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Yep, another early post. This steampunky scenario should finish up my ACW series. It was inspired by B_Munro’s takes on Bring the Jubilee and Crimson Skies. Unfortunately, my WWII series will have to start late because finals are in the first week of December. See y'all then!
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Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, known better to the world as Napoleon II, was very much like the first Napoleon. He successfully transformed France from an unstable republic plagued with revolution into a powerful empire prepared to face off against her rivals, with himself as emperor of course. Napoleon II was a prudent statesman, forging an alliance with Austria to halt the machinations of Otto von Bismarck and forcing the Prussians to create a German empire much smaller than they desired. He established a friendly kingdom in Spain, with a few territorial concessions, when he supported the Carlists in their civil war. He expanded France’s colonial empire to encompass cities as far apart as Algiers and Saigon. And, when the American Civil War broke out in 1861, he supported the Confederate war effort in order to weaken the United States and allow him to establish a strong French presence in Mexico. This last action would almost bring him to war with the British, who had been opposing Napoleon’s expansion from the start, but the British also wanted Mexico to repay its debts and were unwilling to fight another war against France. With French support, the Confederacy was able to triumph over the Union in 1864.
Napoleon II was also a patron of the sciences. Believing that Britain’s dominance could be challenged with the proper application of the right machines, Napoleon II gave funding to eccentric minds all over the world, provided that they give their machines to France first. Machines such as the Gatling gun, the rigid airship, the analytical engine, and other wonders found themselves produced as quickly as possible in France. While these secrets seldom stayed in France, Napoleon II did succeed in starting a technological race which would continue long after his death.
However, when Napoleon II died in 1871, the world order he established quickly unraveled. His successor, Napoleon III, was not as competent as his father and made quite a few mistakes. He allowed himself to be dragged into a war with Prussia, which Bismarck used as an excuse to form the German Empire from the states within Prussia’s orbit. He supported the Papal States’ independence from the Kingdom of Italy to the point of war, driving the Italians firmly into London’s and Berlin’s camp. But there were, admittedly, some disasters that no man could have prevented. The breakdown of the two American republics throughout the late 19th century was a result of incompetent military dictators taking power in both countries. One American president even tried to regain control of his country by invading Canada, and while Quebec managed to gain its independence under the Alliance Laurentienne through French diplomatic intervention, the Americans were thoroughly defeated and fractured further.
As the 19th century became the 20th, a series of alliances formed around London and Paris. The great powers of the world all had reasons for fighting one another, and none of them wanted to be caught in a war without any allies. These alliances extended even to other continents: the Anglo-Japanese alliance was opposed when France began to support China’s Self-Strengthening Movement under the new Xiao Dynasty. The growing rivalry between Brazil and the new Republic of La Plata, and of course the rivalries between the countries of the former United States became entangled in the web of alliances growing throughout the world. Many feared a world war would start, but knowledge of the new horrors of war as demonstrated in the American civil wars let cooler heads prevail. With the development of the phlogiston bomb in the 1920s, and intercontinental ballistic missiles in the 1930s, the idea of a global war became synonymous with that of apocalypse.
By the 1960s, the world is still in a shaky peace, a standoff between the Allies and the Entente. There have been many “satellite wars” around the world, where the Allies and Entente fund and arm their favored groups, and occasionally participate in the war themselves. While nobody doubts that the armed forces of Britain and France have directly clashed at some points, nobody is willing to be too noisy about it: what if such declarations lead to a phlogiston apocalypse? The great powers are more or less content with the current setup, anyhow. The French and British agreed to a second heat-ray reduction treaty; nobody wants one side to have enough missile defenses to believe they could win a phlogistonic war. And the subjugation of the Venusians and Martians is on politicians’ minds more than the possibility of global phlogistonic warfare. Still, tensions are palpable: giant cannons still stare down one another across the Channel, floating fortresses orbit the Earth waiting to rain death down on their enemies, and analytical engines clank as they constantly keep watch for a “decapitation strike.”
