prince de Luxembourg, 10th prince de Tingry, pair de France, a prominent Aristocrat from Île-de-France, was appointed to oversee the peace talks in Hamburg. Luxembourg was also expected to ascend to the Foreign Affairs office, making his selection ever more imperative to his personal career. The Duke carried out the negotiations with a firm tongue, famously swearing that he would burn Vienna if the Austrians did not adhere to the League's demands. Backed up by questionable amounts of vodka and threatening, the Austrians and Prussians folded to the demands of the League - on the 22nd of January. The treaty of Hamburg, signed with the rattling sword and crude tongue of Luxembourg, would be the first of French foreign policy to be addressed through such a tactic.
The Treaty of Hamburg enforced the Prussian surrender of their Northern Rhineland, concluding the two year struggle on the western front, whose death toll excelled 120,000. The victory, in many parts of France, was a somber one, as plebeians arrived en masse to pray for the fallen souls. The Italian Front, was utilized as a negotiating token, allowing the Austrians to concede Hungary, and forcefully permitting the unification of Romania, a policy pushed by Russia and overseen by the Turks. In Hungary, a regency council was formed to designate a proper heir, whilst the Romanians appointed the young Prince, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as their Domnitor. The defeat was so crushing for the Germanic League, that only four days after the peace was signed, three collective states, the city-state of Krakow, Sardinia-Piedmont, and Saxony, declared war on the Hapsburgs, intending to pick up their fair share of the loot.
France did not enjoy the comfort of a peaceful transition from war time maneuvers to peaceful activities. Instead, the French endured the rapid hardships of demobilization and a unpopular "electoral" complex, resulting in several weeks of utter chaos. Initially, the Royal Administration was burdened with the return of nearly 300,000 soldiers, many of whom were injured or in a ill condition. Doctors and Priests, paid by the government, met the returning armies near the borders, tending to the weak while the mobilized armies returned to the fields. The standing forces of the King returned to the major encampments of Central France, where they replenished their depleted armies and laid down their arms. The War Ministries of France endured incredible expenses, providing the final payments to the returning soldiers and spending thousands on the rebuilding of the military. Simultaneously, the influx of returning artisans and farmers consequently resulted in a massive increase in production, allowing prices on most consumer products to plunge from their war status. While this was generally warmed received, the economic status remained very much unstable, constantly fluctuating the balance. Lord Minister Louis Marie Albert, whom had been managing the domestic affairs during the war, returned to center stage to restore general order to the confusing situation. Moving without opposition, Albert briefly hiked tariffs, slowing the importation of foreign goods and momentarily decelerating the price competition that was emerging between domestic and foreign Industries.
Lous Albert, though intelligently restoring order to a mad house of economics, could not have predicted the actions of February 7th-9th. On the 5th of February, the Lord Minister provided the King with his list of appointments, which was predominately composed of Royalist sympathizers. The appointments immediately sparked outrage from the powerful Southern Nobility, whom sent a list of grievances via Telegram to Paris, or threatening rebellion against the crown. Speculation regarding military mutinies was frequent in the capital, especially near Versaillise, forcing Henry and Albert to reconsider the Absolutist stance of the government. Though the "rebellion" had no proper leadership or organized structure, the very prospect of a noble rebellion would be detrimental to the Bourbon Monarchy, and the Monarchical establishment as a whole. Reports of scattered violence against government troops became frequent news from the south, escalating to a full blown crisis when Royalist spies reported that some regional nobles had approached General Exelmans. Camille Alphonse Trézel, having resigned his post as General of the Legion, advised the King that the military, currently in its premature state of reconstruction, would not be prepared to handle a uprising of the most powerful individuals in France. The old General suggested that a policy change was required if the unity of the Kingdom was to be sustained. Therefore, on the 13th of February, King Henry decreed the reestablishment of the Chamber of Peers, thus concluding the brief reign of French Absolutism.
Under the Edict of the 13th, the Landed Aristocracy would elect it's own members to the Chamber of Peers, which wound consist of 600 delegates. The King would retain the rule of absolute veto, but the legislature could proceed and draw acts without the total consent of the Monarch. The Edict of 13th would thus be the next stage in the long conflict between the Aristocracy and the King that had begun on the first day of Albert's rule. For the next several months, the Nobility would convene in regional meetings and discuss the most proper way to advance their political authority. Many titled households concluded that the best method to adapt to the evolving political complex was to formulate a centre-liberal party
that could promote the constitutional rights of the Nobility, parallel to their privileges during the reign of King Louis X. Fittingly, a substantial proportion of such nobles embraced the now defunct entity, the Doctrinaires, this time attempting to promote constitutional rights of the nobility, and limit the authority of the central monarch.
