Come 1110 CE, upon hearing the British had begun importing slaves from Africa into Australia, the Consulate banned slavery in the Empire. That is, slavery, people and their descendents as property. Forced labor was still legal, provided it was a criminal punishment or for debt repayment. The slave workers that had been imported over the millennia continued to labor for the state, thanks to the French government tying labor to instant citizenship. The result was most workers continued to work, for non-citizens would be subject to deportation. And nobody wanted to give up the honor and freedom of being a Frenchman!
Later in the year, the British lost a Ship of the Line and a Caravel, hopefully full of troops bound for Africa. The British were down to 6 Ships of the Line, the rest of their navy in poor shape. Ironclads were increasingly dominating the waves, and Britain didn't have any of them.
Karachi was taken from Ethiopia at the cost of 280 gold in 1130 CE.
A British fleet heading through the Med, likely to Malta, was soon sunk. The once great British fleet was confined to 3 Ships of the Line and several auxiliary vessels.
A group of special agents liberated Reykjavik from within with ease, freeing the Icelandic people from British tyranny.
A gentleman by the name of Eiffel had his project realised in Dusseldorf. The Tower's completion was a symbol of French industrial and commercial might, and before long, financial institutions around the Confederacy were paying for themselves. (The Eiffel Tower fills the role of Smith's Trading Company)
French Revolution
1190 CE, Nationalism swept across the French Confederation, resulting in increased militarism. Democratic ideals also swept across the Confederacy, with the many autonomous Republics demanding representation in the government of the Republic.
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was the descendent of the great Corsican general Napoleon. Napoleon had assisted the French armies in the war against Spain and Portugal. His descendents used the glory this bestowed upon him to advance themselves and all generations afterward. The Bonapartes, indeed, were acknowledged as Kings in all but name in various provinces scattered across Italy and Spain. Louis Napoleon had worked his way up the ranks and had become a Senator, and was known as a potential candidate for a Consulate seat in future elections.
So imagine the world's surprise when he gave a roaring speech before the Senate calling for equal rights to be given to the autonomous Republics. Most Senators naturally decried him and it looked like his career was over; what Frenchman would support someone who would give power over to conquered peoples?
But it wasn't the Frenchman he had called on. He was calling on the Spaniards, Arabs, Italians, Germans, Poles, Southern Slavs and all the other ethnicities that inhabited the Empire. Almost unanimously they supported Louis Napoleon, who took the name Napoleon III(r.1199 - 1238). He was elected President of the European Union, the legal fiction he set up to battle the Consulate in Paris for legitimacy. His relatives rallied many local militias against the central government, and it spread like an infection until practically everybody outside France proper was on his side. This included the many French in all but name, who inhabited lands like Germany, but discrimination kept them out of politics by calling them "Germans" or other categories they were really not part of.
The machinery of racial discrimination had lost its grease, and grinded to a standstill as Louis' forces usurped one governorate after another. Before long, he marched on Paris, and the last First Consul of the French Republic, First Consul of the French Confederacy, resigned. The de facto monarchy gave way to the de jure one, with Napoleon III.
Napoleon, now with absolute power, dismantled the Republic and indeed gave much equality to all the provinces under his fist: that is, not much power was enjoyed by any of them. The European Legislature was suspended before it could even meet, and he declared himself emperor of the European Empire. He said however, that he derived his power from the People, not from God, and asked them to legalise his actions. Overwhelmingly, the citizenry approved of concentrating power in this pan-European absolutism.
Napoleon's first victory was the landing of troops in Ireland to seize the workers there, forever keeping the British from taking the saltpeter. These brave soldiers would likely perish in a British counterattack, but keeping gunpowder out of British hands made it worth it.
After that, the British tried to sink a Ship of the Line, and despite early British victory, their own fleet was sunk instead.
It was discovered the Brits had 2 Ironclads across their increasingly-smaller fleet. It was decided to put French design against British! They were easily sunk after some liberal bombardment, and the Caravel hopefully took some units with it. The British navy was increasingly composed of Privateers rather than actual professional sailors.
1230 CE, The Emperor was disturbed to hear 2 Ships were lost to British aggression. The British retreated back into their harbors as the Emperor plotted vengeance.
3 workers were captured from the English, harming their ability to harvest their Iron. This reprisal was shortly followed by massive shelling of Land's End.
When Napoleon died and his son, Louis became Louis I(r.1238 - 1257) of France, the Chinese tried to extort Steel out of France, feeling him weak. Louis I refused, and the Chinese backed down, naturally.
The brave company of Musketeers and Col. Infantry who had captured 5 British workers were finally killed in the Battle of Edinburgh, but the British lost a Fusilier.
