das
Regeneration In Process
As of late 1775, the American cause seemed quite doomed. Rebel allies were about to drop out, and in spite of all the British were winning. The Congress was on the brink of capitulation. But not all was this bad - Britain was increasingly war-weary (and Ireland was up in flames yet again), American privateers still waged their war and Rochambeau's corps continued to fight on the American side.
The British decided to speed up the end of the war by once more attacking White Plains. In the Third Battle thereof, however, their advance was stopped by the American general Benedict Arnold, who procceeded to rout them (Cornwallis died in the proccess). Then Benedict Arnold marched to the White Fields himself. He had reliable information with documentary evidence about important members of the Congress being involved in negotiations with the British. His troops, blindly loyal to him by that troublesome year of 1776, occupied White Plains and the treacherous/"treacherous" members (those who didn't escape, anyway...) of the Congress were hung (for treachery, what else?). The loyal members of the Congress unanimously (hard not to be unanimous at the point of a gun - that said, the situation was quite desperate) declared Benedict Arnold "Supreme Commander" of the American forces, with dictatorial powers.
The Supreme Commander then proceeded to make use of said powers. A levee en masse was declared; power was consolidated in his hands; regionalism was undermined; taxes were raised very high, as a temporary war measure ofcourse. There was much dissent, some mutinies, some rebellions. But they were all crushed. Severe measures were introduced against the Tories and other resistors.
On the military front, the Supreme Commander scored a series of great victories. The British were defeated at Valley Forge and at Philadelphia, as Rochembeau came from the south and Arnold came from the north - thus the British were expelled from the central American region. From there, Benedict Arnold started a northern campaign, crushing the British in a hard-fought battle at Bennington and thus outflanking them in New England. A decisive victory at Medford confirmed the turning of the tide.
Seeking to consolidate his gains back in Europe, and still troubled with the Russian situation, Friedrich the Great refused to send major forces to save the British situation in America (this started the Anglo-Prussian estrangement). The minor corps that was despatched proved enough to defeat the Americans at St. Croix, but not enough to stop Benedict Arnold's invasion of Canada. With the British defeat at Longueuil in 1778, and with Rochambeau (who fought on despite French surrender and sale of Louisiana in 1776, retitling his Franco-Spanish force into the Foreign Volunteer Legion) repelling the British armies at New Orleans, the British had to sign peace.
In Europe, meanwhile, the French Provisional government dropped out of the war, allowing Prussia to concentrate on the Russian threat. Russians by then have managed to make some gains, largely thanks to the highly competent commanders such as Orlov, Potemkin and Suvorov. The Turks were finally expelled out of Crimea, and the Prussians were fought to a stalemate at Zhitomir. Nonetheless, the Prussian war machine was by then unstoppable, and this was recognized by Catherine II, who agreed, in 1777, to begin negotiations. Albeit they nearly broke down later in the year and were subsequently abandoned, in 1778 the Treaty of Brunswick has finally ended this Second Coalition War.
Peace settlement resulted in a following post-war world:
North America: the Free American Commonwealth was created in Canada, Quebec, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Native American Territory (territory between Virginia and Louisiana), Georgia, Louisiana. Benedict Arnold resigned as Supreme Commander and became the President instead, retaining dictatorial powers. Britain kept/gained Rupert's Land, the Maritimes, East Florida and West Florida.
Europe: The French Republic and the French Provisional Government were officially recognized (a civil war begun there soon after). Austrian Netherlands gained independance as the Kingdom of Belgium, ruled by the Wittelsbach Dynasty's Rhenish line (which lost its other lands to Prussia). Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, to be replaced by the more centralized (but still not fully united) German Empire, with the hereditary Prussian Hohenzollern domination; said Empire did NOT include Austria (now Austrian Empire), Belgium or Schleswig-Holstein. Rhenish Wittelsbach, Habsburg enclave and some other German minor lands were annexed by Prussia. Bavaria itself, whose last Wittelsbach ruler died during the negotiations, was granted to the Saxons, whose King Augustus III of Poland had the dubious record of mostly uninterested reign in four different countries, alternatingly. Poland was partitioned - Austria gained Galicia (as a compensation for the loss of all influence in Germany; well, that, and Russia couldn't let the Prussians have it and vice versa, whilst an independant Galicia could develop ambitions), Prussia gained Poland west of Neman and Russia gained the regions east of it. Ottomans regained Banat, but lost Crimea (without Yedisan) to Russia.