Louis was therefore tasked with providing enough economic success before the first landed election, with the hopes of swinging the electorate in his own favor. But the international market had a different perspective on the post-war economy, as news from the East confirmed that the Russian Empire was on the verge of bankruptcy. The crown, was mortified, but not surprised from the affair. Russian debt had grown to £14,404,210 - almost totally defaulting the entirety of the French loans. Even worse, the British had managed to discover secretive treaties between the Tsar and King Henry, stating that the Russian loans would be unilaterally forgiven for entrance in the war and the provision of war subsidies to Moscow. However, due to the geographical positioning of the conflict, war subsidies could not be delivered in Russia, driving the Imperial Crown to bankruptcy. Private Investors from France, many of whom dominated the railroad and arms industry, were outraged when word from The Times of London arrived in Paris. Government attempts to censor this information faltered, and instead, an outraged populace took to the streets, angered that millions of their taxes had been simply gifted - many unaware that the Russian efforts were the primary development that lead to victory - another failure by the Ministry of Information. Antoine, comte Roy, the official Finance Minister, insisted that the management of the economy be entrusted into him, after many months of the Lord Minister's administration over the finance sector.
Antoine fed off the early successes of Albert to further his own agenda, dropping tariffs back down to 5%, while actually witnessing the French income spike, reaching a daily surplus of £25,000 and calming the rowdy investors. Though the blunders of the Lord Minister remained apparent to the rising "liberal" nobility.
Antoine, comte Roy, attributed with stabilizing the French economy after the Hungarian War.
In late October, the Kingdom convened its first election in several years, although the electoral spectrum was much thinner then it had been prior. The three sides were no stranger to another, the Ultra-Royalists, the devout supporters to the Crown, the Decazes, Moderate Royalists that desired balance between the King and Nobility, and the Doctrinaires, the nobility that desired more constitutional reform to indirectly achieve a greater power base. Louis Marie Albert was the apparent favorite, holding dominion over both the Ultra-Royalists and Decazes Moderates. Their primary opposition was from Louis Étienne Arthur Dubreuil, vicomte de La Guéronnière a devout legitimist, whom had dabbled in leftist theories prior to the Civil War. Dubreuil believed that his movement could achieve popular success through promotion of reform, while in truth the reform was constructed around the power of the Aristocrats, the vicomte was more then willing to sacrifice traditional rights for the support of the people. This was a shocking move to many in the elite circles, especially since the opinion of the populace mattered nothing during the election. However, the popularity of Dubreuil multiplied tenfold, and soon the Doctrinaires were gaining tract - as the people of France rallied behind the new liberal.
Louis Étienne Arthur Dubreuil, vicomte de La Guéronnière, Leader of the "Aristocratic Liberals"
The King himself remained indifferent. As time progressed, Henry was becoming less and less convinced that the new Royalist movement would endure, especially as Albert's incompetence remained public. In the mind of the Monarch, there was only one event of pressing nature, his own marriage. Wars and political intrigue had consistently delayed the betrothal affair, but it was more than apparent that the sudden rise of Aristocratic Liberalism (as it was now satirically known by Conservatives) needed to be countered by a force of Royalism. The Royal Marriage, therefore, inherited the responsibility to repair the sentiment of the absolutists, and appease the populace with an extravagant affair. Few were more aware of such necessities than Antoine, comte Roy, whom adopted certain liberties to withdraw a questionable amount of funds. The Minister withdrew a total of £90,000 - a number that challenged the expense of the King's coronation. The grand coronation coach of Charles X was recommissioned for use by the couple, intending to travel from Reims to Notre-Dame Cathedral where the official wedding would be convened. Several foreign "gifts", most prominently from Sweden (whom had declared bankruptcy with a significant portion of French debt) and Russia, were prompted up in the Cathedral as decoration. Among these included a Golden Lion, four times heavier then an actual lion, and a massive golden cross, which was donned at the balcony of Notre-Dame. Finally, after years of planning, the wedding was held on May 2nd, with Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este and King Henry V parading across central France, arriving in Paris the following day. The crowds, numbering in the tens of thousands, marched with silk banners - waving the fleur-de-lis as the esteemed convoy passed. After a lengthy service in the Cathedral, Maria was officially proclaimed Queen of France, and the wife to the Henry.
The following months, despite the best hopes of the Royal Cabinet, did not result in the desired political shift. Instead, the nobility remained strongly deadlocked with elections quickly approaching. Accusations of intense bribery ran amok during this period, turning the competition into a heated and occasionally violent affair that bubbled into late October, when the gentlemen of France proudly cast their ballots in Versailles and Marseille. Ballots were carried out in a public atmosphere, leaving the Conservatives vulnerable to crowd retribution. Frequently, terrified Nobles would vote for Dubreuil after false rumors spread regarding murders carried out by the Parisian people. While these accusations were false, there is no doubt that their mere existence spurred greater support for the liberal movement. The Doctrinaires, at the end of the day, shocked France with their results - sparking fear on the part of the Moderate-Royalists and Ultra-Royalists. These "Aristocratic Liberals" nabbed a surprising 43% of the vote, the largest of any of the three parties. The Decazes, supporting the Edict of 13th as a meager necessity - achieved only 21% while their coalition partners, the Ultra-Royalists, secured 36% - 7 points behind the Doctrinaires.