Of the two alliances, the Allies are richer and more militarily powerful, although they are beset with more internal political conflicts. Central to the Allied powers is the Quadruple Alliance, between the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Russia. The British are the de facto leaders of the Quadruple Alliance, having the largest navy both in the seas and in the stars. The British have democratized to the point that the monarchy is just a symbol, and the Dominions are independent in every respect but those of international affairs. This does not prevent discontent from parties such as the Irish Republican Army and the Indian Independence League from occasionally launching terrorist attacks. The maintenance of the colonial empire in Africa has been one of controversy, as many domestic politicians see the suppression of unrest and the development of the area as too expensive, but more traditionalist politicians contend that they cannot back down in light of possible French expansion into the power vacuums the British would leave behind.
The Germans are quite a bit more autocratic than their British allies, with the Kaiser having quite some say in how things are run, but not as much as the Chancellor. The Germans are quite proud of being more progressive than their allies, being the first to institute a welfare system, but their militarism tarnishes their reputation in the eyes of many left-leaning thinkers. The strong German military does make them the spear of the Quadruple Alliance: the Germans are expected to rush into France as soon as war is declared.
The Italians also have a powerless monarchy, but their politicians are notorious for being some of the most corrupt in all of Europe. The Italians do make quite a bit of money from Libyan oil, although where all of that money goes is not always accounted for. Militarily, the Italians are the weakest of the Quadruple Alliance’s great powers, but they are expected to act as a “speed bump” for French armies and a nuisance for Austrian ones.
The Russian Empire has, thankfully, industrialized, although they are still reliant on outdated steam technology powered through deforestation. The Russian government is still an absolute monarchy, although the Tsars are prudent enough to listen to their legally powerless Duma unless they want a crisis on their hands. The Russians are seen as the “token evil teammate” by many Allied powers: their secret police and Siberian prison camp antics are looked down upon, but the Russians are dependable in case of global war and that’s what counts. After all, the Russians have the second largest army in the world, constantly switching places with China’s.
The other major Allied alliance is the North American Defense Organization, or NADA. The premier power in NADA is the American Union, the last remnant of the United States. The AU is managed under the auspices of the New Union Party, a nationalist political party which rose to power in the 1930s. The New Union Party’s agenda is simple: reunite the country under the Stars and Stripes. In order to get allies, they have quieted down the parts about the continent being ruled by the American Union’s branch of the New Union Party. While the New Unionists gained power democratically, they keep it undemocratically: vocal supporters of the opposition were rounded up and sent to Russian Siberia (the Russians were renting out the property) shortly after their takeover. New Union propaganda, often mixed with Christian symbolism, permeates every aspect of American society. The American Union seems almost eager for another war between the states, meaning that the British always have to keep them on a tight leash.
Then there are the Japanese and La Platans. Two “peripheral allies” of the British, both powers have become considered great powers only very recently. The Japanese took a crash course in industrialization, moving from a pseudo-medieval society to a modern one in just a few decades. Unfortunately, this has gotten to the Japanese, and many in the government believe that they don’t need the Allies to stand against China. Rumors of the Japanese switching sides in the event of a world war are feared by London. The Republic of La Plata, on the other hand, is dependably within the Allied camp. While they do have disputes with the British over the Falkland Islands, establishing hegemony over South America and defeating the Brazilians is more important to Buenos Aires.
The Entente, on the other hand, are more ideologically united. The New Continental System is composed exclusively of monarchies, many of which have forged ties to the Bonaparte or Habsburg lines. Dominant among the Entente is the Second French Empire. Constantly threatened by the British and Germans, the French have become very militaristic throughout the twentieth century. This has helped the French monarchy, now under their fifth Bonaparte, keep power. This is not to say that Napoleon V is unchallenged: the Parliament remains elected by the people and occasionally challenges the Emperor on various issues. Dissent against the French state, or disrespect toward French culture, is not tolerated and can land someone a position as a machine gunner in the Alsace-Lorraine Wall.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire remains under the Habsburgs, although quite a bit of federalist reforms have come in when Archduke Franz Ferdinand took the throne. While still split between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, and ultimately subservient to them, many ethnicities within the Empire are allowed to manage their own affairs. This hasn’t stopped unrest completely, and the occasional terror attack brings with it fears that this would start a world war. The Austrian military is more oriented toward defending themselves from Russian or German attack, acting as a “fortress” for the Entente. The South German Union is similarly situated; indeed, the Bavarian-descended South German monarchy is a fig leaf for the true leaders of that country: the military.