(Other) Colonies: Britain gained Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Cayenne, Buenos Aires (and surroundings), Falklands, French Senegal, Cape Colony, Pondicherry, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Dutch Borneo, Philippines and a confirmed sphere of influence in much of India. Portugal gained Uruguay and all lands east of Parana River.
The British decided to speed up the end of the war by once more attacking White Plains. In the Third Battle thereof, however, their advance was stopped by the American general Benedict Arnold, who procceeded to rout them (Cornwallis died in the proccess). Then Benedict Arnold marched to the White Fields himself. He had reliable information with documentary evidence about important members of the Congress being involved in negotiations with the British. His troops, blindly loyal to him by that troublesome year of 1776, occupied White Plains and the treacherous/"treacherous" members (those who didn't escape, anyway...) of the Congress were hung (for treachery, what else?). The loyal members of the Congress unanimously (hard not to be unanimous at the point of a gun - that said, the situation was quite desperate) declared Benedict Arnold "Supreme Commander" of the American forces, with dictatorial powers.
The Supreme Commander then proceeded to make use of said powers. A levee en masse was declared; power was consolidated in his hands; regionalism was undermined; taxes were raised very high, as a temporary war measure ofcourse. There was much dissent, some mutinies, some rebellions. But they were all crushed. Severe measures were introduced against the Tories and other resistors.
On the military front, the Supreme Commander scored a series of great victories. The British were defeated at Valley Forge and at Philadelphia, as Rochembeau came from the south and Arnold came from the north - thus the British were expelled from the central American region. From there, Benedict Arnold started a northern campaign, crushing the British in a hard-fought battle at Bennington and thus outflanking them in New England. A decisive victory at Medford confirmed the turning of the tide.
Seeking to consolidate his gains back in Europe, and still troubled with the Russian situation, Friedrich the Great refused to send major forces to save the British situation in America (this started the Anglo-Prussian estrangement). The minor corps that was despatched proved enough to defeat the Americans at St. Croix, but not enough to stop Benedict Arnold's invasion of Canada. With the British defeat at Longueuil in 1778, and with Rochambeau (who fought on despite French surrender and sale of Louisiana in 1776, retitling his Franco-Spanish force into the Foreign Volunteer Legion) repelling the British armies at New Orleans, the British had to sign peace.
In Europe, meanwhile, the French Provisional government dropped out of the war, allowing Prussia to concentrate on the Russian threat. Russians by then have managed to make some gains, largely thanks to the highly competent commanders such as Orlov, Potemkin and Suvorov. The Turks were finally expelled out of Crimea, and the Prussians were fought to a stalemate at Zhitomir. Nonetheless, the Prussian war machine was by then unstoppable, and this was recognized by Catherine II, who agreed, in 1777, to begin negotiations. Albeit they nearly broke down later in the year and were subsequently abandoned, in 1778 the Treaty of Brunswick has finally ended this Second Coalition War.
Peace settlement resulted in a following post-war world:
North America: the Free American Commonwealth was created in Canada, Quebec, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Native American Territory (territory between Virginia and Louisiana), Georgia, Louisiana. Benedict Arnold resigned as Supreme Commander and became the President instead, retaining dictatorial powers. Britain kept/gained Rupert's Land, the Maritimes, East Florida and West Florida.
Europe: The French Republic and the French Provisional Government were officially recognized (a civil war begun there soon after). Austrian Netherlands gained independance as the Kingdom of Belgium, ruled by the Wittelsbach Dynasty's Rhenish line (which lost its other lands to Prussia). Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, to be replaced by the more centralized (but still not fully united) German Empire, with the hereditary Prussian Hohenzollern domination; said Empire did NOT include Austria (now Austrian Empire), Belgium or Schleswig-Holstein. Rhenish Wittelsbach, Habsburg enclave and some other German minor lands were annexed by Prussia. Bavaria itself, whose last Wittelsbach ruler died during the negotiations, was granted to the Saxons, whose King Augustus III of Poland had the dubious record of mostly uninterested reign in four different countries, alternatingly. Poland was partitioned - Austria gained Galicia (as a compensation for the loss of all influence in Germany; well, that, and Russia couldn't let the Prussians have it and vice versa, whilst an independant Galicia could develop ambitions), Prussia gained Poland west of Neman and Russia gained the regions east of it. Ottomans regained Banat, but lost Crimea (without Yedisan) to Russia.
(Other) Colonies: Britain gained Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Cayenne, Buenos Aires (and surroundings), Falklands, French Senegal, Cape Colony, Pondicherry, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Dutch Borneo, Philippines and a confirmed sphere of influence in much of India. Portugal gained Uruguay and all lands east of Parana River.