These results allocated the seats of the revived Chamber of Peers at 258, 126, and 216[1], providing the Royalist Coalition with a comfortable majority, occupying 342 seats out of 600 representatives. The defeat of the Doctrinaires was perceived by many supporters as a transitional victory, especially with the decline of Conservatism among the electorate. Dubreuil, satisfied with the achievements of the party, took up his active role as Party executive, engaging in heated verbal exchanges the week after the election.
The challenges facing the Chamber were immediately put to task, ranging from opening trade deals with the British Dominion of Ruperts Land[2] to reports that the Isabellan Rebels in Spain were gaining tract. But no issue was as pressing as the situation in Austria. Through the election of a Royalist government in the Imperial Council, the Austrians had managed to wisk away its invaders, threatening even - to invade Hungary while the old Alliance remained brittle. But Vienna was overtaken by domestic crisis, when the populace, angered at some of the oppressive policies of the Reactionaries, rose in revolution to oppose the seemingly Absolute power of the Emperor. Overwhelming support for the rebellion concluded in the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy, with the liberal Federalists, now in power. But the Federalists, many assumed, would be more driven to reconquer Hungary then any other internal movement. These assumptions cause great panic in the Chamber, as many representatives, Aristocratic Liberals and Ultra-Royalists alike, called for action to restore the prior establishment in Vienna. But King Henry was not convinced, nor were his military advisers, who warned that another conflict might be the last for the Kingdom. Additionally, General Exalmens warned that war in Spain was imminent, and that the full force of the Royal Army be prepared to aid the Carlists. In the end, inaction ruled, and the Federalists secured their rule as the dominant force within Imperial politics.
Austrian Politics blurred away by the beginning of 1849, allowing the Royal Cabinet to refocused itself on the economy. Adopting a priority to form a more effective transport system to improve productivity, French Industrialists went about attempting to improve the current status of the Royal Railroads. The French economy possessed the resources to personally develop new railroads, but the rise of private industry in France gave the Lord Minister another option. Bouvier & Henre Société, a powerful railroad company that owned the majority of lines in the western French colonies, offered to develop a fraction of the newly planned rails if the Government provided subsidies. The main motive behind this was the desire by Bouvier & Henre Sociéte to assist their private factories - which included several struggling fabric and clothing industries. The deal was a gamble for the company, as it was expected to consume most of their revenue due the large scale of the project. The company invested in the railroad with all of their funds, assisted by government subsidies, finishing the first new complex line after just five months of construction. The railroad finished, initial trains of supply and cargo raced across the nation, providing the fabric industries with quick and cheap material. Profits for B&H Co.[2] factories exploded, prompting the companies founder, Jean Marlon Bouvier, to secure another dozen deals with the government.
While Bouvier and his partner, Henre Beringer, were enjoying the profits of a untapped practice, jealous companies, the majority of whom owned factories in Northern France, quickly followed suit. By the end of June, forty-six companies had secured property and construction deals with Louis Albert, who was providing subsidies beyond comprehension. The lucrative nature of the French tax and tariff system allowed the treasury to handle such a burden, while the French income remained relatively unmoved. All across France, workers were put to the task of construction, developing railroads on a scale unseen in western Europe. "The Great Railroad Expansion of 1849" soon covered the entirety of France, as private companies came to dominate the railroads - all of whom enjoyed improved prosperity in the form of factory productivity. Between producers, competition was fierce. Bouvier and Henre soon became cornered by other companies, and were forced to sell their company to La Compagnie de Laviet - the largest Industrial enterprise in France. Several businesses were consumed during this period, but the Chamber of Deputies, controlled mostly by Anti-Capitalist Aristocrats, threatened the rapidly growing establishments with intervention. This threat was enough to calm the fears that private enterprise would come to dominate the entirety of the Industrial sphere, especially as the Government warned that further selling would result in the withdraw of subsidies.
The following term saw great prosperity in the Kingdom. Private and Public enterprise, both in urban and rural regions were flourishing, while the factories of northern France helped bring down the French reliance on foreign goods. The low tariff rate ensured that young industries could build themselves up with a substantial amount of foreign competition as imports from the colonies provided many factories with raw material required for production. The excess income was often spent by the King, indulging himself in the arts and personally purchasing (and advocating) for the consumption of Brazilian Coffee - a sly mark of approval following the establishment of an Absolute Monarchy under Miguel I, former King of Portugal. In such instances, where foreign imports were necessary or promoted, goods made a drastic shift from luxury to commodity. The Kingdom of France consumed a estimated 500,000 Kilograms of Coffee and just over that in Tobacco consumption, but the massive bulk in which the exports were sold ensured that the prices of these commodities were cheap. Some opposition to such large consumption arose from the most reactionary wings of the Ultra-Royalists, who believed that making such goods available to the general public undermined their personal luxuries and therefore violated their special rights. The King, out of spite, ordered all prices on coffee to be decreased by twenty-five percent for an entire week.