They were avenged, however, as Col. Infantry snuck attack and killed on English Fusilier and
Come 1270 CE the British sank a Ship of the Line. Louis II(r. 1257 - 1292) was obviously not happy to hear about this. He ordered a reprisal against a British Ironclad off the coast of Ireland.
After that, attacks were ordered against a Ship of the Line and the Caravel it was escorting. Iceland was becoming a valuable base, a "home away from home" where ships could recover without navigating the coastline's choppy waters.
With the sinking of three British vessels and their cargo, the favor had been returned. The Emperor came up with a genius strategy: Brest would serve as a safe haven for galleons, which would ferry units to attack the British coastline. Escorted by Riflemen groups, Colonial Infantry would stage landings and attack the British forces wherever they were found. With time, the English countryside would be purged and focus could be given to the cities. Attacking stacks made sure that the units wouldn't make a landing, but still kill as if they were going too. Without a road network, the British had to expose large stacks to the elements, and thus, this strategy would work quite well.
1290 CE, the first Artillery unit was deployed. The King, in his last years, ordered the refitting of all Grand Batteries into much more potent artillery pieces.
Louis II went down in history as the beginner of the land campaign against the British. The Cornish people were liberated by European forces, but many of the English-sponsored settlers resisted occupation. Naturally, despite the 300K pre-war population, the Emperor had no problem with reducing the settlement to 10K. Starvation was mandated as government policy, disguised as troops needing feeding despite France's robust agricultural system and control of the seas guaranteeing supply lines.
The British capital was protected by no less than 18 units, a mixture of Fusiliers and Musketmen. Fortunately, the lack of Saltpeter and Iron made sure any future units would have primitive equipment.
With his death, the long French Golden Age ended, and his son Marcus I (r. 1292 - 1304) would have a short, horrible reign. When he died childless, his brother, Charles I (r. 1304 - 1339) inherited the throne and would continue the Bonaparte line.
Charles saw the slaughter of one English fusilier in the capital of London, and that invigorated the French people while demoralising the Londoners. London had become a military city anyway; almost all of the residences were vacant and were now barracks. The fall of Land's End, constant bombardment, and starvation had either killed the people or forced them away. Now the British kept it heavily fortified, due to the King's insistence that the Monarchy stay strong in London. Meanwhile, 2 Riflemen groups escorted Colonial Infantry and some Cavalry to terrorise the countryside. The British capital was being encircled. Workers were captured and shipped back to France.
1330 CE saw a massive strike against London. No units were lost, but the British lost 6 units in their precious capital. The artillery divisions of Antwerp would hammer the city with deadly accuracy, and thus the city began to decline.
Before long, Charles had seen to it that 12 units were deployed in Dover and Brighton. These small settlements were easily overrun, allowing the army a front row seat to London's southern entrances. The British now had foes on two sides, while the seas were clearly French.
Charles also saw to it that agents flipped Sydney to France's side. This secured one of their coal deposits.
Charles would have died of laughter had he lived into his son, Marcus II(r. 1339 - 1356)'s reign. This is due to the fact the British reinstituted the Longbow as a prime weapon to try and fend off the assault on London.
As French forces moved through the streets of London, King Henry III hugged his son closely. Crown Prince George shed a river of tears, for which his father berated him, saying that the King of England and of all the United Kingdom could not show such weakness. He said that he was proud of his son, but regretted that he wouldn't live long enough to spend more time with him. Telling George to be strong, he removed his crown and put it atop his son's head, saying that the French did not deserve the honor of capturing the British monarch. But likewise, the ex-King would not flee like a coward. Bidding his son farewell, Henry sat on the throne of Buckingham Palace, taking in the sights even as the sounds of artillery could be heard audibly through the walls, parts of them even flaking off at times due to so much vibration in the city. He sighed... what were his ancestors thinking?
London was occupied by the victorious European forces with no losses thanks to huge artillery barrages. The great city, once 600,000 strong, was now a wreck of only a few thousand people. Much of the city lay in ruins, comparable to what later generations would call a bombing raid's effects. Military supplies lay abandoned, bodies littering the streets... vermin ran wild, and the city was in perpetual night as smoke blackened the sky.
From his new capital in Cardiff, King George III tearfully promised vengeance upon the French for the execution of his father.
Meanwhile, in the land down unda, Indian Madras was flipped. Likewise, Japanese Osaka was flipped, leaving Australia increasingly a French possession as much a British one.
The brief reign of Louis III (r. 1356 - 1363) following Marcus' death was quickly followed by the much longer Napoleon IV(r.1363 - 1401)'s.
1370 CE, Al Burayqah was taken by the Axumites. Plans were made to reflip it. It was cheaply re-flipped, and thus saved Napoleon IV some major fallout.
Napoleon IV's victory over the aged George III's forces at Cardiff was what solidifed his place in history. The British had lost their capital yet again, and the Scots revolted, shifting the seat of power to Inverness. The British Monarchy was captured and for the most part executed or imprisoned by European forces, while the Scottish monarchy took power.