The Ottoman Empire is a traditional ally of France and a traditional rival of Austria, but in these days they are willing to bury the hatchet. Although decaying at the end of the 19th century, the discovery of oil within its territories has given the Ottoman Empire a new lease on life. With all of the oil revenue, the Ottoman monarchy was able to placate social unrest through major public works programs, although religious parties who were able to expand their influence during the Empire’s less prosperous days could not be shaken off. Istanbul and Ankara are shining examples of 1960s modernism, jarringly juxtaposed with rigid Islamism. The Ottomans will serve as the Entente’s fuel source in case of war.
Across the Atlantic, the Association of Free American Nations has forged a strong alliance with France. The leader of AFAN is the Confederate States, although their hold over AFAN is not as strong as that of the American Union’s over NADA. AFAN is not united in ideology, but they are united in pragmatism: while none of them like one another, none of them want to be under the American Union’s control. The Confederacy itself is an uninteresting military dictatorship with a worrying tendency to blame its declining, constantly-emigrating black population for just about every problem the state faces. The Confederacy’s “segregation” policies are frowned upon around the world, although some Confederate politicians propose “fixing” this problem by working with the French to create a “black nation” somewhere in their empire.
The Entente’s other major allies are the Persians, Brazilians and Chinese. The Persians have also benefited from oil revenue, and their monarchy has placated the Islamist parties by working with them and funding Islamic rebels in Russia and British India. Paris has tried to stop the Persians from doing this, as it may cause a world war, but the Persian monarchy believes it has no choice. The Brazilians, on the other hand, find their position as South America’s hegemon challenged, and are eager to fight the “upstart” La Platans. The Emperor has used this rhetoric quite a bit, especially whenever ecologically-minded people and native interest groups protest the mass deforestation of the Amazon to power Brazil’s inefficient steam-powered…everything. The Emperor of China believes that the time to reassert China’s claim as master of the world is nigh, and is escalating preparations for the inevitable war with the Japanese. Reports of heavy rainfall that may cause major flooding across the Yellow River valley worry the Son of Heaven: his autocratic regime may not survive the unrest that could come from such a disaster. But he isn’t too worried: in case of major unrest, he can always look across the Sea of Japan for a distraction….
---
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, known better to the world as Napoleon II, was very much like the first Napoleon. He successfully transformed France from an unstable republic plagued with revolution into a powerful empire prepared to face off against her rivals, with himself as emperor of course. Napoleon II was a prudent statesman, forging an alliance with Austria to halt the machinations of Otto von Bismarck and forcing the Prussians to create a German empire much smaller than they desired. He established a friendly kingdom in Spain, with a few territorial concessions, when he supported the Carlists in their civil war. He expanded France’s colonial empire to encompass cities as far apart as Algiers and Saigon. And, when the American Civil War broke out in 1861, he supported the Confederate war effort in order to weaken the United States and allow him to establish a strong French presence in Mexico. This last action would almost bring him to war with the British, who had been opposing Napoleon’s expansion from the start, but the British also wanted Mexico to repay its debts and were unwilling to fight another war against France. With French support, the Confederacy was able to triumph over the Union in 1864.
Napoleon II was also a patron of the sciences. Believing that Britain’s dominance could be challenged with the proper application of the right machines, Napoleon II gave funding to eccentric minds all over the world, provided that they give their machines to France first. Machines such as the Gatling gun, the rigid airship, the analytical engine, and other wonders found themselves produced as quickly as possible in France. While these secrets seldom stayed in France, Napoleon II did succeed in starting a technological race which would continue long after his death.
However, when Napoleon II died in 1871, the world order he established quickly unraveled. His successor, Napoleon III, was not as competent as his father and made quite a few mistakes. He allowed himself to be dragged into a war with Prussia, which Bismarck used as an excuse to form the German Empire from the states within Prussia’s orbit. He supported the Papal States’ independence from the Kingdom of Italy to the point of war, driving the Italians firmly into London’s and Berlin’s camp. But there were, admittedly, some disasters that no man could have prevented. The breakdown of the two American republics throughout the late 19th century was a result of incompetent military dictators taking power in both countries. One American president even tried to regain control of his country by invading Canada, and while Quebec managed to gain its independence under the Alliance Laurentienne through French diplomatic intervention, the Americans were thoroughly defeated and fractured further.