A Coffee house in Paris during the Hungarian War.
Louis Marie Albert was ruling with profit and comfort after the months of 1850. The domestic front stabilized, the Lord Minister returned the gaze of France to external matters. Anne-Édouard-Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Beaumont-Luxembourg took the initiative and received Royal approval to develop embassies in "exotic locations." [3] The minister proceeded to delegate a envoy to Tehran. The delegation met with the Shahanshah of Persia, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, and received approval to found a embassy in Tehran, which was built beside the Russian and British embassies. France and Persia would sign 4 treaties, permitting a exchange of goods at the ports of Bandar-e Mahshahr and Khorramshahr. French influence over the Qajar court would continue to grow over the next several years, along with the lucrative trade between Paris and Tehran.
By late 1850, the carefully executed balance of importation management would fall to pieces. The catalyst for this alteration was the eruption of conflict in the United States of America - pitting the Northern States against the South. The immediate conflict was tensions between the status of slavery, though the polarized needs of the Industrial North and Agrarian South was recognized as the long-term cause for the war. Nonetheless, the Civil War in the United States began with a declaration of independence from several Southern states, eventually uniting together under the banner of the Confederate States of America. France's territorial ambitions in the west had diminished substantially during the 1830s, though their reliance on American cotton was the centerpiece of the textile factories. A northern blockade, coupled by Confederate efforts to halt cotton exportation in order to force European intervention[4], ensured that cotton prices skyrocketed - especially harming the British Industries. The French however, had managed to bend the markets of Egypt to their will, importing Egyptian cotton during the conflict has a substitution. However, merchants within Egypt frequently spiked prices - despite the best efforts of the French Embassy to keep them restrained. During the course of the year, the French would be forced to spend a excess of £4,000 daily for such cotton to be provided for the textile industries.
Despite these measures, the economy remained relatively stable for the rest of the year. But as the months turned to winter, the black storm clouds of war descended over Europe. In the west, the Carlists had become victim to another rebellion, this time led by Don Ramón María de Narváez y Campos, (De Jure) 1st Duke of Valencia. The rebellion, was equivalent in size to the revolt of 1839, and decisive in its action. By the second of January, rebel forces were occupying Madrid, while the Royalists - led by General Exalmens, hurried south to assist their allies.
Simultaneously, the Federalists in Vienna were on the march again. Their victorious war against the coalition of invaders had spurred national fervor - to form a nation of unity and cultural pride in Central Europe. They moved with speed, striking across the Hungarian border and obliterating the defensive order. With the Russians and Ottomans buried in economic troubles, while the French fought the wars of Spain, Hungary was left alone, to be conquered by the surge of liberalism that had gripped Europe. Suddenly, almost like the switch of a light - the older order was crumbling - L'ordre ancien était mourant.
Despite the success of the French Monarchy, stemming from fluid victories in the Hungarian War, the sons of Merovech were growing weary. Attention towards the populace throughout the war had all but withered away, and the government had placed a near total priority on funding the war. Prominent economic theologians and political critics estimated that the fall of the French Monarchy, based on the recent trends of persistent Revolution, was a imminent event, sped faster by the war. Paris itself seemed in a state of dismay - mothers mourned 100,000 dead, while doctors frantically scrambled to heal another 100,000, the piles of casualties pouring in from the front. More so, the negotiations of peace were ongoing, and thus the prospect of continued conflict, though unlikely, remained a possibility. In order to ease the situation, Henry urged the Foreign Ministry to force a peace through as swiftly as possible, quite aware that unrest was not far off from possibility. Anne-Édouard-Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Beaumont-Luxembourg, 3rd duc de Beaumont, 12th prince de Luxembourg, 10th prince de Tingry, pair de France, a prominent Aristocrat from Île-de-France, was appointed to oversee the peace talks in Hamburg. Luxembourg was also expected to ascend to the Foreign Affairs office, making his selection ever more imperative to his personal career. The Duke carried out the negotiations with a firm tongue, famously swearing that he would burn Vienna if the Austrians did not adhere to the League's demands. Backed up by questionable amounts of vodka and threatening, the Austrians and Prussians folded to the demands of the League - on the 22nd of January. The treaty of Hamburg, signed with the rattling sword and crude tongue of Luxembourg, would be the first of French foreign policy to be addressed through such a tactic.
