What if? Page 2

Started by Livewire August 24th, 2011 6:28 PM
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Age 28
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Posted July 3rd, 2018
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Another what if: what if the french had invaded Britain during the Nepoleonic wars?
I think if that happened we might all be speaking French rather than english as he would most likely aim at the American colonies next.
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Livewire

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Posted August 2nd, 2019
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Another what if: what if the french had invaded Britain during the Nepoleonic wars?
I think if that happened we might all be speaking French rather than english as he would most likely aim at the American colonies next.
Right, had the French defeated Lord Nelson at Trafalagar, that would have possibly opened up the mainland for an invasion - It would no doubt have inflated Napoleon's ego to the point that he believed he could invade England. Not to mention, with that great victory, Napoleon may not have invaded Russia in 1812, meaning that the behemoth 600,000 man Grand Armee may not have even been needed. He could have possibly already won in 1805.

**I see you Jack.
Age 28
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Right then he could have turn to Russia in the spring and made it to Moscow by summer like he had planned thus forming an empire possibly bigger than the soviet union and British empire.
I'm currently working on some novels. If you're interested you can read them here:
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Age 33
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Posted June 30th, 2015
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Right, had the French defeated Lord Nelson at Trafalagar, that would have possibly opened up the mainland for an invasion - It would no doubt have inflated Napoleon's ego to the point that he believed he could invade England. Not to mention, with that great victory, Napoleon may not have invaded Russia in 1812, meaning that the behemoth 600,000 man Grand Armee may not have even been needed. He could have possibly already won in 1805.

**I see you Jack.
Oh, don't worry about little old me. The Napoleonic Era isn't one of my areas of expertise, but I still know a few things about it.

A French victory at Trafalgar would have to be dependent on the French Navy not losing most of its best officers in the early stages of the French Revolution through execution or dismissal, as well as the French Navy adopting tactics similar to those of Nelson's. The French would have also needed to build better landing craft in order to actually get their troops across the English Channel. Finally, consider that even if Napoleon succeeded in his invasion of the United Kingdom, he still would have had to contend with the Austrians and the Russians. Remember that the original Grande Armée was first raised for the planned invasion of the United Kingdom but wound up getting used against the Austrians once those plans were scrubbed; without the Grande Armée at Napoleon's disposal on the mainland, the Ulm Campaign and the Battle of Austerlitz may well have resulted in Austrian victories instead. An Austrian victory at Austerlitz is its own can of worms, which you may feel free to open up on your own if you so choose.

As for a successful invasion of Russia, I honestly don't see any way how Napoleon can overcome the harsh realities of Russian climate and terrain. Even if he launched his invasion as soon as winter ended, he would have needed a way to get through all that mud. Napoleon also would have needed a more robust supply train to counter Russian scorched earth tactics, as well as a way to deal with typhus and other illnesses among his men; starvation and disease killed more members of the Grande Armée than actual combat during the invasion of Russia, after all. Even if he succeeded in capturing Moscow and defeating the bulk of the Russian Army, Napoleon still would have had to deal with partisans and other irregular troops, just as he did in real life; a good question to ask would be just how bad the Russian insurgency would get in the event of Napoleon actually succeeding. Considering that the Peninsular War was still ongoing at the time of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he could very well have become been a victim of his own success if he actually won in Russia; in all likelihood, he would have needed to accept losing Spain and Portugal in order to consolidate his new gains.