As the 19th century became the 20th, a series of alliances formed around London and Paris. The great powers of the world all had reasons for fighting one another, and none of them wanted to be caught in a war without any allies. These alliances extended even to other continents: the Anglo-Japanese alliance was opposed when France began to support China’s Self-Strengthening Movement under the new Xiao Dynasty. The growing rivalry between Brazil and the new Republic of La Plata, and of course the rivalries between the countries of the former United States became entangled in the web of alliances growing throughout the world. Many feared a world war would start, but knowledge of the new horrors of war as demonstrated in the American civil wars let cooler heads prevail. With the development of the phlogiston bomb in the 1920s, and intercontinental ballistic missiles in the 1930s, the idea of a global war became synonymous with that of apocalypse.
By the 1960s, the world is still in a shaky peace, a standoff between the Allies and the Entente. There have been many “satellite wars” around the world, where the Allies and Entente fund and arm their favored groups, and occasionally participate in the war themselves. While nobody doubts that the armed forces of Britain and France have directly clashed at some points, nobody is willing to be too noisy about it: what if such declarations lead to a phlogiston apocalypse? The great powers are more or less content with the current setup, anyhow. The French and British agreed to a second heat-ray reduction treaty; nobody wants one side to have enough missile defenses to believe they could win a phlogistonic war. And the subjugation of the Venusians and Martians is on politicians’ minds more than the possibility of global phlogistonic warfare. Still, tensions are palpable: giant cannons still stare down one another across the Channel, floating fortresses orbit the Earth waiting to rain death down on their enemies, and analytical engines clank as they constantly keep watch for a “decapitation strike.”
Of the two alliances, the Allies are richer and more militarily powerful, although they are beset with more internal political conflicts. Central to the Allied powers is the Quadruple Alliance, between the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Russia. The British are the de facto leaders of the Quadruple Alliance, having the largest navy both in the seas and in the stars. The British have democratized to the point that the monarchy is just a symbol, and the Dominions are independent in every respect but those of international affairs. This does not prevent discontent from parties such as the Irish Republican Army and the Indian Independence League from occasionally launching terrorist attacks. The maintenance of the colonial empire in Africa has been one of controversy, as many domestic politicians see the suppression of unrest and the development of the area as too expensive, but more traditionalist politicians contend that they cannot back down in light of possible French expansion into the power vacuums the British would leave behind.
The Germans are quite a bit more autocratic than their British allies, with the Kaiser having quite some say in how things are run, but not as much as the Chancellor. The Germans are quite proud of being more progressive than their allies, being the first to institute a welfare system, but their militarism tarnishes their reputation in the eyes of many left-leaning thinkers. The strong German military does make them the spear of the Quadruple Alliance: the Germans are expected to rush into France as soon as war is declared.
The Italians also have a powerless monarchy, but their politicians are notorious for being some of the most corrupt in all of Europe. The Italians do make quite a bit of money from Libyan oil, although where all of that money goes is not always accounted for. Militarily, the Italians are the weakest of the Quadruple Alliance’s great powers, but they are expected to act as a “speed bump” for French armies and a nuisance for Austrian ones.
The Russian Empire has, thankfully, industrialized, although they are still reliant on outdated steam technology powered through deforestation. The Russian government is still an absolute monarchy, although the Tsars are prudent enough to listen to their legally powerless Duma unless they want a crisis on their hands. The Russians are seen as the “token evil teammate” by many Allied powers: their secret police and Siberian prison camp antics are looked down upon, but the Russians are dependable in case of global war and that’s what counts. After all, the Russians have the second largest army in the world, constantly switching places with China’s.
The other major Allied alliance is the North American Defense Organization, or NADA. The premier power in NADA is the American Union, the last remnant of the United States. The AU is managed under the auspices of the New Union Party, a nationalist political party which rose to power in the 1930s. The New Union Party’s agenda is simple: reunite the country under the Stars and Stripes. In order to get allies, they have quieted down the parts about the continent being ruled by the American Union’s branch of the New Union Party. While the New Unionists gained power democratically, they keep it undemocratically: vocal supporters of the opposition were rounded up and sent to Russian Siberia (the Russians were renting out the property) shortly after their takeover. New Union propaganda, often mixed with Christian symbolism, permeates every aspect of American society. The American Union seems almost eager for another war between the states, meaning that the British always have to keep them on a tight leash.