The Treaty of Hamburg enforced the Prussian surrender of their Northern Rhineland, concluding the two year struggle on the western front, whose death toll excelled 120,000. The victory, in many parts of France, was a somber one, as plebeians arrived en masse to pray for the fallen souls. The Italian Front, was utilized as a negotiating token, allowing the Austrians to concede Hungary, and forcefully permitting the unification of Romania, a policy pushed by Russia and overseen by the Turks. In Hungary, a regency council was formed to designate a proper heir, whilst the Romanians appointed the young Prince, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as their Domnitor. The defeat was so crushing for the Germanic League, that only four days after the peace was signed, three collective states, the city-state of Krakow, Sardinia-Piedmont, and Saxony, declared war on the Hapsburgs, intending to pick up their fair share of the loot.
France did not enjoy the comfort of a peaceful transition from war time maneuvers to peaceful activities. Instead, the French endured the rapid hardships of demobilization and a unpopular "electoral" complex, resulting in several weeks of utter chaos. Initially, the Royal Administration was burdened with the return of nearly 300,000 soldiers, many of whom were injured or in a ill condition. Doctors and Priests, paid by the government, met the returning armies near the borders, tending to the weak while the mobilized armies returned to the fields. The standing forces of the King returned to the major encampments of Central France, where they replenished their depleted armies and laid down their arms. The War Ministries of France endured incredible expenses, providing the final payments to the returning soldiers and spending thousands on the rebuilding of the military. Simultaneously, the influx of returning artisans and farmers consequently resulted in a massive increase in production, allowing prices on most consumer products to plunge from their war status. While this was generally warmed received, the economic status remained very much unstable, constantly fluctuating the balance. Lord Minister Louis Marie Albert, whom had been managing the domestic affairs during the war, returned to center stage to restore general order to the confusing situation. Moving without opposition, Albert briefly hiked tariffs, slowing the importation of foreign goods and momentarily decelerating the price competition that was emerging between domestic and foreign Industries.
Lous Albert, though intelligently restoring order to a mad house of economics, could not have predicted the actions of February 7th-9th. On the 5th of February, the Lord Minister provided the King with his list of appointments, which was predominately composed of Royalist sympathizers. The appointments immediately sparked outrage from the powerful Southern Nobility, whom sent a list of grievances via Telegram to Paris, or threatening rebellion against the crown. Speculation regarding military mutinies was frequent in the capital, especially near Versaillise, forcing Henry and Albert to reconsider the Absolutist stance of the government. Though the "rebellion" had no proper leadership or organized structure, the very prospect of a noble rebellion would be detrimental to the Bourbon Monarchy, and the Monarchical establishment as a whole. Reports of scattered violence against government troops became frequent news from the south, escalating to a full blown crisis when Royalist spies reported that some regional nobles had approached General Exelmans. Camille Alphonse Trézel, having resigned his post as General of the Legion, advised the King that the military, currently in its premature state of reconstruction, would not be prepared to handle a uprising of the most powerful individuals in France. The old General suggested that a policy change was required if the unity of the Kingdom was to be sustained. Therefore, on the 13th of February, King Henry decreed the reestablishment of the Chamber of Peers, thus concluding the brief reign of French Absolutism.
Under the Edict of the 13th, the Landed Aristocracy would elect it's own members to the Chamber of Peers, which wound consist of 600 delegates. The King would retain the rule of absolute veto, but the legislature could proceed and draw acts without the total consent of the Monarch. The Edict of 13th would thus be the next stage in the long conflict between the Aristocracy and the King that had begun on the first day of Albert's rule. For the next several months, the Nobility would convene in regional meetings and discuss the most proper way to advance their political authority. Many titled households concluded that the best method to adapt to the evolving political complex was to formulate a centre-liberal party
that could promote the constitutional rights of the Nobility, parallel to their privileges during the reign of King Louis X. Fittingly, a substantial proportion of such nobles embraced the now defunct entity, the Doctrinaires, this time attempting to promote constitutional rights of the nobility, and limit the authority of the central monarch.
Louis was therefore tasked with providing enough economic success before the first landed election, with the hopes of swinging the electorate in his own favor. But the international market had a different perspective on the post-war economy, as news from the East confirmed that the Russian Empire was on the verge of bankruptcy. The crown, was mortified, but not surprised from the affair. Russian debt had grown to £14,404,210 - almost totally defaulting the entirety of the French loans. Even worse, the British had managed to discover secretive treaties between the Tsar and King Henry, stating that the Russian loans would be unilaterally forgiven for entrance in the war and the provision of war subsidies to Moscow. However, due to the geographical positioning of the conflict, war subsidies could not be delivered in Russia, driving the Imperial Crown to bankruptcy. Private Investors from France, many of whom dominated the railroad and arms industry, were outraged when word from The Times of London arrived in Paris. Government attempts to censor this information faltered, and instead, an outraged populace took to the streets, angered that millions of their taxes had been simply gifted - many unaware that the Russian efforts were the primary development that lead to victory - another failure by the Ministry of Information. Antoine, comte Roy, the official Finance Minister, insisted that the management of the economy be entrusted into him, after many months of the Lord Minister's administration over the finance sector.