By the 1390s, as ships hammered Edinburgh, Napoleon set about winning the hearts and minds of the English people. He apologised for all the horrors of war that had been inflicted upon the British, and began to distribute gold, goods and services throughout the city. It was possible to travel from London to Cardiff again thanks to the quick construction roads, and while there was plenty of damage littering the British Isles, the parts of them under French occupation were quickly set to rejuvenate themselves as productive provinces of the European Empire.
Colonial Infantry assaulted Edinburgh, seeking to capture the last remnants of England as much as the valuable Iron deposits right next to it. One Col. Infantry division fell, but their allies made quick work of three English defenders.
While it looked like the city might escape capture, Ironclads showed up and hammered the defense enough to let Colonial Infantry seize it. All of England was now under occupation, and the Union of Gaelics and Australia was the new government of the former British Empire. The Dominion of Australia, while lacking much pull, threatened secession if the Scots and Irish didn't push for peace.
The desire for peace was warmly received, of course, as Napoleon stated that the war had been going on for exactly 600 years, having started in the 790s with a British invasion. Now, the British had been eclipsed by their would-be conquests, and the British homeland was in disarray or under Europe's heel.
Hundreds of thousands of Britons had been killed as a result of the war, and many more would follow. London had gone from a city of 600,000 to a humble 10,000, while Cardiff and Land's End would share similar fates. Edinburgh declined as well due to both plague and French administration.
Millions of people were killed over the course of the Anglo-French War, mostly British. It was a fitting price to pay for being the aggressor.
The Treaty of Dublin ended the long war once and for all, with the British forced to give up their knowledge of the internal combustion engine to Europe. Britain was falling behind technologically compared to Russia and China, and so, it indeed seemed Britain's days as a major power were over. Never mind that they lacked Iron...
It was discovered that the Empire lacked Oil though! That was of minor consequence at the moment, but it did have issues in that the new technology could not be utilised. With time, the fleet would become second class, and so something had to be done.
The Emperor reasoned the Turks would qualify as "something." Their leader feared Europe's power but did nonetheless try to secure an alliance. The Emperor was more interested in securing their oil refineries, however, and so dispatched troops to assault Ottoman Bulgaria.
Right after a white peace was signed with the Axumites of course.
With a successful war against the Turks, it would be possible to reach into the Middle East and secure its oil, as well as battle Chinese influence in the region.
Varna fell with no losses. The oil fields of Romania and Bulgaria could now be processed, but there was so much more wealth to be had.
No less than 13 defenders guarded the Turkish capital, but with 35 cavalry empire-wide, they surely had met their match.
The Turkish capital fell, shifting power to Alexandretta, the mighty merchant city. The capital was a large city, of 600,000 people before the war, and the Emperor made plans to make that only ten thousand with time. The people were enslaved and starved at the same time.
Artillery moved into place thanks to a hastily-built railroad to Constantinople. They pillaged the other Turkish source of Horses, condemning them to a lack of cavalry.
The conquest of Ankara yielded a great leader, and he would go on to form a new elite army to serve French, er, European, aims. The city also secured Turkey's saltpeter deposits, thus leaving the Turks without gunpowder.
Halicarnassus, having only one Crossbowmen, was easily picked off by a spare cavalry, making the Turkish losses total four cities, which contained their Saltpeter, their Horses, some Oil, and their many Wonders. Halicarnassus alone yielded enormous wealth, generating 4% of the empire's revenue.
Napoleon ensured the European Empire encompassed 11% of the planet's surface and 25% of its people. Humble China had only 6% of the surface and 10% of its people.
Napoleon IV's death from natural causes from old age gave way to the reign of Napoleon V, who would reign until 1423. In turn, he gave the throne to Charles II, who reigned until 1456.
Napoleon IV added Odesa to the Empire with no losses, though his main accomplishment was the refitting of all Ironclads into Dreadnoughts, truly awesome war machines that would assist in the projection of European power.
Espionage showed Turkish cities to have Saltpeter, and the likely culprit was Egypt. Plans were made to punish the Egyptians for daring to supply Europe's enemies.
Charles II enjoyed a great victory with the fall of Alexandretta. Starving the city's inhabitants, all eforrt was then focused on Trabzon, the last city of the Turkish homeland. Kaffa, shortly afterward, was convinced to defect to the greater European Empire.
Trabzon's easy fall forced the Turks to retreat to Yenisehir in Africa, a sign of their abandoning of the Black Sea.
Britain was ruined, as were the Turks. Only Russia and Scandinavia remained as European powers not subjugated.
I've shied away from outright genocide lately myself. But I have to admit that, strategically speaking, it's well worth the reputation hit. At the end of the day, the AIs are cowards. If you win, they'll like you.