Then there are the Japanese and La Platans. Two “peripheral allies” of the British, both powers have become considered great powers only very recently. The Japanese took a crash course in industrialization, moving from a pseudo-medieval society to a modern one in just a few decades. Unfortunately, this has gotten to the Japanese, and many in the government believe that they don’t need the Allies to stand against China. Rumors of the Japanese switching sides in the event of a world war are feared by London. The Republic of La Plata, on the other hand, is dependably within the Allied camp. While they do have disputes with the British over the Falkland Islands, establishing hegemony over South America and defeating the Brazilians is more important to Buenos Aires.
The Entente, on the other hand, are more ideologically united. The New Continental System is composed exclusively of monarchies, many of which have forged ties to the Bonaparte or Habsburg lines. Dominant among the Entente is the Second French Empire. Constantly threatened by the British and Germans, the French have become very militaristic throughout the twentieth century. This has helped the French monarchy, now under their fifth Bonaparte, keep power. This is not to say that Napoleon V is unchallenged: the Parliament remains elected by the people and occasionally challenges the Emperor on various issues. Dissent against the French state, or disrespect toward French culture, is not tolerated and can land someone a position as a machine gunner in the Alsace-Lorraine Wall.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire remains under the Habsburgs, although quite a bit of federalist reforms have come in when Archduke Franz Ferdinand took the throne. While still split between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, and ultimately subservient to them, many ethnicities within the Empire are allowed to manage their own affairs. This hasn’t stopped unrest completely, and the occasional terror attack brings with it fears that this would start a world war. The Austrian military is more oriented toward defending themselves from Russian or German attack, acting as a “fortress” for the Entente. The South German Union is similarly situated; indeed, the Bavarian-descended South German monarchy is a fig leaf for the true leaders of that country: the military.
The Ottoman Empire is a traditional ally of France and a traditional rival of Austria, but in these days they are willing to bury the hatchet. Although decaying at the end of the 19th century, the discovery of oil within its territories has given the Ottoman Empire a new lease on life. With all of the oil revenue, the Ottoman monarchy was able to placate social unrest through major public works programs, although religious parties who were able to expand their influence during the Empire’s less prosperous days could not be shaken off. Istanbul and Ankara are shining examples of 1960s modernism, jarringly juxtaposed with rigid Islamism. The Ottomans will serve as the Entente’s fuel source in case of war.
Across the Atlantic, the Association of Free American Nations has forged a strong alliance with France. The leader of AFAN is the Confederate States, although their hold over AFAN is not as strong as that of the American Union’s over NADA. AFAN is not united in ideology, but they are united in pragmatism: while none of them like one another, none of them want to be under the American Union’s control. The Confederacy itself is an uninteresting military dictatorship with a worrying tendency to blame its declining, constantly-emigrating black population for just about every problem the state faces. The Confederacy’s “segregation” policies are frowned upon around the world, although some Confederate politicians propose “fixing” this problem by working with the French to create a “black nation” somewhere in their empire.
The Entente’s other major allies are the Persians, Brazilians and Chinese. The Persians have also benefited from oil revenue, and their monarchy has placated the Islamist parties by working with them and funding Islamic rebels in Russia and British India. Paris has tried to stop the Persians from doing this, as it may cause a world war, but the Persian monarchy believes it has no choice. The Brazilians, on the other hand, find their position as South America’s hegemon challenged, and are eager to fight the “upstart” La Platans. The Emperor has used this rhetoric quite a bit, especially whenever ecologically-minded people and native interest groups protest the mass deforestation of the Amazon to power Brazil’s inefficient steam-powered…everything. The Emperor of China believes that the time to reassert China’s claim as master of the world is nigh, and is escalating preparations for the inevitable war with the Japanese. Reports of heavy rainfall that may cause major flooding across the Yellow River valley worry the Son of Heaven: his autocratic regime may not survive the unrest that could come from such a disaster. But he isn’t too worried: in case of major unrest, he can always look across the Sea of Japan for a distraction….
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"NADA" 😅