Antoine fed off the early successes of Albert to further his own agenda, dropping tariffs back down to 5%, while actually witnessing the French income spike, reaching a daily surplus of £25,000 and calming the rowdy investors. Though the blunders of the Lord Minister remained apparent to the rising "liberal" nobility.
Antoine, comte Roy, attributed with stabilizing the French economy after the Hungarian War.
In late October, the Kingdom convened its first election in several years, although the electoral spectrum was much thinner then it had been prior. The three sides were no stranger to another, the Ultra-Royalists, the devout supporters to the Crown, the Decazes, Moderate Royalists that desired balance between the King and Nobility, and the Doctrinaires, the nobility that desired more constitutional reform to indirectly achieve a greater power base. Louis Marie Albert was the apparent favorite, holding dominion over both the Ultra-Royalists and Decazes Moderates. Their primary opposition was from Louis Étienne Arthur Dubreuil, vicomte de La Guéronnière a devout legitimist, whom had dabbled in leftist theories prior to the Civil War. Dubreuil believed that his movement could achieve popular success through promotion of reform, while in truth the reform was constructed around the power of the Aristocrats, the vicomte was more then willing to sacrifice traditional rights for the support of the people. This was a shocking move to many in the elite circles, especially since the opinion of the populace mattered nothing during the election. However, the popularity of Dubreuil multiplied tenfold, and soon the Doctrinaires were gaining tract - as the people of France rallied behind the new liberal.
Louis Étienne Arthur Dubreuil, vicomte de La Guéronnière, Leader of the "Aristocratic Liberals"
The King himself remained indifferent. As time progressed, Henry was becoming less and less convinced that the new Royalist movement would endure, especially as Albert's incompetence remained public. In the mind of the Monarch, there was only one event of pressing nature, his own marriage. Wars and political intrigue had consistently delayed the betrothal affair, but it was more than apparent that the sudden rise of Aristocratic Liberalism (as it was now satirically known by Conservatives) needed to be countered by a force of Royalism. The Royal Marriage, therefore, inherited the responsibility to repair the sentiment of the absolutists, and appease the populace with an extravagant affair. Few were more aware of such necessities than Antoine, comte Roy, whom adopted certain liberties to withdraw a questionable amount of funds. The Minister withdrew a total of £90,000 - a number that challenged the expense of the King's coronation. The grand coronation coach of Charles X was recommissioned for use by the couple, intending to travel from Reims to Notre-Dame Cathedral where the official wedding would be convened. Several foreign "gifts", most prominently from Sweden (whom had declared bankruptcy with a significant portion of French debt) and Russia, were prompted up in the Cathedral as decoration. Among these included a Golden Lion, four times heavier then an actual lion, and a massive golden cross, which was donned at the balcony of Notre-Dame. Finally, after years of planning, the wedding was held on May 2nd, with Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este and King Henry V parading across central France, arriving in Paris the following day. The crowds, numbering in the tens of thousands, marched with silk banners - waving the fleur-de-lis as the esteemed convoy passed. After a lengthy service in the Cathedral, Maria was officially proclaimed Queen of France, and the wife to the Henry.
The following months, despite the best hopes of the Royal Cabinet, did not result in the desired political shift. Instead, the nobility remained strongly deadlocked with elections quickly approaching. Accusations of intense bribery ran amok during this period, turning the competition into a heated and occasionally violent affair that bubbled into late October, when the gentlemen of France proudly cast their ballots in Versailles and Marseille. Ballots were carried out in a public atmosphere, leaving the Conservatives vulnerable to crowd retribution. Frequently, terrified Nobles would vote for Dubreuil after false rumors spread regarding murders carried out by the Parisian people. While these accusations were false, there is no doubt that their mere existence spurred greater support for the liberal movement. The Doctrinaires, at the end of the day, shocked France with their results - sparking fear on the part of the Moderate-Royalists and Ultra-Royalists. These "Aristocratic Liberals" nabbed a surprising 43% of the vote, the largest of any of the three parties. The Decazes, supporting the Edict of 13th as a meager necessity - achieved only 21% while their coalition partners, the Ultra-Royalists, secured 36% - 7 points behind the Doctrinaires.
These results allocated the seats of the revived Chamber of Peers at 258, 126, and 216[1], providing the Royalist Coalition with a comfortable majority, occupying 342 seats out of 600 representatives. The defeat of the Doctrinaires was perceived by many supporters as a transitional victory, especially with the decline of Conservatism among the electorate. Dubreuil, satisfied with the achievements of the party, took up his active role as Party executive, engaging in heated verbal exchanges the week after the election.
The challenges facing the Chamber were immediately put to task, ranging from opening trade deals with the British Dominion of Ruperts Land[2] to reports that the Isabellan Rebels in Spain were gaining tract. But no issue was as pressing as the situation in Austria. Through the election of a Royalist government in the Imperial Council, the Austrians had managed to wisk away its invaders, threatening even - to invade Hungary while the old Alliance remained brittle. But Vienna was overtaken by domestic crisis, when the populace, angered at some of the oppressive policies of the Reactionaries, rose in revolution to oppose the seemingly Absolute power of the Emperor. Overwhelming support for the rebellion concluded in the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy, with the liberal Federalists, now in power. But the Federalists, many assumed, would be more driven to reconquer Hungary then any other internal movement. These assumptions cause great panic in the Chamber, as many representatives, Aristocratic Liberals and Ultra-Royalists alike, called for action to restore the prior establishment in Vienna. But King Henry was not convinced, nor were his military advisers, who warned that another conflict might be the last for the Kingdom. Additionally, General Exalmens warned that war in Spain was imminent, and that the full force of the Royal Army be prepared to aid the Carlists. In the end, inaction ruled, and the Federalists secured their rule as the dominant force within Imperial politics.
Austrian Politics blurred away by the beginning of 1849, allowing the Royal Cabinet to refocused itself on the economy. Adopting a priority to form a more effective transport system to improve productivity, French Industrialists went about attempting to improve the current status of the Royal Railroads. The French economy possessed the resources to personally develop new railroads, but the rise of private industry in France gave the Lord Minister another option. Bouvier & Henre Société, a powerful railroad company that owned the majority of lines in the western French colonies, offered to develop a fraction of the newly planned rails if the Government provided subsidies. The main motive behind this was the desire by Bouvier & Henre Sociéte to assist their private factories - which included several struggling fabric and clothing industries. The deal was a gamble for the company, as it was expected to consume most of their revenue due the large scale of the project. The company invested in the railroad with all of their funds, assisted by government subsidies, finishing the first new complex line after just five months of construction. The railroad finished, initial trains of supply and cargo raced across the nation, providing the fabric industries with quick and cheap material. Profits for B&H Co.[2] factories exploded, prompting the companies founder, Jean Marlon Bouvier, to secure another dozen deals with the government.
Opening of the First Bouvier & Henre Société Railroad in Calais.
While Bouvier and his partner, Henre Beringer, were enjoying the profits of a untapped practice, jealous companies, the majority of whom owned factories in Northern France, quickly followed suit. By the end of June, forty-six companies had secured property and construction deals with Louis Albert, who was providing subsidies beyond comprehension. The lucrative nature of the French tax and tariff system allowed the treasury to handle such a burden, while the French income remained relatively unmoved. All across France, workers were put to the task of construction, developing railroads on a scale unseen in western Europe. "The Great Railroad Expansion of 1849" soon covered the entirety of France, as private companies came to dominate the railroads - all of whom enjoyed improved prosperity in the form of factory productivity. Between producers, competition was fierce. Bouvier and Henre soon became cornered by other companies, and were forced to sell their company to La Compagnie de Laviet - the largest Industrial enterprise in France. Several businesses were consumed during this period, but the Chamber of Deputies, controlled mostly by Anti-Capitalist Aristocrats, threatened the rapidly growing establishments with intervention. This threat was enough to calm the fears that private enterprise would come to dominate the entirety of the Industrial sphere, especially as the Government warned that further selling would result in the withdraw of subsidies.
The following term saw great prosperity in the Kingdom. Private and Public enterprise, both in urban and rural regions were flourishing, while the factories of northern France helped bring down the French reliance on foreign goods. The low tariff rate ensured that young industries could build themselves up with a substantial amount of foreign competition as imports from the colonies provided many factories with raw material required for production. The excess income was often spent by the King, indulging himself in the arts and personally purchasing (and advocating) for the consumption of Brazilian Coffee - a sly mark of approval following the establishment of an Absolute Monarchy under Miguel I, former King of Portugal. In such instances, where foreign imports were necessary or promoted, goods made a drastic shift from luxury to commodity. The Kingdom of France consumed a estimated 500,000 Kilograms of Coffee and just over that in Tobacco consumption, but the massive bulk in which the exports were sold ensured that the prices of these commodities were cheap. Some opposition to such large consumption arose from the most reactionary wings of the Ultra-Royalists, who believed that making such goods available to the general public undermined their personal luxuries and therefore violated their special rights. The King, out of spite, ordered all prices on coffee to be decreased by twenty-five percent for an entire week.
Louis Marie Albert was ruling with profit and comfort after the months of 1850. The domestic front stabilized, the Lord Minister returned the gaze of France to external matters. Anne-Édouard-Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Beaumont-Luxembourg took the initiative and received Royal approval to develop embassies in "exotic locations." [3] The minister proceeded to delegate a envoy to Tehran. The delegation met with the Shahanshah of Persia, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, and received approval to found a embassy in Tehran, which was built beside the Russian and British embassies. France and Persia would sign 4 treaties, permitting a exchange of goods at the ports of Bandar-e Mahshahr and Khorramshahr. French influence over the Qajar court would continue to grow over the next several years, along with the lucrative trade between Paris and Tehran.
By late 1850, the carefully executed balance of importation management would fall to pieces. The catalyst for this alteration was the eruption of conflict in the United States of America - pitting the Northern States against the South. The immediate conflict was tensions between the status of slavery, though the polarized needs of the Industrial North and Agrarian South was recognized as the long-term cause for the war. Nonetheless, the Civil War in the United States began with a declaration of independence from several Southern states, eventually uniting together under the banner of the Confederate States of America. France's territorial ambitions in the west had diminished substantially during the 1830s, though their reliance on American cotton was the centerpiece of the textile factories. A northern blockade, coupled by Confederate efforts to halt cotton exportation in order to force European intervention[4], ensured that cotton prices skyrocketed - especially harming the British Industries. The French however, had managed to bend the markets of Egypt to their will, importing Egyptian cotton during the conflict has a substitution. However, merchants within Egypt frequently spiked prices - despite the best efforts of the French Embassy to keep them restrained. During the course of the year, the French would be forced to spend a excess of £4,000 daily for such cotton to be provided for the textile industries.
Despite these measures, the economy remained relatively stable for the rest of the year. But as the months turned to winter, the black storm clouds of war descended over Europe. In the west, the Carlists had become victim to another rebellion, this time led by Don Ramón María de Narváez y Campos, (De Jure) 1st Duke of Valencia. The rebellion, was equivalent in size to the revolt of 1839, and decisive in its action. By the second of January, rebel forces were occupying Madrid, while the Royalists - led by General Exalmens, hurried south to assist their allies.
Simultaneously, the Federalists in Vienna were on the march again. Their victorious war against the coalition of invaders had spurred national fervor - to form a nation of unity and cultural pride in Central Europe. They moved with speed, striking across the Hungarian border and obliterating the defensive order. With the Russians and Ottomans buried in economic troubles, while the French fought the wars of Spain, Hungary was left alone, to be conquered by the surge of liberalism that had gripped Europe. Suddenly, almost like the switch of a light - the older order was crumbling - L'ordre ancien était mourant.
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1 - 258 (Doctrinaires), 126 (Decazes), and 216 (Ultra-Royalists)
2 - English name for Bouvier & Henre Société
3 - "Exoctic Locations" was a term classified by King Henry V as "anything east of Istanbul and Moscow - anything south of Florida - and anything in Paris."
2 - English name for Bouvier & Henre Société
3 - "Exoctic Locations" was a term classified by King Henry V as "anything east of Istanbul and Moscow - anything south of Florida - and anything in Paris."
Shame to see Hungary fall. Though I'm intrigued by the growing liberalism in the Chamber and with the railways its seems two revolutions are coming on hand in hand.
Wow! It seems that financially you could handle any war, and for a seemingly long time too. I just hope your subjects have the stomach for it and mobilization is not required.
I would hate for Royal Armies to find success in the field but the monarchy still toppled regardless. All for naught!
I would hate for Royal Armies to find success in the field but the monarchy still toppled regardless. All for naught!
Just discovered this, an excellent introduction, looking forward to catching up with this!
Hungary is not finished yet, but more on that issue in the next update. And when you mean intrigued, I hope you secretly imply (disturbed).
I've been fairly lucky so far that my militancy has been curbed by some events - though I'm not too sure how long my populace will put up my with my constant warring.
Welcome aboard!
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Update within the next few days, and quite a fun one.
Nice updates, so far.
By the way, 99KH, when you're done with this AAR, you should do a Mexican Empire AAR in Victoria 2, right?
By the way, 99KH, when you're done with this AAR, you should do a Mexican Empire AAR in Victoria 2, right?
You know, that would be quite interesting, alternatively a monarchial Gran Colombia under King Simon I.
I can only imagine your reaction to this new-fangled "liberalism"...
That said, are you sure the French will be happy with an Austrian queen? You know what happened last time...
That said, are you sure the French will be happy with an Austrian queen? You know what happened last time...
Hello everyone, apologies for the delay - but the times, they are a changing.
I'm going to Paris tomorrow for the weekend so you will all be left without an update for another week. If your having withdrawal symptoms, feel free to call the Anti-Liberalism Hotline.
I'm going to Paris tomorrow for the weekend so you will all be left without an update for another week. If your having withdrawal symptoms, feel free to call the Anti-Liberalism Hotline.